n on a crook at the
end of it. This pigeon was trained to fly round and round, as directed
by its owner, with a string at its foot thirty feet long, attached to
the end of his stick. Every man flew his pigeon, and then the whole
circle looked like a place where pigeons were flocking round food or
water. The scene soon attracted some wild pigeon; and, as it
approached the spot, whoever was next to it raised his net and tried
to entangle it. He who got the greatest number of pigeons was the hero
of the day, and honoured by his friends with various kinds of food,
with which he treated his less successful competitors. Some of the
pigeons were baked, others were distributed about and tamed for
further use. Taming and exercising them for the sporting season was a
common pastime.

_Spinning the cocoa-nut_ was another amusement. A party sat down in a
circle, and one in the centre spinned a cocoa-nut. When it rested they
saw to whom the three black marks or eyes on the end of the shell
pointed, and imposed upon him some little service to the whole, such
as unhusking chestnuts, or going for a load of cocoa-nuts. This is
especially worthy of remark, as it was the Samoan method of _casting
lots_. If a number of people were unwilling to go a message or do a
piece of work, they decided the matter by wheeling round the
cocoa-nut to see to whom it turned its _face_, as they called it, when
it rested. Sometimes they appealed to this lot, and fixed the charge
of stealing on a person towards whom the _face_ of the cocoa-nut
pointed.

They had also a game of _hide-and-seek_, with the addition that those
who hid tried to escape those who sought, and ran to a given post or
mark. All who reached the post were counted towards making up the
game.

_Pitching_ small cocoa-nut shells to the end of a mat was a favourite
amusement of the chiefs. They tried to knock each other's shells off
the given spot. They played in parties of two and two, with five
shells each. They who had most shells left on the place after all had
thrown won.

They had also _guessing_ sports. One party hid, the other bundled up
one of their number in a large basket covered over with a mat or
cloth. Then they too hid, all but three, who carried the basket to the
other party for them to guess who was in it. If they guessed
correctly, then they in turn got the basket to do the same. The
successful guesses were counted for the game.

They were in the habit of amusing them