and plenty of _ifi_ (chestnuts). For to-day is Saturday, and I
have cooked for to-morrow as well as for to-night." Then lapsing into
his native Hawaiian (which both my companion and I understood), he
added, "And most heartily are ye welcome. In a little while the oven
will be ready for uncovering and we shall eat."

"But how will you do for food to-morrow, Kala-hoi?" inquired Marsh, with
a smile and speaking in English.

"To-morrow is not yet. When it comes I shall have more food. I have but
to ask of others and it is given willingly. And even if it were not so,
I would but have to pluck some more breadfruit or dig some taro and kill
a fowl--and cook again to night." And then with true native courtesy he
changed the subject and asked us if we had enjoyed our swim. Not much,
we replied, the sea-water was too warm from the heat of the sun.

He nodded. "Aye, the day has been hot and windless until now, when the
cool land breeze comes down between the valleys from the mountains. But
why did ye not bathe in the stream in the fresh water, as I have just
done. It is a good thing to do, for it makes hunger as well as cleanses
the skin, and that the salt water will not do."

Marsh and I lit our pipes. The old man rose, went into his house and
returned with a large mat and two bamboo pillows, telling us it would be
more comfortable to lie down and rest our backs, for he knew that we
had "toiled much during the day". Then he resumed his own mat again, and
crossed his hands on his tatooed knees, for although not a Samoan he was
tatooed in the Samoan fashion. Beside him was a Samoan Bible, for he was
a deeply religious old fellow, and could both read and write.

"How comes it, Kala, that thou livest all alone half a league from the
village?" asked Marsh.

Kala-hoi showed his still white and perfect teeth in a smile.

"Ah, why? Because, O friend, this is mine own land. I am, as thou
knowest, of Maui, in Hawaii, and though for thirty and nine years have
I lived in Samoa, yet now that my wife and two sons are dead, I would be
by myself. This land, which measures two hundred fathoms on three sides,
and one hundred at the beach, was given to me by Mauga, King of Tutuila,
because, ten years ago, when his son was shot in the thigh with a round
bullet, I cut it out from where it had lodged against the bone."

"How old are you, Kala-hoi?"

"I know not. But I am old, very old. Yet I am young--still young. I was
a grown man when Wilke