hrough King
Malietoa's trenches, the local chief of Apia, Se'u Manu, who was in
command, requested me to stay and drink kava with him. Politeness
required consent, and we were delayed an hour; this made the Man Who
Knew Everything very cross and rather rude, and the stalwart chief
(afterwards to become famous for his magnanimous conduct to his German
foes, when their squadron was destroyed in the great _Calliope_ gale
of March, 1889) looked at him with mild surprise, wondering at his
discourtesy. However, his temper balanced itself a little while after
leaving the lines, when he brought down a brace of fine pigeons with
a right and left shot, and a few minutes later knocked over a mountain
cock with my Winchester. It was a very clever shot--for the wild cock of
Samoa, the descendant of the domestic rooster, is a hard bird to shoot
even with a shot gun--and my friend was much elated. He really was a
first-class shot with either gun or rifle, though he had had but little
experience with the latter.

A few miles farther brought us to the little mountain village of
Tagiamamanono. It was occupied by the rebel troops from the Island of
Savai'i. Their chiefs were very courteous, and, of course, we were asked
to "stay and rest and drink kava". To refuse would have been looked
upon as boorish and insulting, so I cheerfully acquiesced, and Marchmont
and I were escorted to a large house, where I formally presented him to
our hosts as a traveller from "Peretania," whom I was "showing around
Samoa". Any man of fine physique attracts the Samoans, and a number of
pretty girls who were preparing the kava cast many admiring glances at
my friend, and commented audibly on his good looks.

Presently, as we were all smoking and exchanging compliments in the
high-flown, stilted Samoan style, there entered the house a strapping
young warrior, carrying a wickerwork cage, in which were two of the
rare and famous _Manu Mea_ (red-bird) of Samoa--the _Didunculus_
or tooth-billed pigeon. These were the property of the young chief
commanding the rebel troops, and had simply been brought into the house
as a mark of respect and attention to Marchmont and me. Money cannot
always buy these birds, and the rebel chief looked upon them as
mascottes. No one but himself, or the young man who was their custodian,
dared touch them, for a Samoan chief's property--like his person--is
sacred and inviolate from touch except by persons of higher rank than
himself