Samoa, the Eden of the Pacific

SAMOA.

THE EDEN OF -THE PACIFIC.

BY W. 0. LEE, SAMOAN MISSIONARY.

Judging from the descriptions of our new possessions in Cuba and the Philippines, they must be very similar to the Samoan Islands; and naturally enough, they are all very desirable to the white man because they offer an easy life with more returns for less labor than in colder climates. The natives on the Islands work only a few hours every few days to make a good living according to their easy, eat-drink-and-be-merry mode of life. The first glimpse of the Samoan Islands, with their perpetual green covering of the most dense tropical vegetation extending from the tips of the highest mountain peaks down to the water's edge, wherever man has not made a clearing, reminds one of the enchanted isles in fairy tales. Everything is so new and novel that it takes some time to settle down to a matter-of-fact, every- day existence. Such a wealth of vegetation we have never seen equalled, not even on Hawaii, whose rolling hills and hollows between mountain and sea are as a salt grass pasture in compari- son with the trees, ferns, climbing vines, and dense woods, every- where present on Samoa. The mixture of constantly decaying vegetation with the crumbling lava rock formation of «the islands, together with the humidity of the tropical atmosphere, all combine to make Samoa an ideal paradise of vegetation. There are thirteen islands in the group, ten of which are

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inhabited. They run in a string from east to west, a distance of two hundred miles. Commencing at the western end they are grouped as follows: Savaii, Upolu, Tutuila and Manua. They are all of volcanic formation, and the larger ones have coral reefs

around them, forming a natural rock wall of uneven height, and unequal distance from the shore, generally protruding a foot or more above the sea when the tide is out, and are buried a few feet under the surface of the ocean when the tide is fully in. Some- times a point of the coral reef runs into the shore, but generally it is about a half a mile out to sea. Between this natural barrier to the huge waves of the ocean, which break in great mountains upon it with a never-ceasing roar, and the sandy beach, there is, during calm weather, a delightful lagoon on whose placid waters you may sail for miles without any fear of that dreadful automatic — stomach pump sea sickness. This shallow water between the reef and the land is full of animal life, among which are fishes of all kinds: star-fish, jelly-fish, devil-fish, etc. The water is as clear as glass; corals in the form of sagebrush, trees, mushrooms, and fragments of the reef, are scattered here and there with blue fish and an occasional salt water snake or eel darting to and fro, as the splash of your oars frightens them from their hiding place among the corals. It is indeed a pleasant pastime sailing with a favorable wind on the rippling waters of the lagoons, with the foaming breakers on the reef to seaward. The land is a beautiful island, covered all over with evergreen pines, with miles and miles of sandy beach, about the same width, and shaped, for all the world, as a modern bicycle race track, up which the waves roll and recede as the tide ebbs and flows. There is a stretch of sandy beach some two miles out of Apia which, when the tide is out, makes a natural race track that requires no sprinkling or rolling, for the sea and the tide do that. Lovers of horse racing, among the foreign population, indulge in that sport on the 4th of July, Queen's birthday, (Victoria's), and other holidays. Wherever a steep cliff or mountain ledge does not extend to the water's edge and prevent it, there is a path following the shore all around the islands. This path passes through the native-

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villages which are with but few exceptions built upon the sea shore. But when the tide is out, the government path is ofttimes deserted for the wider and smoother one made by King Neptune on the sandy beach. Here "it is, that we often pick up rare and curious shell formations, some with their tenants still in, and others that are empty and need no sign to tell the tale, "for rent." It is a most interesting sight to walk along the beach and watch the sand spiders promenade in their stolen suits of clothes — shells of various kinds, sizes and patterns. As you approach they draw in their claws which fit so neatly and compactly that they form a perfect door to the shell; then if you sit down and wait till all is qniet, you will see Mr. and Mrs. Spider put out their claws and walk off with their houses on their heads, like a lot of little boys and girls with different kinds of bushel baskets over their heads, their feet alone being in evidence. There are thousands of acres of waste forest and jungle that easily could be turned into cocoanut, banana, coffee, or cocoa plantations. On Samoa, only a small portion of the better spots of land on the sea shore are under cultivation at present. The forests are composed mostly of soft-wood trees, of rapid growth, ferns, and climbing vines, that quickly decay when cut down. There are also the ironwood, banyan, and other hard-wood trees out of which the natives make their clubs, handles for tools, ava bowls, canoes, boats, and use for building houses, etc. Bunches of bamboos are frequently found, and climbing vines make a net- work among the trees that is impassible, except where the natives have with their long knives cut a path through the bush. Students in botany would be filled with delight at the sight of endless varieties of ferns, from the moss fern to the large tree fern. Imagine a large lime kiln, some three times as large and deep as the ordinary kiln, whose sides and bottom are completely covered with masses of ferns. Such is the beautiful sight to be seen on the south side of the island of Upolu where the waves of the sea have washed a cave under a cliff; where the earth from above, and to the rear, has sunk, forming a large bowl in the ground. These caves are frequently found and they furnish one of the grandest sights to be seen from your boat as you coast around the islands. If the cave has no outlet in the rear, each wave, with its mighty

