St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-02-08
A KINGS BANQUET.
CONTINUED from first page. ]

showed off to great advantage, APP
peared on the scene. This young
damsel passed round lemonade to
the guests who were now arriving
IN considerable numbers and
MAMMA" (to your health) was
said.
Presently 1t was announced that
dinner was ready, and in solemn
array, we marched on to the veran-
da where the feast was to be served !,
which was all decorated with palms
and tropical flowers. On the table
were ten whole pigs roasted brown,
but as perfect IN form a when run
ming wild; also chickens, Holsters,
crabs, tarO, bread-fruit and fishes. In
front of each plate was a young CO.
coanut with the top taken off, from
which natural cup we were to drink
she milk inside, which is very refresh
ing when the cOcoanut is young.
Beside each plate were little bags
made OF taro leaves and tied with
grasses, which were filled with what
we were informed was ''faiai,"
great Samoan delicacy, made of CO.
csanut and arrowroot. The nap
kins were made of fine, white tapa
resembling lace The table-spread
was of tapa, and as the feast was
IN our honor, we were given the ad
ditiOnal delicacy of knives and forks.
A blessing was asked and then the
feast began. The Samoan idea of
banquet is IN having a great quanti
" OF everything, and this we surely
had. AS l was quietly eating a
piece of chicken, | was somewhat
surprised at hearing a voice behind
me uttering the most unearthly yells
directly in my ear, and before l knew
It a brown hand had snatched a
tempting morsel from nv plate,
while the SamOans present laughed
until they almost wept. l was then
informed that this was the kings
jester, and that it was a special
mark of honor which he had shown
me, and that l ought TO feel greatly
fattered. / am sorry to say, how
ever that | preferred the chicken to
the honor. The jester. l learned, is
always an attendant of the king,
and is present on all state occasions
to amuse the company with mis-
antics, as in the old barOnial halls,
centuries ago. He was very sly in
his movements, and every little
while some one would be engaged
in earnest conversation, and dis
cover too late that a choice bit of
fruit which he had been saving was
finding its way into the royal mouth
Of the jester. His jokes consisted
principally of stealing up quietly be-
hind some one, and suddenly utter
ing his mOurnful wall in their aston
ished ears, and when they were re-
covering from their surprise, snatch
ing their food from their plates, and
eagerly devouring it, unless it hap
pened to be tough, in which case he
gave it to the vicejester, who fol-
lowed in his track, anxious to get
any bone which might be thrown
him. 1t was considered a great in
suit not to laugh at the perfor-
rnances of the jester, though l con-
TESS it was the amount he ate rather
than the mournful cries which caused
me to smile He would take a whole
chicken and it would be gone in less
time than it takes a cat to dispose
of d mouse, and all the while he
would laugh and chuckle as though
he were doing the very funniest thing
in the world. At the end OF the feast,
in imitation of the foreigners, a fin
ger bowl was passed round. At
least suppose that is what it is
intended for. 1t was an enormous
wash bowl filled with water, on top
of which f1Oated, not the delicate bit
Of lemon which we sometimes see,
but huge cake of soap, and attach
ed to the whole, was a large bath
ing towel After dinner we gathered
on the veranda for a promenade,
with the palm trees shading US and
the blue Pacific SO near that we
could throw a pebble into it. AS [
was walking along trying my best
10 convince the German consul that
girls education ought not to be
completed at the age of sixteen, an
apparition somewhat resembling a
Young man dressed in black, sudden
" rose up before me. l started back
WI tn a lump, when a loud laugh
from all present informed me that
had again been made the victim OF
the jester, who had dressed up a
stick in a coat and hat and suddenly
thrust it I'D in front OF me, while
he himself lay concealed.
After each of the ladies had been
presented with a piece of tapa and a
fan which her majesty made with
her own fair hands, we said farewell
20 our host and hostess, only wish
ing that some of our Vermont
friends could have been with us
at one of the most unique feasts we
ad ever attended.