T U T U I L A. 



75 



basaltic rock. Above this height, the surface is covered with a 

 luxuriant vegetation to the very top of the mountains ; the cocoa-nut 

 tree and tree-fern give the principal character to this beautiful 

 scenery. Dead coral is seen along the shores, above high water 

 mark. 





The harbour of Pago-pago is one of the most singular in all the 

 Polynesian isles. It is the last point on which one would look for a 

 place of shelter : the coast near it is peculiarly rugged, and has no 

 appearance of indentations, and the entrance being narrow, is not 

 easily observed. Its shape has been compared to a variety of 

 articles; that which it most nearly resembles is a retort; it is sur- 

 rounded on all sides by inaccessible mural precipices, from eight 

 hundred to one thousand feet in height. The lower parts of these 

 rocks are bare, but they are clothed above with luxuriant vegetation. 

 So impassable did the rocky barrier appear in all but two places, that 

 the harbour was likened to the valley of Rasselas changed into a 

 lake. The two breaks in the precipice are at the head of the harbour 

 and at the Pilot's Cove. The harbour is of easy access, and its 

 entrance, which is about a third of a mile in width, is well marked 

 by the Tower Rock and Devil's Point. 



About three miles to the southward, off the mouth of the harbour, 

 there is a coral bank half a mile long, on which the sea breaks in 



