The sows are even more dangerous antagonists than the boars. They are, as a rule, lighter, thinner, and more active, and, although they have no long tusks wherewith to rip up their foes, they can bite as sharply and as quickly as wolves. Indeed, were it not for the dogs which are trained to boar-hunting, and are wonderfully courageous and skilful, though very ugly and most unpromising to the eye, they would seldom be brought to bay.
Mr. Pritchard gives an account of an adventure of his own with a boar, which gives an excellent idea of the ferocity, cunning, and activity of the animals. The boar had actually received two rifle bullets in his left shoulder, inflicting wounds which would have disabled, if not killed, most animals, but seemed only to irritate the boar by the pain.
“The fury of the beast was intense, with its two wounds and the worrying of the dogs. He stood grinding his teeth and frothing at the mouth, looking first at one and then at another of us, as if measuring an antagonist for fight. The chief suggested that one of us should tackle him, while the others looked on without interfering. Of course I had to claim the privilege to do so after such a challenge; though, in truth, this being the first boar I had ever encountered, I felt as if I had somewhat rashly undertaken the combat, for, even with his two wounds, I fancied he might possibly hold out longer than myself, and, if I failed to kill him, the failure would be fine sport for my comrades, and not soon forgotten in their jokes.
“However, I stepped out in front of the infuriated beast, and no sooner was I there than he was there too—quite promptly enough, I thought. He made a furious charge at me, which I received with the butt end of my rifle, trying to throw him over on his wounded side, but ineffectually. A second time he came at me, and a second time I checked him. As he drew up for the third charge, his long bristles standing on end, grinding his tusks and tossing the froth from his huge mouth, I drew my tomahawk. On he came, swifter than ever; the tomahawk fell deep into the thick part of his neck, and my boy Atamu did the rest with his long knife.
“It was rather hot work, for these boars have immense strength and no little dogged pluck, and their skins are so tough that often a spear will break short off without leaving even a mark where it struck.”
The same boar had previously forced the writer to employ rather a ludicrous manœuvre. He had fired at the shoulder of the animal, thinking that, if the bullet did not reach the heart, it would at all events disable him. But the boar made at him almost as it received the shot, and sprang on him so quickly that he was forced to jump over its head upon its back, and roll off toward the nearest tree. The smaller pigs are killed in a different manner. The dogs are trained to catch them by the ears, shoulders, and tail, and when the hunters come up they place a stick across the animal’s throat, and press it down until the pig is dead.
As to the cookery of the Samoans, there is little to distinguish it from that of the Tongans and other Polynesians of the same race. They have a great abundance of dishes, being able to produce almost as great a variety in that respect as the Fijians, and many of their dishes are extremely palatable to an European. Vegetables form the staple of the Samoan’s food, and of those he has abundant choice. Putting aside those vegetables which have been imported from Europe, he has yams, taro, bananas, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and plantains. Sometimes these are cooked separately and sometimes mixed, in order to produce a compound more palatable to native taste. As a rule, the simpler specimens of Samoan cookery please even the English palate, but when the native cooks dress compound dishes the natives are generally the only persons who can eat them.
For instance, there is nothing better in its way than the young cocoa-nut, which is entirely different from the hard, indigestible state in which we see it in England. But when the milk is poured out, its place is supplied with salt water, and the contents allowed to become putrid, the compound is offensive to more senses than one. Some of their compounds are, however, excellent. Such is a sort of pudding made by pouring the juice of cocoa-nuts over bananas, and baking them together. Even the very young kernel of the cocoa-nut makes a very rich dish when baked.
The strangest diet of the Samoans is the annelid called the Palolo (Palolo viridis). Mr. Pritchard gives an excellent account of this curious being and the mode of cooking it.
It appears only in certain strictly defined and very limited localities in each group (i. e. in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa); a month earlier, about the first week in November, in Samoa than in the two other groups. It rises directly from the bottom of the sea to the surface, appearing first about four o’clock in the morning, and continuing to increase in number, until about half an hour after sunrise, when it begins to dissolve, and gradually disappears. By eight o’clock not a trace of the palolo remains in the sea. They look just like so many worms, from an inch to a yard in length, showing every conceivable color as they wriggle about, and are soft to the touch.