Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before Part 19

(4.) _Solosolo_ means _falling_, and the town was so named from a loose stone wall which the first settlers there built, but which repeatedly fell down. Aumua and Oloatua are the names of two divisions of the settlement, separated by the wall. These were the names of two attendants of a lady called Manu, who had several Samoan suitors but rejected them all, and went to Tonga. Two Tongan kings made proposals to her. The one was good-looking, and the other was more noted for good living and even cannibal preferences. Her attendants advised her to marry the latter, but to try and get her share of the cannibal feast _alive_, and save them. She took their advice, married the gourmand king, and when baked human bodies were laid before her, begged that, for the future, _such_ offerings might be presented alive. This was granted, and one after another of her share in the victims was pa.s.sed over, alive as she got them, to the care of her attendants, Aumua and Oloatua, at a place on the opposite side of the road. By-and-by it became a large village of the saved.

Queen Manu had a daughter called Vaetoeifanga who grew up to womanhood. She was heard of in Samoa, and a lady was sent to Tonga to try and get her to come and marry the king of Aana. The lady described his land as a perfect paradise, with nine springs of water, and she was persuaded to go and be the wife of the king of Aana. When she came to Samoa a number of the people from the village of the saved, with Aumua and Oloatua, came with her, and gave the names to these places at Solosolo. Some of them also went further east and occupied and named some of the settlements about Fangaloa, or the _Long-bay_, as it is called from its running far inland.

Solosolo was also noted as the residence of the cannibal _G.o.d_, Maniloa, as he was called. He lived in a valley, and the people wors.h.i.+pped him. As they went with their offerings of food they had to cross a ravine, walking, Blondin style, on a thick vine which the G.o.d stretched across the valley. He sat himself in the middle of the said vine-rope, shook it as any one he fancied approached, and down fell the victim dead into the ravine, and ready for the next meal.

A young man called Polu-leuligana, _Polu-of-dark-speech_, son of Malietoa, called one day when on a journey. The people related to him their grievances, and how they were being all eaten up by Maniloa.

This daring youth concocted a scheme. He told them to fix upon some one to sit concealed with an axe at the end of the rope next to the village, and that he would go round, axe in hand also, by a circuitous course, and conceal himself close by the end of the rope on the other side of the ravine; there he would watch till the G.o.d was again in his place on the centre of the rope, rise up, shout at the top of his voice, and this was to be the signal to cut the rope at each end and let fall their cannibal enemy. They did so. Next day Maniloa went along and sat down on the rope to wait for his victim. Presently the valley rang with a shout, the rope was cut at both ends, and down, crash into the ravine, went the horrid old creature, and ever after Solosolo was saved from his cannibalism.

(5.) _Falealili_, or the House-of-Lili, is the name of a district on the south side of Atua. Lili was a chief from Fiji whose mother was a Samoan. He and some others were driven away from Fiji on account of bad conduct. When he came to Samoa the land had been divided, but he got his share, as _the tail of Atua_. He built a large house, and from this house of Lili the district was named. It embraces a number of villages and adjacent places, named after local circ.u.mstances or events. _Salani_ was so called from the white coral pebbles on the beach with which the women decorate the graves of the dead.

_Salesatele_ was also called the _sweat_ of Falealili, from the heroism of the people of that place in battle. If the king of Atua was on a journey, and carried along shoulder high, as soon as he reached this village he had to get down and walk, as a mark of respect to the chivalrous villagers. _Faleulu_, or Housed-by-the-bread-fruit-tree, was so named from a party who came from Fiji by way of Manu'a and Tutuila, and who, on reaching Upolu, were benighted there and slept under a bread-fruit tree. The name of _Poutasi_, or One-post, had its origin in a great O'a tree (_Bischoffia javanica_) which a chief ordered to be dug up root and all, planted in the village, and made the centre post of his house. _Lotofanga_ is said to have been named after Loto and Fanga, who were sent by the king of Fiji to search for a runaway son. A lagoon is said to have been there once, but was dried up by these first inhabitants of the place pouring hot water into it.

2. TUAMASANGA is the central division of Upolu, having about sixteen miles of coast on the north side, and twelve on the south.

