WESTERN SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 11

WESTERN SAMOA

RECOLLECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS

MOTOR DRIVE IN THE TROPICS

COCONUT AND COCOA PLANTATIONS.

No. 2.

Still the way of his going was round by the roaring coast, Where the ring of tho reef is broke and the trades run riot the moat; . On his left, with smoke as of battle, the billows battered the'land; Unscalable turreted mountains rose on the inner hand. -EX.S. Our visitors were not unduly tired with their tramp up Mount Vaea, and declares their ability to go farther and see more, despite moist skins and moister garments. On returning to Apia w must return by the same road by which we came, then westward in the direction of Mulifanua. At the western end of the town, near the point where we landed* is the Fugalei road, constructed lately of crushed and rolled metal, and tar-sealed, along which we roll smoothly and swiftly; with mangrove swamp on either hand for part of the way. The tide is out, and the. mud below the mangroves is pitted with little holes into which we see innumerable little crabs popping so quickly, that we can hardly get a fair look at them. The land margining the shore of Samoa abounds in crabs—larid-crabs—most) of them nticturnal, and many of them hermit crabs with the soft part of the body tucked into a cast-off ■ sea-shell. The scurrying and excitement caused among the crabs on flashing a light on a coast pathway is most amusing. The Fugalei road joins a wider road running along the coast westwards; it might be ■ styled "The Great West Road," but it isn't; it has not got beyond the road, which is no name at all, only an intimation of direction—a firm road at this point of crushed and rolled metal and tar-sealed —an ideal road for the motorist; and as. it extends , some, miles partly tar-sealed and partly water-bound macadam, a temptation to the. scorcher (or the "speeder," as the Americans say), who succumbs to the .lure, motor-cars being almost novel and good roads quite novel, I to- the detriment of the road, the increase of maintenance cost, and the confusion of the revenue-producer. It's a fine, smooth road, snd must be pleasant to the feet of those Samoans we see thronging it. Men, women, and children are dressed somewhat similarly; the men with lava-lava from .the waist to the knee—the garment sometimes secured by a belt, but more often fastened with a cunning hitch of the ends round the waist—an upper garment, a singlet or a shirt, but frequently the upper body is clothed only in. Nature's rich brown skin, glowing and glistening in the sun. :...•'. NATIVE' PHYSIQUE AND DRESS. The young men as a mje are muscular and athletic,' the older ones run to fat. The upright carriage of the women, the flat backs, the stately walk, catch one's eye at once. Their dress is a lava-lava, with an overskirt from ' the shoulders to the kriee of thin silk of every hue on Sundays and holidays. Even to-day most colours are represented in the kaleidoscopic show around- us and through which we ■■ pass. It is wonderful • how Samoans can wear without destroying a sense of colour-harmony combinations such as scarlet and rose, which, with us, clash. We see no women without an upper garment. In the privacy of their homes they frequently dispense with such, and one may sometimes glimpse, when passing their fales, but the bare body is seldom,! if ever, disclosed to the view of the promiscuous stranger (the papalagi). ' Children are dressed similarly to their elders, but in scantier fashion. Many small children shake off their little garments and go naked, and their little "tummies," rounded like footballs, after a full meal of Samoan food) make one wonder to what extent human skin will stretch. Our road has been inland, and now at Vaiusu we come again upon the coast. We are now on the reverse side of .Mulinuu Peninsula, which forms the eastern horn of a deep bay, at the bight of which we are.'WWee c have left the vegetation which has bordered and shaded the road from Apia outwards, chequering everything witn patches of sunlight and shadow, showing cool groves ana moist and weedy dells. We have emerged into the broad sunlight on the malae, the village green, of Vaiusu. our road running through the northern edge of the grassy expanse; fales are close to us. on the right and distant from us on the left. To the right, northwards, the glittering expanse of the lagoon—"glittering" is the word—the water rippled by the wind, and every' ripple catching and throwing back the bright sunshine till sometimes it fairly dazzles one. The road plunges again into vegetation, and we lose the sea, catching glimpses of it now and then through the trees as we bowl along. Out into the sun again, and close to the water, the trade wind stirring the coconut leaves and bringing us. a cooler, atmosphere. This is Vaitele plantation. The coconuts have been planted "in their orderly rows, planted by the D.H. and P.G., the German firm, and the plantation now belongs to. the Government of New Zealand as one of j the Crown, estates. The coconuts we have hitherto seen have been native plantations planted more at haphazard. The cattle you see looking so well are grazed under the coconut palms, the plantations carrying a' beast to the acre, and doing well. They are useful, not only for beef, etc., but in keeping down undue growth of grass and weeds. That man picking up coconuts on.Jibe point of a. long knife and throwing them into the panniers of his donkey is not a Samoan; he is coal black, aid is a "black boy," a Solomon Islander, of whom numbers were imported by the Germans as labourers, and of whom a few remain, disinclined to return to thoir own eavage island. If time permitted, one could tell you some amusing things about them, but suffice it to say that they are good labourers and amusing characRELIGIOUS SERVICES... We have passed many churches, and we shall pass many more, one in nearly every village, perhaps two; some old. some new, all under the charge of native pas;tors, who are also tho village schoolmasters. The building of churches is an undertaking in which Samoan villages vie with one another. They are nearly all of concrete, and native built. The Samoan is a Sabbatarian, and takes his religion seriously. No work of any kind is done on Sunday, and many serviceß are decorously held in the churcheß, the singing of the hymns, often in music of Samoan composition, being of a quality astonishing to those ignorant of tha capabilities of the Samoan voice. Talking of church services brings up a curious point in language. The Samoan alphabet contains no "k," but many years ago a fashion arose whereby "k " was transposed for "t" colloquially, and now nearly everyone in Upolu says "laikiki" for "laititi" (small), "alco" for "ato" (ac buke.t)j "Jsapa"- ftut "ts.pii"

