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Roman Catholic Talolo - Brilliant Processions - Master of Ceremonies - Privileged Samoans - The Kava-chewing - Delicate Work - My Share of the Feast - Furious Cannonade - High Mass and Processions - Protection v. Free Trade - Cunning Councillor - Fish Robbery -Falelatai - Origin of Names of Islands - Woman's Rights -Back to Apia.

TO-DAY, by invitation of Monseigneur Lamaze, the Roman Catholic Bishop, I was present at a large 'Talolo,' or food-distribution, at which natives from all parts of the group were to attend in honour of the foundation of a new cathedral, the corner-stone of which was to be blessed on the morrow with all pomp and ceremony.

The place of meeting was the square at the side of the present church, at the far end of which the lines of the new cathedral were marked out, with everything in preparation for the next morning's function. All round the sides of the square were decorations and innumerable flags gaily flying, and on the site of the new edifice was raised a line of green arches, gay and glorious with bunting of all colours, whilst over the centre arch floated proudly the episcopal banner.

Running down the side of the church was a raised platform, in front of which on lofty poles floated the English, United States, German, French, and Samoan national emblems. Here were assembled the Bishop, the Consuls, Magistrate, and all the principal inhabitants of the town; and seated on the space in front of them were the girls of the convent school, looking as neat and as nice as they always do.

About four o'clock the proceedings commenced, when village after village, bearing every sort of food, both European and native, began to arrive. Filing slowly through the gates two-deep, dressed in their best, the ladies of each town, followed by the men in similar order, wonderfully got up and oiled, led by the maid of the place in her most gorgeous array, parading the wealth of the village on her person, marched round the square, chanting loudly, and not unmusically, the particular song of their district. When they arrived in front of the dais the song, without any warning, culminated in a loud triumphant shout, and breaking up the regular order of march, all rushed forward; then, placing their offerings on the ground, they retired immediately a short distance 'to one side, and became spectators of the many similar scenes now following each other in quick succession.

The kaleidoscopic moving panorama of the brightest colours and snowiest whites worn by the golden-featured assistants in the ceremony, never still for one moment, was perfectly bewildering. The eye could not rest for a single second, but involuntarily continued to travel from one attraction to another in quick succession, leaving its owner in a pleasant confusion. Every present circumstance seemed to blend as happily as the ever-changing colours passing rank after rank before one; whilst the weird chanting, as the gay troupes approached one by one, fell most pleasantly on the ear.

The last town having deposited its offering, the whole crowd withdrew to the sides of the square, but still preserved its sections, leaving the ground in front of the platform strewn, without the slightest semblance of order, with yams, taro, bananas, biscuit, big and little pigs cooked whole, salt junk, tins of salmon, turtles, fish, and many other eatables.

The master of the ceremonies now appeared on the scene, and, with the aid of his assistants, sorted out this varied mass of provisions, and loudly proclaimed the quantities of each sort. Just before the sorting began, I observed two of the most disreputable and dirty-looking natives that I ever saw mount our platform, and make themselves quite at home right in front of the Bishop. Anyone, as I did, would have taken them for men of very low degree, and felt inclined to have them turned out of the place of honour; but as soon as the crier had finished calling over his list, these men showed that they were not ordinary mortals, but of some importance, at all events in such shows as these. They suddenly stood upright, and after emitting a string of the most horrid yells, rushed off the platform and commenced grotesquely capering amongst the piles of food, playing all sorts of absurd antics. When they had taken good stock of all that was there, they each selected what pleased them, and retired with the plunder.

These distinguished men were two of a privileged town or family, who, for some great service done in years gone by, enjoy the hereditary right of taking their choice of anything that may be seen at a ceremonial. It is said that they can take the best mat at a funeral meeting even from the corpse itself.

On our platform, to relieve the monotony of the. food-counting, the Bishop ordered Kava to be chewed, and soon had four of the nicest of the convent girls working away at the material. There was nothing strikingly beautiful about any of them, but one could not help remarking that four more pleasant-looking faces could scarcely be found anywhere. All their motions were natural and graceful, their dress as neat as could well be; they formed a group that would attract the attention of any man, I must admit, however, that there was one period during the Kava manufacture that was not prepossessing, when their faces underwent something of a change or temporary distortion, and looked anything but agreeable. But how could girls, let them be ever so good-looking, appear pleasant with their cheeks distended by huge balls of chewed root nearly ready to discharge into the bowl ?

