The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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songs. All the Samoans are great singers. They composed songs about
everything and everybody, so that one could judge the standing a person
held by the songs that were sung about him.

Those sung at Vailima parties were usually written by one of the house
"boys" and "they were danced and acted with great spirit.... Sometimes
every member of the family would be represented ... but the central
figure, the heart of the song was always Tusitala."

It is a marvel with the many demands made upon him, his varied
interests, and frequent visits to neighboring islands, Stevenson still
found time to write stories, poems, prayers, notes of the South Sea
Islands, Samoan history, and many, many letters. "It is a life that
suits me but absorbs me like an ocean," he said. Through it all his
health continued fairly good. He was able to take long tramps and rides
that would have been physically impossible two years before.