The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-08-18

transaction on his part, for he fully
expects you to reimburse him two for
one for every little trouble he may
have gone to to entertain you, and
for many that he has not
Ii you should fail to come across"
with the expected filthy lucre he will
not hesitate to tell you about your de
ficiency, and after that, if you are
still going to stick to the established
standards of hospitality, which your
mistaken father and mother taught
YOU to uphold, these hospitable Sa-
means will accompany your disorder
ly retreat with derisive EXPLANATIONS
and cat calls. On the other hand, II
you submit to extortion rather than
take any unworthy advantage over
an ignorant savage, you will be in
vited to come again.
The furnishings of Samoan house
are simple In the extreme, and during
the day consist only of rough mats
spread upon the coral floor. When
Samoan wishes to build house he
utilizes the services of all his ''aigas,"
or relatives. and everything is manu-
featured from the crude material
gathered from the hillsides. The floor
plan of the house is of an oval shape.
This space is leveled off and covered
with broken bits of coral which are
gathered in abundance on the beach.
by the women. Surrounding this
floor space a set of poles are secured
in an upright position, reaching TO
height of about six feet. In the cen.
ter two or three large upright poles.
usually about one foot in diameter by
fifteen to twenty feet in length. are
secured, and from these to the tops
of the outer supports the framework
of the roof is built.
AS the Samoans have no nails they
have devised a method of making
very serviceable kind of fiber cord
The old men collect quantity of CO.
coanut fiber, which they roll between
hand and knee to the thickness Oh
ordinary cotton string. after which
they braid and splice ii together into
great rolls. These rolls are cut from
us needed. This, then, is the means
of binding and flashing the roof to
gether and securing it to the uprights
Then sugar-cane leaves are gath.
cred, doubled. laced, braided and fin
ished into little mats, about three
feet long by fifteen inches wide.
When a sufficient number OF these
them after the method of shingling
house, allowing the caves to extend
over a distance of two feet This
forms most efficient protection be-
tween the Samoan and his country's
prodigious rainfall.
A Samoan house has the advantage
over an American home, inasmuch as
it can be opened on all sides or on
any one side at the discretion of 4
family The posts surrounding
cor space are set at a distance
about 21a feet apart and a curtain
is formed for each individual space
thus created by using small mats.
similar to the thatching mats except
that these are made of cocoanut
leaves instead of sugar cane. These
little mats are arranged over the
openings in such a manner that they
overlap and will readily fold up shut.
terwise. In this manner any of the
spaces between these many posts can
be opened to or closed against the
weather by merely pushing up the
curtain and securing it or by unloos
ing 1t with light pull at a bow knot
and letting II drop.
Mats are then spread over the coral
floor and the house is complete. 1t
is generally the custom to celebrate
the completion with a fia-fia," or
| feast.
Aside from chests, boxes, etc, for
the storage OF personal property, the
furnishings consist only of the pre-
requisites of peaceful slumber, tai
namus." sleeping mats. and bamboo
pillows.
The bamboo pillow strongly re-
minds me of the days of the Spanish
inQuisitiOn. but custom and natural
Inclination have taught the Samoan
10 LAY me down and sleep in any
old place and at any old time.