(1.) The king who propped up the heavens had a wife called Flying Clouds, and two children, the one was called Savaii the Great, and the other Upolu the Great. Savaii dwelt on Savaii, and Upolu on Upolu, and gave their names to their respective islands.
(2.) A couple came from Fiji, the one was named Sa and the other Vaii, or Vaiki, according to some. They landed at the south-west side of the island, and lived there. Vaii, the husband, died, and then Sa put her name first and united the two, as Savaii, the name of the island.
(3.) Two brothers, the one called Vaii, and the other Polu, with their sister, Vavau, came from the east. The young woman, Vavau, divided the land—told Polu to go to Upolu, and Vaii to remain on Savaii. Her name is perpetuated in the word, which as a noun, means "ancient times," and, as an adjective, is used to express ancient, perpetual, and everlasting.
FOOTNOTES:
3 [ There is an island called Maatea in the Paumotu group.]
CHAPTER XXI.
Political Divisions And Places Of Note On Upolu.
On Upolu the name of Pili has an early place among the doings of mortals and in the division of the lands. In one of the traditions his history runs thus:—Manga had a daughter called Sina, who married the king of Manu'a. They had a daughter called Sinaleana, White of the cave, because she lived in a cave in which there was also kept the parrot of the king. The god, Tangaloa, of the heavens looked down and fancied her. He sent Thunder and Storm for her; they did not get her. Lightning and Darkness were also sent to fetch her, but they also failed. Next Deluging Rain, dashing down in great egg-drops, was sent, but to no purpose. He then let down a net, which covered up the mouth of the cave, caught her, and pulled her up to the heavens. She became his wife, had a child, and named him Pili, or Entangled, from the way in which she was entangled in the net.
Pili grew up to manhood under the care of the gods, and was sometimes told, pointing down to the earth, that that place was his. He begged of his father Tangaloa to be allowed to go down. The reply was: "If you go down, come up again. But if you wish to go and not return, take my wooden pillow and fishing-net with you."