(1.) At _Malie_, in the district of Sangana on the north side, the chief Malietoa had his princ.i.p.al residence when on Upolu; and of the doings there of some of these Malietoas, or "Pleasing-heroes," as the name means, many stories are told. After Polu-leuligana had seen the old cannibal G.o.d dead in the ravine at Solosolo (p. 238) he returned to Sangana. On his arrival the first thing he heard was the wailing of a poor lad who had just been brought over from Savaii and was about to be killed for Malietoa's next meal. Polu told him to be quiet, and promised to try and save his life. He ordered the usual green cocoa-nut leaves to be plaited, and _himself_ to be done up in them, slung on a pole, carried by two men, and laid down before his father as if it were the baked victim from Savaii. Malietoa saw a bright eye peering through the leaflets, opened, and behold! there was his son Polu-leuligana. He was so touched with this extraordinary condescension of his son that he not only saved the lad who was about to be killed, but further, to mark the day and the event, he declared that from that time no more _human_ victims were to be killed for the oven, and that _pigs_ were to be used instead. After this Polu was named Faaifoaso, or "Downfall-of-Cannibalism."

Another story is told of the said Malietoa. He was annoyed at the disappearance of some of his bread-fruits, bananas, and fowls, and summoned to Sangana all the priests of the Tuamasanga. Twenty of them a.s.sembled. He told them what had been stolen, and ordered them to divine the thief. After a long silence they said they could not tell.

They were then tied hand and foot, carried outside, and laid down in the blazing sun till they could declare the name of the thief. At the same time Malietoa sent off to Savaii for a noted conjurer called Vaapuu or "Short-canoe." After some days he arrived, and found the priests still tied up in the sun. On hearing the case he turned to Malietoa and said: "Listen while I tell you the names of the thieves.

_The owl_ has taken your fowls. _The bat_ has eaten your bread-fruits.

And the _Kingfisher_ bird has made away with your bananas." This was enough. The twenty priests were liberated, went to their respective homes, and told how they owed their lives to the ready reply of the expert Vaapuu.

(2.) _Faleata_, or the "House-of-Ata," embraces a number of small villages, and was so named from the chief Ata. Ata was killed in battle, and his brother Too took it so much to heart that he went away inland, scooped out a great hollow, and filled it with his tears; and hence the lake there called _Lanutoo_, or "Lake-of-Too."

The Faleata people were and still are distinguished for their heroism and clever scheming in war. In a battle on Savaii they fled before the Safune people, or rather _pretended_ to flee. While some fled others lay down among the slain as if motionless and dead; and when the Safune people came to search for those of their own who had fallen, up started the living Faleata people with their clubs, rushed at them, and again conquered Safune. Hence a _sham_ retreat in war is to this day called "a _Faleata_ flight."

(3.) _Apia_ is the name of the princ.i.p.al harbour in the Tuamasanga.

The word is abbreviated from Apitia, or _straightened_, and the place was so named in remembrance of a battle, in which the Tuamasanga came suddenly down from the bush on to the fleet of Manono canoes, threw them into disorder, and, in their haste to escape, ran upon one another in the narrow pa.s.sage out of the harbour. The village inland of Apia, called Tanumamanono, or "The-burial-place-of-Manono," keeps up in its name the remembrance of the slain of Manono buried there.

(4.) _Laulii_ is the name of a village in the east end of the Tuamasanga. A couple lived there called Lau and Lii, with a party who came from Fiji and took up their abode in the bay there which was called "Sacred to the G.o.ds." A large canoe was being built by three chiefs there in the bush. Lau and Lii wished to see it, as it was a very superior one, and to be called, "The canoe without a leak." They mistook the road, wandered, could not find either the canoe or its builders, and were so angry over the disappointment that they changed themselves into two rocks which stand there, and in remembrance of them the place is called Laulii.

(5.) _Laloata_ is the name of a village inland of Apia. The word means "Under the shade," and had its origin as follows:--Pai and his wife lived there, and had a daughter called Sina. The woman went down to the sea one day to fetch salt water for cooking purposes; a small sea eel stuck to her cocoa-nut sh.e.l.l water-bottle, and she took it home as a plaything for her child Sina to feed and keep in a cup. The eel grew, and then they digged a well for it. One day Pai and his wife returned from some plantation work and found Sina crying, as the eel had bitten her. They concluded that it must have become the incarnation of some cruel G.o.d, and determined to go away from the place.

