WESTERN SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 86, 11 April 1923, Page 9

WESTERN SAMOA

RECOLLECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS

SCENIC AND FLORAL BEAUTIES

'♦AST RESTING-PLACE OF "R.L.S."

No. I.

The lons roll of the sapphire sea, That keeps tho land's virginity; The stalwart giants of the wood, ' ■ Laden with'toys, and flowers, and food.

I threw «ne look to either hand And knew I was in Fairyland.

The Pearl of the Pacific! Ono wonders yrho first styled it so; the term now is of almost universal use, the native Sa'Bioanß themselves frequently using it in their references to Samoa—truly a pearl, a pearl in its fertility, a pearl in its scenic beauty, a pearl in its interesting inhabitants.

Let us imagine we have arrived by the mail steamer, the welcome ■ monthly bringer of home letters and newspapers to the foreign community and cf food supplies and other commodities to the community generally. We are anchored in the "harbour," a pear-shaped opening in the coral reefs with the stem of the pear towards the ocean, protected from the prevalent 'trade winds by the encircling reefs. Our vessel is lying almost motionless on sparkling dark blue water which rolls shoreward with a gentle swell. Thia calm expanse of water can be angry sometimes when in the summer the wind sets in from the north, as it was last month, and as it was in 1889, when the Calliope steamed out and other ships were wrecked, but that is another story, told at its best in Stevenson's "Footnote to History." From our ships we see a wide bay, on the western horn of which lies Mulinuu Point, the termination of a little narrow peninsula 'on which the coconut palms Bhow up to advantage, their feathery fronds standing out against the sky; the other, the east-em horn, is Matautu Point, with a neat little pilot station; between the two is the town of Apia, a long Btoetched-out village, its, main street, "The Beach," running along the shore, showing through the occasional vegetation lining the. shore, buildings, mostly' shops of such an aspect as suggests a ( fair amount of busineae. Almost in the j centre of "The Beach" is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, an imposing white edifice, and quite a landmark. Behind the town the land rises/almost steeply, emerging into Vaea Mountain —a hill perhaps 2000 feet high, on the summit of one of whose rounded tops the novelist Stevenson is buried. Below the eastern swell of Vaea, about 6CO feet above the eea, is Vailima of historic interest, its red roof showing above the surrounding trees. Beyond, in the distance, as far an Bye can reach both east and west, runs Ihe backbone range of the island. The yrhole is covered with vegetation, bush clothes the hills from crest to foot, all the land in sight is verdure clad and the buildings appear to peso out of masses of vegetation. Much of it near the shore comprises coconut palms, but we cannot ,vrell identify them except on Mulinuu "and Matautu Points. Between the shore and our ship is a surf-margined strip of reef, on which are lying the rusted remains of the German warship Adler, thrown up by the angry waves in the great jstorm of 1889. A CHARMING DRIVE. Native watermen's boats are plying for hire; we will take one and' go ashore and see what we shall see during the few hours at our disposal. Qiiite a good boat lies at the gangway—not a canoe', for the inhabitants of these, the Navigator Islands, use. canoee only for fishing and Jaily routine; their voyages are,now unjerta'ken in' boats of European style, sometimes manned by thirty rowersquits ■ a good boat, its brown-skinned crew garbed in singlets and lavalava, a loincloth reaching from the waist to below the knee. The water sparkles so in the sun a* to be almost painful, and gome of us regret that we have not brought our tinted' glasses to soften the glare. A few minutes, though, and we are ashore, and find that the main street *-"The Beach"—is a smooth tar sealed road. Taxis, driven by native drivers, ere preaent in numbers. Where shall we go? The American tourist comes to Samoa as a. Mecca to make a pilgrimage to Stevenson's tomb. Let us emulate him and do likewise. But stop the car and look at this; a fair : sized tree on the seaward side of the post office, with branches of pendulous habit covered with, bright red blossoms, pea shaped, the {round below scarlet with fallen petals, —a flamboyant of which we shall see many, ever shapely, and often brilliant ■with blossoms. A little further, and on the right hand side of the road, we get our first view of the hybiscus, with its glbssy green leaves, and its great scarlet flowers, double and single, and here tumbling over a ' fence, is a climber with a great convolvulus shaped flower of a beautiful cleaT yellow, an nlamanda; and. in the Catholic Cathedral grounds! there are not only theSe, but .ci'otbns of varied brilliant colours—-all plants that in Now Zealand one would never see except in a greenhouse. Truly, this drive bids to be interesting. . . . At the turn from "The Beach into the Vailima road is a native. L.M.S. Church built over the remains of the famous missionary, John Williams, who was murdered-in Erromango, a church•where services vare regularly conducted by a native pastor. Each turn of the road discloses something new and beautiful, the strong sunlight intensifying the brilliance of the colours of the leaves and,of the flowerssuch a. vivid -coloration as no artist would dare to paint! Here is a bread-, fruit tree, shapely as a tree,, glorious with' ite great serrated bright green leaves and its curious globes of fruit. Now we come on quite a collection of flowering plants grown in a serai-culti-vated way, so that they do not lose their native grace of habit. See thfs plant eight or ten feet high with yellow flow-, ers, something like a laburnum in habit, the bunches of flowers _ bending down the branches and so giving them a pendulous appearance. Beyond .is a hybiscus hedge which has not been lately trimmed, in which is variety as well as beauty—double scarlet flowers as big as a man's fist, single rose-coloured flowers as big as a saucer, and single flowers ■>{ an apricot colour. Individually the Sowers are almost fit for a. horticulture ihow. The absence of battered flowers is remarka-ETe. They arc short-lived, but the comparison between this hedge of hybiecus and our camellia bushes at home in Now Zealand, with their seared and discoloured blossoms, is entirely to the advantage of the Samoan hodge. But we must hurry on with only a glance at this flaming mauve bougainvillea and that beautiful little yellow jreeper in the ditch, the road in our wrtion bordered with coconut palms, making a majestic avenue, in others bordered with bush, past native villages and email plantations. We must hurry or Tte shall never get to Stevenson's Tomb. - "ROAD OF LOVING HEARTS." A somewhat steep ascent brings us to jthe Vailima gates, and stretching thence

