The much-loved Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson, spent the last of his young years at Vailima just outside Apia. He was aged just 44 when he died. He was opening a bottle of wine and chatting with his wife, Fanny, when he suddenly collapsed and died a few hours later, probably from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Famous around the world for his novels (the biggest sellers being Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), Stevenson is more famous in Samoa for simply being a great man who just happened to be a writer.
While his Samoan name was ‘Tusitala’ (‘Teller of Tales’) Stevenson was also a leader, thinker and motivator. His 20 staff members were more family than servants and a visit to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum (formerly the writer’s residence) is highly recommended. It is simply the best museum I have been to – you feel as if you have walked in his footsteps.
Robert and Fanny are buried up the hill behind Vailima with Robert’s grave inscribed with his poem, 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.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Top photo: ‘Vailima’, Robert Louis Stevenson’s home just outside Apia which is now a terrific museum
Bottom photo: Stevenson’s birthday fete at Vailima in 1894, the year he died