Away the three went eastward, but on looking round there was the eel out of the water and following after them. Then said the father to his wife and Sina: "You make your escape, and I will remain here and raise mountains to keep it back." Sina and her mother went on ahead, but on looking over their shoulder there was the eel again still rustling after them. Then the mother said to her daughter: "You make your escape alone, and I will remain here, raise mountains and intercept the creature." Sina went on alone, but the eel still followed just as before. As she pa.s.sed through the villages the people called her in to rest and have a bit of food, and once and again she offered to do so on condition that they would try and deliver her from the pursuing eel. When they heard that, and saw the creature, they said:

"Oh no, you had better pa.s.s on; we are afraid of that thing."

Sina gave it up, thought escape was impossible, turned round and made for her home again. As she pa.s.sed through one of the villages to the cast of Apia the people called the attention of their chief to the young woman pa.s.sing, and an eel following her. He told them to call her in and have something to drink. She said she would gladly do so if they would only get rid of the eel. The chief called out to her: "Yes, come in, and we can do that." She went into the house, and the eel remained outside. The chief gave orders to get ready a cup of 'ava for the strangers, and quietly whispered to the young men to go off to the bush and bring all the poisonous things they could lay their hands on to mix with it. Soon the bowl was brought in, and the 'ava declared ready to be served round.

"Give the first cup to the stranger outside," said the chief to the young men; and out went one of them with a cup to the eel, which was at once eagerly drank. But immediately the creature called to Sina to go outside, and when Sina went out it said to her: "Sina, I am dying.

Let us part in peace. When you hear that they have cooked me, you ask the head as your share. Then take it and bury it near the stone wall, and it will grow up a cocoa-nut tree for you. In the nuts you will see my eyes and mouth, and so we shall be able to look at each other face to face still. The leaves of the tree will be a shade for you, and you can plait them into mats, and make a fan also to fan yourself."

After saying this the creature died. It was soon in the oven; and when served up by-and-by Sina begged the head, took it home with her, and put it under the ground near the stone wall. It grew up to be a cocoa-nut tree, and she got her leaves, and mats, and fans, and nuts, marked with the eyes and mouth of her departed eel, which she could kiss still; and there too she had a shade also when she sat down to work or rest--and hence the origin alike of the name of the village, Laloata, and of the introduction of cocoa-nuts.

(6.) _Safata_ is the name of the south side of the Tuamasanga. It is said to have had its origin in Sa, who came from Fonaui in Fiji, and Fata of Sangana. Fata had a quarrel with his brother over the Malietoa t.i.tle, and so determined to leave the family and take up his residence on the other side of the island, and there he met with his friend from Fiji. It contains a number of villages, and a beautiful salt water lagoon connected with the sea by a narrow entrance.

This circular basin is said to have been formed by the dying struggles of a great fish. This "great fish" had its habitat in the straits, and was long the dread of persons crossing the channel between Savaii and Upolu. At length a Savaii man plotted the destruction of the monster.

He split up some bamboos, made small knives of them, and tied them together. He also cooked food for the journey, and went off in a canoe with his two sons to search for the fish. He found it, or rather the fish found him, and as it rushed at him with open jaws he called to the boys to crouch down lest they should be injured by the great teeth. Away they went, canoe and all, down the throat of the monster.

He then untied his bamboo knives and said: "Now, lads, let us cut away here right and left." It is said in one of the stories that he found some other Samoans there: some were dead, but to others who were still alive he handed a knife each, and said that they too must help in the work of destruction.

"The great fish" was in agony, flew through the ocean towards Upolu, went round the west end, along the south side, rushed in towards the land at Safata, tore up a pa.s.sage for itself, madly wheeled round and round, and there and then died. The natives there looked on in amazement, and when all was still went down to see what the great carcase was. An enormous prize, and soon they commenced to cut into it with their stone axes. Presently they were startled by a voice from the inside calling out "Strike gently up there!" And who are you? "I am Alo of Palauli; we have been killing this great enemy of ours." He and his sons were soon let out of their prison. Ever after he was called _I'aulualo_, or the "Fish-enterer," and praised for his heroic deed. Some fragments of black rock on one side of the lagoon are said to be the petrified bones of the great sea monster.

3. AANA is the most westerly division of Upolu.

(1.) _Alofi Aana, _or the "Gathering of Aana," is the general name of the north side of Aana, and was so called from the gathering of the clans there for club exercise and other sports.

