LIFE IN SAMOA. 221 



und money. It is no matter if the mat is tattered and worn 

 out ; its antiquity is its value, and $500 Avould be scornfully 

 refused for some of the most cherished of these heredita- 

 ments. 



The Samoans, like the Fijians, spend much time in dressing 

 their hair, which, by the aid of lime, they get to a reddish 

 hue ; and both men and women wear flowers in their hair, 

 often blossoms of the beautiful scarlet kybiscus, which is 

 generally to be found growing near their houses. 



In common with other races whom nature has blessed with 

 such an abundant supply of food growing wild at their very 

 doors, they are not intuitively inclined for hard work, but 

 I should certainly not describe them, considering their happy 

 circumstances, as a lazy people. Their houses are usually 

 circular in shape, with conical roofs, supported in the centre 

 by two or three stout posts, and open all round, but fitted 

 with narrow mats made of cocoa-nut leaves, which are strung 

 together like Venetian blinds, and can be let down in stormy 

 or rainy weather, and at night. 



The Samoans have five different kinds of canoes : the 

 Alia, or large double canoes, some of which are capable of 

 carrying two or even three hundred men ; the Taumualua, 

 from 30 to 50 feet long (these are fashioned after our whale 

 boats) ; the fishing-canoes with an outrigger ; and the Soalau, 

 or dug-out canoe, with an outrigger, which will hold five or six 

 people ; and lastly the Paopao, or very small dug-out canoe, 

 for one person. 



The natives of Samoa were never by disposition cruel or 

 fond of shedding blood ; on the contrary, all their traditions 

 contain evidence of most excellent and merciful laws, such as 

 the providing of sanctuaries or places of refuge where a man 

 could be secure from the vengeance of those whom he might 



