AMERICA'S SOUTH SEA SOLDIERS 



273 



can Samoa had never 

 seen a brass instru- 

 ment, but with infinite 

 patience a bandmaster 

 of the United States 

 Navy eventually 

 taught some of the 

 Fita - Fitas how to 

 play, with the result 

 that today the reper- 

 toire of the Fita-Fita 

 band covers a wide 

 range of classical and 

 popular airs. 



Each steamer from 

 "the States" brings a 

 new supply of popu- 

 lar music, and when 

 a ship en route to 

 Australia stops over 

 in the harbor of Pago 

 Pago, the native mili- 

 tary band goes on 

 board and plays while 

 the passengers dance. 

 As the steamer goes 

 out of the harbor, the 

 musicians invariably 

 assemble on the dock 

 and play some fare- 

 well airs. 



The music dispensed 

 for home consump- 

 tion is an absolute ne- 

 cessity for dances at 

 the naval station, 

 where sturdy blue- 

 jackets and lovely 

 half-caste girls sway 

 to the strains of the 

 latest airs of Broad- 

 way. 



A WOOD NYMPH OF SAMOA 



The natives of these islands are pure Polynesians, light brown 

 in color, of splendid physique, lithe and graceful. They are a simple, 

 generous, hospitable people. Their language, musical and liquid, has 

 been called "the Italian of the Pacific. " 



THE BAND AS A PATRIOTIC INSPIRATION 



When the Fita-Fita band plays the na- 

 tional anthem at ''colors," it is a most im- 

 pressive sight to see every Samoan man, 

 woman, and child within sound of the 

 music stand in silence and with simple 

 dignity until the last note has been 

 sounded. 



The favorite form of recreation for the 

 Fita-Fitas is cricket. The English mis- 

 sionaries taught the Samoans the game, 

 and cricket tournaments are gala events 

 in the islands. Instead of having the 



regulation eleven on each side, however, 

 the natives have as many as forty or fifty, 

 so that a game very often assumes the 

 prooortions of a immature battle. 



The "rooting" section is the prime at- 

 traction at the tournament. The antics 

 and capers of the Samoan "bleacherites" 

 at their games would make the "stunts" 

 of the undergraduates at an intercollegi- 

 ate game seem tame in comparison. The 

 natives crouch on the side lines, beating 

 wooden drums and giving vent to wi\l 

 chants, easily eclipsing our own college 



