SAILING THE SEVEN SEAS 



685 



his mother and had nothing to eat. These 

 islanders love babies and often adopt an- 

 other's child as their own ; so a little one 

 may have three or four mothers. 



When the supply ship is a long time 

 coming, the diet of fish and coconut be- 

 comes very tiresome. Their supply of 

 tobacco was exhausted also ; so brisk trad- 

 ing went on. 



The people are bright and healthy look- 

 ing and seem very industrious, making 

 excellent hats, mats, fans, and baskets. 



The island was swept by the sea in 

 1 914. There was no wind, but about four 

 o'clock in the afternoon enormous waves 

 began marching upon the beach. All the 

 houses on the narrow strip of land were 

 soon swept away, and the people had just 

 sufficient time to launch their large boats 

 in the lagoon, where they spent the night, 

 riding out the storm in safety, with their 

 boats tied with long ropes to the larger 

 coconut trees. When we arrived they 

 were just getting their houses rebuilt with 

 lumber brought from New Zealand. 



a native; dance arranged For the 



VISITORS 



The natives arranged a dance for us. 

 This is their one form of amusement and 

 entertainment. They had a regular team, 

 ten boys and ten girls, who went through 

 an elaborate dance in perfect unison. One 

 of the boys was the leader and announced 

 the changes on a boatswain's whistle, 

 while the time and music were furnished 

 by a band of men and boys beating on 

 weird drums and wooden resonators, 

 whose loud, shrill notes could be heard 

 for miles. 



Each dancer stands alone, and the evo- 

 lutions depend largely upon the supple- 

 ness of ankle, knee, and hip. 



As we were leaving, after distributing 

 gifts of tobacco, food, and clothing, the 

 natives lined up to shake hands, loading 

 us with gifts of pearl shells, mats, fans, 

 and strings of beads, some even giving us 

 the hats they were wearing. The girls 

 gave us their bead necklaces. 



The chief industries on these islands 

 are the gathering of the nuts from the 

 dense groves of coconut palms which 

 cover all the visible land, making the 

 copra, and diving in the lagoons for pearl 

 shells. Some bananas and papayas were 



growing near the village and nearly all 

 these islands have their pigs and chickens. 



We arrived at Apia, Western Samoa, 

 late in June, after stopping for mail and 

 supplies at Pago Pago. The W T estern 

 Samoan Islands are now under the man- 

 date of New Zealand, and a visit to the 

 magnetic, meteorological, and atmospheric- 

 electric observatory located at Mulinuu, 

 just outside of Apia, was the chief object 

 of our stop here. 



We were entertained in Robert Louis 

 Stevenson's old home at Vailima, which 

 is now the Governor's residence. We went 

 swimming by moonlight in the artificial 

 pool which Stevenson had built in a beau- 

 tiful place back of his home, hollowed out 

 in the bed of the shady mountain stream 

 of clear, cool, sparkling water, just at the 

 foot of a little cascade, where one may 

 play in the caress of the natural shower, 

 pulled and tugged by the strong, yet gentle 

 hands of the falling water. 



A gate has been built in the retaining 

 dam, so that the pool may be filled or 

 emptied at will. 



Almost overhanging this pool is a 

 mountain which was Stevenson's favorite 

 haunt, the crest overlooking his home and 

 facing a beautiful outlook over the town, 

 harbor, and coast. The winding pathway 

 leading to the top is steep and is over- 

 hung with tropical vegetation. 



At the very summit, in a little cleared 

 space, in the midst of this tropical jungle, 

 surrounded with beautiful red hibiscus 

 blooms, Stevenson and his wife lie buried. 



UNIQUE EISHING METHODS 



During our leisure moments we visited 

 the "jumping rock" and joined the native 

 girls in their running leap from the bank 

 far out over the stream, to plunge 40 feet 

 to the surface of the deep pool below, at 

 the foot of a waterfall. 



We wandered out over the coral reef 

 and watched the natives fishing. One 

 would hold a short net over the outer end 

 of an opening in the reef, while his com- 

 panion would drive the fish into the net 

 by thrusting a long pole into the water as 

 he walked along one side of the opening. 



The women were hunting among the 

 small cracks in the reef for cuttle-fish, 

 which they consider a great delicacy. 

 Armed only with a long, sharp stick, they 



