Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before eBook

George Turner (writer)

(2.) The chief Lautala came from Fiji on a war expedition.  He first touched at Manu’a, and then came and conquered Upolu.  After that he lived on Manono.  He made a net, fished, and hung it up to dry.  In the night a number of gods came and tore it to pieces.  Lautala then attacked the gods, and drove them off with great slaughter.  He could not count the number killed, but supposed them to be Mano, or ten thousand, and hence the name of the island Manono.

(3.) Lautala was the name of an island at Fiji, and noted for war.  It broke away from Fiji, and was brought sailing along the ocean to Samoa by the chief Nono, who came to seek a suitable place for carrying on war.  He first went to Manu’a, but did not like it.  He then went to the space between Tutuila and Upolu, but did not fancy that either.  Then he came to the space between Upolu and Savaii, and thought that would do, as he could attack Upolu or Savaii, whichever he pleased.  He anchored his island there, where it now is, and named it Manono, after himself.  Hence it is said that Manono is not a part of Samoa, but a fragment of Fiji, and that of old there was no land between Upolu and Savaii.

7.  APOLIMA is a small island three miles from Manono.  Manono and Apolima were two sons of the king of Fiji.  One day Manono cooked an oven of yams for his father and brother chiefs, but served it up without a fish.  His father was angry, and so off went Manono with a spear and speared a fish and took it to his father.  His father was still angry, and hurled a spear at him.  He fell, pulled it out of his neck, and got up and ran off to Samoa.

Apolima remained still in Fiji, but after a time came in search of his brother and found him where he now is.  Before he left Fiji his father told him to call himself Apo-i-le-lima, or Apolima, which means, Poised in the hand, from the spear which he held when he speared Manono.  They have been often attacked, but never conquered, from their impregnable island fortress.  It is a great high hollow basin-shaped island, inaccessible all round but at one narrow chip in the west side of the basin, which can be easily defended.

8.  SAVAII is the largest island of the group, and the name is accounted for in various ways:—­

(1.) The king who propped up the heavens had a wife called Flying Clouds, and two children, the one was called Savaii the Great, and the other Upolu the Great.  Savaii dwelt on Savaii, and Upolu on Upolu, and gave their names to their respective islands.

(2.) A couple came from Fiji, the one was named Sa and the other Vaii, or Vaiki, according to some.  They landed at the south-west side of the island, and lived there.  Vaii, the husband, died, and then Sa put her name first and united the two, as Savaii, the name of the island.

(3.) Two brothers, the one called Vaii, and the other Polu, with their sister, Vavau, came from the east.  The young woman, Vavau, divided the land—­told Polu to go to Upolu, and Vaii to remain on Savaii.  Her name is perpetuated in the word, which as a noun, means “ancient times,” and, as an adjective, is used to express ancient, perpetual, and everlasting.

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