ltivating the soil, fishing,
and cooking in time of peace. But they were far from being serfs; most
of them were eligible for the position of head of a family, if, when a
vacancy occurred, the choice of the family fell upon them.[60] For the
title of head of a family was not hereditary. A son might succeed his
father in the dignity; but the members of the family would sometimes
pass over the son and confer the title on an uncle, a cousin, or even a
perfect stranger, if they desired to increase the numerical strength of
the family.[61]

[60] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 74 _sq._; G. Brown,
_Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 432.

[61] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173.

The villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing and
independent communities, though every village was more or less loosely
federated with the other villages of its district. Each district or
confederation of villages had its capital (_laumua_) or ruling town.
These federal capitals, however, possessed no absolute authority over
the other villages of the district; and though great respect was always
shown to them, the people of the district, or even of a particular
village, would often dissent from the decisions of the capital and
assert their independence of action.[62] Of this independence a notable
instance occurred when the Catholic missionaries first settled in Samoa.
Under the influence of the Protestant missionaries a federal assembly
had passed a decree strictly forbidding the admission of Roman Catholics
to the islands, and threatening with war any community that should dare
to harbour the obnoxious sect. The better to enforce the decree, prayers
were publicly offered up in the chapels that God would be pleased to
keep all Papists out of Samoa. To these charitable petitions the deity
seems to have turned a deaf ear; for, in spite of prayers and
prohibitions, two Catholic priests and a lay brother landed and were
hospitably received and effectually protected by the people of a
village, who paid no heed either to the remonstrances of the chiefs or
to the thunders of the federal assembly.[63]

[62] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians
and Polynesians_, p. 333.

[63] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel
de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119
_sq._

The population of a village might be from two to five hundred persons,
and there might be eight or ten villages in