THE KING OF SAMOA 237 



King of Samoa, Mataafa, paid a visit to Lord 

 Crawford on board the yacht. He was quite 

 unexpected, and at the time we were entertaining 

 a large party of native chiefs and their families, 

 about thirty of whom were sitting in the saloon. 

 Suddenly the king was announced, and we were 

 somewhat astonished to see all our guests vacate 

 their chairs and sit on the floor. This, however, 

 so they told us afterwards, is the correct thing to 

 do when in the presence of their king. He was 

 a very striking looking old man, dressed in a 

 plain white coat and kilt, his only ornament being 

 a thick gold chain, which he wore round his neck. 



The Samoan Islands, with the exception of 

 Tutuila, belong to Germany, and are ruled by a 

 Governor. So Mataafa is now a king in name 

 only. Nevertheless he appears to be an im- 

 portant personage amongst his subjects, all of 

 whom treat him with the greatest respect. 



Our last evening in Apia was spent at a native 

 dance, which provided one of the most picturesque 

 scenes we witnessed during this voyage. We sat 

 in a semi-circle round a large covered enclosure, 

 and faced the dancers, of whom there were about 

 forty, aU in native dress. 



The Samoan " dance," or " Siva," as it is called, 

 consists chiefly of a series of arm exercises 

 accompanied by a weird chanting and clapping 

 of hands. The proceedings were brought to a 

 close by a kava drink, for which the most remark- 



