FOREST AND STREAM, 
[July g, 1898. 
Sty? Sfi ar ^ n l m ^onnsL 
A Samoan Forest Stream. 
The climate, the indolence which comes to white men 
in the tropics, and the absence of incentive combine to 
make the Samoan bush practically unknown. It is only 
when some globe-trotting tourist or naval officer corner 
to the islands fresh from cold countries that any at- 
tempt is made to penetrate the jungle, and even in 
such cases one trip proves quite sufficient. From this 
it happens that very few indeed have ever visited the Afu 
Tapti or "Sacred Waterfall," which is one of the land- 
marks for the harbor of Apia. From the vessels in the 
harbor it shines as a bright ribbon against the dark green 
background of jungle, which begins with the cocoanuts 
at the beach, and extends back unbroken to the crests 
of the tallest of the mountains in the backbone of the 
island. One of the few visitors was the captain of one of 
her Britannic Majesty's cruisers, the Royalist, and he 
was forced to confess that it "took it out of him." 
A wardroom party had gone into the bush with the 
American Consul, had reached a spot some four miles 
back from the beach, had put in the whole day in doing 
it and late in the evening had reported aboard tattered 
and completely fagged out, and with a universal clamor 
for embrocation. The next morning when the Con- 
sul came off to see the victims, Capt. Rason, a superb 
athlete, was unmerciful in his jeers at the wardroom 
country and his open wonder as to what was to become 
of the service if there was no more stamina than that 
among the younger men. The wardroom country knew 
its own bruises and creaky tendons, and^ whence ob- 
tained, and it plotted to put the captain through the 
same sort of work to see if he could stand it. The 
Consul was called upon to help, and the plot was speedily 
hatched. Under the quarter deck awning plans began to 
be developed for a two-days' leave to make the trip to 
the top of the sacred waterfall, plainly to be seen half 
way up the mountain. Capt. Rason bit at once. "Two 
days to go to a place that cannot be five miles off! Ab- 
surd! I'll undertake to leave the ship after breakfast, go 
to the top of the fall and be back here for luncheon." 
A few deprecatory suggestions from the wardroom coun- 
try confirmed the captain in his plan, and the trip was 
arranged for the next day. As there was just enough 
of a wager on the event to make it interesting, Lieut. 
Hamilton went in the party to see fair" play, and the 
American Consul went along to manage the guides and 
to take care of the Samoan end of the expedition. 
Except for one or two well-defined trails across each 
island the Samoans are densely ignorant of the hill coun- 
try. They live as close to the beach as they can set 
their houses, and always use the way of the water by 
choice. In all Apia and the neighboring towns on the 
beach it was impossible to find a man who knew the trail 
to the waterfall, even though it was suoh a prominent 
landmark, and only a few miles away. It was necessary 
to send to the town of Magiagi, a mile and a half back 
from the beach, and therefore considered a jungle settle- 
ment, to get guides. Their coming developed one of 
the unpleasant sides of Samoan nature. There were three 
white men, therefore there must be four Samoans, a 
bearer for each white, man and the guide in charge of 
the whole party; the trip would take two days, and each 
Samoan must have three meals each day, consisting of 
one tin of corned beef, one tin of salmon and one of 
sardines, together with a loaf of bread. The charge was 
to be eight shillings a day for each of the bearers, a 
pound a day for the guide. Two hours spent in negotia- 
tion succeeded in reducing these prices by half, even then 
twice too much was paid, but it took too long to adjust 
this item. It was the case that on the rare occasions, not 
a dozen in all, when trips had been made to the fall two 
days had been given to the journey. But by laying in 
just enough rations for one meal on the customary 
dietary scale and not allowing that tact to be known 
until the beach was far behind, the Samoans were jockey- 
ed into cramming the trip into one day. 
For the first half-mile the route lay along one of the 
very few good roads in Samoa. But just beyond Malifa 
it was necessary to turn off into a well beaten path lead- 
ing to Magiagi, and here the Vaisigano was first crossed 
and crossed on a bridge. The remainder of the excur- 
sion consisted in crossing and recrossing this river, but 
this was the only bridge. When the yelping curs of 
Magiagi had ceased to exprtss their disapproval of the 
white men the guides insisted that a halt should be 
made while they brought bananas and cocoanuts for the 
refreshment of the party. Meanwhile the elders of 
the town discussed the hardships of the trip, and the 
danger of meeting the cannibals in the bush. Fortunate- 
ly the two naval officers were ignorant of Samoan, and 
therefore did not understand the dreary picture of calam- 
ity which was being presented. 
