d pigs are not now plentiful in Upolu though
they are in Savaii, but they are exceedingly difficult to shoot and the
country they frequent is fearfully rough. In some of the streams there
are some very good fish, running up to 2 lbs. or 3 lbs. They bite
eagerly at the _ula_ or freshwater prawn, and are excellent eating; and
yet, strange to say, very few of the white residents in the group even
know of their existence. This applies also to deep-sea fishing; for
although the deep water outside the reefs and the passages leading into
the harbours teem with splendid fish, the residents of Apia are content
to buy the wretched things brought to them by women who capture them in
nets in the shallow water inside the reef. Once, during my stay on
Manono, a young Manhiki half-caste and myself went out in our boat about
a mile from the land, and in thirty fathoms of water caught in an hour
three large-scaled fish of the groper species. These fish, though once
familiar enough to the people of the island, are now never fished for,
and our appearance with our prizes caused quite an excitement in the
village, everyone thronging around us to look. And yet there are two or
three varieties of groper--many of them weighing 50 lbs. or 60
lbs.--which can be caught anywhere on the Samoan coast; but the Samoan
of the present day has sadly degenerated, and, except bonito catching,
deep-sea fishing is one of the lost arts. But at almost any place in the
group, except Apia, great quantities of fish are caught inside the reefs
by nets, and one may always be sure of getting a splendid mullet of some
sort for either breakfast or supper.

Let us suppose that a party of Europeans have arrived at a village, and
are the guests of the chief and people generally. Food is at once
brought to them, even before any visits of ceremony are paid, for the
news of the coming of a party of travellers has doubtless been brought
to the village the previous day by a messenger from the last
stopping-place. The repast provided may be simple, but will be ample,
baked pork most likely being the _piece de resistance,_ with roast
fowl, baked pigeons, breadfruit (if in season), and yams or taro, with a
plentiful supply of young drinking-coconuts. (Should the host be the
local teacher, some deplorable tea and a loaf of terrible bread are sure
to be produced.) This preliminary meal finished, the formalities begin
by a visit from the chief and his _tulafale,_ or "talking-man,"