SAMOA. 



636 



of the house are enclosed with a folding matting of cocoanut 

 leaves, which can be drawn up when required, something 

 hke a Venetian blind. 



The best houses in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands 

 are of a pyramidal shape, smaller in circumference but much 

 higher than the Samoan, Both the roof and sides are closely 

 thatched with long grass. There is but one aperture, a door- 

 way four feet high. The roof is crowned by a finial of a 

 fantastic figure, and the sides of the doorway are ornamented 

 with thick slabs of wood, on which ai-e carved grotesque 

 representations of human figures. The interior of these 

 abodes are very dirty, and begrimed with soot. Both in 

 Samoa and the Loyalty Islands there are other houses of 

 lighter construction. 



In a former paper on " A Comparative View of some of 

 the Customs and Social Habits of the Malay and Papuan 

 Races of Polynesia," I have briefly described the houses 

 erected on New Guinea and the New Hebrides. 



In a country like Samoa, where climate and soil are most 

 favourable to vegetable growth, and where perennial showers 

 and seasonably dry weather recur in regular order, and where 

 very few destructive elements exist, food is abundant, and 

 cultivation is conducted not so much from necessity as from 

 a desire to obtain a variety of edibles. Cocoanut, breadfruit, 

 and chestnut trees, and wild yams, bananas, plantains, papaw 

 apples, melons, pumpkins, and other esculents abound 

 throughout the islands, requiring very little attention for 

 reproduction. Taro, yams, sweet potatoes, and certain 

 species of bananas, with several introduced vegetables and 

 fruit trees, are all that demand labour from the people. 



In Samoa the cultivation of the soil is the work of the 

 men, with the occasional assistance of women and children. 

 The agricultural instruments employed are of a most simple 

 and primitive order. In place of a plough they use a 

 wooden dibble, and instead of a harrow a branch of a tree 

 is made to sufHce. Sometimes the earth is dug up and made 

 smooth with the blade of a canoe paddle. The removal of 

 weeds and other noxious growths receives the greatest care, 

 so that a properly cultivated plantation looks as clean and 

 orderly as a Chinese garden. Where food is so abundant 

 the natives are all well nourished. 



In addition to the cultivation of the soil there are various 

 other occupations giving employment to the people. Of 

 skilled labour, house carpenters and canoe builders, fishing- 



