502 COxMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL 



islands is guaranteed by Great Britain, Germany, and 

 America, but their future is still uncertain. Owino; to 

 the intrigues of foreign adventurers, the government has 

 Ijeen very unsettled ; a chronic native war has prevailed 

 since 1875, and in 1893 a crisis occurred which added 

 still further to the political difficulties which harass the 

 little State. Under a settled government there is very 

 little doubt that the islands would become prosperous 

 enough. Samoa has been described as one of the loveliest, 

 most agreeable, and productive of all the South Sea 

 groups, and the fertility of the soil is such that the 

 cultivation of tropical plants yields abundant returns, 

 and the means of subsistence are perhaps more easily 

 obtained than in any other part of the world. 



For all practical purposes Samoa may be described as 

 consisting of four islands: two small — Tutuila and Manua; 

 and two of considerably greater area — Savaii and Upolu. 

 All are volcanic, and for the most part surrounded with 

 fringing reefs, but the intervening seas are quite free from 

 dangers ; and the presence of good harbours, and the fact 

 that the islands lie in the steamer track between Sydney 

 and San Francisco, render the group of importance. The 

 total land -area is estimated at 1100 square miles. 

 Savaii, the largest island, is compact and quadi'angular in 

 shape, with a length of about 40 miles and an area of 

 657 square miles, or more than half that of the entire 

 group. It is nevertheless the least fitted to support a 

 large population, having been so recently subject to 

 volcanic action that much of its surface is absolutely 

 sterile. It has many extinct craters, chief among which 

 is the peak of Mua, which rises to a height of 4000 feet, 

 and another of 5413 feet in the centre of the island. 

 Going inland from the district of Aopo, the traveller 

 passes over a tract of country thickly strewn with scoriee 



