ritain gave up all claims.

A rich soil, tropical temperature, and a generous rainfall make the
islands productive. Americans who live there claim that in no other part
of the world can the necessaries of life be obtained so easily as in
Samoa. Savii, the largest island, has a smaller area of cultivable land
than the others. Once upon a time, however, it was the most densely
peopled and the richest island of all Samoa. Then a volcanic eruption
covered much of its surface with ash and lava. Perhaps in time the lava
fields may become good soil, as they have in Hawaii.

Tutuila is one of the four islands belonging to the United States; the
other three, Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga, belong to the Manua group. All of
them together are not half the size of Rhode Island. Tutuila is perhaps
the most important island of Samoa, because of its fine harbor, Pago
Pago--Pango Pango, the Samoans pronounce it. Pago Pago is certainly a
fine harbor. The entrance is so narrow that it can be closed easily;
then it widens out into a bay two miles long and nearly half a mile
wide. When the Panama Canal is completed, Pago Pago will be right in the
track of steamships from Europe and the United States bound for
Australia.

Apia, on the island of Upolu, is the port of the Germans. The harbor is
larger, but it is not so well protected. In 1889, when a typhoon struck
Apia (both the town and the shipping), very few buildings escaped damage
or destruction. And the shipping?--well, there was not much left. There
were six warships and a lot of sailing-vessels in the V-shaped harbor.
When the storm raged hardest it seemed to grow a bit more furious. Some
of the vessels dragged their anchors and were piled up as wrecks on the
beach. Others foundered and went to the bottom with all aboard. Three or
four managed to get out of the bay into the open sea, where they were
fairly safe.

But Pago Pago harbor is large and deep. What is still better, it is
surrounded by bluffs and mountains that will shelter a big fleet against
even the fury of a typhoon.

Most of the islands are covered with a dense vegetation, tropical and
richly colored. There is an abundance of hardwood trees, but the
breadfruit, banana, and cocoa-palm are the most useful. The
breadfruit-tree grows wild, but it is also cultivated. The fruit is
about the size of an ordinary cantaloupe. In some species the fruit is
filled with seeds nearly as large as chestnuts and these are sometimes
eaten. T