SAMOA 



for it was soon appeased by the commander's courtesy. 

 Having seen the process of making ava, which was not 

 appetizing to an American palate, he declined to partake 

 of this popular drink, and received instead a fresh cocoa- 

 nut. The whole story of the dinner and the return to 

 the Vincennes is worth looking up in Wilkes's narrative. 



Then began the surveys, the Vincennes taking Tut- 

 uila ; the Porpoise, Savaii ; Upolu being reserved for the 

 Peacock and Flying-Fish. The harbor of Pago-Pago, or 

 Tutuila, or Cuthbert's Harbor, is the most notable 

 harbor in all the Polynesian isles ; in shape like a retort, 

 surrounded on all sides by precipices eight or ten hundred 

 feet high, in which there are but two breaks. Here 

 Wilkes gathered some particulars respecting the murder 

 of De Langle and his comrades on the voyage of La 

 Perouse. Here it is that the United States is establish- 

 ing a coaling station. 



The island Upolu (known also as Opoloo, Ojalava, 

 Oahtooha) includes the well-known bay and town of 

 Apia. This harbor, which lies on the steamer's route 

 from California to New Zealand, has rapidly increased in 

 importance since Germany, England, and the United 

 States assumed the protectorate of the Samoans, and is 

 now the centre of English and American interests, rival- 

 ling Tahiti, where the French are dominant. A recent 

 writer predicts that Apia will become a favorite winter 

 resort for the New Zealanders who are forced to go north 

 for warmer weather. It was declared an international 

 port in 1890. A short time previous (March, 1889,) oc- 

 curred that fearful hurricane which will never be forgotten 

 in the annals of the navy. 



Apia has still other distinctions. It was the home, 

 during the last four years of his life, of that gifted writer, 

 Robert Louis Stevenson, who sought, as Colvin says, to 

 find, the words of vital aptness and animation, with 

 which to describe the beauties of the enchanted island, 



75 



