Western Samoa (Samoa is the modern name) is the epitome of natural beauty consisting of 10 islands with distinct environments. The two main islands have two rugged volcanic mountain peaks. The coastline is ringed with white sandy beaches. Lush, green landscpe covers most of the island with banyan trees towering above the rain forest canopy. Most of the islans of the Samoa Archipelago are fringed by coral reefs that keep the powerful force of the Pacific Ocean at bay.
Apia is located on the island of Upolu with a population of about 40,000. We decided to do a three-hour van tour ($30) with a local Samoan, Fale. Two other couples joined this trek which took us around part of the island, including a visit to Robert Luis Stevenson's home, Villa Vailima. The house is a museum and hosts events. He is buried on a hill on the property. It is interesting to note that Samoans bury their relatives on their property.
Apia is located on the island of Upolu with a population of about 40,000. We decided to do a three-hour van tour ($30) with a local Samoan, Fale. Two other couples joined this trek which took us around part of the island, including a visit to Robert Luis Stevenson's home, Villa Vailima. The house is a museum and hosts events. He is buried on a hill on the property. It is interesting to note that Samoans bury their relatives on their property.
In December 1889 the Scottish author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny Osborne arrived in Apia. Stevenson had left Europe in search of relief from worsening tuberculosis. He was enchanted by Samoa, and in 1890 he paid £200 for 126 hectares of land in the hills above Apia where he constructed Villa Vailima, the biggest and most opulant home on the island.
In the 1890s, during the period of strife in Samoa between Britain, the USA and Germany, Stevenson became an activist for Samoan rights, maintaining that the people should be left to determine their own destiny in accordance with their customs. He came to be loved by the Samoans for his friendliness and his ability to entertain with stories; they affectionately referred to him as Tusitala (Teller of Tales).
On 3 December 1894 Stevenson died of a stroke at Vailima. When the Samoan chief Tu’imaleali’ifano spoke of Stevenson’s death, he echoed the sentiments of many Samoans, saying ‘Our beloved Tusitala. The stones and the earth weep.’ Two months before his death, in gratitude for his kindness, a delegation of Samoan chiefs had arranged for a hand-dug road to be made between Apia and Vailima, which they called O Le Ala O Le Alofa, the Road of the Loving Heart.
Stevenson had stipulated that he wished to be buried at the top of Mt Vaea, part of the Vailima estate. After a Christian burial service, the coffin was laid on a base of coral and volcanic pebbles and the grave lined with black stones, a practice normally reserved for Samoan royalty.
In the 1890s, during the period of strife in Samoa between Britain, the USA and Germany, Stevenson became an activist for Samoan rights, maintaining that the people should be left to determine their own destiny in accordance with their customs. He came to be loved by the Samoans for his friendliness and his ability to entertain with stories; they affectionately referred to him as Tusitala (Teller of Tales).
On 3 December 1894 Stevenson died of a stroke at Vailima. When the Samoan chief Tu’imaleali’ifano spoke of Stevenson’s death, he echoed the sentiments of many Samoans, saying ‘Our beloved Tusitala. The stones and the earth weep.’ Two months before his death, in gratitude for his kindness, a delegation of Samoan chiefs had arranged for a hand-dug road to be made between Apia and Vailima, which they called O Le Ala O Le Alofa, the Road of the Loving Heart.
Stevenson had stipulated that he wished to be buried at the top of Mt Vaea, part of the Vailima estate. After a Christian burial service, the coffin was laid on a base of coral and volcanic pebbles and the grave lined with black stones, a practice normally reserved for Samoan royalty.
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