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Description of Savaii. 



SAMOAN GROUP. 



The Porpoise sails for Tutuila 

 and Upolu. 



wound round a line, and was little less than half 

 a mile in length. It was more formidable in 

 appearance than in reality. This net was taken 

 out at high water to the coral reef, in three pieces, 

 then fastened together, and thus made to enclose a 

 large extent of water. This space was gradually- 

 contracted by doubling up the net, which answered 

 the same purpose as the drawing of a seine. The 

 fish did not attempt to pass it, and were thus driven 

 towards a certain point, where a sort of sack of 

 matting had been placed for them to enter. As the 

 fish were gradually enclosed by the mat, and the 

 tide fell, the scene became an animated one. Men, 

 women, and boys, to the number of two or three 

 hundred, were eagerly engaged in picking up or 

 catching the stragglers as they were seen leaping 

 up ; the whole area seemed alive with fish, jump- 

 ing in every direction, some over the heads of the 

 natives, and thus escaping, while others leaped into 

 hand-nets. About a canoe-load was caught, com- 

 prising thirty different kinds of fish, some of which 

 were six or eight pounds in weight, but the majority 

 were smaller. The haul was considered an unsuc- 

 cessful one, which was attributed to some misun- 

 derstanding and mismanagement among the natives, 

 by which a large stone fell on the net, and allowed 

 many of the fish to escape. 



Savaii is the most western island of the Samoan 

 Group, and is also the largest, being forty miles in 

 length and twenty in breadth. It is not, however, 

 as populous, or as important, as several of the 

 others. It differs from any of the others in its 

 appearance, for its shore is low, and the ascent 

 thence to the centre is gradual, except where the 

 cones of a few extinct craters are seen. In the 

 middle of the island a peak rises, which is almost 

 continually enveloped in clouds, and is the highest 

 land in the group. On account of these clouds, 

 angles could not be taken for determining its 

 height accurately, but it certainly exceeds four 

 thousand feet. 



The interior of the island is rarely entered, even 

 by natives, and has never been penetrated by 

 strangers. The only settlements are upon the 

 shore, along which the natives always journey, and 

 there are no paths across it. 



Another marked difference between Savaii and 

 the other large islands, is the want of any perma- 

 nent streams, a circumstance which may be 

 explained, notwithstanding the frequency of rain, 

 by the porous nature of the rock (vesicular lava) of 

 which it is chiefly composed. Water, however, 

 gushes out near the shore in copious springs, and 

 when heavy and continual rains have occurred, 

 streams are formed in the ravines, but these soon 

 disappear after the rains have ceased. 



The coral reef attached to this island is inter- 

 rupted to the south and west, where the surf beats 

 full upon the rocky shore. There are, in conse- 

 quence, but few places where boats can land, and 



only one harbour for ships, that of Mataatua ; even 

 this is unsafe from November to February, when 

 the north-westerly gales prevail. 



The soil is fertile, and was composed in every 

 part of the island that was visited, of decomposed 

 volcanic rock and vegetable mould. 



The Porpoise, having taken Dr. Pickering and 

 Lieutenant Maury again on board, set sail for Tu- 

 tuila, for the purpose of joining the Vincennes, and 

 beat to windward along the south side of Upolu. 

 During this passage many of the crew became sick, 

 which rendered it necessary to stop for a few days 

 at Pago-pago, in order to recruit them. Here 

 they all speedily recovered, except one man, named 

 David Blodget, who died. The disorder was attri- 

 buted to the dampness of the vessel. 



The delay in the arrival of the Porpoise at Apia 

 caused me to send the Flying-Fish to Tutuila, 

 whence they both returned to Apia. 



Previous to sailing, at the pressing instance of the 

 chiefs, I ordered the marines and small-arm men 

 of the squadron, in all about one hundred and fifty, 

 to be sent on shore, with their music, for exercise. 

 They had been well drilled to act on shore should 

 occasion require, and were provided for the occa- 

 sion with blank cartridges. The natives from far 

 and near were collected to witness the review, and 

 few scenes that occurred during the voyage were 

 as amusing as this. The old and young were 

 equally delighted, and it was ludicrous to see them 

 endeavouring to imitate the soldiers in their marches 

 and countermarches. They were not satisfied un- 

 less the drummers were constantly beating, and 

 were particularly delighted with the bass-drum. 

 The firing occasioned some alarm at first, but when 

 they saw it did no harm, they became reconciled to 

 it, although even to the last they would scamper off 

 to a distance at each discharge. 



During our stay in this group, we experienced 

 two slight shocks of earthquakes ; their occurrence 

 here is not unusual, but there is no account of any 

 damage having been done. Their motion is gene- 

 rally tremulous and horizontal ; one, however, has 

 been experienced of a wavy description. They are 

 said by the foreigners often to produce the sensa- 

 tion of sea-sickness. 



On the 10th of November the whole squadron 

 was assembled in the harbour of Apia, after having 

 been actively engaged since the 8th of October in 

 examining the different islands, and making sur- 

 veys of their coasts and harbours, &c. This work 

 was all expeditiously and well done, with the ex- 

 ception of the south side of the island of Upolu, 

 which was imperfect in some respects ; it was con- 

 sequently re-surveyed in the following year, and 

 the charts finished. Besides the surveys, full series 

 of experiments were made in magnetism, and ex- 

 tensive collections obtained in natural history, 

 botany, &c., the islands being traversed by parties 

 in several directions for this purpose. 



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