THE S A MO Ay ISLANDS 423 



There is nothing in the dress or bearing of a high chief which en- 

 ables a foreigner to distinguish him, but he is isohited from the rest 

 of the people b^'- a system of rigid etiquette. No one may hold up 

 an umbrella or do certain kinds of work in his presence, and a special 

 vocabulary is set apart in which to address him. The common names 

 for food, an axe, a pig, etc., are tabooed in his presence. His face, his 

 anger, and other attributes are descril^ed in an entirely different set 

 of words from those used for ordinary men. To address him requires 

 a special branch of knowledge, and he who visits a high chief does 

 well to make sure of the competence of his interpreter. Hedged 

 about as he is, the chief, in his intercourse with persons not of 

 his rank, has come to depend largely on his " talking-man," who, 

 like the chief, is elected from certain families in which the ofhce 

 is hereditar3\ As a rule, no one is elected who has not a gift for ora- 

 tory, which is a common talent in Samoa, Some talking-men are 

 elected for tlie large provinces and some fortlie smaller subdivisions 

 of which each province is made up, but in either case their duties and 

 powers are considerable. They are men of much dignity of car- 

 riage, and as they stand leaning upon a staff of office with a " fue," 

 or fly-flap, cast over one shoulder, with which to occasionally em- 

 phasize th-eir remarks, they compare favorably in appearance with 

 the orators of a nation more civilized than tliemselves. In addition 

 to speaking in tlie name of the chief, it is their dut}' to distri])ute 

 food at all public functions where precedence and etiquette are of 

 importance and to perform other official acts. During the late war 

 party feeling was keenly aroused and the cause of Mataafa much 

 strengthened by the desertion of fjauti, the principal Tulafale of 

 Malietoa Laupepa, the father of Tanu, to Mataafa 's side. 



The various bodies of talking-men grant titles, called Papa, or Ao, 

 to which the Samoans attach great importance, but the title need not 

 be granted by the whole body or by a majority, and may even be 

 V>estowed by one qualified i)erson. Inferior titles are often borne 

 without consent by two or more chiefs who have each received them 

 legally from different members of the same body ; also the Samoan's 

 mind sees no incongruity in a title being both hereditary and elective — 

 that is to say, if the bearer of a title thinks proper, when dying, to 

 be(iueath it to his son, or, as is more common, to his sister's son, his 

 wishes will probably be respected. 



There are four or perhaps five great titles which stand out above 

 the others and which may confer upon anyone who holds them the 



