THE SAMOAN OR NAVIGATORS' ISLANDS. 215 



;i mile in width between Tower Rock on the port-side, and 

 Breaker Point on the starboard-hand, with soundings of 36 

 fathoms. A little more than 1 mile from Breaker Point 

 on the starboard-hand to Goat Island on the port-hand 

 we open out the inner harbour, which extends 1 mile west 

 at a breadth of 3000 feet abreast of Goat Island, to 

 1100 feet at the head of the bay. Carrying soundings from 

 18 fathoms to 6 fathoms at the head of the bay, the reefs 

 which skirt the shores are from 300 feet to 500 feet wide, and 

 almost awash at low sea. They have at their edge from 4 

 fathoms to 5, 6, and 8, and deeper in the middle of the 

 harbour. The hills rise abruptly round this bay from 800 to 

 1000 feet in height. They are covered from base to summit 

 with a luxuriant growth of evergreen foliage; the little valleys 

 which nestle at their bases, and the narrow belt of land which 

 skirts the shore, is densely covered with cocoa-nut groves, 

 bread-fruit, banana, orange, pine-apple, lime-trees, and a 

 variety of tropical plants. The different streams of fresh 

 water which pour into the placid waters of the bay, dotted 

 with canoes, some of which are capable of carrying three 

 hundred people, complete a most interesting picture. The 

 island of Tutuila is 17 miles iii length by 5 in breadth. 

 There is nothing to prevent a steamer, night or day, from 

 proceeding to her wharf. About half-way from Breaker Point 

 to Goat Island, and near mid-channel, is Whale Rock, with 8 

 feet of water over it at low sea. It has a circumference of 

 about 50 feet, and breaks frequently. A buoy obviates 

 danger. The services of a pilot can never be required by 

 anyone who has visited this port before, as the trade-winds 

 from east-south-east carry a vessel from near Breaker Point 

 Avith a free sheet on a north-north-west course into the harbour. ' 

 A friend of mine, who was resident in this, place twenty -two 



