76 T U T U I L A. 



deseed it might remain in the oven a little while longer. Their usual 

 custom is to take it out the moment that the taro is cooked, and from 

 daily practice they are well acquainted with the time required to cook 

 it. This is scarcely sufficient to give the pig time to be warmed 

 through. Our request prevailed, and in the course of half an hour we 

 were summoned to the council-house or fale-tele, where strangers are 

 always entertained. We were shown our seats, on one side of a circle, 

 while Toa, with his family and friends, occupied the other. The 

 mats, except one, were not very clean. The pig, which must have 

 weighed one hundred pounds, was brought in, and laid with the taro 

 and bread-fruit on banana-leaves. A butcher's knife was all that we 

 possessed to carve it with. The whole village, old and young, men, 

 women, and children, who were waiting in anxious expectation for 

 their share, now surrounded us, and made it uncomfortable to eat, 

 with so many hungry expectants ; I made haste, therefore, to divide 

 it, and with it they soon dispersed. The taro was exceedingly well 

 cooked, dry, and farinaceous. The bread-fruit they said was too 

 young, and not being considered good by them, they objected to 

 giving us any of it, but did not hesitate to eat it themselves. A pig is 

 a great treat to them, for although they have plenty, they prefer selling 

 to eating them. 



All kinds of provisions in these islands are enhancing in value, and 

 will continue to do so. It is remarkable how the prices fluctuate. On 

 some days provisions of all kinds will be exceedingly cheap, and almost 

 any article w r ill be taken in exchange ; and then again nothing can be 

 found to please the natives, or induce them to trade, although the 

 quantity for sale is equally as great. It was not a little amusing to see 

 the natives sitting whole days to obtain the price of their fowl or pig, 

 and persisting in their refusal of the offer made ; and this was some- 

 times done by a large number at the same time, all remaining true to 

 each other until their poe or food became exhausted, when they would 

 take the earliest opportunity of disposing of their different parcels. 



In the grove near the village, we saw several piles of stones. I was 

 told they were the graves in which they formerly buried the dead, just 

 below the surface. On the top were placed stones, forming a high 

 pile. Now they bury their dead in graves about three feet deep, and 

 enclose them with the Dracaena, which grows rapidly, and forms a 

 pretty and neat trellis. 



Toa became quite communicative, and as he showed me about his 

 village, he told me, through the interpreter, that before the missionaries 

 came, the chiefs all had their " aitu" or spirits, which they worshipped, 



