ve I? It is a lady,
_aitu fafine_: she lives on the mountain-side; her presence is heralded
by the sound of a gust of wind; a sound very common in the high woods;
when she catches you, I do not know what happens; but in practice she
is avoided, so I suppose she does more than pass the time of day. The
great _aitu Saumai-afe_ was once a living woman, and became an _aitu_,
no one understands how; she lives in a stream at the well-head, her hair
is red, she appears as a lovely young lady, her bust particularly
admired, to handsome young men; these die, her love being fatal;--as a
handsome youth she has been known to court damsels with the like result,
but this is very rare; as an old crone she goes about and asks for
water, and woe to them who are uncivil! _Saumai-afe_ means literally,
"Come here a thousand!" A good name for a lady of her manners. My _aitu
fafine_ does not seem to be in the same line of business. It is unsafe
to be a handsome youth in Samoa; a young man died from her favours last
month--so we said on this side of the island; on the other, where he
died, it was not so certain. I, for one, blame it on Madam _Saumai-afe_
without hesitation.

Example of the farmer's sorrows. I slipped out on the balcony a moment
ago. It is a lovely morning, cloudless, smoking hot, the breeze not yet
arisen. Looking west, in front of our new house, I saw two heads of
Indian corn wagging, and the rest and all nature stock still. As I
looked, one of the stalks subsided and disappeared. I dashed out to the
rescue; two small pigs were deep in the grass--quite hid till within a
few yards--gently but swiftly demolishing my harvest. Never be a farmer.

12.30 _p.m._--I while away the moments of digestion by drawing you a
faithful picture of my morning. When I had done writing as above it was
time to clean our house. When I am working, it falls on my wife alone,
but to-day we had it between us; she did the bedroom, I the
sitting-room, in fifty-seven minutes of really most unpalatable labour.
Then I changed every stitch, for I was wet through, and sat down and
played on my pipe till dinner was ready, mighty pleased to be in a
mildly habitable spot once more. The house had been neglected for near a
week, and was a hideous spot; my wife's ear and our visit to Apia being
the causes: our Paul we prefer not to see upon that theatre, and God
knows he has plenty to do elsewhere.

I am glad to look out of my back door and see the boys smoothin