Lake Lauto. 



SAMOAN GROUP. 



Its legend. Upolu. 

 Attempt to capture Opotuno. 



1 



Emma, and she was as intelligent as she was 

 pretty. 



The chief, whose hair was white with age, made 

 us warmly welcome, and wished to go over to his 

 fale-tele to receive us as became chiefs, but this I 

 would not permit. His wives busied themselves 

 in getting things in order, very much after the 

 fashion of other parts of the world, when a stranger 

 arrives unexpectedly. In a few minutes the fine 

 mats were laid, the stools, calabashes, and straw 

 put away. A clean shirt was slipped over the old 

 man's head while my attention was called off to 

 another object. 



Malietoa's house was not larger than the others 

 in the village, and exhibited no other difference 

 from them than in containing a dais or platform, 

 occupying about a third of it, and raised about a 

 foot higher than the rest of the floor. 



When the domestic arrangements were com- 

 pleted, large bunches of bananas and fresh cocoa- 

 nuts were brought in and presented to us. Mr. 

 Wilson was an excellent interpreter, and by his aid 

 I had a long and agreeable talk with the old chief, 

 who, when his wars were touched upon, appeared 

 full of fire and animation. 



Messrs. Dana and Couthouy visited a lake called 

 Lauto, which lies to the westward of this pass, and 

 in the centre of an extinct crater. The edge of the 

 crater was found to be two thousand five hundred 

 and seventy feet above the sea, and the descent 

 thence to the water of the lake is one hundred and 

 twenty feet. These gentlemen succeeded in obtain- 

 ing a line of soundings across the lake, by cutting 

 down trees, and foi-ming a raft of them. They 

 found the depth in the middle nine and a half 

 fathoms, decreasing thence gradually in all direc- 

 tions to the shore. The form of the lake is nearly 

 circular, and it has a subterranean outlet. The 

 hill in which this crater is situated is conical, and 

 there is a low knoll at some distance to the south 

 of it, which is the only other elevation in the 

 neighbourhood above the general height of the 

 ridge. 



The border of the crater is clothed with the 

 usual forest foliage of these islands, which, how- 

 ever, exhibits here more than usual beauty, being 

 decorated with the finely-worked fronds of the 

 arborescent ferns, in widely- spread stars, and the 

 graceful plumes of a large mountain palm. 



The poets of the island have appreciated the 

 beauty of the place, and allude to the perpetual 

 verdure which adorns the banks of the lake, in the 

 following line : 



" Lauuto'o e le toi a e lau mea." 



" Lauto, untouched by withered leaf." 



There is a legend connected with this lake, that 

 has more of poetic beauty and feeling than one 

 would have supposed to exist among so rude a 

 people. It is as follows. 



Many generations since, during a war between 

 Upolu and Savaii, a number of war-canoes from 

 the latter island crossed over to attack Ulatamoa 

 (or, as it is now called, Ulumoenga), the principal 

 town in the district of Aana. At the time of their 

 approach, two brothers, To'o and Ata, chanced to 

 be paddling their canoes in the channel between 

 the reef and the shore, and before they could reach 

 the land were attacked by a party of Savaiians. 



After a valiant defence, Ata was overpowered and 

 slain, while To'o narrowly escaped the.same fate. 



Overwhelmed with sorrow at the loss of a bro- 

 ther whom he tenderly loved, To'o retired to a 

 neighbouring mountain, and burying himself in the 

 darkest recesses of its forests, made them resound 

 with his bitter lamentations. At length in his 

 wanderings he came to the summit, where, stoop- 

 ing down, he scooped out with his hands a vast 

 hollow, and, leaning over its brink, suffered his 

 tears to fall in until it was filled. The lake thus 

 formed has ever since borne the appellation of 

 Lauu-to'o. 



The regard of To'o for his brother's memory 

 was further evinced by his adoption of Ata's name, 

 conjoined to his own as his family title, and the 

 appellation of Toomata, a contraction of To'o-ma- 

 ata, is retained by his descendants, who are still 

 chiefs of note in Upolu, and from whom the tradi- 

 tion was derived. 



The lake of Lauto is regarded with superstitious 

 dread by the natives, who believe it to be the abode 

 of the spirits, who, in former times, were regarded 

 with great veneration, and worshipped. These 

 were supposed to inhabit the waters of the lake, in 

 the shape of eels, as thick as a cocoa-nut tree, and 

 two fathoms long. The attempt of our gentlemen 

 to explore it was looked upon as such a profanation 

 that their native guides left them, and regarded 

 them as persons doomed to accident if not to 

 destruction. The eels were represented as so 

 savage and fierce that they would bite a person's 

 leg off. No eels, however, nor any other fish, were 

 seen in the lake. 



In the neighbourhood of the crater no rock was 

 observed in the place, nor any light scoria. Only a 

 few fragments of stone were scattered about. 



The cone of the crater of Lauto is flatter than 

 the others of the same character that were visited, 

 and particularly than that of Mount Tofua. This 

 is the westernmost of them all, and lies behind 

 Fasetootai. It rises so boldly, that it is seen dis- 

 tinctly from the sea. This, with all the other craters, 

 are situated upon the central ridge, and the most 

 conspicuous of those which remain, are Siusiuga, 

 which lies behind Sagana and Faliata, There is 

 also one upon Mount Malata, in the rear of Fan- 

 galoa, and another on the southern side of the 

 island, near Salomana. 



In traversing the island of Upolu, many deep 

 gorges were seen, in which there were waterfalls. 

 One of these cascades was measured, and found to 

 be seven hundred and fifty feet in height, so that 

 the whole of the water was dissipated in spray 

 before it reached the bottom. These glens are 

 wild in the extreme, and beautiful, from the great 

 variety and peculiar character of the foliage with 

 which they are clothed. 



The south side of Upolu, like that of Tahiti, is 

 much more luxuriant than the northern, which is 

 owing to a like cause, namely, that it receives 

 more moisture from the prevailing winds. 



The wild orange grows every where in great 

 abundance, and in some places the road was lite- 

 rally strewed with the fruit which here equals the 

 cultivated variety in size. 



In pursuance of the resolution I had adopted, 

 Captain Hudson set out on the 30th of October, 

 with the boats of his ship, for the purpose of 

 attempting the capture of Opotuno. This noted 



H 



