ith a sheet of native
cloth spread out on the ground in front of him. Addressing some god of
the family he said, "Oh, be kind to us; let us obtain without
difficulty the spirit of the young man!" The first thing that happened
to light upon the sheet was supposed to be the spirit. If nothing came
it was supposed that the spirit had some ill-will to the person
praying. That person after a time retired, and another stepped
forward, addressed some other god, and waited the result. By-and-by
something came; grasshopper, butterfly, ant, or whatever else it
might be, it was carefully wrapped up, taken to the family, the
friends assembled, and the bundle buried with all due ceremony, as if
it contained the real spirit of the departed. The grave, however, was
not the hades of the Samoans, as we have already seen in Chapter III.
Prayers at the grave of a parent or brother or _chief_ were common.
Some, for example, would pray for health in sickness and might or
might not recover. A woman prayed for the death of her brother, he
died, but soon after she died also. A chief promised to give a woman
some fine mats, he deceived her, and off she went and prayed at the
grave of his predecessor in the title. The man took ill and died. She
confessed what she had done, but said she did not pray for death, but
only _pain_ to make him smart for his deceit. And so the custom was
carried on, but with fluctuating belief in its efficacy.

CHAPTER XIII.

HOUSES.

The Samoans have a tradition that of old their forefathers had no
houses. They say that in those days the people were "housed by the
heavens," and describe the ingenuity of a chief who first contrived to
build houses. He had two sons, and out of love to them built for each
of them a house. But leaving tradition let me describe the houses to
be seen at the present day in some of the villages, and the
counterpart of those which have been in use for ages. Imagine a
gigantic bee-hive, thirty-five feet in diameter, a hundred in
circumference, and raised from the ground by a number of short posts,
at intervals of four feet from each other all round, and you have a
good idea of the appearance of a Samoan house.

The spaces between these posts, which may be called open doors or
windows all round the house, are shut in at night by roughly-plaited
cocoa-nut leaf blinds. During the day the blinds are pulled up, and
all the interior exposed to a free current of air. The floor is raised
s