102 De»crlpilonof Saraii S A MOAN 



wound round a line, and was little less than half 

 ;i Quia in length. Jt was nmro formidable in 

 appearance than in reality. This net MM taken 

 i nit at high water to the coral reef, in three pieces, 

 then fastened together, ami thus math.' to enclose a 

 large extent of water. This space was gradually 

 contracted by doubling up the net, which answ ered 

 the same purpose as the drawing of a seine. The 

 fish did not attempt to pass it, and were thus driven 

 towards a certain point, where n sort of sack of 

 malting had been plac« d for them to enter. Afl flu 

 fish were gradually enclosed by the mat, and the 

 tide fell, the ucene became an animated one. Men, 

 women, and hoys, to the number of two or three 

 hundred, were eagerly engaged in picking up nr 

 catching the stragglers as they were seen leaping 

 up ; the whole area seemed alive with fish, jump- 

 ing in every direction, pome over the head* of the 

 natives, and thus escaping, while others leaped into 

 hand-nets. About a cuuoe-Juad was caught, com- 

 prising thirty different kinds of tish, some of which 

 were mx or eight pounds in weight, hut the majority 

 wore smaller. The haul was considered an unsuc- 

 cessful one, which was attributed to some misun- 

 di rs:ajnliiigand mismanagement among the native-, 

 by which a large stone fell Oil the net, and alb- wed 

 many of the fish to escape. 



Savaii is the most western island of the Samoan 

 Group, and is alBO the largest, being forty miles in 

 length and twenty in breadth. It is not, however, 

 as populous, or as important, as several of the 

 others, h differs from any of the others hi its 

 Appearance, for its shore is low, and the ascent 

 thence to the centre is gradual, except where the 

 rones of a few extinct craters are seen. In the 

 middle of the island a peak rises, which is almost 

 continually enveloped in clouds, aud is I lie highest 

 land in the group. On account of these clouds, 

 angles could not be taken for determining its 

 height accurately, but it certainly exceeds four 

 thousand feet. 



The interior of the island is rarely entered, even 

 by natives, and has never been penetrated by 

 strangers. The only settlements are upon the 

 shore, aloiifj which the natives always journey, and 

 there are no paths across it. 



Another marked difference between Snvnii and 

 the other large islands, is the want of any perma- 

 nent streams, — a circumstance which may be 

 explained, notwithstanding the frequency of rain, 

 by the porous uature of the rock (vesicular lava) of 

 which it is chiefly composed. Water, however, 

 gushes out near the shore in copious -.priiii^, ami 

 when heavy and continual rains have occurred, 

 streams are formed in the ravines but these soon 

 disappear after the rains have ceased. 



The co nil reef attached to this island is inter- 

 rupted to the south and west, where the surf beats 

 full upon the rocky shore. There are, in conse- 

 quence, but few places where bonis can land, and 



only one harbour for ships, that of Mataaltia ; even 

 this is unsafe from November to February, w ben 

 the north-westerly gales pre\ail. 



The soil is fertile, and was composed in ever) 

 part of the island that was visited, of decomposed 

 volcanic rock and vegetable mould. 



The Porpoise, having taken Dr. Pickering and 

 Lieutenant Maury again on board, set sail for Tu- 

 tuila, for the purpose of joining the Vincenues, ond 

 beat to windward along the south side of L'poht. 

 During this passage many of the crew became sick, 

 which rendered it necessary to stop for a few days 

 at P.iL'o-pago, in order to recruit them. Here 

 they all speedily recovered, except one man, named 

 David Miodget, who died. The disorder was attri- 

 buted to the dampness of the vessel. 



The delay in the arrival of the Porpoise at Apia 

 caused me to send the Flying- I-'ith to Tutuila,, 

 whence they both returned to Apia. 



Previous to sailing, at the pressing instance of the 

 chiefs, 1 ordered the marines and small-arm men 

 of the squadron, in all about one hundred and fifty, 

 to be sent on shore, with their music, for exercise. 

 They had been well drilled to act on shore should 

 occasion require, and were provided for the occa- 

 sion with blank cartridges. The uatives from far 

 and near were collected to witness the review, and 

 few see nes that occurred during the voyage were 

 as amusing as this. The old and youug were 

 equally delighted, and il was ludicrous to see them 

 endeavouring to imitate the soldiers in their marches 

 and countermarches. They were not satisfied un- 

 lets the drummers were constantly healing, and 

 ivere particularly delighted with the bass-drum. 

 The tiring occasioned some alarm at first, bill win n 

 they saw it did no harm, they became reconciled to 

 it, although even to the last they would scamper off 

 to a distance at each discharge, 



During our stay in this group, we experienced 

 two slight sliocks of earthquakes ; their occurrence 

 here is not unusual, but there is no account of any 

 damage having been done. Their motion is gene- 

 rally tremulous and horizontal ; one, however, has 

 been experienced of a wavy description. They are 

 said by the foreigners often to produce the sensa- 

 tion of sea-siekness. 



(in the 10th of November the whole squadron 

 was assembled in the harbour of Apia, after having 

 been actively engaged since the 8th of October in 

 examining the different islands, and making sur- 

 veys of their coasts and harbours, &c. This work 

 was al! expeditiously and well done, with the ex- 

 ception of the south side of the island of L'polu, 

 which was imperfect in some respects ; it was con- 

 sequently re-surveyed ill the following year, and 

 the charts finished. Besides the surveys full series 

 of experiments w« re made in magnetism, and ex- 

 tensive collections obtained in natural history, 

 botany, ic, the islands being traversed by parties 

 in several directions for this purpose. 