(2.) _Leulumoenga_, or "Headquarters," is the name of the capital town, and the residence of the king of Aana when they had one. Once upon a time when a king was wanted and they were rather scarce, two daring fellows went to a village thirty miles off, and stole an infant of rank and made him king. They cut their hair short, disguised themselves as _women_, and went to the house in the night when they heard the shout of joy over the birth of the young chief. One of them offered to nurse the baby for a little, and got it. The two slipped out with the child, and off they went in the dark. There was some stir in the house attending to the mother, and when all were settled down some wonder was expressed that the baby was so quiet "Who has it?"

went round the house, but, to the amazement of everybody, no one _there_ could reply and say "I have." It was days before they found out that while they were thus talking, the child and its captors were far on their way back to Leulumoenga with their prize. They kept him too, and the little man lived to be king of Aana.

(3.) _Fasitoouta_ and _Fasitootai_ are two large villages on either side of Leulumoenga. These places trace their origin to Tapuaau, _Swimming-Tapu_, or, as some call him, Tooaau, which means _Swimming-stick_. He is said to have swam from Fiji on a to'oto'o, or walking-stick. He landed at Leulumoenga, married there, and had two sons. When they grew up he divided the wonderful stick, gave one piece or _fasi_, to the one son, and the other _fasi_ to the other. The one went to the settlement nearest to the sea westward from Leulumoenga, and called it Fasitootai, or "Bit-of-the-stick-seaward." The other went farther away and eastward, and called his village Fasitoouta, "Bit-of-the-stick-inland."

(4.) _Other villages_ in Aana have some fragments indicating the origin of their names, such as _Faleasi'u_, "House of the G.o.d Siu,"

who was wors.h.i.+pped there. _Samatau_, "Sacred-on-the-right-side," from a large canoe belonging to the king of Tonga once anch.o.r.ed there, and which, owing to the illness of a lady on board, was made sacred to visitors on the right side. This place was noted for a hero called Poila who once headed the Aana troops, and killed in single combat another hero called Pepe who was the pride of the Tuamasanga, and whose death was the signal for retreat. _Falelatai_ and _Faleaseela_ trace their names to the children of a couple from Fiji. The one was named Latai, or "Branch-next-the-sea," from his having been born under that part of a large tree. The other was called Seela from another incident in his birth. The one lived on the north side of the mountain, and called the place Falelatai, or "House-of-Latai." The other took the south side, and called his village Faleaseela, or the "House-of-Seela."

(5.) _Lefanga_, or "The bay," is a name embracing a number of villages on the south side of Aana. There is a rising ground there called _Taape_, or "Dispersion," which is said to have been the place where a party broke up and dispersed after a visit to the heavens. There were five Atua men and four belonging to Aana.

As soon as they got up to the skies the people of the G.o.d Tangaloa laid a plot to kill them. They prepared a bowl of 'ava for their entertainment, and mixed it with poison, but no one was seriously affected by it. The Tangaloans then prepared a game at sitting in the rain to see who could endure it longest, hoping to kill some of them with cold. One of their party, called Mosofaofulu, that is, "Moso-feather-refuge," covered them with a lot of feathers, and so the rain had no effect on them.

The Tangaloans next proposed a game at floating down a stream which rushed over a cataract, of which strangers were ignorant until they were on the edge of the fall and tumbling over. The visitors were to float first, and Fulufuluitolo, or "Sugar-cane-down," took the lead.

He planted his feet firmly on a rock near the fall, and as his party came floating down he seized them one by one and jerked them out of the stream and danger on to the land. And hence the proverb for an unexpected deliverance: "Saved by Fulufuluitolo." It was then the turn of a select party of the Tongaloans to float. Fulufuluitolo held out no helping hand to them, and over the fall they went one after another and were killed.

The Tangaloans next told their visitors they were going to treat them to some food, and made ready accordingly. They plotted at the same time to fall upon them when they were eating and kill them. The Tangaloans went with the food in basket-burdens as usual, carried on poles over the shoulder, and laid all down. The strangers set to work and ate furiously not only the food, but baskets, sticks, and all, to the utter amazement and unnerving of the Tangaloans, who only gaped and stared, and could not summon courage to strike a blow.

