SAMOA.
_Origin of the Name._
1. The rocks married the earth, and the earth became pregnant.
Salevao, the god of the rocks, observed motion in the moa or _centre_
of the earth. The child was born and named Moa, from the place where
it was seen moving. Salevao ordered the umbilicus to be laid on a
club, and cut with a stone; and hence the custom ever after on the
birth of a man-child.
Salevao then provided water for washing the child and made it sa, or
_sacred_ to Moa. The rocks and the earth said they wished to get some
of that water to drink. Salevao replied that if they got a bamboo he
would send them a streamlet through it, and hence the origin of
springs.
Salevao said he would become loose stones, and that everything which
grew would be sa ia Moa, or _sacred to_ Moa, till his hair was cut.
After a time his hair was cut and the restriction taken off, and
hence also the rocks and the earth were called Sa ia Moa, or as it is
abbreviated, SAMOA.
2. Tangaloa of the heavens had two children--a son called _Moa_, and a
daughter called Lu. Lu married a brother chief of Tangaloa, and had a
son, who was named Lu after herself. One night when Tangaloa lay down
to sleep, he heard his grandson singing--
Moa Lu,
Moa Lu.
After a time he changed it to--
Lu Moa,
Lu Moa.
Tangaloa was annoyed at the presumption of the lad, as if he wished to
be above Moa the firstborn. He feigned an errand, and called the boy
to come and scratch his back. The boy went to perform the operation,
but on stretching out his hand was seized by his grandfather, and
beaten with the handle of his fly-flapper. Lu made his escape, came
running down to the earth, and named it SAMOA.
3. At one time the land was flooded by the sea, and everything died
except some fowls and pigeons. The pigeons flew away, but the Moa, or
_fowls_, remained and were made sacred by Lu, and not to be killed,
and hence called the Sa Moa or _preserve fowls_ of Lu.
4. Tangaloa of the heavens and his son Lu built a canoe or vessel up
in the heavens. They were aided by a carpenter called Manufili. When
finished it was taken down and set on the Laueleele, or surface of the
earth. There was no sea at that time.
Lu had a wife called Gaogao o le tai, _expanse of sea_. She had a son
who was also called Lu, and when he grew up the vessel was given to
him. When she next brought forth it was a lot of all kinds of
shell-fish. Lu said to his mother, "What is the use of having all
these things lying there bare in the sun?" "Leave it with me to make a
_lake_ for them," was her reply; and then she told him to go and get
his vessel in order, and be ready to get into it when the sea was
made.
The sea was the product of the next birth. Lu caught two fowls, and
when the sea rose took them with him into the vessel. He was not many
days afloat, some say six, when his vessel rested on the top of the
mountain called Malata, in Atua, east end of Upolu. Lu lived there at
the village called Uafato, and had there his Sa Moa, or _preserve
fowls_, which were not to be killed. Another story says that Lu came
from the west with his fowls, and that from his crew all the islands
of the group were peopled. He was said to have come from Pulotu,
Papatea, Pau, Vau, Aoao, and Ngaelu. Others say he came with his fowls
direct from Tafiti apaau, or the _Winged Fiji_.
Two of the people of Tangaloa of the heavens came down to fish. As
they were returning with two baskets of fish, the fowls of Lu leaped
up to peck at the fish. The lads caught and killed the precious
preserve, or Sa Moa, and ran off with them to the heavens.
In the morning Lu missed the fowls, and went off in search of them. He
saw from the unbroken early morning cobwebs across the roads east and
west, that no one had passed along there. He suspected the fishing
party from the heavens, and away he went up there from the top of the
mountain. He had nothing in his hand but his fly-flapper.
In the first heavens he smelled roast fowl, and presently he came upon
the two culprits as they were eating, and believed that they were
crunching the bones of the very fowls of which he was in search. He
charged them. They did not deny, but commenced to lay the blame the
one on the other, and hence the proverb to this day: "It was not I,
but you." He set upon both of them with his fue, or fly-flapper, and
hence the word to _fue_, or to fly-flapper, is used as a milder term
to express beating or killing.
Away the lads fled, and he after them up through the nine heavens,
laying out on them with his fue. When they reached the tenth heaven,
Tangaloa made his appearance and called out, "What is all this about?
Don't you know this is Malae totoa, the _place of rest_? There must be
no fighting here."
In the tenth heaven no strife was allowed; the place was kept
beautifully clean, no rubbish to be seen about the roads, and there
were no clubs hanging in the houses.
Lu told the cause of his anger: his Sa Moa or preserve fowls had been
stolen, and he had found the thieves in the very act of eating them.
Tangaloa said, "It is indeed very bad; but now that you have left
behind all the places where wars may be fought out, and have come to
this heaven of peace, let your wrath abate, spare these men, and you
shall go back with the title of _King of heaven_, and take my daughter
Langituavalu, _Eighth heavens_, to be your wife." "Very good," said
Lu; "let these men live, and let us be at peace, and conform to the
custom of Malae totoa."
A handsome dowry was got up, the marriage took place, and Tangaloa
told Lu to name the earth Samoa when he came down, and so keep in
remembrance his _preserve fowls_.
The two came down, had a child, and named him Samoa, and from them
these islands have been peopled. Hence also the proverb from this lady
coming from heaven and having children on earth: "The heavens are
swinging and touching the earth." Of any one who marries a person far
away it is also said, "It is like Langituavalu."
At the marriage of Langituavalu and Lu, Tangaloa ordered all his
people to contribute a fine white mat each, with which to form her
dowry. A great feast was also provided, but only those were admitted
who had contributed a white mat. When the festive day came there were
many outside who were chagrined that they had not made an effort to
get the white mat, and so have been permitted to share in the grand
celebration, to the music of which they could only listen outside and
in the distance.