he best fruit, however, is filled with starchy matter.

It is cooked in many ways, but it is greatly relished when baked in hot
ashes covered with live coals. After it is thus cooked, it is cut open
and the rich juicy pulp scooped out. When cooked with meat and gravy it
is superior to the finest mushrooms.

The cocoa-palm is a source of not a little profit. The thick husk yields
a fibre that is much used in making coarse mats; the dried meat of the
nut is the copra of commerce. Large quantities are exported to the
United States and Europe in order to obtain the oil; and the oil is used
chiefly to make soap.

The native Samoans are lighter colored than most Polynesians, and are
the finest native peoples of the South Pacific Ocean. Many years ago
missionaries and teachers settled in Samoa and they found the natives to
be pretty apt scholars. By nature they were dignified and polite; they
also learned quickly the arts of civilized life. Nowadays nearly every
native village has its church and school-house. The Samoans are fond of
music and one may hear American hymns and melodies in nearly every
native house.

The native houses are larger than most of the houses one finds among the
Pacific islands. Two or more long posts support the ridge pole and a
great number of shorter posts hold the lower edges of the roof. The roof
itself consists of closely fitted mats of brush thickly thatched with
the leaves of wild sugar cane. A well-made roof lasts a dozen years or
more.

Mats of sugar-cane closely woven are loosely fastened to the outer rows
of posts so that they can be easily put up or taken down. They form the
side walls of the house. The floor is made of clay, paved with pebbles.
Usually there is a floor covering of mats. In the centre of the floor is
a fire pit which serves for the purpose of cooking during the day and to
drive out the mosquitoes at night. The beds and chairs are mats and the
pillows are made of bamboo.

The Samoans know how to live well. With each house there is pretty
certain to be a garden in which yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas,
fruit, and chickens are grown. Then, there are fish and shrimps that can
be caught in abundance. But the chief and most highly prized dish is
called "poi." Taro and kalo are names--or a name, rather; for they are
different forms of the same word--given to several plants that grow from
starchy bulbs. One kind of taro looks much like a lily that grows higher
than a tall