SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FROM SAMOA. 203 



3. The Manu'a cluster, in the east of the Samoan group, consists of three 

 islands Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga; of these, Tauisthe largest, and is about 

 eight miles long. Vai-tele (tele, ' great/ vai, ' fresh-water/) seems to 

 be a river in it. 



4. Fe'e is the octopus ; Faia means ' created or made/ Fe'e has a very- 

 bad reputation in Samoa as the enemy of man ; he and his progeny (Sa- 

 Fe'e, 'the family of the octopus') are consigned to the lower regions, 

 and are grandees there. A Samoan mother, when very angry with her 

 children, will say to them, ' Be off to Sa-Fe'e.' 



5. As a token of respect. 



6. ' She went into the bush/ That is not customary now. The 'bush* 

 is the thickly timbered land near the villages. 



7. Analuma means ' caves in front/ The lava in that district is often 

 worn into caves in the sides of the mountains by the action of water. 



8. Vao-sa. ' At the back of Mata-Utu, my place in Savai'i/ says Mr. 

 Pratt, ' was a thicket of teak tree — a kind of wood well fitted for building 

 houses or ships, but the villagers believed that Tui-Fiti or some aitu 

 ('spirit') was in the clump of trees, and so did not touch them. One 

 day, necessity overcame their fears for a time ; for, seeing a tree fit for the 

 keel of a canoe, they cut it down ; but it had to lie there ; they were 

 afraid to take it home.' 



9. Samoan parents ' make their will/ and dispose of their property by 

 word of mouth. This mode is binding on ail the children. 



10. The native terms to denote these two relationships are — tama-fafine 

 and tama-tane (tane = ' a man/ fafine — ' a woman/ tama = ' a woman's, 

 child'). Tama-fafine may be translated 'my sister's child/ "When a 

 man died, it was the tama-fafine who had the privilege of performing the 

 last office of respect at the grave ; just before the body was covered up, 

 he approached and poured a flask of oil on the face of the dead. 



11. ' A day of work.' The old men of a village could at any time appoint 

 ' a day of work/ say, to-morrow, for the building of a wall, or a fishing 

 excursion, or any similar object of general interest. Any one who failed 

 to come to work was fined a pig or pigs, at the pleasure of the elders. A 

 man who was necessarily absent would get a relative to take his place. 

 To shirk duty was a disgrace. 



12. However inferior in social position the tama-fafine might be, he 

 always received from his relations tokens of honour, such as the first of 

 the fish which were caught. In this tale, the honorary offerings of the 

 shoots of the breadfruit and the branch of the cocoa-nuts seem to indi- 

 cate, in an oriental way, that these trees and their fruit were his ; just 

 as the local magistrate in Britain might offer to our Queen the keys of 

 their city, when she enters it. 



13. What this clause means is not clear. 



III. — The Story of Alele.* 

 A 'Tala.') 



Alele 1 was the name of a people far away to the east, beyond 

 Tua-langi; 1 they were notorious plunderers, 2 and so swift that they 

 were named Alele, c swift-fliers/ They had wings, and also reces- 

 ses 3 in their backs, in which to stow away their plunder. Their 



