POLYNESIAN TRADITIONS. 349 



Of all that wonderfully fruitful, food-producing order, the 

 bananas, the only one which stands upright is the mountain 

 plantain. The Samoans say a war arose among the bananas, 

 and the plantain conquering, the rest hung their heads in 

 token of their vassalage. 



The animal kingdom is treated in much the same fashion. 

 The rat and bat are both well known in Samoa, and the natives 

 having always maintained that they are relatives, the wing 

 difficulty is thus disposed of : 



Once upon a time the original rat had wings, while the bat 

 was not so favoured ; whereupon the latter, being ' uncom- 

 monly smart,' borrowed ' for a few minutes ' his companion's 

 organs of air locomotion ; but the minute he found that he liked 

 air-travel better than trudging it on foot, he quietly went 

 away, leaving his legs for his friend to utilise as best he 

 could. 



Some of the sayings of these people are interesting, and I 

 will give two or three which I have had related to me. If I 

 remember correctly, the following were attributed not to 

 Samoa, but either to Tonga or Fiji ; although I never met 

 with them in either place. One on greediness may roughly 

 be translated : 



' Your evil eye esteems your share too small, 

 And prompts you quick to aim at all.' 



Another on a brutal husband, which may apply with especial 

 force to some very gallant specimens of our Christian, 

 civilised, and evangelising people, may be rendered as 

 follows : 



' Oh, what a valiant man you are ! 

 Who beat your wife, but dare not go to war !' 



A Tongan who had visited San Francisco was once asked by 

 his compatriots whether it was true that the country of the 



