something, and marking out the daughter of some one as the object of the next fine mat speculation.  The chief would yield to them, have the usual round of ceremonies, but without the remotest idea of living with that person as his wife.  In this way a chief, in the course of his lifetime, might be married well on to fifty times; he would not, however, probably have more than two living with him at the same time.  As the heads of families were on the look-out to have the sons and daughters of the chief married as often as they could also, it can be imagined that the main connecting links between the heads of families and their chief, and that which marked him out most prominently as a superior, was this marriage, or rather polygamy business.

The land in Samoa is owned alike by the chiefs and these heads of families.  The land belonging to each family is well known, and the person who, for the time being, holds the title of the family head, has the right to dispose of it.  It is the same with the chiefs.  There are certain tracts of bush or forest land which belong to them.  The uncultivated bush is sometimes claimed by those who own the land on its borders.  The lagoon also, as far as the reef, is considered the property of those off whose village it is situated.  Although the power of selling land, and doing other things of importance affecting all the members of the family, is vested in the titled head of the family, yet the said responsible party dare not do anything without formally consulting all concerned.  Were he to persist in attempting to do otherwise, they would take his title from him, and give it to another.  The members of a family can thus take the title from their head, and heads of families can unite and take the title from their chief, and give it to his brother, or uncle, or some other member of the chief family, who, they think, will act more in accordance with their wishes.

The chief of the village and the heads of families formed the legislative body of the place, and the common court of appeal in all cases of difficulty.  One of these heads of families was the sort of Prime Minister of the chief.  It was his special business to call a meeting, and it was also his province to send notice to the other heads of families, on the arrival of a party of strangers, and to say what each was to provide towards entertaining hospitably the village guests.  Having no written language, of course they had no written laws; still, as far back as we can trace, they had well understood laws for the prevention of theft, adultery, assault, and murder, together with many other minor things, such as disrespectful language to a chief, calling him a pig, for instance, rude behaviour to strangers, pulling down a fence, or maliciously cutting a fruit-tree.  Nor had they only the mere laws; the further back we go in their history, we find that their penalties were all the more severe.  Death was the usual punishment