SAMOA AND ITS PEOPLE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3596, 9 April 1886, Page 4

SAMOA AND ITS PEOPLE.

Germany, like Oliver Twist, wants Samoa, and the charming little archipelago is certainly a tempting prize. On the homeward voyage from Australia to America, when Kiji already lies nearly 400 miles to the south-west, you discry m tho distance a dim purple shadow overhanging the sea, which shapes itself littlo by littlo into a bold range of wooded mountains more than 4,000 ft. m height. Ihis is the first appearance of the Samoan or Navigator's Island, that ' ocean garden ' which, after a slight diplomatic flirtation with the United States under General Grant, the two vain appeals to the English Govenor of Fiji (1875 and 1877) for a British protectorate, is apparently about to end by swelling the over-grown demains of the Fatherland. The stone which the English builders rejected has become the head of the German corner, which seems likely to be a 'corner' iv every sense as regards tho trade of other nations. Avoiding several treacherous coral reefs, and slipping dexterously through one of these winding channels where the Hertha flouted her Prussian flag above her iron-clsd hull before tho eyes of wondering thousands seventeen years ago, you glide into tho deep horseshoo bay (protected by a natural breakwater of coral) which forms Apia harbour. A fa mous harbour it is, and except tho smooth, spacious land-locked inlet, of Pango Pango — the Boston of Samoa — whioh is deep enough close to the shore to float the largest vessels, it is has no equal m this part of the Pacific. All along the edge of the bay, on the lowest terrace of the great mountain stair that extends the whole length of Upolu Island, runs the long straggling village of thatched cottages represedting the native metropolis. \'ou see before you as you cast unchor the homely consulates of Great Britian, Germany, and the United States, the editorial huts of the Samoan Times and South Sea Gazette, and a little further on the statelier frontage of tho Roman Catholic Cathedral with its attendant college. The mass of vegetation that clothes tho hills from the water's edge to their very summits sufficiently proves that matchless fertility of a soil which numbers among its products coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, two kinds of sea-Island cotton, and almost every known variety of tropical fruits, and vegetables. Scarcely ono barren spot is to be found m the eight largo islands, which, together with a great number of small islets, some of which are only a few hundred feet m extent, make up the arohipeligo variously known as Samoa or the Navigator's Isles. Nor aro the inhabitants m any way unworthy of such a country. JNowhere m Ihe Pacific— except, perhaps among the 'nature bred', noble 3 of the Tonga isles — can one find anything to match the splendid physique of the Samoans, whose fino build and goodly Btature (rarely falling short of sft. lOin.) are well set of by one of the most picturesque costumes imaginable. No Scottish Highlander over rejoiced m a gayer kilt than the Samoan ''liku" formed from the long overlapping leaves of tho dracoeno, gorgeous with all tho brightest tint 3of crimson and green. Its stalwart wearers though greatly changed since poor Captain de Langle and eleven of his men were killed and eaten here barely a hundred years ago, have been famous warriors m their day. One of tho relics which l

j they show you is a basket containing 176 stones, commemorating an equal number of battles, m somo of which the few scjrred veterans who still linger m the remoter islands have played a prominent part.— New York Times.