SAMOA 



SAMOS 



133 



and are for the most part surrounded with coral- 

 reefs. They are very mountainous, but at the 

 same time well wooded, for the decomposition of 

 the volcanic rock has resulted in a very rich soil, 

 which produces a most luxuriant vegetation. Four 

 islands alone are of any size, Savaii, Upolu, 

 Tutuila, and Mauua (Manua really consisting of 

 three islands, the largest of which bears the name 

 of Tau Island). These four lie in order of size 

 from west and north-west to east and south-east. 

 Savaii, the westernmost and largest, is about 40 

 miles in length by 20 in breadth, and has an 

 estimated area of 700 sq. m. Its centre is filled 

 up with rocky mountains, one peak of which, the 

 highest in the group, is said to rise to a height of 

 from 4500 to 5000 feet. Upolu, about 8 miles SE. 

 of Savaii, is a rich and fertile though mountainous 

 island, with an area of between 550 and 601) sq. m. 

 On its northern side is the bay and harlxnir of 

 Apia, entered between coral-reefs; and along the 

 shore of the bay is built the town of Apia, which 

 is ' the centre of political and commercial life in 

 the Samoan group.' In 1889 R. L. Stevenson 

 settled at Vailirna near Apia, and here in I VU he was 

 buried. Thirty-six miles SE. of Upolu is Tutuila, 

 only 55 sq. m. in area, but thickly wooded and 

 very fertile. It has the only safe harbours in the 

 group, including Pango Pango, a deep indentation 

 on the south coast. The climate of Samoa is very 

 moist and variable ; the pleasantest time of the 

 year is from May to Novemlier, when the south- 

 east trade-winds prevails; during the rest of the 

 year heavy gales and rains are frequent, and occa- 

 sionally, especially from January to the middle of 

 April, the most disastrous hurricanes occur. One 

 of these storms, on the 16th of March 1889, was 

 signalised by a memorable feat of British seaman- 

 ship, II. M.S. Calliope, which was lying in Apia 

 harbour, side by side with American and German 

 men of- war, having been taken safely out to sea 

 by Captain Kane and his crew, while all the other 

 ships were lost or stranded. The products of 

 Samoa are almost entirely vegetable, consisting of 

 tropical trees and plants. Cocoa-nut trees take 

 the first place in importance, copra, the dried 

 kernel of the cocoa-nut, being the chief article of 

 export ; cotton and coffee are grown and exported 

 to a small extent, tobacco is cultivated, and the 

 sugarcane grows wild throughout the islands. 

 Fruit is plentiful, and bananas and citrons are 

 exported to New Zealand and Australia. There 

 are rich pastures, upon which imported live-stock 

 thrive ; almost the only indigenous mammal )>eing 

 a kind of bat. Among birds there is or was to be 

 found on the island of Upolu a very rare species of 

 ground pigeon, the didnnculus or little dodo (a 

 near relation of the dodo), which, nearly extinct, 

 changed its habits to be out of the way of pigs, 

 took to nesting in trees, and is now increasing. 

 The exports aim imports in 1883 were respectively 

 52,074 and 93,607, fell to 20,509 and 43,629, 

 and by 1895 had risen again to 51,351 and 83,768 

 (53,196 from Britain and British colonies). 

 <tly half of the shipping is British, the Ameri- 

 can corning next in tonnage ; trade is mainly in 

 tin- hands (if German and British firms, Gerrnun 

 imports having a greater value than British. There 

 is regular steam communication with San Francisco, 

 Auckland, and Sydney. 