In the meantime the confused mass of eatables had been counted out, and now began the delicate and difficult business of distributing it to the various sections present in such a manner that the dignity and importance of each chief and district might be properly recognised. This, as may readily be imagined, requires the most exquisite tact. The smallest proceeding on the part of the distributor is most closely watched by all present. On these occasions an insult, intentional or otherwise, can 'be given or taken with the greatest ease, and they are often taken advantage of for that purpose. The master of the ceremonies can cause a row between any two sections by favouring one more than the other; and in fact these meetings are frequently used for the publication of political feelings, and although assembled on a peaceful basis, many a fight has been begun at a 'Talolo.'

When all was prepared the apportionment was proclaimed. First of all came the Bishop's share; then the Consuls', of which my portion was two pigs, three fish, and a lot of taro; then the shares for the various sections. As each division was named, representatives came from the crowd and carried their portions off to one side, and so on until the ground was clear.

As soon as all the names had been called it became apparent that something was wrong, for out in the square were left two portions which no one had come to claim. Some time elapsed, yet no move was made, when suddenly an excited native arose, and with fierce gestures poured a torrent of words upon the devoted head of the master of the ceremonies-who, by-the-bye, was the Chief Justice, rather a bad man to quarrel with-who replied, to all appearance, with equal warmth.

The two speakers, it was now seen, were representatives of the two most bitterly opposed political factions; so of course the conversation lost none of its verve in consequence, and it looked rather as though the row were intentional. After a tremendous lot of talk and excitement, the indignant disturber of the peace who it turned out had considered himself slighted in not having received a share consistent with his dignity-after abusing the distributor, gathered together his people and departed in great anger.

The other case of refusal was of no great importance and very easily settled; it was merely that two towns in one small district were included in one portion, but being politically opposed, objected to have their identities merged.

In the afternoon we once again assembled in the church square, when, after High Mass, the Bishop in full robes with mitre and crosier, in grand procession, chanting the services, marched round the boundary-walls of the new building, pausing at certain points to sprinkle them with holy water and mutter some special prayer or other, and then proceeded to the final operation of lowering a stone block and giving it the Papal benediction, when, service having been held over it, one of the fathers made an address in Samoan to the assembled crowd, and all dispersed.

Once more I wondered why it was that all Samoans were not Catholics, for here was everything most dear to the native mind. Gorgeous processions, banners of every hue gaudily waving, dresses and robes of the most brilliant colours, chanting and mysterious swinging censers, all before them; yet Catholics still remain in the great minority, and show no signs of increasing. It certainly is most inexplicable, more especially when the dismal asceticism of many of the native pastors, who rule their communicants with rods of iron, is taken into consideration. The natives are not so much interfered with in their habits by the priests. Kava-drinking is not discouraged, for they all, from the Bishop downwards, enjoy it in native fashion; nor do the fathers interfere with the dances or songs of the natives, which are rigidly- discountenanced by the Protestant party; and last, but not least, they do not condemn the practice of tattooing, which, from its very first arrival, the opposition Church has endeavoured to put down.

In September, having a little difference to settle with the 'Faipule' (district councillors) of Aana, the westernmost province of Upolu, who had been bribed by an American to order their people to sell their produce to none but him, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment, I started off in my boat, intending to prolong the expedition down the coast. I had already made complaint against this sort of trading, but only with the effect of getting the native Governor 'Saga' fined ten dollars by his own court for tearing down his own proclamation ordering this restricted sale; but immediately afterwards another one appeared, signed by himself, fining himself the ten dollars and reiterating the prohibition. Of course the whole thing was a blind to afford him the excuse of coercion.

On my arrival at Vaiala, where these gentlemen held their court, I found them assembled in solemn conclave; having just built a gaol, they were busy consigning people to its retirement in red-hot haste, for with them a prison is of no use unless full. I soon began my business, which they seemed pretty well prepared for, and asked them whether it was true that they had forbidden their people to sell produce to anyone but the American trader, to which they at once said 'No.'

I knew they were fencing, so went on: 'You have not then forbidden them to sell to the British?'

'No.'

'Or to the Germans?'

'No.'

'Well then, what is the meaning of your proclamation posted on the trees ?'

'Oh, that means we have ordered our people to bring their produce to us, their rulers.'

'And then what do you do with it? Do you keep it for the Americans?'

