STEVENSON’S TOMB.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 April 1925, Page 2

STEVENSON’S TOMB.

DESECRATION AT SAMOA. NAMES WRITTEN ALL OVER. Many, of those who visit the. tomb, of Robert. Louis Stevenson on Vaea Hill, Samoa, show but little respect to the memory of one of the greatest writers of the age. .The once show-white surface of this tomb is now scarred and tarnished with- the names of many tourists. This was intimated in a New Zealand Herald interview with Mr, G. Soundy Unwin, a direc,to,r of the publishing house of T. Fislie,r Unwin, of London, and managing director of the printing establishment of Unwin Brother’s. Mr. and Mrs. Unwin spent some time at Samoa, and made a. pilgrimage to the grave of “R.L.S.” on v'aea Hill. “I was, distasted to- find the manner In which 1 this beautiful and famous grave had been treated,” said Mr. Unwin. ‘‘Tourists have written their names all ove.r- it,” he continued. “This is altogether scandalous and a matter of national. anxiety. One man has his name imprinted on the surface in lexers some Sin. high.” Mr. Unwin said that the officials" at Samoa were going t.o look into the matter with a view to preventing further desecration. It is safe to assume that this disfigurement is not the result of actions on the.part of the inhabitants of Samoa. The natives arid the whitp residents hold the name of Tusitala, too dear to think of such vandalism. The work is evidently that of tourists. The tomb itself is situated in a prominent position on the top of Vaea Hill, and is anything from Bft. to 10ft. in length. Since: Stevenson was b.uried there his wife has also found a resting place beneath the white arch. Inscribed on the tomb is the famous epitaph, written by. R: L. Stevenson: — Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie, Glad did I live and gladly die. And I lay me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me, Here he lies where he longed to be, Home is the sailor, home from sea. And the hunter heme from the hi 1 !. The surface of the tomb is covered with white, smooth cement, and Mr. Unwin suggested that it was a pity it had not been done in rough cast. Then it would have been impossible for disfigurement to have taken place, in the, manner described.