encounter, of which he did not speak. Although
the sea we were traversing was pretty well known by this time, there
might be small islands or coral reefs improperly placed on the chart, or
not laid down at all, and at any moment during the darkness of night, or
even in the daytime, we might come upon one, when in an instant the
vessel would have been dashed to pieces, and all on board must have
perished. We had, therefore, to keep the sharpest possible look-out,
for a moment's want of vigilance might cause our destruction. Once I
saw the sea leaping and foaming high up above the surrounding water away
on the starboard hand. I pointed out the spot to Tom.

"The end of a reef," he observed. "If we'd been a little more to the
nor'ard we should likely enough have been on it, but a miss is as good
as a mile. We may be thankful to have escaped."

He afterwards told me that we passed another reef to the northward while
I was below, how many we escaped during the night we could not tell.
Thus some of the dangers to be encountered by those navigating among
coral islands will be understood. At length, one morning when I came on
deck to keep my watch, I saw the stars shining brightly overhead--the
wind had fallen, the sea was going down, and the schooner, with her
squaresail rigged out, was running gaily along. At noon we took an
observation, when we found that we were less than a hundred miles from
the port of Apia, which we therefore expected to reach the next day,
unless the wind should fail us.

We were more fortunate than we expected. Early the next morning the
land was seen over the port bow rising in a succession of ridges to a
moderate height above the sea. We had made an excellent landfall, for
the harbour of Apia was almost directly ahead. Before we reached it, a
large whaleboat came off and put an Englishman on board, who introduced
himself as the chief pilot of the place. He carried us through a
somewhat intricate passage between coral rocks to a safe anchorage not
far from the shore.

We were surprised to see several tastefully-built houses among trees, a
large church, stores, and other buildings, besides a number of
whitewashed cottages, many of which, the pilot told us, were inhabited
by natives who have learned the art of building and the use of lime from
the missionaries. Through their instrumentality also, although but a
few years ago the people inhabiting different parts of the island were
cons