'Yes, we do; but that is not forbidding them to sell to your traders.'

I informed them that I should have to report that the Samoans did not observe their treaty obligations, which gave freedom of trade to all alike, and was just about to leave, when one man said:

'It is true we have made an agreement with the American for two months to make our people give him all their produce; but wait until the end of that time, and we will give the next two months to the British.'

This gentleman I had to reprove severely, as his speech was nothing but impertinence, trading upon my supposed ignorance of the copra (cocoa-nut) seasons. The American two months would have finished up the producing-time, which would not have come on again for some six months or so.

Proceeding up the coast just beyond Mulifanua, we fell in with a large Manono fishing-party, - which had evidently been very successful. I had with me this time an awful old pirate of a Samoan, called ' Johnny Adams,' for a boat-steerer, whose face beamed with delight when he saw the opportunity for plundering, justified by Samoan custom. He was a bit of a chief in his own town, a position that he took full advantage of upon the smallest pretext.

A few of the canoes had left the fishing-fleet with their share of the spoil, and were making their way quietly to shore. On meeting the first boat Johnny stopped, and without the smallest ceremony took a couple of fine fish, and, to my astonishment, performed the same operation to a second and third without the slightest murmur from the owners. A fourth shared the same fate, when on my stopping this sort of robbery, he tried to persuade me that the fishermen would feel insulted if I passed without taking toll.

We soon got quite near the main body of the fleet, consisting of some thirty canoes of large size, to whom the wretched old plunderer made a speech, which he wound up by saying in English to me, 'Now they can't help it.' What he said the old rascal would not tell me, but the effect was that fish were literally poured into my boat until I had seriously to object to any more being brought, and steered on our way, much to the regret of Johnny, who kept muttering, 'They must do it; they can't help it,' and would, if left alone, have annexed all the fish the men had.

About, an hour before sunset we arrived at 'Falelatai,' and put up at the house of 'Anei,' one of the chiefs of the place, where we had a bowl of Kava, bathed, and had dinner. We were, as usual, escorted to the bathing-place by two young ladies carrying our towels and clean things. Arrived there, I found to my dismay that I had left my 'lava-lava,' the wearing of which is imperative in a public bathing place, in the house. On requesting one of the girls to run back and get it for me, she, going into the bush out of sight, flung me out her chemise instead, which having put on, to the amusement of the other occupants of the pool, I performed my ablutions, carefully wrung out the garment and tossed it back, and the kind young woman re-entered upon the scene as smiling and as attentive as before.

The next morning it was too rough to continue our voyage, so we determined to stay and amuse ourselves by observing the natives, who certainly did not seem inclined to kill themselves with hard work. Judging from a foreign point of view, the Samoans are about the laziest people on earth; they must have been also the happiest - that is, before the arrival of the whites.

They have a fine climate, abundance of native food requiring no cultivation whatever, such as cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit to be had simply for the gathering, the former not even asking for the exertion of cooking. The sea produces fish in abundance, and the reefs afford many other edible animals, the capture of which is merely classed amongst their national sports, whilst the cultivation of the taro and yam require but a minimum of labour; and then, even if all these resources fail, there is still left the wild yam in the bush, to be had for the searching, and the tamu, a giant sort of taro, which no drought can ever kill.

Their clothing is made either from leaves plucked in the bush, or from the bark of the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera); but this manufacture being essentially a female occupation, the men have plenty of time to sleep. Cutting timber for housebuilding and the erection of houses is the men's duty, but the thatch-making, carrying, and plaiting, the weaving of the venetians for the sides, and the carriage of beach-gravel for the floor, belong to the women's department. Planting, cooking, and fishing are performed by both sexes alike, and it is no shame for a high chief to assist in the family cookery, or to play second-fiddle to a professional carpenter in the building of a house. Canoe and boat building is the business of a few experienced men, who get very well paid for their trouble; but house-builders are perhaps the men of the most importance in the community.

Women and girls, the first thing in the morning, after rolling up the sides of the house and putting away the sleeping-mats and mosquito 'siapos,' will pass an our or so weeding in front of their houses, gossiping the whole time. As soon as the sun is up, they discontinue this until the evening. During the day they do odd jobs of sewing, fetch water, make mats, or, in the proper season, beat out the mulberry-bark to make 'tapa.' All this, with visiting and receiving visitors, and a good amount of solid sleeping, fishes their day. The young girls are always in requisition to chew Kava whenever and wherever wanted.

