64S GEOLOGY OF SAMOA AND THE ERUPTIONS IN SAVAII, 



is based on a saying amongst the Samoans, used whenever a man 

 returns from a "melaga'' (trip, voyage) and finds trouble in his 

 house : — " When I left all was peaceful and beautiful coral reef 

 coast, and now, when I return, all is confusion and ironbound 

 coast." These words are said to have been first used by a 

 princess on her return from Tonga whither she had gone to marry 

 a king. She belonged to the royal family of Samoa and lived 

 about fourteen generations ago. Probably about that time it 

 was that the lavas came down which created the small " Mu " at 

 Aopo, and the Papalauleleiflow; and perhaps also an older '• Mu " 

 underlying the presentbig "Mu" of Aopo. On all these lava-plains, 

 as already mentioned, we find the original crust almost as fresh 

 as on the day of its formation, with wrinkles, knobbed, ropy 

 and tapestry-like folds, and the general characteristics of the 

 " pahoehoe " type of lava-flow. 



In a few places in Samoa there are unwooded patches which 

 have a different nature. On these the soil is deep, ashy, or 

 clayey, and supports ferns, grass, and a few " fala " (Pandanus) 

 trees. Probably, such patches represent volcanic ash deposits. 



(6) The New Flow of 1905-06.— The new flow is situated in the 

 north-eastern part of the island, and comes from the new crater 

 which formed a couple of miles to the north of Mt. Pule (crater 

 lake) on the mountain slopes. The new crater is seven or eight 

 miles from the sea in the shortest direction, but the lava, 

 following a circuitous course, runs an even greater distance before 

 reaching the sea. South and east of the crater are remnants 

 of older craters; and north of it, between it and Matauto, there 

 are a couple of small cones (Mumea and Mauga Ele, near Vai- 

 puli) barely reaching a thousand feet in altitude, which have 

 perfect craters and are composed of lava cinders The new 

 volcano attains an altitude of 2000 feet. The lava rom it covers 

 an area of about 30 square miles, and flowed from the vent in a 

 north-easterly direction. Fig. 3, from a plan constructed by 

 Mr. Williams, the Amtmann of Savaii, shows the area covered by 

 each of the big lava flows since August, 1905. The thickness of 

 the lava varies greatly, depending on proximity to the volcano 



