88 



TUTUILA. 



mination to make another trial, under more favourable circumstances ; 

 but from our constant occupation and fatigue of the crew in the day- 

 time, we were unable to renew the experiment. 



A few days before leaving Pago-pago, Mr. Murray brought to my 

 notice the account of a murder that was supposed to have been com- 

 mitted on a foreigner at the west end of the island, for the sake of the 

 little property he had about him. The report, however, appeared to 

 me to be too vague to authorize any delay for the purpose of making 

 an examination into it; and finding the man was reported to be a 

 runaway convict, I had no right to interfere in the affair, and there- 

 fore, took no steps to inquire into it. 



On the 7th of November, 1837, this harbour exhibited one of those 

 remarkable phenomena of the oscillation of the tidal wave. The 

 observations made on it are extracted from the letter of a missionary 

 resident at Pago-pago, to the Rev. Mr. Mills, of Upolu, who obli- 

 gingly gave me permission to copy them. (They will be found in 

 Appendix VIII.) 



The weather during the preceding evening was boisterous, with 

 frequent scpialls from the east, which continued till 7 a. m., from 

 which time the day was cloudy, with frequent light showers. After 

 5 p. m., it continued to rain until ten o'clock at night. On the 8th, 

 the tide continued to ebb and flow in an irregular manner. The day 

 was fine and very warm. This phenomenon does not appear to have 

 been observed at any other place in the Samoan Group, but was 

 experienced, as will be noticed hereafter, at the Group Hawaii. 



The peculiar formation of the harbour of Pago-pago, would make it 

 more likely to be observed there than elsewhere. The ordinary rise 

 of the tide is no more than four and a half feet, and neither before, 

 during the continuance, nor after this phenomenon, were any shocks 

 of earthquakes observed in any part of the group where missionaries 

 are settled. 



NAVIGATOR CLUBS, ETC. 



