The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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face of the mountain, and the writer himself led another party to the
summit--men chosen from the immediate family--to dig the grave on the
spot where it was Robert Louis Stevenson's wish that he should lie....
Nothing more picturesque can be imagined than the ledge that forms the
summit to Vaea, a place no wider than a room, and flat as a table. On
either side the land descends precipitously; in front lies the vast
ocean and surf-swept reefs; to the right and left green mountains
rise....

"All the morning Samoans were arriving with flowers, few of these were
white, for they have not learned our foreign custom, and the room glowed
with the many colors. There were no strangers on that day, no
acquaintances; those only were called who would deeply feel the loss. At
one o'clock a body of powerful Samoans bore away the coffin, hid beneath
a tattered red ensign that had flown above his vessel in many a remote
corner of the South Seas. A path so steep and rugged taxed their
strength to the utmost, for not only was the journey difficult in