Samoa is the native name of the group of volcanic islands in central
Polynesia long known as the "Navigators Islands." They are situated
about 3000 miles from Sydney, and stand on the charts between the
parallels of 13 deg. and 15 deg. south latitude, and 168 deg. and 173 deg. west
longitude. The mountains of Savaii, one of which is 4000 feet high,
may be seen 50 miles off, and, on coming near, the stranger finds a
lovely island, 150 miles in circumference, and covered with vegetation
as far as the eye can reach. The mountains of Upolu and Tutuila rise
2000 and 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and present the same
aspect of richness and fertility. These are the principal islands of
the group. They run east and west. Upolu, 130 miles in circumference,
is in the middle, having Savaii 10 miles to the west; and Tutuila, an
island 80 miles in circumference, about 40 miles to the east. There
are several smaller islands which are inhabited, and several other
isolated romantic spots here and there which are not inhabited.

Upolu is almost entirely surrounded by barrier reefs; these wonderful
submarine walls, or breakwaters, built up to the level of the sea and
forming a fine smooth lagoon, invaluable for fishing and facilitating
all kinds of communication between the settlements along the coast.
The distance between the shore and the reef is from thirty feet to
three or four miles. In some places the lagoons are shallow, and
require the rise of the tide to allow a canoe or boat to pass along;
in other places, and particularly where there are openings in the
reef, they are from ten to twenty fathoms deep, and afford anchorage
to ships. The rivers are neither numerous nor large, but there is no
lack of fresh water; it springs up in abundance in many parts in the
interior and along the coast.

The Dutch "three-ship expedition," under Roggewein, in 1722, seems to
have been the first to notice these islands. Then followed the French
navigators, Bougainville and La Perouse, the former in 1768 and the
latter in 1787. Bougainville, seeing the natives move about so much in
canoes, gave the group the name of the "Isles of the Navigators."
Captain Cook heard of them in 1773 from the Tongans, noted some of
their names, and in 1791 they were visited by H.B.M. ship _Pandora_.
Little, however, was known of these islands until 1830, when a mission
was commenced there by the agents of the London Missionary Society.

The natives, who n