132 JOHN FKASER. 



remembrance. Mate-mate ; Mr. Powell says here, ' This Solo I got from 

 Tufu o Sapunoa, who tells me that Tui was named Mate-mate ' the 

 schemer/ on account of his ' quick discernment/ and Yaea was called 

 Laoai ' tray -table/ because he placed his brother before the king in the 

 basket or tray. 



6. Le-tenu; ' one who is 'straight' in conduct/ 



8. Married ; pig ; ' married ' is here expressed by the word tau ; which 

 in Duke of York island is taula, 'to marry'; on a marriage the man gives 

 a feast — a pig— to the woman's family. 



10. For a head washing; to them a very necessary thing ; they make a 

 lather of the leaves of the toi tree or of wild oranges pounded up, and 

 with this they wash their heads clean. 



13. Drawback ; the word is pona, ' a knot/ ' a difficulty/ 



14. Turned; the meaning is this — when the head is first cooked, it 

 comes out prettily browned ; but if it is baked again, it will become black 

 and so changed that it will not be desired. 



15. Go into the house; Tui wishes him to go inside so that he may know 

 nothing of the counterfeit arrangements for the feast which he and his 

 brother are to make outside. 



17. We two; i.e., the two brothers, Tui and Vaea. 



18 — 19. Cocoa-nut juice; this is a favourite condiment in Samoan cook- 

 ing ; and the food is put in the native oven wrapped in banana leaves. 

 The juice of a cocoa-nut seems also to have some sacred virtue in it ; for 

 it is poured on the hand that has touched a dead chief, in order to take 

 off tabu. Bananas; two kinds are mentioned here— /a f i, the general name, 

 and mamae. 



22. Gently ; this probably means that Malietoa's fierceness need not 

 cause Tui any alarm. 



24. Staff of office; e to f o-to f o '; this he sets up, as a sign that offerings 

 ( c aso/ lines 26, 31, 41) must be made and thus respect shown to his rank. 



26. Feast ; ' aso/ a daily offering of food to a chief. 



30. Lard, liver; these seem to be choice parts for a made dish. 



33. Seat; on high occasions, chiefs sit on a chair or stool. 



36. Sit still; 'noga/ a chief's word. Tui wants to get time to make all 

 his preparations, unobserved. 



38—39. Eat; ' taute/ x high chief's word. 



48. Live to the east ; i.e., no human offerings shall now be brought from 

 east or west. 



49 — 50. So arrange that, when you become numerous, your offering of 

 pigs may not be burdensome on any one family, as the offering of the 

 human ' aso ' had been found to be ; for among the islanders, certain 

 families were devoted to the gods, and, being bound to furnish human 

 victims, soon became extinct. 



