The Volcano of Matavanu in Savaii

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Abstract
T he Samoa or Navigator Islands are a group in the Western Pacific, lying in 13½° to 14° S. lat. and 168° to 173° W. long. They are some 350 miles north of Tonga, and between 400 and 500 miles north-east of Fiji. From Auckland (New Zealand) the sailing distance is 1560 miles, and from San Francisco about 4400. The group consists of nine islands, in addition to rocks and islets, but only four are of any notable size, namely: Upolu, Savaii, Tutuila, and Manua. The two first-named belong to Germany and the two last-named to the United States. They are mountainous, but at the same time well wooded, and are all, with the exception of Rose Island, volcanic, and for the most part surrounded with coral-reefs. They are disposed in a linear direction from north-west to south-east, and a line drawn from the volcanic region of New Zealand and thence through White Island, Pylstaart, the Kermadecs, and the Tonga Islands, all of which contain volcanoes active or extinct, would pass through the group. It is probable that each of these lines marks a fold-fissure or line of weakness of the earth's crust. It is noteworthy that a volcanic eruption took place in the Tonga Group at the same time as the great eruption of Tarawera in New Zealand, in June 1886. Savaii is the westernmost and also the largest of the group. It is 48 miles long and at least 25 miles wide, but the interior has never been surveyed.

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