Robert Louis Stevenson came to Samoa on the recommendation
of its climate being potentially therapeutic for his tuberculosis. He came for a visit and stayed until his
death four years later in December of 1894. These were his best years as an
adult, having suffered from his childhood with the constant illness and
weakness of the disease. They were also the most productive of his writing
career. He wrote thirteen booksduring his years in Samoa.
We have visited his home, Vailima, twice now since we
arrived, and I’m sure we will visit there again before we leave. There is a
wonderful spirit there. It is beautiful, peaceful, and full of history. Mt Vaea
rises abruptly behind the home, or rather off to the side. It is visible from
RLS’s study on the second floor where he did his writing. In the early ‘70’s,
our young family in tow, we climbed the steep path to its crest where he is
buried. From the front veranda, looking
across the groomed landscape, the sea is visible through the trees which
surround the 350 acre estate. When the estate was new and being developed,
Stevenson, his family and his host of Samoan help, had a clear view of the sea
as the trees were not yet grown to maturity.
Stevenson put his heart into Vailima and into the nation of
Samoa and its people. They gave him the name Tusitala, meaning story teller.
He was a true friend of Samoa, an advocate for the independence of her
people from foreign rule, and an understanding and appreciative observer of
their culture. It seems more than coincidental that the few short years he
lived there were pivotal years in Samoan history, when Germany was entrenched
politically and economically, and England and America were more than silent
observers. Two rival chiefs (matai) each
with legitimate ties to the throne by lineage and both with large and loyal
followings, had positioned themselves for war. Germany had sided with and
exercised great influence over Maleatoa Laupepa who sat as king, while Mata’afa
stood for the traditional Samoan way of selecting their kings and governing
their country. RLS supported the rebels and considered Mata’afa a friend.
Following a bloody battle between these two factions, the
Germans deported Mata’afa to the Mrshall Islands and took approximately 20 chiefs
of Mata’afa’s camp prisoner. Within a
week they built a prison to contain them. Confined to 6 dark cells, these
chiefs who knew nothing but freedom, were terribly despondent. When Stevenson saw their conditions and
realized what little food they were subsisting on, he pressed the European
powers to allow them to build 8 fales to house themselves , and to allow their
families to feed them and visit them. The prison commander, himself appalled at
their conditions, went further and allowed some family members to live with
their men in prison. Stevenson continued to petition the foreign government to
release the chiefs, who he maintained were no threat to the government.
Eventually his untiring efforts in their behalf were rewarded by their release.
By way of thanks, the chiefs built a road to Vailima, which
Stevenson named, The Road of Loving Hearts. These high-ranking chiefs normally
would not themselves be about road building. This was a gift born of gratitude
that would endure as a symbol of their love for their Tusitala. They would take
no pay, neither expect nor accept any food or supplies while work was underway.
On the Sunday following Thanksgiving in that same year of
1894, surrounded by family and his beloved and devoted Samoan staff, Stevenson
offered this prayer at evening vespers:
“We thank Thee and we praise Thee. We beseech Thee, Lord, to
behold us with favor. Be patient; suffer us yet a while longer-with our broken
purposes of good, and our idle endeavors against evil. Suffer us a while longer
to endure, and help us to do better. Bless to us our extraordinary mercies, be
with our friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest. If any awake,
temper to them the dark hours of watching. And when the day returns, return to
us, our sun and comforter. And call us up with morning faces and with morning
hearts, eager to labor, eager to be happy, if happiness be our portion. And if
the day be marked for sorrow, may we be strong to endure it. Amen.”
December 3rd, 1894 was to be his last day at
Vailima. Surrounded by family, he passed peacefully into the next world. The
diagnosis of the doctor was a blood clot to the brain. Sorrow settled on
Vailima. High-ranking and ordinary Samoans came from villages far and near to pay homage
to their friend, Tusitala. His oft expressed wish to be buried at the top of Mt
Vaea was honored. Throughout the night the sound of machete and ax could be heard as those same chief’s who built The Road of Loving Hearts, chopped and slashed a
path 500 vertical feet to the crest of the mountain. The next day his coffin
was carried on the shoulders of his loving Samoan staff, up the steep mountain
side, where he was buried by these adoring friends and servants. As requested, he died with his boots on. The following verse was written by Stevenson years before, but seem prophetic.
Requiem
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
Here may the winds about me blow;
Here may the clouds come and go;
Here shall be rest for evermo
And the heart for aye shall be still.
This be the verse you grave for me
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea
And the hunter home from the hill.
~ Robert Lous Stevenson
Vailima (Five Rivers)
The bed (with original mosquito net) where he rested and did some of his writing.
The Great Hall where mourners came to view his body.
This room was the scene of many happy celebrations and gatherings while he was yet alive.
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