Life in Samoa.

Otago Witness, Issue 1805, 25 June 1886, Page 27

Life in Samoa.

As Seen and Written of by an English Gibl. Beatrice E. W. B. writes a most entertaining account of her life in Samoa for th,e

benefit of the juvenile readers of the Liverpool Mercury, and as Samoa has lately been the subject of much talk in New Zealand, we are sure our little, readers will be equally interested in the mode of living in vogue in this interesting island and the customs of its natives. Beatrice writes from the Protestant Schools at Opia on the 6th January. She says : —

I must tell the children about my pets. We have parrors ; but they are very small, far different to those of Now South Wales. The natives use their feathers for trimming mats for the floor. I have only now two native doves (" manutangi," as they are called by the Samoans). They have green feathers on the body, red feathers on the top of the head, and a white face. I have them in a Samoa birdcage, with the empty shell of a Niufo cocoanut, measuring 28in in circumference, in the top to prevent them flying away. 1 feed them with taro and breadfruit. I make their food up into little pills, as they might be called, and they take it out of my mouth, or even from my little sister's. On Boxing Day they got out. One I found near the house ; the other was away twenty-four hours, when my baby sister found it on a chair which was on the front verandah. The other would not eat while its mate was absent.

The Samoans have many funny customs. The men are tattooed from the waist to the knee. The women have their legs and arms tattooed with stars and spots, and generally their names. The natives have only one name, and you cannot tell from the name whether a man or woman is spoken of. They are very lazy, but that is because they have really no need to work, as food grqw.s so abundantly. They only eat twice a day, morning and night. They bake all their food in ovens, which are made by digging a round hole in the ground, and then filling it with stones. They make their lire of wood, and let it stop tili the stones are very hot! Their food consists of pork, fowls, fish, taro, yams, breadfruit, bananas, plantainas, cocoanuts, &c, and from tlie.se things they make many curious dishes. Any dish they require to be made salt they mix with a little sea-water. They wrap all their food up in leaves and then put it in their ovens. If they want a a basin they use the shell of the cocoanut. They have no crockery, but, instead, they use the leaf of the banana. They eat on the floor, and use their fingers ; they have food mats. Their houses are made round ; they have thatched roofs made of the leaf of the sugar-cane. Sugar-cane grows here of the best quality. They have no windows or doors, but, instead, they have mat shutters, made of the cocoanut leaf. Their floors are made of stones, which they get from the beach, and on the top they lay mats. They sleep on the floor. Their pillows are made of bamboo. They have only one room, and the men and women and children sleep all together. They put a cloth roiftid their waist, which is made of native cloth, which they call a " lavalava," or they can go up in the bush and get the leaves of a tree, and put them round them. The women put some native cloth or leaves over their shoulders to cover their breasts. They are more civilised now ; many wear European dresses. They do not like to get their hair wet, and on a rainy day they get the leaf of the banana and tie it round their heads in the shape of a cap. What work is done is done by the women, with few exceptions. They do washing for the Europeans, while the men lie sleeping at home. We engage them as servant:?, but they stop long nowhere. We keep one woman for eight months, and that was considered a wonder. It takes several to do the work that one white woman would do, and then all the washing goes out. We pay them from five to six dollars a month. Black boys from the New Hebrides, &c, make the best servants, but they are bad to get, there is such a demand for them. Mamma often wishes she could get a strong girl from home. ' On the school-ground we have growing oranges, bananas, pine-apples, cocoa-nuts, mummy apples, limes, and mangoes. The Hchooihouse, which joins the schoolroom, is about sixty yards from the river, in which my little sisters and I bathe daily. Since I have been in Samoa I have learnt to swim. We have a little boat. It is four feet and a half in length, and it is properly made, with sail, oars, rudder, &c. I row myself, but when my little sisters are in one of our servants swims in the water and pulls them ; so you see we have fine fun. Papa has in his school white children, half-castes, and Samoans. The greatest proportion are half-castes. It is only this last year Samoans have been admitted to learn English. Of course, they have their own Samoan schools, taught by Samoan teachers. The white children are very few in Samoa ; I don't .think there are twenty (babes included) in the entire group. Two half-caste boys have been taken this year from our school as clerks — one by the English Consul and the other by the American. They are the first who have been taken in a Consulate here. There are sixteen islands altogether ifc the group, three of which are uninhabited. Apia, the port where we live, is on the Island of U'polu. I enclose a view of Apia harbour. If you hold it in a semi-circle you will get the shape of the bay. There is a break in the coral reef through which the ships enter. We often have a man-of-war here ; there is a German one here now. Not long ago H.B.M.S. Miranda was here, and papa took all the school children on board, which pleased them very much. There was als^o a French one, called the Dayot. An Italian marquis was visiting Samoa at the time. He took me and my little sisters on board.

The exports from Samoa are cotton and copra, and they are just beginning to send coffee and tobacco. The first lot of oranges are to be sent away the next time the steamer comes; she is expected daily. At one time we were almost cut off from the civilised world, but now the mail steamer drops our mails monthly. A small cutter receives them in the open ocean, near the island of Futuila. Every two months the Janet Niccol, from New Zealand, comes, bringing cargo and passengers. We had many visitors from the colonies, also from Great Britain and America, during the last year. I musfc not forget to tell you that on New Yew's Eve our school had a Christmas tree

and dinner. I wish you could have seen the happy faces of the children. Many had not seen one before. There was about. slOdols. (£10) worth of toys and presents on the tree, which was sixteen feet high, and lit up with about four dozen candles. The games we play and the hymns and songa we sing are the same you sing in your schools. Malietoa is the name of the King of Samoa. He is a very nice man. His house is the same as above described, but very laige. He has the likeness of our Queen, and also the late Prince Albert, hanging up. He and his chiefs think a great deal of Queen Victoria, and like to talk about her and ask all sorts of questions about England.

I should like to tell you about the Samoan picnics and dances, also the climate and other things, but the mail closes to-night. I did not get my letter written sooner, through having to help with the Christmas tree. All being well, I will continue in my next. If my little friends would like to ask me any questions througli the column it will give me great pleasure to answer them.