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men, and sentenced to be deported. So he enjoyed the privilege of joining his chief on board H.M.S. Barracouta, which soon afterwards sailed for New Zealand, calling at Fiji on the way (on which occasion I made friends with the three Samoan chiefs whom Captain Stevens had brought away as hostages for the good behaviour of their party).

Much oil having been poured on these troubled waters by the soothing intervention of both French and English missionaries, and especially by the personal influence of the bishop, a superficial peace was established, and Malietoa Laupepa once more reigned as king. How soon disturbances have broken out, we now see too plainly.1

After our evening meal at the Fathers' house, I took a turn in the moonlight with M. Pinart and

1 The struggle lasted for some time. Finally, Malietoa again got the upper hand, and was acknowledged king by the foreign Powers, General Bartlett, U.S., being his prime minister. In August 1879, the Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, Commissioner for the Western Pacific, arrived at Apia, and concluded a treaty with the king and Government of Samoa, declaring perpetual peace and friendship between the people of their respective isles. The Samoans ceded to Britain the right to establish a naval station and coaling depot, as had previously been granted by treaty both to Germany and America. On the 8th November 1880 King Malietoa died. He was barely forty years of age, and a man greatly loved by all his own people. Probably but for the disturbing presence of the meddling whites, he might still be reigning over a happy and prosperous people. As it is, the country is once more in a state of anarchy; and the good bishop, whose heart yearned for the peace and prosperity of the people, has himself passed away to the world where all is peace.

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M. de Kerraoul, hoping to see a Samoan dance, which was to come off soon after sunset. But the council having again met, the dance was deferred till so late that I thought it better to come back here, where I found all the pretty little school-girls adorned with garlands, singing and acting very pretty quaint songs and dances, illustrating their geography, arithmetic, &c. Then about twenty grown-up women, who had come in from the village, sprang to their feet, and volunteered to show me some of the real old Samoan night dances -Po ulu faka Samoa. These were exceedingly ungraceful, and half their point seemed to consist in making hideous grimaces and contortions, and in reducing wearing apparel to a minimum, consisting chiefly of green leaves. I think that on the slightest encouragement they would have dispensed with any. Each figure was more ungainly than its predecessor, and seemed likely to be prolonged indefinitely; so, as it struck me that the entertainment would scarcely meet with the approbation of the good Fathers, should it occur to them for any reason to come over, I suggested that the children. should give us a parting song, whereupon they sang "Malbrooke" and " Bon Soir" very prettily, though I daresay the French words they repeated did not convey much more to their minds than do the Latin prayers.

Then the party dispersed, and now the schoolgirls are all safely stowed away beneath their close tappa mosquito - curtains, like a regiment under tents, and I am in possession of the inner reeded room. It is a great boon to have such a haven of refuge from the multitude of gazing brown eyes.

By the shouts from the rara I know that the council has broken up, and the real Samoan dance has now begun; but from the specimen given to me by the ladies, I think it is just as well that I came away. Now, good-night.

CHAPTER VI.

A SHORE WITHOUT A REEF-SAMOAN PLANTS-HOUSES-ANIMALS

LAYING FOUNDATION-STONE OF A CHURCH-SCHOOL FESTIVAL
-THE NAVIGATOR'S ISLES.

LEONE, ISLE TUTUILA,
Sept. 21, 1877.

Ar early dawn my pretty half-caste damsel took me to bathe in the river, but the shore was muddy and not very attractive. We returned in time for service in the little church, which is about to be replaced by a much larger building, the foundations of which are already raised, and the great event of this afternoon has been laying its first stone.

Immediately after breakfast at the Fathers' house, I started with M. Pinart and M. de Kerraoul for a long, most lovely walk along the coast, by a path winding among dark rocks and rich ferns, with great trees overhanging the sea, which breaks in real surf below them, washing their roots, which seem alive with myriads of crabs of all sizes, which also wander at large among the branches,

like so many birds. Many of the lower boughs are actually fringed with shells and sea-weed, while the growth of parasitic ferns on the upper branches is wonderful to behold. The muddy shore of the river seemed literally moving, from the multitude of burrowing crabs, with one large pink claw; and every now and again a great land-crab would peer at us from some fruit-laden branch, with its curious eyes projecting on movable stalks, which turn about at will.

This is the first place in the Pacific where I have seen grand green waves break on the shore. Throughout the Fijian isles they spend their force on the barrier-reef, and only the gentlest ripple washes the coral sand.

The rainfall here is greatly in excess of that in Fiji, consequently vegetation is richer, and the intensity of green more remarkable. So far as I can judge, the general foliage here is identical with that of the most fertile of "our" isles. The cocoanuts are much larger.

I am afraid to confess how hateful to me is the very thought of returning to long weary winters in Britain, with six dreary months of leafless undress. Do you realise that in all these isles there are only two or three deciduous trees, and that the majority put forth their wealth of young leaves almost faster than the old drop off? They are

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