LIFE IN SAMOA. 223 



ference of civilised powers. It is a disgrace to this age of 

 boasted 'material progress' that the only material advancement 

 the Samoans have made since their firs.t acquaintance with 

 civilised man, some sixty years ago, is their improved know- 

 ledge of rifles and gunpowder, with which the civilised traders 

 have been careful to supply them at of course a reasonable 

 profit. According to the opinion of men who have forgotten 

 more about the South Pacific than I have ever learnt, the 

 Samoans are the best - conducted of all the people of that 

 region, except those of the Hervey, Austral and Union Groups, 

 who may be considered quite abnormal people, insomuch as 

 until visited by white men they were altogether destitute of 

 weapons of offence. 



None of the Samoans have as yet been taken away in labour 

 vessels, as they have the strongest objection to leave their own 

 islands, and would not of free will engage themselves as 

 labourers. In fact, the cotton-growers and other planters in 

 Samoa have to rely on imported labour mostly from the Line 

 Islands, or from Niue or Savage Island, or the New Hebrides. 

 The former men are much darker in colour and vastly inferior 

 in physique to the Samoans, who very naturally look down 

 upon them. The Nine men, on the contrary, are of a better 

 class, and usually adopt European costume. Like the Fijians 

 and Tongans, the Samoans have a princely carriage, and the 

 chiefs are usually a good deal over six feet in height, and 

 superbly limbed. A few have beards, but the majority cannot 

 boast that ornament. 



Eloquence seems to be a natural gift with Samoans, and the 

 speeches of their orators are often replete with well-chosen 

 metaphors. But under these flowing periods runs a vein of 

 strong common sense and logical argument. The orator is a 

 most important individual, for at the fonoa, or political meet- 



