Vol. 6 j] 
THE VOLCANO OF MATAVANU IN SAVAII. 
621 
[Reprinted by permission of tlie Council of the Geological Society of London.J 
The Volcano of Matavantj in Savaii. 
By Tempest Anderson, M.D., D.Sc., F.G.S. 
[Plates XLY-LTI.] 
The Samoa or Navigator Islands are a group -in the Western. 
Pacific, lying in 13|° to 14° S. lat. and 168° to 173° W. long. 
They are some 350 miles north of Tonga, and between 400 and 
500 miles north-east of Fiji. From Auckland (New Zealand) the 
sailing distance is 1560 miles, and from San Francisco about 4400. 
The group consists of nine islands, in addition to rocks and 
islets, but only four are of any notable size, namely : Upolu, Savaii, 
Tutuila, and Manua. The two first-named belong to Germany and 
the two last-named to the United States. They are mountainous, 
but at the same time well wooded, and are all, with the exception 
of Bose Island, volcanic, and for the most part surrounded with 
coral-reefs. They are disposed in a linear direction from north¬ 
west to south-east, and a line drawn from the volcanic region of 
New Zealand and thence through White Island, Pylstaart, the 
Kermadecs, and the Tonga Islands, all of which contain volcanoes 
active or extinct, would pass through the group. It is probable 
that each of these lines marks a fold-fissure or line of weakness 
of the earth’s crust. It is noteworthy that a volcanic eruption took 
place in the Tonga Group at the same time as the great eruption 
of Tarawera in New Zealand, in June 1886. 
Savaii is the westernmost and also the largest of the group. It 
is 48 miles long and at least 25 miles wide, but the interior has 
never been surveyed. It has a backbone of volcanic mountains, all 
formed of different varieties of basalt. 
One of these, Mauga Loa, rises to a height of 5600 feet. Another, 
7 or 8 miles to the west, has the suggestive name of Mauga Afi 
(mountain of fire), and from it and its parasitic craters most of 
the extensive lava-streams in the west of the island appear to 
have proceeded. An eruption which destroyed Aopo, a town in 
this district, probably took place about 150 or 200 years ago, 
judging from information given to Mr. Williams 1 by an old man, 
1 For most of the information about the commencement and progress of 
the eruption, and for many other kindnesses, I am indebted to Mr. Richard 
Williams, Amtmann of Savaii. ITe allowed me access to his copious manu¬ 
script notes and official reports, and furnished me with a copy of a map of his 
own making, which shows the position of the volcano, and the extent of the 
lava-flows at various epochs. 
The following papers and articles have also been consulted, but are 
unfortunately not very accessible to English readers:— 
H. I. Jensen. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. vol. xxsi (1906) p. 641. This contains 
an earlv copy of Mr. Williams’s map and so ne re narkable photographs by 
Capt,. Allen, who in the ordinary course of his voyages regularly passes the 
volcano. It also contains a description of the petrology of the lavas. 
W. von Bulow. ‘ Vulkanische Tatigkeit auf Savaii ’ Globus, July Pith, 1906. 
R. Deeken. ‘Neuer Yulkan im Stillen Ozean’ Deutsche Kolonial-Zeitung 
1906, p. 276. 
Karl Sapper. Zeitschr. f.Erdkunde, Berlin. 1906, p. 686. (A good compilation.) 
