CHAPTER CIV.
SAMOA, OR THE NAVIGATORS’ ISLANDS—Concluded.
AMUSEMENTS—MARRIAGE—ARCHITECTURE.
SAMOAN AMUSEMENTS — PIGEON CATCHING — THE DECOY BIRDS, AND MODE OF USING THEM — TRAINING THE BIRDS — FISHING: THE NET AND THE LINE — DARING MODE OF SHARK CATCHING — A BOLD FISHERMAN — CURIOUS ACCIDENTS TO THE DIVERS: THE SHARK AND THE CORAL — THE BOAR HUNT — A DANGEROUS FOE — SAMOAN COOKERY — THE PALOLO — ITS CURIOUS APPEARANCE, MODE IN CAPTURE, AND WAY OF COOKING IT — MARRIAGE IN SAMOA — CEREMONIES IN THE MARRIAGE OF A CHIEF — THE WEDDING FEAST AND DANCES — SAMOAN ARCHITECTURE — DIVISION OF THE HOUSE BY MOSQUITO CURTAINS.
The amusements of the Samoans are in many respects identical with those of other Polynesians, and therefore only those will be described wherein is anything characteristic of these islanders. One of the principal sports is pigeon shooting, which is carried on in certain parts of the wood expressly prepared for it. The principle on which the sport is followed much resembles that of the rat shooting practised by the Tongans. Several chiefs agree to go off on a pigeon-catching expedition, and at the appointed time the fowling ground is cleared of bush, a large circle is marked out by stones, and just outside the circle are made a number of ambushes, formed from leaves and branches, which are cut fresh daily.
The sport is preluded by a drink of kava, and when this indispensable preliminary is over, the chiefs repair to their stations, each having a net and a trained bird. The net is small, and is fixed to the end of a bamboo, thirty or even forty feet in length. The bird is perched on a stick near its master, and is attached to its perch by a string forty or fifty yards in length.
At a given signal, the birds are thrown into the air, and, following the instructions they have received, wheel round and round for some little time. The wild pigeons see them from a distance, and fancying from their movements that they are hovering over food, fly to join them. As they wheel to and fro with the decoy birds, the chiefs raise their nets and dexterously capture them. He who takes the greatest number of pigeons wins the game, and receives from each of the other players a stake which has been previously fixed upon. Generally the stakes consist of food or kava roots, and in such cases the winner practically gains nothing but the honor of winning the game, as the food is cooked and distributed by the winner to all his companions, and the kava is converted into drink.
These bird-catching parties last for a very long time, the players sometimes remaining on the spot for a month. Huts are consequently run up around the open space on which the birds are flown. The [second engraving] on the next page illustrates this sport very accurately.
The decoy birds are most carefully trained, the object of the trainer being to make them rise at the word of command, fly to the end of the string, wheel round in graceful circles for some time, and then return to the perch. When a bird will remain on the wing for five minutes and return to its perch at its master’s call, it is considered as having been highly trained, and is held in great estimation. The natives may be often seen engaged in training the birds in the open space in the centre of the village. The birds are encouraged in their flight by a peculiar mode of jerking the string.
(1.) SAMOAN WARRIORS EXCHANGING DEFIANCE.
(See [page 1021].)