Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long BeforeTurner, George
History
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
Turner, George
Islands of the Pacific -- Social life and customs; Samoan Islands
When Pili was old and dying he called his children together and
appointed them their places and employments. To Tua, the eldest, he
gave the plantation dibble, as the business of agriculture, and the
eastern division of Upolu now called Atua. To Tuamasanga he committed
the orator's staff and fly-flapper, with which to do the business of
speaking, and, as a residence, the central division of Upolu called
Tuamasanga: hence the name of the district there called Sangana,
_sacred to oratory_. To Ana he gave the Spear as the emblem of war,
and as a district, the western division of Upolu called Aana. Tolufale
was to live on Manono, but to go about and take the oversight of all.
The old man finished up his will with: "When you wish to fight, fight;
when you wish to work, work; when you wish to talk, talk." After his
death they separated, and went to their respective places and
employments.
1. ATUA is the eastern division of Upolu, and it again was subdivided
into what they called the head, the middle, and the tail.
(1.) _Aleipata_ is a district at the east end of the island, and was
called the head, as the titled king or _head_ of Atua resided there.
The name originated in Alei and Pata, a couple who were said to have
come from the heavens and taught their children to build houses. They
were very good-looking, and charged their children that when they died
they were to be buried in a standing posture, with their faces
uncovered, that people might still come and look at them; and from
this probably originated the custom of embalming practised there.
Lefao was the name a chief who came from Tutuila and lived in one of
the districts bordering on Aleipata. When the meeting was held for the
division of the lands of Atua he did not attend, but the chiefs voted
him the place and neighbourhood where he lived at Lepa, or the _wall_,
which, of old, ran across the island and ended there, and hence the
place was named Salefao--sacred to, or, _the province of Lefao_.
(2.) _Lufilufi._--This settlement, on the north side, was the
principal residence of the kings of Atua. The word means
_food-divider_. It had its origin in the name of a fish called Naiufi,
which was cut up, on one occasion, with surprising dexterity by one of
the king's attendants with only a bit of the cocoa-nut stem as a
knife. He received on that account the name of _Lufilufi_, and was
promoted to be chief carver to the king, and to rule in all divisions
of food on public occasions. The town was named after him, and to
this day in all public gatherings the distribution of the food part
of the entertainment is committed to some of the young men of this
place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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