From this village 'the path rapidly dwindled into a 
mere trail, and about a half-mile further on forked, at 
least the Samoan guides said it did. Here a halt was 
called while a boy walked up a tree and began to drop 
cocoanuts down, the explanation being that this solitary 
tree was the furthest inland that was known, and it was 
the last chance of a drink. To the left the trail could 
be seen extending to a cleared patch, where a party of 
Samoans was seen cultivating the village farm of yams 
and tars. But the guide said the trail forked just under 
the last coco'anut, and in proof of it he climbed a slant- 
ing tree and jumped off on to the side of a small hill. 
Thence outward for the rest of the trip nobody but a 
Samoan who was familiar with the bush could pretend 
that theie was such a thing as path or trail. They walk 
always in single file, and their bare feet make little im- 
pression on the luxuriant herbage, unless a path is a 
regular highway. This path, so far from being a com- 
mon highway, was kept secret as far as possible, in order 
that it might be used in the frequent wars. It leads to 
Alaoa and Lata Pulumakau, where King Malietoa 
maintains a camp in which to take refuge whenever re- 
bellion breaks out against him 
Soon after the trail ran up the tree the guide brought 
the party to the. brink of a steep descent, down which it- 
was necessary to slide for several hundred feet. Thus 
he approached the rocky bed of the river. Within a 
quarter of a mile this stream had to be crossed no less 
than five times. The Samoans simply kilted up their 
lavalavas and waded, one of the white men walked into 
the stream and out, boots and breeches and all. But the 
naval contingent tried to find stepping stones in ordrr to 
cross dryshod. The lieutenant negotiated "two fords 
without getting wet, then made up his mind that it was 
too hard work, and waded the next one. The skipper 
came to grief on the fourth crossing. A rock on which 
he jumped rolled over and deposited him in a pool, 
where he soused in over his head; after that he lost in- 
terest in keeping dry. Beyond the fifth crossing the 
way continued up the course of the river, but the river 
itself was absent. For a long distance this fork of 
the stream flowed in a subterranean channel beneath the 
sheet of lava which filled the valley of its course. After 
some distance of arduous climb along the bare and un- 
shaded lava sheet, the guide turned off at a point where a 
hill struck straight up about as steep as the side of a 
house, and as high up as could be seen through the tree 
trunks it kept on going skyward. Up to this point Capt. 
Rason had been talking about the easy going and ex- 
pressing his wonder at the wardroom party for being 
so used up. But at the bottom of that steep hill he sud- 
denly remembered that he weighed two hundredweight, 
and he took time to think it over. A halt was called, and 
the skipper remembered his camera and found this a 
good place for views. By this means he protracted the 
halt to half an hour, and recovered sufficiently to 
begin reviling the wardroom country with his former 
vigor. 
That hill called for more than 900 steps by actual count 
to bring the climber to the top, and each step was as 
nearly vertical as it is possible to be without becoming 
a ladder. Not even the guides scorned whatever aid 
might be handy, and for the most part the climbing 
was accomplished by resting against one tree trunk, 
catching hold of a liana hanging down from a tree high- 
er up the slope, and working hand over hand to the 
next trunk, which offered a resting place. To do this 
successfully it was necessary to make sure of the at- 
tachment of the liana for one of the party got hold of 
one which was fast down hill, and lose a hundred feet 
before he could bring himself to a stop. It was a free- 
for-all scramble up that hill, with no thought of style. 
The lieutenant and the other light weight were first at the 
top, and as the Samoan bearers came up with the sup- 
plies they were sent down hill to help the skipper, who 
was evidently making bad weather of it. At last he 
reached the top completely used up. He had no wind 
left with which to revile that wardroom for being used 
up by their short trip. All that he cared for was to 
lie on the grass in the shade and enjoy the view. For 
the first time in the whole trip there was a view. Hither- 
to the eye had met nothing but jungle close at hand 
and every vista was promptly cut short by tree trunks or 
dense masses of herbage. But this hill crest pressed 
through the surrounding forest and yielded a view of 
Apia harbor and the north coast of Upolu which it was 
worth the climb to gaze upon. The harbor lay about 
four miles away as the crow flies, and every detail of the 
warships at anchor was as clear as in a picture. At this 
distance the successive waves could not be seen, but 
the barrier reef seemed to rest as lightly on the sea as 
flocks of wool stuck on a mirror. 