towards Vaea Mountain is "The Road of Loving Hearts'' built by Samoan chiefs for Stevenson (look up your "Vailima Letters"), a grassy, smooth road, kept trim by the Vailima staff, bordered with trees On either eide. Our car stops at the. commencement of a path in continuation of "The Road of Loving Hearts," and we must complete our pif grimage on foot. "It's hot," you say. Yes, but you must dress to suit the climate, a thin shirt with or without a very thin sitiglat, thin trousers, a thin coat, and broad-soled boots; the myatovy of feminine attire this deponent knoweth not, but it must follow tho same principle of scantiness. . Tho walk is nsarly all in the shade, the pleasant trade wind stirs the air, and. the heat will not distress you if you take it steadily. Between the Vailima fields and the lower slope of Vaea runs-a little stream, spanned by a rustic bridge. Over it and we are on the path, a gentle slope with, a few steep pinches. Once on the hillside the similarity of the open bush to some New Zealand bush strikes us, and we can-study the trees, while we rest on the way to get our breath and cool down. The last pinch is somewhat steep, and on surmounting it we find ourselves on the top of one of the Vaea spurs, and 'the massive concrete tomb fives us a sense, of solemnity. Here lies tevonson where he wished to lie. "Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill."

His body was carried up by Samoans, through what was then untouched jungle, and buried there with memorable ceremony. ' The tomb stands in a cleared, grassy space, with hybiscus plants nearby flaunting their scarlet blossoms.. It stands there, massive and impassive, in drenching rain and blinking sunshine. The bush-has been cleared away on the right, and on the left towards the sea, and one can imagine the spirit of Stevenson looking down on the one side over his beloved Vailima, over the Vailele plantation's serried ranks of coconuts and the, . hills 'beyond, over the bush-clad landscape sloping from the . high ranges, in spur after spur to the sea, over all to the distant blue mountains and the silvery blue sea, with its white stripes of surfy xeefs. On the other side, the. coast beyond Mulinuu and: the sea glittering in the sun, and the snowy line of the reefs along the shore; and over the whole one hears, ■ softly dominating everything, the throbbing croon of the breakers on-the reefs, the coral barrier reefs protecting from the turbulent ocean the lazy locked lagoon. Come, bustle -down the hill (the descent like all downward paths is rapid and easy), because there is still much to see, which can be seen even in the day the ship lies in port. If, however, you want to thoroughly explore the beauties and interests of Samoa, and it is well worth while, you had better see if the Central Hotel can put you up till the next monthly steamer.