THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Dr. J. P. Thomson 



THE GRAVE OE ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, ON OPOLU, SAMOAN ISLANDS 



On the summit of Mount Vaea a cemented monument, in accordance with native design, 

 has been erected, by native labor, over the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson. On the side 

 facing the east are carved his own words : 



'Under the wide and starry sky, 

 Dig the grave and let me lie, 

 Glad did I live and gladly die, 



And I laid me down with a will. 



"This be the verse you grave for me : 

 Here he lies where he longed to be ; 

 Home is the sailor, home from sea, 



And the hunter home from the hill." 



Chiseled on the tomb are a thistle and a hibiscus flower, typical of his countries. 



it would be a simple matter to isolate 

 Australia and New Zealand, as the enor- 

 mous oil supply of Sumatra, the coals of 

 Australia, and the inexhaustible food re- 

 sources of the Pacific islands would ob- 

 viate the necessity of leaving the locality 

 for supplies of any kind. And from such 

 a position it would be equally effective in 

 blocking the Panama Canal, in interrupt- 

 ing communication across the Indian 

 Ocean, invading the East Indies, the 

 Philippines, and menacing Japan. 



CONTROL. OE THE ISLANDS REDISTRIBUTED 



In point of fact, there is no other region 

 on the globe possessing such remarkable 

 natural facilities for the dominating pur- 

 poses of an ambitious and aggressive 

 power. 



As an outcome of the defeat of the 

 Central Powers and the distribution at 

 Paris of the control of enemy colonial 



possessions, the Australian Mandate gives 

 to that commonwealth complete control 

 over Germany's former Pacific territories, 

 with the exception of Samoa, the Mar- 

 shall, Caroline, and Mariana Islands, and 

 the phosphate deposits of Nauru, the 

 ownership of the last named being shared 

 with Great Britain and New Zealand. 



German Samoa was placed under a 

 New Zealand mandate. 



The Japanese hold the Marshall, the 

 Mariana (except Guam), and the Caro- 

 line Islands under the Peace Conference 

 mandate, and have lost no time in getting 

 a firm footing, not only there, but in other 

 groups of the Pacific, for the purpose of 

 trade. 



There is a monthly service of steamers 

 between Japan and the Marshall Islands, 

 and Japanese goods are being distributed 

 among the islanders in all the groups of 

 the Pacific. 