From this view point, after a long rest, the guide again 
led on. The way for the next two miles was fairly easy 
and without any of the slopes so . hard to negotiate. In 
fact, it was along the nearly level ridge of a hill so 
narrow that in many places it was possible to look down 
on either hand into deep valleys. On this stretch of 
easy going one had a chance to look about him at the 
jungle. The cocoanut in the Pacific Islands never thrives 
at any distance above the sea, but its place in the view 
was filled by the far more handsome areca palm. Here 
and there were great banyans colonizing an acre at a 
time, with the outlying stems and branches of a single 
tree. Everywhere was the tree with buttressed 
stem which leads to the saying that Samoa has a tree 
which grows ready made plank. Overhead the shade is 
so dense that the sun never penetrates. Underfoot the 
ground is never dry, and the foot sinks deep in molder- 
ing leaves. Every tree affords lodgment to ferns and 
orchids, and from trunk to trunk are stretched long lianas. 
One species of these vegetal ropes when cut into lengths 
will yield copious store of drink to the thirsty, a fact of 
which the Samoans with their remarkable absence of 
woodcraft are ignorant. 
Finally the noise of many waters was heard deep in the 
ravine. Another steep descent was to be attacked, and 
it was the hardest of all. It was impossible to move a 
step without clinging to tree trunks and the deceptive 
lianas, and there were 700ft. of that sort of work. With 
many a slip and slide, banging against trunks and rocks, 
with one nasty fall that ripped open Capt. Rason's arm, 
the descent was made. At the bottom a 20ft. stream 
was flowing so quietly that every one was tempted to 
lie right down and let the water flow over him. Having 
yielded to this temptation for some ten minutes, the 
skipper demanded to know how far off the waterfall was. 
He was horrified to learn that he had been lying down 
in the river not 50ft. from the brink. Just around a bend 
the river 'fell sheer 500ft., and the lower gorge was 
so narrow that the roar of the waters was pent up and 
did not reach the brink of the fall. But if the fall were 
dumb it was still a splendid spectacle. It was possible 
to climb out into a natural rock seat, which hung sheer 
out over the chasm at one side of the cataract. From 
this seat one could look at the face of the fall and watch 
the volume of the stream dissolve into mist before it 
reached the bottom. From the same seat the gap in the 
hills framed in a view of the harbor of Apia, between ' 
its two points of Mulinucu and Matautu. 
At the foot of the fall the gorge opens into a small 
plain where the waters of the river gather together after 
the plunge. Here were to be seen evidences of culti- 
vation, and at last keen eyes discovered a group of 
huts under the trees. We had found the encampment of 
the runaway black boys from the German plantations, 
cannibals every last one of them, and therefore a great 
bugaboo to the Samoans. But here the Samoans were 
above, the cannibals below, between was a roeky preci- 
pice, which could not be scaled except after hours of 
exertion. Therefore the Samoan guides and bearers had 
the coward's courage, which will face anything if only it 
is tied. They vented their enmity in loud cries of "mea 
uli — black things." Very likely the cannibals did not 
hear the taunt, at least they paid no attention, and our 
Samoans were brave until they got back once more into 
the jungle, where they might chance on a stray black 
boy. 
In camp at the top of the fall the baskets of food were 
opened, and preparations made for the meal. All prep- 
arations were completed by chopping down a banana 
leaf and emptying upon it a tin of corned beef or canned 
salmon. Just at this period the Samoans made the dis- 
covery that there were just enough rations for one 
square meal. Up to that time they had been convinced 
of the impossibility of making the round trip in less 
than two days. Now they saw the necessity of making 
a prompt start in order to get back to Apia before dark. 
The round trip consumed eleven hours, including stops. 
The wardroom country was amply avenged for all 
slights cast upon their ability to take a stroll ashore. 
All the officers had business just about the gangway 
when the skipper came aboard, and tne only comment 
made to show that things were evened up was- the remark 
of the executive, "You must have gone somewhere else 
afterward, sir." 
William Churchill. 
Adirondack Trails. 
