Lnke Lauto. 



SAMuAN GROUP. 



lis lejffiid.— UooUl. 

 Attempt ro ca|iiutc Opotuno. 



r>7 



Emma, and she was as intelligent as she was 

 pretty. 



The chief, whose hair was white with ape, mndn 

 us warmly welcome, and wished to go over to his 

 fale-tclo Lo receive us as became chiefs, hut this I 

 would riot permit. His wives busied themBelves 

 in getting things in order, very much after the 

 fashion of other parts of the world, when a stranger 

 arrives unexpectedly, hi a few minutes the tun- 

 mats were laid, the stools, calabashes, and straw 

 put away. A clean shirt was slipped over the old 

 man's head while my attention was called ntf to 

 Hunt her object. 



Malietna's house was tint larger than the others 

 in the village, and exhibited no other difference 

 from them than in containing a dais or platform, 

 f«?cupying about a third of it, and raised about a 

 foot higher than the rest of the floor. 



When the domestic arr.unieincnts were com- 

 pitted, large bunches of bananas and fresh cocoa - 

 nuts were brought in and presented to ub. Mr. 

 Wilson was an excellent interpreter, and by his aid 

 I had a long and agreeable talk with the old chief, 

 who, when his wars were touched upon, appeared 

 full of fire and animation. 



Messrs. Dana and Coiitliony visited a lake called 

 Lauto, which lies to the westward of this pass, and 

 in the centre of an extinct crater. The edge of the 

 crater was found to be two thousand five hundred 

 and seventy feet above the sea, and the descent 

 thence to I he w ater of the lake is one hundred and 

 twenty feet, These gentlemen succeeded in obtain- 

 ing a line of sounding* across the lake, by cutting 

 down trees, and forming a raft of them. They 

 found the depth in the middle nine and a half 

 fathoms, decreasing thence gradually in all direc- 

 tions to the shore. The form of the Jake is nearly 

 circular, and it has a subterranean outlet. The 

 hill in which this crater is situated is conical, and 

 there is a low knoll at some distance to the south 

 of it, which is the only other elevation in the 

 neighbourhood above the general height of the 

 ridge. 



The border of tie* crater is clothed with the 

 usual forest foliage of these island*, which, how- 

 ever, exhibits here more than usual beauty, being 

 decorated with the finely-worked fronds of the 

 arborescent ferns, in widely-spread stars, and the 

 graceful plumes of a largo mountain palm. 



The poets of the island have appreciated the 

 beauty of the place, and allude to the perpetual 

 verdure which adorns the banks of the lake, in the 

 following line : — 



" Lwmto'o e le tot a e Ian mea." 



" Laulo, untouched by withered leaf." 



There is a legend conuected with this lake, that 

 has more of poetic beauty and feeling than one 

 would have supposed to exist among so rude a 

 people. It is ns follows. 



Many generations since, during a war between 

 Upolu and Savaii, a number of war-canoes from 

 l he latter bland crossed over to attack Ulatamoa 

 (or, ns it is now called, Uhraiocnga), the principal 

 town in the district of Anna. At the time of their 

 approach, two brothers, To'o ami Ata, chanced to 

 be paddling their canoes in the cliannel between 

 the reef and the shore, and before they could reach 

 the laud were attacked by a party of Snvaiians. 



After a valiant defence, Ata was overpowered and 

 slain, while To'o narrowly escaped the same fate. 



Overwhelmed with sorrow at the loss of a bro- 

 ther whom he tenderly loved, To'o retired to a 

 neighbouring mountain, ami burying himself in the 

 darkest recesses of its forests, made them resound 

 with his bitter lamentations. At length in his 

 wanderings he came to the summit, where, stoop- 

 io- down, he scooped out with hi< liiuols a vast 

 hollow, and, leaning over its brink, suffered his 

 tears to fail in until it was filler] . The lake thus 

 formed bus ever since borne the appellation of 

 Lanu-to'o. 



The regard of To'o for his brother's memory 

 was further evinced by his adoption of A la's name, 

 conjoined to liis own as his family title, and the 

 appellation of Toomata, a contraction uf Te'o-nia- 

 ata, is retained bv his descendants, who are still 

 chiefs of note in Upolu, and from whom the tradi- 

 tion was derived. 



The lake of Lauto is regarded with superstitious 

 dread by the natives, who believe it to be the abode 

 of the spirits, who, in former times, were regarded 

 with great veneration, and worshipped. These 

 were supposed to inhabit the waters of the lake, in 

 the sluipe id eels, as thick as a cocoa-nut tree, and 

 two nilhoms long. The attempt uf our gentlemen 

 to explore it was looked upon as such a profanation 

 that their native guides left, them, and regarded 

 them as persons doomed to accident if not to 

 destruction. The eels were represented as so 

 Hjivago and fierce that they would bite a person's 

 leg off. No eels, however, nor any other fish, were 

 seen in the take. 



In the neighbourhood of the crater no rock was 

 observed in the place, nor any light scoria. Ouly a 

 few fragments of atone were scattered about. 



The cone of the crater of Lauto is flatter than 

 the others of the same character that were visited, 

 and particularly than that of Mount Tufua. This 

 is the westernmost uf them all, and lies behind 

 Fasctootai. It rises so boldly, that it is seen dis- 

 linetly from the sea. This, wiih all the other craters, 

 are situated upon the central ridge, and the must 

 conspicuous uf those which remain, are Siusiuga, 

 which lies behind Sagnna and Faliata. There is 

 also one upon Mount xMalata, in the rear of Fnn- 

 galoa, and another on the southern side of the 

 island, near Salomana. 



In traversing the island of Upoln, many deep 

 forties wrre seen, in which there were waterfalls. 

 One of these cascades was measured, and found to 

 be seven hunditd and fifty feet in height, so that 

 the whole of the water was dissipated in spray 

 before it reached the bottom. These glens are- 

 wild in the extreme, and beautiful, from the great 

 variety and peculiar character uf the foliage with 

 which they are clothed. 



The south side of Upolu, like that of Tahiti, is 

 much more luxuriant than the northern, which is 

 owing to a like cause, namely, that it receives 

 mon 1 moisture ft'oni the prevailing winds, 



The wild orange grows every where in great 

 abundance, and iu some places the road was lite- 

 rally strewed with the fruit which here equals the 

 cultivated variety in size. 



In pursuance of the resolution I had adopted, 

 Captain Hudson bet out on the 3ttth uf ( letober, 

 with the bouts of his ship, for the purpose of 

 attempting the capture of Opotuno. This noted 



H 



