The times., 1898-09-18

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| 1t until 1t was on a level with my eyes. /
| / took the cup from her. and swallowed
| the contents without once pausing to take
breath According to the custom, / then
turned the cup upside down to show that
had drunk every drop. There was more
hand-clapping then, and the cup passed
on to the chief, then to each member of
the company. Not a. man stirred from
his place. Several times the cup went
around until ali the bowls were emptied
| A second time oid the chewers fill the
bowls with the pulp. and the ceremonies
were repeated until they were once more
! empty.
The effect of kaya is very peculiar 1t
| has a slightly sharp taste, and pungent
/ odor. While it is intensely exhliarating
| and stimulating to the brain, it causes a
| temporary paralysis of the lower limbs,
| if taken to excess i once two
/ American sailors who had acquired a
| fondness of the stuff, absolutely unable
4 to move their legs but their minds were
| never so bright then. They were witty
| fellows and as they sat on the ground
unable to get on their feet, they ioked
| and laughed at each other, giving express
/ sion to some of the funniest raillery that
/ / have ever heard.
The first time that I saw kaya made
4 I was Gisgusted, and the mere thought
of drinking 1t almost made me sick to
| my stomach, but / was in position
i where l could not afford to offend the
4 natives, and / forced myself into swallow
4 ing the drink without shuddering / was
| immensely surprised that / liked the taste !
| and effect, and that / was able 10 drink
| afterward without a trenlor. White peo-
| pie all like kava after the first drink and
| the Germans of Apia have invented a
| way of making 1t by grating the root.
| instead of having 1t chewed by native
/ girls. / have tasted both kinds, and it
| must be admitted that the grated pro-
| duct does not compare with that made
! from the maSticated pulp. Why this
should be so / do not know. Nor can
anyone explain. I suppose, why man can
get better shine on his shoes by mois-
| tening his backing with spittle than by
using water for the same purpose
AT all ceremonious kava drinking affairs,
| the girl who passes the liquid around is
invariably the taipau, or Maid of the
Village" The one selected for this honor
must be concededly the most beautiful of
her sex in that community. Every vii
lage has its taipau, who is treated almost
as a queen until she forfeits her right
to the position by getting married. when
her successor is chosen. If public opin-
ion is evenly divided between two or more
candidates, the decision is left to the
chief of the village, and there Is never
such a thing as an appeal from his de-
cree. And there are no jealousies and
heart -burnings as result of his deci-
sions. The Samoans regard Ii as too
much trouble to quarrel. They will fight
like demons once they are stirred up and
they don't know what fear is. During
their war with the Germans it was by no
means uncommon to see the natives
throw away their rifles and charge a fir
ing line armed with nothing but their
war clubs. | once heard u man in de-
scribing their bravery say that they were
not afraid to meet cannon ball half
way. 7#
The Siya-Siva.
The native dance, the siva-siva is a
strange spectacle 10 one who does not
comprehend the meaning Of it, The par
Elephants may number from two to doz-
en- girls. They begin by sitting on the
ground in either a group or row II all
seems TO be. as it really is. a pantomime
The dance is actually a concerted re-
cital of poem in which the various hu-
man emotions are portrayed by gesticula-
ton, every muscle and every member of
the body being called into play Only the
fingers are used at first, then the wrists
and arms, the shoulders. the breasts and
the hips. At a certain stage the dancers
rise from the ground. after which all the
limbs are in motion at one time There 4s
none of the vulgar suggestiveness Of the
couchee-couchee about ii. 1t is poetry ex>
pressed by motion after the barbarian
conception of poetry. The musical ac-
compartment of the dance is vocal and
may be furnished by separate singers or
by the dancers themselves. I have read
translations of the recitalS of the silva
and they convince me that the Samoans
are of Arabic origin. There are many
words in the simple Samoan language,
J tco, which encourage this theory There
are only sixteen letters in the Samoan
alphabet and not over six hundred words
in the average native vocabulary All
the vowels are sounded separately re-
gardless of their position in the formation
of word a good Illustration of this is
furnished by the pronunciation of the
name King Malietoa, which is Malice
tosa
As for the poetry of the dance it is
essentially Arabic, comparisons between
dhe beauties of the sun. the moon. the
stars. the day. the night, the sky and
the earth, and all forms of human love,
illness and all kinds of human attributes
being common. 1 really believe that 1
found in one of the dances translation
i Of one of the poems of Omar
All the native men of Samoa are tat
: tooed from the waist to the knees. but
the marking is not in the least grotesaue,
. with various figures of animals and men,
: as in the case with most other South Sea
races. The lines are regular in their
, drawing, running from back to front in
5 a diagonal direction. the whole effect,
from distance, being something like that
| of a neat pair of knickerbockers
The men sometimes take part in the
J silva dances, but it is unusual for them to
do SO. and they will generally decline if
there are enough girls available. / was
cruising in my schooner off the island
of Tutuila, when the o. & o. steamer
from Australia came along to change Sa-
moan mails. Nine. Sarah Bernhardt and
her theatrical company were on board
and when l came alongside the ship in a
! small boat, padded by natives, the great
: actress requested me to come aboard so
, that she might inspect the natives at
, close quarters l took six of the men
to the deck of the ship with me and sent
the two others ashore to bring off half
dozen dancing girls. The young men
and girls gave a silva dance at my re-
quest, with which Nine. Bernhardt de-
clared herself to be delighted
AS I have said the Samoans are the
most expert swimmers in the world
When the ship was ready to proceed on
her voyage to San Francisco by way of
/; Honolulu, | descended to my small boat
with couple of paddlers, the rest re-
naming on board. AS the ship gathered
headway, Nine. Bernhardt became great
ly alarmed lest the poor natives should
be carried off to a foreign country, but
! the natives knew what they We're about