Editor Forest and Stream: _ 
One of my best friends has written to me out of the 
woods. It brought the sound of trout splashing in a 
still water, the scent of a spruce slashing in a balsam 
swamp, and enough of the woods life to make me woe- 
fully homesick for a couch of boughs under a roof of 
bark. The letter was written by a woodsman whose 
skill at his craft is unexcelled, whether wielding a heavy 
axe, whether carrying a heavy pack, whether following 
the trail of a deer, or on a dance platform under the 
trees, he is one of the finest looking men I ever saw, for 
he fills his niche better than any one I know of. There 
is a bit of information in the letter, however, which de- 
serves especially attention, as bearing on woods life, 
for it calls to mind the most remarkable feature of men 
in the woods — the trails they follow and leave. Here is 
the way my friend put it: 
"The League is getting pretty gay, Now they forbid 
any one going across their land. They have a man at 
North Lake to stop any one." 
I do not intend to say much about why the Adiron- 
dack League has done this, and what I do say will be, 
perhaps, in justification of their course. The vast pos- 
sessions of this sportsmen's club, extending from the West 
Canada Creek to Moose River, and north further than I 
know about, have more than once excited comment in 
your columns and elsewhere. Of the many curious hap- 
penings on this territory, none are more interesting than 
those on the Canachagala Lake and the old Bisby trails, 
which have now been closed to the public by the man 
at North Lake. The closing of the trail is sufficient ex- 
cuse for telling a little about the trail. There is no 
human path more interesting in those woods: 
I believe it was one of the Indian paths, followed by 
scalping parties in the old days, from Canada down to 
the Mohawk Valley. Certain it is the trail was blazed 
through more than forty years ago, and has since then 
been the public highway for hunters, fishermen and 
campers of every class, from the purely market-profit 
seekers to the beauty hunters, and recreators. If, by 
shutting this trail, the League has put a stop to the 
crimes in deer and other slaughter that have been com- 
mitted at its terminus, they have done a favor to every 
man and woman that has ever trod it. We can think of 
those beautiful woods now with the utmost satisfaction. 
Not only are the League lands protected, but thousands 
of acres of Government territory beyond them, accessible 
only across their property to wood followers, are pre- 
served from vandal hands. 
But this is not telling about the trail. From the north- 
ern end of North Lake the trail leads away up Canacha- 
gala Mountain four miles to Canachagala Lake. North 
Lake, is really a still water of Black River, raised by 
dams so that it might serve as a feed to the Black 
River Canal. It winds along just like the stream did, and 
twists back into the woods away out of sight behind 
hills and points and islands. 
In the old days, say five 3'ears ago, the trail was a 
mere footpath, going around, too, thick tree tops and 
avoiding little hummocks and grades. It was up and 
up with heart-breaking steadiness all the way to the 
lake on the mountain. Packs of men following it grew 
heavier at every step, and the bearers staggered at the 
last with throbbing head and starting eyes into the 
clear view across the lake to the islands and the woods 
beyond, whichever way one came from. It is a restful 
place, a sort of elixir of life locality, and one gets his 
second wind rnarvelously going across that lake in a 
boat, listening to the loons and gulls, and seeing per 
haps a deer. 
On the far side the trail rises for a few rods, then 
plunges down into a gully — plunges down on the river 
side a bank so steep that men slip and slide and grab 
at fallen trees and saplings in going down. This is the 
"Windfall" where a true twister storm once parted the 
trees and then mussed them up together again. For a 
half mile or so there is little or no trail, then one comes 
into the Old Bisby trail, and thereafter one walks on a at 
times slightly rising grade to the river, along the foot 
of a ridge, through ever changing wild land. 
It has been a part of the edttcation of the Herkimer 
county woods lad to learn about this trail. He shivers 
at the thought of the windfall even before he has even 
seen North Lake. He imagines how the birch roots 
look, where one leaves the Bisby trail to go to Canacha- 
gala Lake. He almost sees the resting places at springs 
which are so important to that trail's followers. 
The boy's ambition is to follow this trail with a 
party of hunters, bearing his share in a fish basket for a 
pack, and a rifle to shoot. He knows how heavy his. 
pack ought to be. He dreams wistfully of the ioolbs. or 
greater packs such as men like my correspondent makes 
records with, and wishes that he too might carry such a 
back-breaker over such a trail. 
It is a good place to dream about, this forest, especial- 
ly for boys. No matter how it may have been slashed 
over, or burned, or gone to second growth, it is yet 
