AWAY TO LEEWARD.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 93, 12 July 1879, Page 2

AWAY TO LEEWARD.

l!v Cyril. (Concluded.) Karly in the same day on which I left Mr. Kasnitisscn's, 1 arrived at the homestead of Mr. Frank Cornwall, at Fusitootai. This gentleman has several trading stations on this island, and also oil the island of Savaii, but his plantation, which is at Magin, about a couple of miles from the homestead, I shall describe presently. When 1 reached the homestead, which is prettily situated in Fnsitootai Bay, close to the water's edge, 1 was heartily welcomed as an unexpected guest, and at once taken to n bed-chamber to change my travelling clothes. After refreshing both the outer and inner man I took a quiet look around. The house is substantially built of stone and contains a good-sized parlour, stoic, tlll'oß bed-rooms and attached, us an out-ouso, n drugstore. The house is white-washed inside and out, a very sensible idea in a climate like this. Tlio place consequently looks clean and light and smells sweet. The cotton gins weru not at work during my visit, but when I arrived my host was busy grinding coin ; both the coin grinder and the I gins being driven by one of Vale and 1 Looy'a (Sydney) steam engines. The homestead is fenced in, and there are several houses fenced therein where the servants, and, as 1 might term it, "local" labour reside Thorn is a large tract of land, swampy, with a splendid freshwater crock running in a ligiag fnslijoii through it, und emptying into the bay, which Air. Cornwall lias denied and planted in MOOUUt tivox, Which are l.i all;.\ olid ia;i\iu Q . i faut over ui root part li i

this hum am.* letuined with a good appe- j tite tn tapper. With plenty of good cheer, eOQVeriaUoil, an harmonium, good ] cigars, and a pleasant intelligent host, the ' time Hew swiftly ; but as time waits for ' no man, and I bad a heavy programme to get through on the following day, 1 was forced to end a pleasant evening shortly befoie midnight, for a few hour's refreshing sleep. After breakfact on the following 'Friday) morning, 1, in company witli my host, paid a visit to Moepau, the chief of the district, and the man who has several times been complimented in the Samoa Tuin for the able nnd fearless manner in which he protects the foreign residents in his district against the insults and thieving of his own countrymen. After stopping a short time in conversation with this chief, whose house would be a

credit to any white man, wo went half a mile further on to look lit the district church (London Mission Society) ut Loulumoega. It is certainly a line native building about thirty-two yards from the front, or main entrance, to the pulpit rails, and thirteen yardjs broad. Mats, in place of seats, —as. jn» all .native churches —are laid on "the floor. The roof, which is a marvel of native skill and workmanship, is between forty and fifty feet high, made of breadfruit and tied down with sinnett, not a nail being used in the whole construction. The walls are substantial, mid ale pierced with twenty large windows, with green window blinds. The communion table in front of the pulpit is raile 1 >:':. an I, on each side of the pulpit; is ace um ■'. . tiou for foreigners. The chair al the communion tabic is cut out of one piece of wood called "fetuu." The pulpit, which is a good sized one, 'lias a .sounding board —a necessary arrangement on account of the size and loftiness of the place. The panels of the pulpit are made of the same wood as the communion chair, and ill a tastefully arranged scroll on tho pannclling are the words (one or two letters being indistinct), whioh I mark thus, —" upu le faatuatuu i le tnulogolo —."

A little bit further on we came to the old mission printing office, of winch very little now remains of interest to my ordinary readers. Alter luncheon we started for the plantation at Magia, which was reached utter some twenty minutes walk, by passing through some distance of, as vet, uncultivated land of mine host's. The wain road through the very centre of the plantation from the beach road has a commanding appearance, and is broad and clean. This, us well as all tlu' other roads, has a border of pineapples, backed by a row of baunana trees, and are laid out with neatness and almost mathematical correctness. An idea of the plan of the plantation may he briefly given by stating that the main road runs from the beach in a straight line to die extreme Olid of the land under cultivation, and is about twenty feet wide. At every ten acres is a cross road of a similar width, tin' blocks being ten acres by two acres. There are about two hundred acres in cotton, about twenty-live acres of beach and side land in cocoanuts —not under cultivation—and about twenty-live acres in corn. The cotton is planted twelve feet apart in rows 10 feet apart; and another portion of the plantation is laid down with cocoanut-troes thirty feet apart. After a pleasant walk down the main road to tin; first block we turned to the left and into tiro overseer's house, —substantially built of weatherboard, and in a very pleasant situation. The overseer is—strange to say—a Sanioan ; but has been many years in Mr. Cornwall's employment, and is intelligent, honest, and in every way a much superior man than the ordinary Samoans.

After some few hundred yards' walk we came to the residence of the suboversecr—a Tapiteuean, as are the rest of the labourers, —wliich was in good order and cleanly both inside and round about. Alter soon.- conversation wan him—he speaks veiy fair English—ue went sti.i further on and pulled up at the house: in which tho plantation lauuur live. There i> eiiiple urcumuiodakii .i . all tin- occupants, who have their matr. the j.ivi:::-. s Was in at and clean, u.sd within .' fen yards of the houses there is a good well ot water fr mi which I. to ,k a hearty mid pleasant dibik. They are allowed to koc ,• their own fowlsand ; igs, which are properly fenced in. Altera good rest, asmoke, and a cup of wajtcjr, we took the cross roads across the ] lintation, and got to tho extreme end where the clearing is only commenced. Of course it was pretty rough walking there, but after jumping over fallen trees, stumbling over stones and stumps for about an hour, we had made a pretty good detour of the place and landed at the extreme end of the cultivated—or, as I expressed it, the civilised—portion of the estate. And very glad 1 was when we reached tho Tapilouoau's houses and able to got a good drink of fresh water. In addition to the cotton, corn, and COCoanuts under cultivation, there grows plentifully, in various parts of the estate, onions, pineapples, yams, oranges, limes, mummy apples, inangOOS, and sweet potatoes. The cotton raised on the plantation is called " kidney,"—a much hardier and of less trouble to the grower than the South Sea description which Mr. Rasintisscn grows. The cotton is just ready for picking, many of the hushes being quite full; there is also a fine crop of corn coming in, but, as at Mr. Rasmussen's, its great enemies are th" rats Since my departure ft ii i Mr Corn l all's I heir t<, g nning cotton, i.e.: .i,. . . it oi this, • ,i. \y ■ i ,i on,

Considering the morning » trump, and the long walk to unci over the plantation I was very glad when we reached the homestead, and after a good wash, tat down with u capital appetite to a veiy good supper. After spending a fe<V more pleasant hours, I was obliged, though loth, t< leave at eleven o'clock on the same night, Mr. Cornwall being kind enough to send inu up in his boat, manned by a Tapiteuean crew. Alter such an unusually heavy day's tramp 1 felt rather fatigued, and, with the consideration of a thoroughly good host, my friend made up a lied of mats and blankets in the stern of the boat where, after wishing him anil his wife a good-bye—not " at the door," but on the beach, —I made a comfortable night of it, arriving at Apia at 10 o'clock on the following morning.

Such a trip—though necessarily hur--11 lied—to such kind friends as Messrs. | William Cue, I'.usmussci:, and Cornwall, • is better than all tlm medicine to a man who has to lead a sedentary life. My only regret is that 1 had not more time at my disposal—and the only return 1 can give my kind hosts is my very many i thanks for their hospitality, and to tell them I feel five hundred per cent, better in health and spirits than when 1 started on my unexpected but most enjoyable trip " Away to Leeward."