402 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION F. 



Many of these proverbs I have gatliered together during a long 

 term of residence in Samoa, but the bulk of them are taken from a 

 very valuable collection which 1 obtained some fifty years ago from 

 one of the most intelligent of the Samoan peoples. They are 

 written by himself, and consist of about more tiian 500 hundred 

 pages of closely written matter containing not only the proverbs 

 which I have selected, but many other specimens of Samoan songs 

 and folk lore. Some of these I hope to be able to translate in the. 

 near future. 



PROVEKBS CONNECTED WITH STORIES. 



1. " Ua vai o Man.\^" — This is the story of n, man called Mana,. 

 who had a wife called Vae. Maiia was the owner of a waterhole. 

 on the rocks, near the beach, which always contained good, fresh 

 water. It was not, however, large enough to admit a coco-nut 

 shell dipper of the usual size, and this was always a great grievance 

 with Vae (Mima's wife), and at last she determined to try and im- 

 prove it. She began to chip the sides of the hole, but in doing this 

 she unfortunately fractured the side near the sea. The conse- 

 quence of this v/as that the sea- water found an entrance, and the 

 water-hole was ruined. 



The application is, of course, to " leave well alone," but the 

 proverb is often used to illustrate any misfortune or blemish. 

 The latter use is, I think, quite wrong. Another form of the 

 proverb is, " Foai, foai, mai, pei o le vai o Mana ! " 



2. " E LEAI SE TAUMASINA MA AlII." " No OUe Cail COUIlt 



moons with chiefs." Cf. " It's ill contending with Kings." 



The story is that of a contention between Tuitonga and a village 

 ruler called Pepe as to the state or position of the moon. Tuitonga 

 said that the moon was dead (i.e., not visible), but Pepe said it 

 was not dead, and the contention was very strong. Then Tuitonga 

 said the moon is fanoloa (not visible), but the ruler said it has one 

 more day. Then Tuitonga said, " All right, if you are so conten- 

 tious, go early to-morrow morning, and see if you can see the 

 moon." The King was right; the moon was not visible. Then the 

 Aitu (family god) of the ruler went to him, and said, " Why are 

 you so foolish in thus contending with the King 1 The moon is 

 not visible. But now the only way is this: you go early in the 

 morning, and I will stand like the moon on the horizon, lest the 

 King should slay you." All this programme was carried out, but 

 the King was not deceived. He only said to Pepe, "You, there! 

 who is your god who is turned into the moon which is not visible ?" 

 Then the King swore, and was very angry with the obstinate tula- 

 fale (ruler), and was very nearly causing him to be killed. 



