Old Samoan Days. 
209 
the rays even of the mid-day sun could scarcely 
penetrate. The path was, however, well worn, 
although in some places very slippery and 
precipitous. We envied the ease with which 
our native friends made the ascent, whilst we, 
with our boots clogged with the tough, adhesive 
red clay, every now and then slipped and fell. 
An hour before noon we had reached the 
summit of the range, and with a sigh of relief 
assented to Gafalua’s suggestion to rest for an 
hour or so. And so we leant our weary backs 
against the buttressed trunk of a great white- 
barked tree, and enjoyed to our full the 
beautiful scene below. 
The trade wind was very fresh, and had 
tipped with “ white horses ” the blue bosom 
of the Pacific ; but away to the southward, 
where the outer reef reared its solid barrier 
against the ocean roll, there showed within its 
long sweeping curve the green, placid waters 
of shallow depth that glinted and sparkled in 
the tropic sun, and about the distant rush and 
roar of the breakers as they fell upon the reef 
ascended a misty haze that hovered and wavered 
perpetually above the swirling sheets of foam 
sweeping across the coral rock. Sometimes, 
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