cribed. In war some of the
districts remained neutral, and of those engaged in the strife there
might be two against one, or three against five, or, as in a late
prolonged war, five against two. The district which was conquered, was
exposed to the taunts and overbearing of their conquerors. But a
subdued district seldom remained many years with the brand of
"conquered." They were up and at it as soon as they had a favourable
opportunity, and were probably themselves in turn the conquerors.

II. But I hasten to notice _the second thing_ which I have already
remarked was an auxiliary towards the maintenance of peace and order
in Samoa, viz. _superstitious fear_. If the chief and heads of
families, in their court of inquiry into any case of stealing, or
other concealed matter, had a difficulty in finding out the culprit,
they would make all involved swear that they were innocent. In
swearing before the chiefs the suspected parties laid a handful of
grass on the stone, or whatever it was, which was supposed to be the
representative of the village god, and, laying their hand on it, would
say, "In the presence of our chiefs now assembled, I lay my hand on
the stone. If I stole the thing may I speedily die." This was a common
mode of swearing. The meaning of the grass was a silent additional
imprecation that his family might all die, and that _grass_ might grow
over their habitation. If all swore, and the culprit was still
undiscovered, the chiefs then wound up the affair by committing the
case to the village god, and solemnly invoking him to mark out for
speedy destruction the guilty mischief-maker.

But, instead of appealing to the chiefs, and calling for an oath, many
were contented with their own individual schemes and imprecations to
frighten thieves and prevent stealing. When a man went to his
plantation and saw that some cocoa-nuts, or a bunch of bananas, had
been stolen, he would stand and shout at the top of his voice two or
three times, "May fire blast the eyes of the person who has stolen my
bananas! May fire burn down his eyes and the eyes of his god too!"
This rang throughout the adjacent plantations, and made the thief
tremble. They dreaded such uttered imprecations. Others cursed more
privately when a thing was stolen, and called in the aid of a priest.
In common disputes also, affecting the veracity of each other, it was
customary for the one to say to the other, "Touch your eyes, if what
you say is true." If