In the proper season, from early morning to perhaps the middle of the day, they will, both men and women, cultivate their taro and yam patches, or clean out the banana plantation; but in these occupations there is no real labour, so beneficent is nature in these islands.

In the evening the men will assemble in village council, when island politics will be gravely discussed, and the affairs of the town put in order. At these meetings the members almost always bring with them little bundles of cocoa-nut fibre, which while listening or even talking they plait into sinnet, or native string. To any settled steady work it is quite impossible to bring the ordinary Samoan. He will start all right, but will weaken at it gradually day by day, until at last he will throw up the job altogether.

We found it quite impossible to get from them any idea as to their age. You may ask an. old man to all appearance about eighty how old he is, and he will, after considerable thought, absurdly reply that he does not quite know, but may possibly be as much as eight or nine, although he will tell you that he is very aged.

With regard to dates, it is equally impossible to fix any past occurrence by the calendar; even with the most intelligent it can only be done approximately. If a past date is required, the answer will be, perhaps, 'That was shortly after the hurricane,' or, 'It was just before Seumanu's big house was built' - but rarely anything clearer.

Another very curious thing which invariably strikes a stranger, and is the source of many mistakes, is the use of the positive to assert a negative, as, ' Didn't you do that?' answered by 'Yes,' which does not mean that the action referred to was done, but that it was not - meaning, 'Yes, I did not !'

During the day we learnt, in course of conversation with the old people, stories of how the islands acquired their different names. It appears that Pulotu and Papatea, - which, from what I could gather, meant the east and west - fought together, the latter becoming completely routed in the fight, and all were slain but three couples who took to the sea, swimming for safety. These were 'Tu' and, 'Ila,' 'Uu' and 'Polu,' 'Saa' and 'Vala,' who landed on three different islands, to which they respectively gave the names of Tutuila, Upolu, and Savaii.

The names of the different provinces of Upolu were derived as follows : Thunder, lightning, rain, earth, and water, in fact all the known elements, combined in some mysterious manner, and produced a being. called Pele, who, direct from heaven, first appeared on Manua, and from thence swam to Tutuila. Not being, well received there, he travelled on to Savaii, where he married, and had four sons (there is nothing to show how the wife got to Savaii), namely, 'Tua' and 'Ana' (twins), 'Tuamasaga' (after twins), and 'Tolufale.' He crossed over to Upolu, where dying, he gave to his son Tua the east end of the island, at the same time presenting him with his yam-stick, indicating that he should be the agriculturist. To his brother twin he gave the west end, with his spear as the warrior of the family; whilst to the third son he gave the centre of the island, with his orator's staff and fly-flap to be the councillor. The fourth son was relegated to Manono, from which advantageous position he was to watch and control the movements of his three brothers. From the first three are derived the names of the three divisions of Upolu, viz., Atua, Tuamasaga, and Aana.

Manono derives its name from a Fiji chief, who, becoming tired of Fiji, sailed away with an island in search of better quarters. He arrived firstly at Manua - which throughout appears to be the starting-point of Samoan history - and not liking the situation, went on until he arrived off the straits between Savaii and Upolu, and, perceiving the value of such a location, remained there. Manono means 'with Nono,' the name of the Fiji chief. Not long afterwards the island's sister in Fiji felt very lonely after the departure of her brother, so she came and placed herself close beside him, where she still is under the name of 'Apolima,' or the hollow of the hand, to which it is very appropriately compared.

During the evening we had an instance of the observance of rank in women, not by any means general in the Pacific. We were in the course of a conversation when a lady of middle age arrived to call, upon which everyone left the house, even the chief to whom it belonged.

The visitor was the highest in the district by birth, being, as was said, descended from the ancient gods; however, she was earthly enough for us, and chatted in a very lively manner for some time. She was accompanied by some eight or ten native women, who, as with the chiefs and their talking-men, did almost all the talking for her, one of them acting the part of buffoon, and perpetrating the most untranslatable jokes. She expressed herself as much annoyed at our not having come to her house, and ashamed at our present reception; and making us promise that we would shift our quarters in the morning, she stalked proudly away, followed single file by her string of attendants.

When she had left our host returned, and told us that it was etiquette for him to go out, even though it was his own house, from respect for her high rank but if she had desired it he could have remained.

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