of taro-tops, of taro-tops
for planting, of tools, of flyhooks, of implements for netting pigeons,
and of mats. It is true the beggar was supposed in time to make a
return, somewhat as by the Roman contract of _mutuum_. But the
obligation was only moral; it could not be, or was not, enforced; as a
matter of fact, it was disregarded. The language had recently to borrow
from the Tahitians a word for debt; while by a significant excidence, it
possessed a native expression for the failure to pay--"to omit to make a
return for property begged." Conceive now the position of the
householder besieged by harpies, and all defence denied him by the laws
of honour. The sacramental gesture of refusal, his last and single
resource, was supposed to signify "my house is destitute." Until that
point was reached, in other words, the conduct prescribed for a Samoan
was to give and to continue giving. But it does not appear he was at
all expected to give with a good grace. The dictionary is well stocked
with expressions standing ready, like missiles, to be discharged upon
the locusts--"troop of shamefaced ones," "you draw in your head like a
tern," "you make your voice small like a whistle-pipe," "you beg like
one delirious"; and the verb _pongitai_, "to look cross," is equipped
with the pregnant rider, "as at the sight of beggars."

This insolence of beggars and the weakness of proprietors can only be
illustrated by examples. We have a girl in our service to whom we had
given some finery, that she might wait at table, and (at her own
request) some warm clothing against the cold mornings of the bush. She
went on a visit to her family, and returned in an old tablecloth, her
whole wardrobe having been divided out among relatives in the course of
twenty-four hours. A pastor in the province of Atua, being a handy, busy
man, bought a boat for a hundred dollars, fifty of which he paid down.
Presently after, relatives came to him upon a visit and took a fancy to
his new possession. "We have long been wanting a boat," said they. "Give
us this one." So, when the visit was done, they departed in the boat.
The pastor, meanwhile, travelled into Savaii the best way he could, sold
a parcel of land, and begged mats among his other relatives, to pay the
remainder of the price of the boat which was no longer his. You might
think this was enough; but some months later, the harpies, having broken
a thwart, brought back the boat to be repaired and repainted by