education complete. It was a patriarchal scene altogether the dignified old chief, the retainers with presents, and the handsome son looking eagerly to Tusitala to grant his request. It was very hard to refuse them, but there were more house-boys than were necessary at Vailima at the time, so there was really no use for another; but his being of good family weighed greatly in his favour, for it was only recently that the Stevensons had had great trouble with their servants owing to the laundress, who was not of irreproachable lineage. So, after some demurring and a good deal of talk, it was decided, to the great joy of Avau and Lefau, to take the latter for a short time on trial, and the father took leave of his son with many objurgations that he should behave in every way befitting a youth of good family, and prove a credit and an honour to the illustrious Tusitala, who had been good enough to receive him.

CHAPTER VII

PICNIC TO PAPASEIA

ONE morning the sun rose on a day that promised to be full of interest and enjoyment, for the wife of H.B.M. Consul had organised a picnic to Papaseia (the sliding-rock) for our benefit. We were all to meet on the beach at 10 A.M.' However, we were assured that meant eleven or twelve in Samoa, a circumstance which was amply proved by our arriving at eleven o'clock and finding ourselves in perfect time. Soon a large number of guests had assembled, and we set off along grassy roads, across innumerable streams, and at last plunged into the great forest which completely clothes all the island back from the sea. Here the track became narrow -only wide enough for one horse at a time—and it was a picturesque sight as the cavalcade of about

forty riders wound in single file through the great orchid and liana-hung trees and tall ferns, the bright-coloured dresses of the girls contrasting brilliantly with the green surroundings. It was a glorious day, with a blazing sun overhead, and perhaps the distant view was rendered still more beautiful by the wonderful atmospheric effects of light and shadow caused by the heavy showers of rain that fell at intervals throughout the forenoon; and though we were more than once soaked to the skin, still the sun always shone forth and we were dry in a quarter of an hour. Truly a happy island where no ill effects accrue from such climatic treatment!

There had been a severe gale some time previously—indeed, the same we encountered during our voyage—and in many places huge trees uprooted by the hurricane were lying across the track, giving the gaily-clad riders plenty to do clearing all obstacles that came in the way. Once the path led under a tree the branches of which were just high enough to allow a horse to pass beneath, so all had to duck

their heads in passing, and lie close to their mounts. In many places the undergrowth was so dense that it was difficult to keep one's clothes intact from the ravages of the trailing lianas, and often the direction chosen by some madcap Samoan girl could be easily discerned by the strips of coloured calico hanging from the boughs. Again the track continued over rocks which afforded little foothold; but the slim, wiry horses, well used to island life, reminded the traveller of the ponies in Norway and Iceland, so carefully and surely did they pick their way. Many were the songs and choruses sung as we cantered along, even Chevalier's coster ballads asserting their popularity, the Samoans soon catching the refrain and taking up the chorus; but more often they sang their own songs, which were very pretty, and much more suitable to the surroundings, the primeval forest and the palm

trees.

After several hours' riding we emerged from the dense forest on to a raised plateau; and far away over the tops of the trees, undulating like the great

waves of the ocean, Apia Bay lay sparkling in the sunlight, and to the right the mountains-on the slope of which our little shanty stood, and farther up Vailima-stretching away in the blue distance. A number of native boys who had been sent on early in the morning with the luncheon were waiting for us, so we dismounted, the horses had their saddles and bridles taken off, and were tethered to different cocoanut and bread-fruit trees. But the old difficulty always present in the islands had to be contended with. Upwards of three dozen horses take up some room, and owing to the impenetrability of the forest the available space was limited. They were all on the alert watching to give each other vicious kicks or bites. However, their likes and dislikes were pretty well known to their owners, so while I was wandering round looking for a tree near a horse which my steed deigned to tolerate, a brighteyed Samoan girl came smiling up with her pony

and said:

Talofa! I know your horse; mine love yours, they great friends, quite fathers! Ioe!'

So we