The San Francisco call., 1897-12-19

shadowing awe; We become conscious
of a presence in the room; its influ
ence is about us and upon us. The
soul, not of the revels, but of Vailima
itself. permeates the hall.
Two little years ago, in this very
spot, it took fight beyond our ken.
Two little years ago, on that broad
dining table behind us, the lustrous,
feverish eyes which had scanned life
so intensely closed their weary lids the
brain which had worked so restlessly
in Samoa's behalf was stilled. Vailima
is haunted place, quivering with the
ghostly passing of unfulfilled dreams.
The soil we tread is holy ground paved
with unselfish devotion, o'erwrit with
the watchword DUTY" And it is here
that we sit and watch Christmas gam
bols, with those eager, burning eyes
haunting us.
Is it we'll?
Doubtless it is we'll. The Soul of Val
lima, the soul that broods upon the
tomb on yonder mount, would scarce
have it otherwise. The eyes that loved
to watch broWn-skinned- merriment
would fain see that merriment un-
checked by sense of loss. But how does
the merrymaking look to them now?
Is it the pathetic or the trivial side
that grows most apparent when we
have attained to ''that other larger
glance of the beyond?
With a new and hushed curiosity our
thoughts wander back to the dancers,
and it is then we first notice the distin-
gushing feature of a Tongan, as apart
from Samoan siva-its essential vir-
ility. Voluptuous suggestion, implied
license, trace OF Oriental inheritance,
all the indications of racial seniLity in
separable from an unreStrained Sa-
moan silva, are here conspicuous by
their absence. Whatever faults the
Tongas may have, lack of manliness is
not to be reckoned of the number AS
the performers squat down, painting
and exhausted, waiting for the praise
word, 'malie," they represent war
like, conquering race who brought
nerve and muscular endurance to bear
even upon their play.
None the less do they tax the endur-
ance of their white spectators, for a
Tonga silva, and a Samoan, and most
native entertainments resemble each
other in this that after the first burst
of delighted curiosity, eye and ear be-
come rapidly satiated and after-effects
wax monotonous. Were our friends
content to give us of their best for half
an hour, we might cream on about
their manly grace and rhythmic
strength. AS it is, their energy ex-
hausts itself with ours, and as the
spectacle diminishes in intensity, its
puerility forces itself upon us, our
males become less spontaneous, our
courtesies more strained. We have seen
this sort of thing before-this simulat-
ed agitation, this old man with Jewish
feature and jester attire taking fly
ing leaps and runs, as with mimic club
he threatens the life of the Chief Jus
tice. We have heard the like of these
jokes ere now, sing-song tales in which
the individual peculiarities of each
member of the household are hit off
Now a scene of domestic tyranny is en-
acted, now a cloth is twisted into sem
blance of a dandled babe, now a Gull
nary dish is sampled" by actors in sit
ting position, blending simultaneous
movements in true Samoan fashion.
Here, in this second part, known as the
arm siva," Samoan superiority tells.
The virile Tongans are no match for
their more sensuous neighbors in the
matter of languorous motion, dreamy
recitation, veiled suggestion, concerted
beckoning hand and waving arm and
winning eye. But the Samoan specta-
tors take no note, or in their courtesy
forbear to criticise. To them the arm
silva is the more enthralling of the two,
as being more akin to their own, and
the males burst from full brown lips
and there is rapt gaze in certain
large, Oriental eyes set in pale tinted
oval faces owned by the beauties of the
nearest village, and the hall rings with
laughter at the worn-out pleasantries.
And thus, gradually lulled to a stu
por of monotony, we sit out the num-
mers' show as people sit out mummers
shows and stale jokes all the world
over, and mummers and spectators re-
cede, and the air becomes heavy and
misty, and we are conscious of little
save those other eyes whose glance is
piercing through the mist, piercing
adown from the mysteries of the noun
tain tomb, watching the mummery of