d at last a letter from Mataafa. He
is well treated and has good food; only complains of not hearing from
Samoa. This has very much relieved our minds. But why were they
previously left in the dark?

R. L. S.

FOOTNOTE:

[12] _i.e._ in building a section of a new road to Mr. Stevenson's
house. The paper referred to is a copy of the _Samoa Times_,
containing a report of the dinner given by Mr. Stevenson at Vailima
to inaugurate this new road.

LETTERS TO YOUNG PEOPLE

I

TO MISS B...

_Vailima Plantation [Spring_, 1892].

Dear Friend,[13]--Please salute your pupils in my name, and tell them
that a long, lean, elderly man who lives right through on the underside
of the world, so that down in your cellar you are nearer him than the
people in the street, desires his compliments.

This man lives on an island which is not very long and is extremely
narrow. The sea beats round it very hard, so that it is difficult to get
to shore. There is only one harbour where ships come, and even that is
very wild and dangerous; four ships of war were broken there a little
while ago, and one of them is still lying on its side on a rock clean
above water, where the sea threw it as you might throw your fiddle-bow
upon the table. All round the harbour the town is strung out: it is
nothing but wooden houses, only there are some churches built of stone.
They are not very large, but the people have never seen such fine
buildings. Almost all the houses are of one story. Away at one end of
the village lives the king of the whole country. His palace has a
thatched roof which rests upon posts; there are no walls, but when it
blows and rains, they have Venetian blinds which they let down between
the posts, making all very snug. There is no furniture, and the king and
the queen and the courtiers sit and eat on the floor, which is of
gravel: the lamp stands there too, and every now and then it is upset.

These good folk wear nothing but a kilt about their waists, unless to go
to church or for a dance on the New Year or some great occasion. The
children play marbles all along the street; and though they are
generally very jolly, yet they get awfully cross over their marbles, and
cry and fight just as boys and girls do at home. Another amusement in
country places is to shoot fish with a little bow and arrow. All round
the beach there is bright shallow water, where the fishes can be seen
darting or lying in s