(tobacco). The pastor probably uses the "k" in everyday speech, but in church, his Bible-reading and his sermon are correctly enunciated with the "t" and are "k"-less. The "t" is now seldom used except in church, and one gathers that to refrain from tho "k" colloquially is "putting on eide." • Those .cherry-like trees are cacao trees, and the cocoa bean of commerce lies inside those pods sticking on the trunk and branches of the tree. Sometimes they are dark red and sometimes yellow, as long as your hand and thickor than your wrist. The wireless station lies inland to the left, and a trip in that direction would take us through considerable areas of well-grown cacao; but if. the ship stays only one day you can't go everywhere. LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Malua —the headquarters of tjie London Missionary Society—is a site of great achievement, established in the early half of the last century, the scene of the labours of many devoted and eminent men. This place has had a farreaching effect upon the taming of the Pacific Islanders, for students trained here have gone far afield; and it it! a proud boast of the Samoans that teachers of their race" trained in Samoa have carried the Gospel and the civilisation that grows when heathenism dies to many distant parts of the Pacific. Today there are Samoati native teaohers labouring in New Guinea and other places, lesfi fortunate than this island of Upolu—blessed with'so' many good things. . ... The collection of buildings comprises a large village, and includes a very beautiful church. A lai'ge number of students drawn not only from Samoa., but from the north-west islands (the Ellice Group and Tokelaus) are trained here as pastors and teachers, passing through a period of probation and training extending over some,.yeara, Periodical examinations are regularly .held to test pro-, gress, and it would appear that examations have tho same effect on candidates all over the world.. On one occasion a question in an arithmetic paper desired to know the candidate's computation of the oost of ten dozen tins of salmon at 4s a tin, and a puzzled student whose answer was incorrect asked a senior missionary who had set the paper. "Mr. ," was the answer. "Well, he has onh just arrived from England; does not know Samoa. Fancy putting salmon at 4s a. tin jyhen everyone knows it only costs one shilling. No' wonder my answer was wrong," said the candidate, satisfied that this failure was,due more to ths vagaries of the examiner than to his own want of knowledge. How many of us have experienced tho same frame of mind'! At the western end of the compound, is the printing office, where printing and bookbinding by a native staff is most efficiently done. A printing office, which commenced! half a century ago with crude tools of trade, has provided most of the literature the Samoans have had, and is.now equipped with modern machinery, and turns out. excellent, work. AL FRESCO LUNCH. •A. little farther,. and' we halt, stretchi our legs, .and settle ourselves on the white, sandy beach to discuss our lunch basket, spreading rujjs on which, to sit, or the innumerable little hermit crabs will probably spare some one into thinking they are not as harmless as they are. Papaias' cut ready to devour, a fruit-like, email melon, but growing on a palm-like tree, commonly called a "mummy apple.'' The black seeds have been scraped out. Squeeze a lemon over the orange pulp, and attack it with a spoon. Sandwiches, including some of avocado, beloved of Americans; the bread smeared with the butter-like pulp of a large fruit called the avocado or alligator pear. Chew'it slowly, and you will find it is' like crushed almonds. The everlasting chicken; the mainstay 'of cooks in Samoa. Drink: There is no water in this locality; our boys • will get us tho wine of the country. See them scale the coconut palm; the nuts thump on the ground. The green rind is torn off bv'stabbing the nut on a stake stuck in" the ground, sharpened

end uppermost, the white rind appears; an orifice is made in the top by cracking off a circular piece with the . back of a long knife; and there you a^e —cool and delicious. After finishing the fruit salad made of papaia, pineapples, and bananas that leally have a flavour, oranges and other things of varied hue and delicious taste, we board our car again, and return to our temporary floating home., finding new interests on the homeward run that we had missed on the outward iourney.