The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-08
SHOOTING THE APOLIMA PASSAGE.
How 1t Feels to shoot in Boat Into
the Samoan Lagoon.

Llewella Pierce Churchill, in Forest and
Stream.
If you can picture in imagination the
spectacle of the camel threading the eye
OF the needle with the speed of the swiftest
Of all express trains you may get some
idea of what it looks like to pass from
the ocean into the still lagoon of Apolima
the most beautiful island in Samoa. and by
long odds the most picturesque of all spots
chosen for human habitation anywhere in
the wide world. If you can imagine the
feelings of the same camel as he finds him.
self shot at the needles eye at the rate
Of a mile a minute and suddenly makes
the discovery that the eye has in it a cast
on which he is in deadly danger of being
hurled you may know then how it feels
to shoot the narrow and tortuOus pass
through bristling coral jaws which is the
only access to Apolma.
The first thing is to find the one spot in
the whirl between the open gateway of the
passage and the smother of surf on the
reef outside, in which the boat can be kept
still. There you must await the leisurely
movements of the villagers of the island.
who will make signals to whether it is
possible TO come IN, matter which 1t is
almost impossible to determine from the
outside aspect OF the passage. If their sig
mails are favorable they will launch their
canoes and cross their own duck pond of a
lagoon TO take positions on the rocky laws
of their islands gateway. to be in a DO
sitiOn to give help, for there is ALWAYS a
bright prospect that help will be needed.
There Is presented sharp contrast Out
side the gate your crew is rowing with
long, steady strokes, merely to keep the
boat IN one place, In a smooth eddy of
foam and whirling suds within a wild lab
BILE of waves. AS you are lifted from the
depths high into air you look down upon
the canoes on the lagoon within moving
as smoothly as paper boats Of children in
a tub Of water.
Between the tumult and the peace is a
narrow and crooked passage between the
rocks, through which you must make your
way. 1t can be done only on the last two
hours of the flood tide; even then It is al
ways dangerous from outside it seems an
G rsaro 7orHsf T~r~c
bare the whole stretch of the rocky barrier
and discloses the twist of the narrow pas
sage between lagoon and raging sea. This
barrier is only fifty feet across that is
from the sea TO the still waters beyond
When the v I'VE recedes the channel is seen
to be no more than eight or ten feetswide
and partially blocked in places by coral
formations Through this lane where there
is not room for oars, 1t is necessary to run
with the utmost precision of fine steering.
and the crew viii seldom intrust that part
of the operation to any white man Unless
they have learned that he is skilled in the
quick handling Of small boats. Only a few
white women have ventured to shoot the
passage, and certainly none has been al
lowed 10 handle the ruddeF at the critical
moment for the lives of all depend On the
man at the helm.
AS the pass is far to narrow for oars, and
as they would anyway be useless In the
magnificent velocity Of the wave stream the
sea is relied on TO furnish the motive power.
The boat is kept in the smother Of the eddy
under the off shore ledge Of rock while the
crew and helmsman watch intently the way
in which the sea breaks on and over that
barrier. Sea after sea passes by and tum-
bles into banks OF fine spray on the thresh-