1921.] 
Thomson.—The Geology of Western Samoa. 
53 
preceded by repeated shocks of earthquake. Friedlander ascertained from 
an old inhabitant of the group that dense clouds of steam and water 
with slag and pumice were ejected, and at night flames were plainly 
visible. Stewart’s Handbook of the Pacific Islands gives the date as 1867, 
obviously in error, and mentions that the submarine volcano vomited forth 
rocks and mud to the height of 2,000 ft., killing the fish and discolouring 
the sea for miles around. The German Admiralty chart, according to 
Friedlander, mentions a submarine volcano in 46 m. depth. 
Mauga Mu of Aopo (1902). 
On the 30th October, 1902, eruptions commenced at a spot about two 
miles north-east of Mauga Afi and some four miles south-south-east of 
the village of Aopo. They were preceded and accompanied by violent 
earthquake shocks, and for three weeks great detonations took place, and 
flames were reported by Pere Mennel. The volcanic activity ceased after 
a few months. No previous crater was known at this spot, but according 
to Friedlander two hills were formed with an E.-W. extension, the larger 
with three well-formed oblong craters and the smaller with two in the 
shape of a horse-shoe. From both cones lava-streams issued and flowed 
1 km. to 2 km. in the direction of Aopo. It also welled out from a fissure 
on the side of an old crater to the south, and partially filled it. Wegener 
(1903) states that a first crater, formed on the 30th October, furnished 
only lavas, but a second, about half a mile to the west, was formed on the 
1st November, and was explosive for a short time. 
Jensen describes the material of the 1902 eruption as belonging to the 
aa type, consisting of fragments of all sizes, from cinders the size of peas 
to blocks many yards in diameter, piled in wild confusion, and states that 
the lava is vesicular and scoriaceous, but does not seem to differentiate 
in his description between true aa lava and volcanic ashes. Friedlander 
describes the latter as black and metallic in lustre, and very light and 
porous. Weber, 'who studied Friedlander’s material, describes the lavas 
as a light porous slaggy form, referable to feldspar basalt, and consisting 
of phenocrysts of olivine, augite, and plagioclase in a brown glass turbid 
with magnetite. 
Mauga Mu is shown on the German Admiralty chart as 44 Parasit 1902,” 
referring to its position as parasitic on Mauga Afi. 
Matavanu (1905-1911). 
Just as Mauga Mu is parasitic on Mauga Afi, so Matavanu may be 
described as parasitic on Pule, an old crater, occupied by a lake, lying a 
few miles to the north of the main mountain-tops of Savaii and a little 
over 2,000 ft. high. Before the eruption the place which is now the crater 
of Matavanu was a sort of elevated plain surrounded by mountains, about 
seven miles south of Matautu. The eruptions began on the 4th August, 
1905, and at first were of an explosive nature, but no severe earthquakes 
were experienced. From the 2nd to the 4th September molten lava was 
poured out, and advanced two miles. It flowed at first to the north-west, 
filling up the upper ends of some valleys .draining to Matautu Harbour. 
Later it flowed both to the west and the north-east, in the latter direction 
following a tortuous valley draining to the sea some miles east of Matautu, 
and the lava itself reached the sea in December, 1905, at Foapaipai, filling 
up the lagoon between the coral reef and the coast and turning westward 
