STEVENSON’S TOMB.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 101, 30 March 1925, Page 12

STEVENSON’S TOMB.

DESECRATION AT SAMOA. NAMES WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. 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 tho greatest writers of the age. The once snow-white surface of this tomb is now scarred and tarnished with the names of many tourists. This was intimated in an interview with Mr G. Soundy Unwin, of London, who arrived at Auckland on Thursday by tho Tofua from the islands. Mr and Mrs Unwin spent some time at Samoa, and made a pilgrimage to the grave of “R.L.S.” on Vaea Hill. . “I was disgusted to find the manner in which this beautiful and famous grave had been treated,” said Mr Unwin. “Tourists have written their names all over it,” lie continued. “This is altogether scandalous and a matter of national anxiety. Olio man had his name imprinted on the surface in letters some Bin high.” Mr Unwin said that the officials at Samoa were going to look into the matter with a view to preventing further desecration. It is safe to assume that this disfigurement is not tho result of actions on tho part of the inhabitants of Samoa. The natives and the white 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 buried there his wife has also found a resting place beneath tho white arch. Inscribed on this tomb is the famous epitaph, written by It. L. Stevenson: —

Under tho wide and starry sky, Dig tho 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 ho lies where he longed to be, Homo is tho sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill. Tho 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 east. Then it would have been impossible for disfigurement to have taken place in the manner described. It is to be hoped that the strictest action will be taken to prevent further desecration to this tomb. All lovers of Stevenson, and there are millions of them, will have the matter at heart, and some method should be devised of preventing further vandalism.