Foreign labor is imported to work on plantations, as the natives cannot be depended upon; Chinamen are generally employed. And what an improvement the Chinaman is on the Indian coolie!
The Samoan is a fatalist. If the idea comes into his head that he is going to die no power on earth will keep him alive. He gives right up, lies down on the ground, in a boat, or wherever he may be—just makes up his mind that his time has come.
A Samoan chief dressed in war regalia is an object of interest. His well shaped head, covered with a heavy growth of black hair brushed back and glossy from applications of cocoanut oil, rests on a stocky neck. The face is round, complexion bronze, and he generally wears a mustache. In addition to a necklace, thickly studded with polished, round, sharp-pointed pieces of bone, several inches in length, which encircles the neck, a loop of stout cord, ornamented with larger and rougher pieces of bone, resting on the shoulders and extending to below the chest, is worn. Save for the necklace and loop, the warrior is bare to his waist. From waistline to between knee and ankle he is covered with a bulky kilt—often made of bark cloth—this being embellished with fringe, tassels and ribbon woven from tropical fibers. Plump, but not fat, he stands about 5 feet 6 inches. A rifle is a fighting feature of the chief's equipment, and, like most Samoans, is in bare feet.
Elephantiasis makes its appearance in Samoa, and natives with legs swollen to the proportion of an elephant's may be seen walking any time at a slow, shuffling gait, about the islands. This disease occurs more often in tropical sea sections, and is believed to be caused by a blood parasite. The legs become enormously enlarged, due to inflammation of the skin and obstructed circulation of the blood.
America has adopted a good system of looking after natives' copra produced on the islands of Manua and Tutuila, United States territory. An officer in charge at Pago-Pago receives the goods, weighs it, gives a receipt for the product, and sells when the market offers the best price. In the meantime, if the native needs money, he can, by applying to the proper officer, have funds advanced to him. When his copra is sold, he is paid the full price.
Interior of Samoan Home, Built of Breadfruit Tree, Secured by Coir; No Nails Used.
Samoa.
The huts or homes of the Samoans, circular in form, are the best built of those of any native races. From a heavy center upright beam, 12 to 16 feet in length, scantlings extend to a circular support, which rests on posts three feet high. The roof, composed of cocoanut palm leaves, is secured to breadfruit wood scantlings. Palm-leaf curtains, the width of the space from post to post, are attached to the circular timber. During the day the shades are raised all round, allowing air to pass through, and at night they are lowered. As an additional means of cooling the home, a strip of pebbles, two feet wide, extends around the hut, mats covering the floor space each side of the circle of small stones. The bed is composed of half a dozen to a dozen cocoanut-leaf mats, four feet wide and six feet in length, and white cotton sheets, laid on the floor. In the morning the bedding is rolled together, placed on poles above, and taken down at bedtime. As chairs do not figure in the furnishing of a Samoan home, a leaf mat is used as a seat.
Though Samoans will not unload ships, they have no objection to washing clothes. They board vessels in the harbor and solicit laundry work, charging eight cents apiece. For a white suit of drill they charge only eight cents, a pair of socks or a collar costing the same.