As quieter measures failed the Tangaloans proposed a game at club exercise, and thought in that way to kill them off at once. This too was accepted by the strangers. First of all Tangaloaatevalu, "Eight-livered-Tangaloa," or Tangaloa the _plucky_, stepped forward with his club, and up rose Tuimulifanua, "King-of-the-end-of-the-island," club in hand also to fight with him. Every blow was well aimed, struck off a liver, and made Tangaloa reel. By-and-by seven were gone, and as he had only one _pluck_ left he called out: "Enough, enough! I am beaten; let me seek something to give you for my life." He went off and brought a fine mat cloth to wear round the body. Tuimulifanua put it round his loins, but it trailed on the ground, and had to be lifted up; hence it was called Lavasii, or "Cloth-lifted-up." He could not be troubled with the long train, and gave it to another of the party called Tuimuaiava, "King-of-the-first-harbour," who kept it and brought it down to the earth. Its name, Lavasii, became a t.i.tle of chief ruler, and that t.i.tle has remained in that particular family to this day. One of the Samoans killed in 1876 in a skirmish with the marines of H.M.S. _Barracoutta_ had at that time the t.i.tle of Lavasii.

When the party returned from the heavens they came down on the rising ground referred to at Lefanga, whence they dispersed, and ever since the place has been called Taape, or Dispersion.

CHAPTER XXII.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND PLACES OF NOTE ON SAVAII.

There are three princ.i.p.al divisions of Savaii:--

1. THE FAASALELEANGA.--In prose and poetry this part of the island, and even the whole of Savaii, is often called _Sa Lafai,_ or sacred to Lafai, and among the legends that chief, Lafai, has an early place.

Tupailelei, or Tupai the good, married a daughter of the king of Tonga, and her father ordered that she should go to Tonga some months after her marriage. She started for Tonga, but the canoe was driven by adverse winds to Fiji, and in remembrance of that she called her first child _Vaasiliifiti,_ "Canoe drifted to Fiji."

She remained there for a time, but again set out to try and reach her father in Tonga, but again they missed their destination and could only fetch Samoa. As Samoa appeared in the horizon her second child was born, and so she named the girl Samoauafotu, or "Samoa in sight."

It was afterwards abbreviated to Safotu. Afterwards they went to Tonga, but again returned to Samoa with Vaasiliifiti, who was now a young man and married. They came with Fotu. When near Savaii they caught a fai or skate, raised it on the mast and made a sail of it, and from that a son of Vaasiliifiti was called Laifai, or "sail made of the fai." After a time they saw a fish nibbling at the fune or core of a bread-fruit, and from that they called another son of Vaasiliifiti Fune or "core." In after-times it was arranged that Lafai was to live in one district, Fune in another, and the aunt Fotu between them to prevent quarrelling. If Lafai commenced strife, Fune and Fotu united to put it down; if Fune took the initiative, then Lafai and Fotu united in restoring peace.

Lafai lived in the place subsequently called Lefaasaleleanga, and divided it into three parts among his three children. Fotulafai occupied the central and leading part. So Talalafai was apportioned Iva on the one side, and Muliangalafai on the other.

When the Tongans were victorious for a time in Samoa they lived on the common at Safotu, and thither the people flocked with food and sundry other articles of tribute to the chief of the invaders, Talaaifeii.

Tuna and Fata, two sons of Malietoa Savea, or Malietoa I., went with tribute, but before returning tore up the le'ale'a, or iron-wood mooring-stick to which the Tongan king's canoe was fastened, and took it away, which was alike an insult and a declaration of war. With this they made a club, roused all to battle against the invaders, gained a victory over them, which ended in their leaving, after forming a treaty of peace between Samoa and Tonga, which for upwards of twenty generations of the Malietoa family has remained unbroken. To perpetuate the remembrance of the victory, the Salafai district was called Lele'ale'a, or the "Mooring-stick," and further merged into Faasaleleanga, or "Made sacred to the mooring-stick." When the district after that time united to raise war it was called the lifting of the Le'ale'a club of Malietoa; and all the Faasaleleanga people rose and followed wherever Malietoa and the club preceded.

(1.) _Sapapalii_ is the name of the princ.i.p.al settlement of the Malietoa families, and had its origin in one of family heads called Papalii. The celebrated le'ale'a club disappeared about the time when this chief lived, but the deeds and dynasty pa.s.sed on to posterity.

(2.) _Safotulafai_ is the political capital of the Faasaleleanga, and the place where their representative parliamentary gatherings are held, especially in times of war.