ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES OE TOKELAU, ETC., ISLANDERS. 609 
Laupapa (evidently a Samoan name), was speedily in contact. After 
a parley a battle took place in which two Tongan “ chiefs ” named 
Savea and Tinaimanu were engaged. Tinaimanu is referred tc as the 
breeder of wars in the “ Eight Islands’’ — i, e the Ellice Group. 
The Tongans were driven off, and went to Funafuti. There one 
of the Tongan chiefs (it is not clear whether this was Tinaimanu or 
not) established himself; but Savea and his people returned to Tonga. 
The chief who remained at Funafuti very quickly acquired a reputa- 
tion for savagery. He practised cannibalism to such an extent that 
very shortly there were none but women and children left. Ten young 
boj^s, who were attached to the chief as his servants, when they grew 
up, formed a plot to murder the cannibal, which they successfully 
accomplished, thus ridding the Eight Islands of a scourge. 
Amongst the traditional customs of Nukufetau one merits special 
mention. On Nukufetau, as elsewhere, infanticide or foeticide was 
the law of the land. Only one — some say two — were allowed to live 
in each family; the rest were strangled. But it was possible for the 
parents to ransom their offspring by giving a present to the chiefs, of 
whom at one time there were said to be forty. This ransom consisted 
of seven large bowls of jacmsi (scraped taro prepared with the juice of 
the coccanut). So far as I know this is the only instance ot the 
number seven being considered the number of completeness, as in the 
Hebrew Scriptures. Incidentally, the tradition bears testimony to the 
early introduction of the taro {Arum esculent urn) into the group, in 
all probability from Samoa. 
In those times stealing was the only other crime to which a 
penalty was attached. The penalty in that case is alleged to have been 
death. . The only other island in this group which it is possible in 
the limits of this paper to notice is the interesting island of — 
Vaitupu . — This is a small island, nearly round, with a salt lagoon 
in the centre. The people trace their ancestry to Samoa. 
Iheir traditions very distinctly point to a direct connection with 
Samoa. The legend declares that the first inhabitants of Vaitupu 
were a number of people who swam there. As the names of that first 
party have been preserved, one may safely conclude that they had 
some efficient mode of conveyance, and were people of some conse- 
quence in their own estimation. The names of the principal male 
members of that party : Tangaloa, Kulu, Te-Foilangi, Tuifenua, 
Laukitc, Si’o, Tafakula, and Maumau. They considered themselves to 
he kings, and to have natural rights, not only on the island they had 
made their own, but on other islands of the group. They called the 
island Vaitupu, the water of kings. 
Their rights were subsequently disputed with another claimant in 
the person of a chief named Telemat ua, who, also with a party of 
retainers, hailed from Samoa. By stratagem the latter succeeded in 
ousting the prior occupants of the soil, who were scattered amongst 
other islands, to which they betook themselves. 
Such is the tradition, but the pregnant fact remains that several 
of the party became deified, and we have Kulu and Foilaogi, Laukite 
and Tafakula appearing as gods of Vaitupu as well as of the islands 
of Nanomanga, to which they may subsequently have gone. Foilape, 
a former king of Funafuti, is mentioned as one of the principal gods 