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volume of water, fills the mouth of the cave compressing the air to such an extent that when the wave recedes, the confined air bursts forth with a report equal to a dozen cannon all going off at once, throwing the water out in a magnificent shower of spray. Still more grand and awe inspiring are the blow-holes onTutuila, where the black lava rock forms a cliff as it drops suddenly into the sea. Against the face of this precipice, the waves have beaten for so many years, or centuries, that they have made many caves that run back from twenty-five to a hundred feet, and then extend up into the open air like huge fireplaces and chimneys up which the waves rush with such violence as to throw a shower of spray from ten to thirty feet in the air, falling again like a miniature cloud-burst, flooding the surface with salt water which returns to the sea through this natural chimney washed through the molten lava rock. It is true, that there are certain seasons of the year when

cocoanuts, oranges, bananas, bread-fruit, and other tropical fruits, are more plentiful than at other times, but not a single month passes away but what these fruits can be found in their ripened state. We have counted as many as one hundred and twenty-five cocoanuts on a single tree, growing in clusters of from three to ten. We might write a whole chapter on this wonderful tree* with its leaves for shingles, baskets, shutters, mats, table-cloths, etc; its wood, for lumber, posts, etc; its husk, for hair mattress- stuffing, and for braiding rope that takes the place of nails,

screws, locks and hinges; its shell, for cups, water bottles, and fuel that is hotter than coal, and which throws out little blue gas jets in every direction as it burns; its water, that is so delicious to drink when fresh, and makes such excellent yeast when stale and sour; and, lastly, its meat, that forms the principal export of

the islands, besides entering in various ways, into almost every dish of native food. It is their milk, their butter, their dutch

cheese, their oil and their chicken feed, and the only tree that will grow on some of the atolls of the Pacific. Such is the cocoa- nut tree, the most useful tree on the face of the earth. The hardiness of the cocoanut is a marvel, growing as it often does, and bearing fruit, on little rocky islets that are broken off from

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the mainland and on which the soil to sustain life cannot be seen with the naked eye; but in some way, the hundreds of whip-lash roots of this remarkable tree find an abiding place in the crevices of the most barren rocks. Throw a mature cocoanut with the husk on, anywhere on Samoa, and it will, in proper time, burst its shell and husk, send its roots downward, and its beautiful leaves upward, and soon become a healthy tree, twice as large in circumference when ten feet high as it is when old and sixty feet in height. The wood in the young tree is soft and pithy; the tops just below the leaves being used in times of scarcity as famine- food. It tastes very much like raw cabbage. As the tree grows taller the wood hardens. Wherever the natives have cut steps in its sides for convenience in climbing, the edges of the cut places turn dark, and become so hard that the edge of an ax is often turned in chopping it. Great notches in the sides, and even holes cut through the center of the tree, do not seem to seriously affect it. The principle of life and death is illustrated in the leaves of the cocoanut tree. Its upper leaves are springing constantly into new life while its lower ones are constantly turning brown and dropping off. Each leaf, as it falls away, leaves a lasting impres- sion, like the cycles of time, on the bark of the tree. As we wire two cedar posts together and hang them over our hay stacks to prevent the wind from blowing the tops off, in like manner the Samoans tie two cocoanut leaves together, and hang them over the thatch-roofs of their houses to protect them from the period- ical hurricanes. While there is but one bunch of bananas on each stalk, which when ripe is cut down to get rid of it, yet two or three plants spring up at the side of the old one, grow to the height and size of a corner lamp post, bear their nutricious fruit, are cut down again, and all within the short space of nine months. There are, at least, three varieties of bananas besides the one we are accus- tomed to in our home market, each of different size and flavor, growing on Samoa. Then there is the bread-fruit tree, about as large as an apple tree, with fruit looking very much like our rough- coated mock orange, but larger. The leaf of this tree is the paper plate, the sandwich wrapping paper, and the outer covering

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of fish, palu-sami and all parcels of food cooked in the native ovens. But the nearest substitute for bread is not the bread-fruit, which is more like sponge-cake than bread, it is the taro or kalo, a root like the sugar beet, but not sweet, which the Samoans bake like we do potatoes, and slice it like bread; while the Hawaiians mash it and make a sour dough called "poi." The finest chewing gum in the world is made from the dried milk that oozes from the cut bark of the bread-fruit tree. It is

also used for putty, by the natives, in filling cracks in their boats. The fruit of the "ese" tree, which Mark Twain describes as musk- melons growing on trees, belongs to that class of eatables of which a little goes a long way with most people. Oranges are quite plentiful, fresh and delicious to the foreigner; but, strange as it may seem, the natives care little for them. The hedges of Samoa are composed of lemon and citron bushes and are free to all

comers. Custard, apples, pine-apples, and mangoes, are grown in the gardens of the foreigners, and there is a native fruit called the "vi" that is very desirable. It is shaped something like a large,, yellow, egg-plum, with hard flesh, and a stone covered with fibre. Foreigners have been successful in raising melons, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, radishes, turnips, onions, beans and some other vegetables such as we see in our Utah gardens. We had string beans of our own planting for our first New Year's dinner on Samoa. All our efforts to grow Irish potatoes were futile, but sweat potatoes grow like weeds. Cocoanuts, cocoa, coffee and cotton are cultivated on the German plantations. Of the curious- animal life both on land and sea we will write in our next.