The Samoans belong to the brown Polynesian 

 . and are therefore akin to the New Zealand 

 Maoris. Samoa is by tradition the birthplace of 

 tip- race, and the Samoans are perhaps the lightest 

 in colour of all the Pacific islanders. They are a 

 well-formed ami prepossessing race, but decreasing 

 in numbers, the population being, it is said, about 

 35,000. The islands were visited by Bougainville 

 in 1768, and from him they received the name of 



lies des Navigateurs, as a tribute to the skill of the 

 native boatmen. In 1787 some members of a French 

 exploring expedition under La Peronse were killed 

 in a quarrel with the natives at Massacre Bay in 

 Tutuila. The Christian religion was first intro- 

 duced in 1830, and the result of over sixty years 

 of missionary enterprise is that the Samoans are 

 now nearly all Christians. Of late years Samoa, 

 like other groups of Pacific islands, has suffered 

 from the want of a stable government, able to con- 

 trol at once the native inhabitants and the Euro- 

 pean settlers, and even under the tridominium ar- 

 ranged in 1889 between Great Britain, Germany, 

 and the United States, guaranteeing the neutrality 

 and independence of the kingdom, civil war broke 

 out in 1892 and following years, terminated only by 

 the intervention of German, British, and American 

 war- vessels. A contest over the kingship in 1899 

 culminated in civil war, and the three powers were 

 forced to intervene. Later they appointed commis- 

 sioners, who abolished the kingly office and set up a 

 provisional government, but recommended the par- 

 tition of the group, which was accomplished late in 

 1899. Great Britain withdrew, Germany received 

 Upolu (with Apia) and Savaii, and the United 

 States, Tutuila and Manua (with neighbouring 

 islets). Pango Pango, on Tutuila, previously cedea 

 (1872) to the United States for a coaling station, 

 has since attracted much commerce from Apia. 



See Miss Fraser, Stevenson's Samoa ( 1895 ) ; R. L. 

 Stevenson, A Footnote to History: Ei/jht Years of 

 Trouble in Samoa (1892) ; G. Turner, Samoa a Hundred 

 Years Ano (\SM'l;Fmd\a.y'sSouOiPaci i ficOceanDirectori, 

 W. B. Churchward, Afy Consulate in Samoa (1887) ; O. 

 Finsch, Samoafahrten (1888) ; Von Werner, Ein Deutsches 

 Krieqschiff in der Sudnee (1889); the Rev. Charles 

 PhiUipa, Samoa, fast and Present ( 1890 ) ; and a |iaper 

 by Dr ti. A. Turner in Scot. Geog. Mag. for 1889. 



>aiu<iuili;i. a district in the Russian govern- 

 ment of Kovno, inhabited by pure Lithuanians. 



Sainos (Turk. Susam Adassi), an island in the 

 .iEgean Sea, lying close to the coast of Asia Minor, 

 about 45 miles SSW. of Smyrna. Its length is 30 

 miles, its mean breadth al>out 8, and its area 180 

 sq. m. A range of mountains, which may be re- 

 garded as a continuation of Mount Mycale on the 

 mainland, runs through the island, whence its 

 name 'Samos' being an old word for 'a height.' 

 The highest peak, Mount Kerki (anc. Cerceteus), 

 reaches 4725 feet. Between its eastern extremity 

 and the mainland is the narrow channel of Mycale 

 (called by the Turks the Little Boghaz), scarcely 

 a mile wide, where in 479 B.C. the Persians were 

 totally defeated by the Greeks under the Spartan 

 Leotychides. Between Sainos and Nicaria (anc. 

 /.,-,',. ) on the west is the Great Boghaz, from 3 to 

 8 miles broad, the passage traversed by vessels 

 sailing from the Dardanelles to Syria and Egypt. 

 Sainos is well watered and very fertile. Its princi- 

 pal product is wine, which, though little esteemed 

 in ancient times, is now largely exported to 

 Fi-iinrf, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Besides 

 wine, the export* embrace olive-oil, carob beans, 

 raisins, and hides, and in 1897 were in value 

 166,928. The imports, principally manufactured 

 goods, com anil tliiur, tobacco, spirits, groceries, 

 hides, were ( 1897 ) 173,178. The chief industry is 

 tanning. The capital of the island is Vathy (pop. 

 6000), on the north coast. Previous to 1832 the 

 capital was Chora, near the south coast. The site 

 of the ancient city of Samos is occupied by Tigani. 

 This ancient city was renowned for three archi- 

 tectural works of great magnitude, an aqueduct 

 cut through the heart of a mountain nearly one 

 mile long, a gigantic mole to protect the harbour, 

 and a large temple to Hera, a rival to that of 

 Diana of the Ephesians. All that now stands of 

 this last is a solitary pillar ; the mole exists below 

 the level of the water, and is being built up again 



