The Van Buren press., 1898-10-22
DON'T TAKE SAMOAN NAMES.
They May Prove to BE nm Expen-
sive Luxury Mistake of Two
Girls Who Yearned for Ii.

People who visit Samoa somet times
get the mistaken idea that there is
glory in being named by Samoan
chiefs in their language. The idea ia
perhaps fostered by few conspicuous
examples which are well known, but
the reverse of the picture has been
carefully concealed, for the receipt OF
Samoan name entails a full set of
responsibilities which are not to be
compounded all in one transaction;
1t opens a long series of beneficences
which are likely never to stop. The
prudent refuse the offered name, and
insist that their Samoan acquaint.
ances struggle along with some sort
of adaptation of the English name
Thus do they save many kegs of beef
and other treasures, which the giver
of name religiously claims from the
bearer of 1t. The Samoans are the
most generous of people, with Ger.
tain limitations. They will give away
anything they have, and name is the
easiest gift of all, for they have any
number left. But when the Samoan IL
most generous, he is most grasping;
every gift must be repaid by another
of greater value; and these names are
held at the very highest valuation.
Two young women, recent arrivals
in Apia, had learned that some among
the white people were known by Sa'
moan names. The idea appealed to
them as one of particular honor, and
they were not only enyious of the
renamed individuals because of what
they thought was Samoan glory, but
they secretly INDUCED themselves in
the hope that some time they might
have Samoan names themselves. They
kept this hope of their secret, as they
had net been on the beach long enough
to learn that if you want anything
you ask for it.
One morning the tide served to at
tract them to a bath in the sea i'm
mediately in front of their hotel. They
had provided themselves with bathing
suits which might have attracted at
tention on the Atlantic seaboard oil
this country; certainly the like OF
them had never been witnessed in the
savagery of Apa. They could not hope
to escape attention.; possibly they did
not want to pass unnoticed 1t is GER
tain that no Samoan had ever seen
such sight before. As one of the
girls came into sight in the channel
Samoan on the beach loudly called
to another at some little distance:
"Mukamuka! Mukamuka!"
At once the young woman felt her
pride swell up; she had been called by
Samoan name and she fastened to
claim it before her fellow bather
could appropriate 1t. But there waa
no need to scramble for it. The other
girls came into sight, and the other
Samoan on the beach called back to the
first speaker: "Kifanga."
Both young women were content;
Samoan names had burst upon them i'll
the sea. They spent some time in prac-
ticing the sounds and perfecting them
selves in their native designations
They were so proud of their new ac-
quistion that they hurried through
the bath and went around to the chief
of Apia and told him what their ma
tive names were. 1t is Characteristic
of Samoan to let a Papalangi make
any mistake in Samoan that ignorance
of the language may induce and never
suggest q correction. If these young
women wished to be called Mukamuka
and kifanga it was nobody's business
but their own, and Seumanutafa had
all he could attend to as chief of Apia
without setting them straight.
But later. after they had told all
their Samoan acquaintances of the
new names, they carried the informa-
tion 10 some white people. From them
they learned the mistake that had been
made. Their gaudy bathing suits had
attracted native attention; the first
Samoan had called to his friend:
Look at that" matamata or muka-
muka, as it sounds in the common dia-
lect. The other, remembering show
which had visited Apia short while
before, replied: ITS circus" These
the girls had mistaken for names; they
had so promptly adopted them and had
so widely informed their Samoan
friends that they never succeeded in
getting rid of the absurd appellations.
N. Y. Sun.