waist were two fine mats, and her bosom and hands were stained with
turmeric. I sat and watched her beating the kava, and as her right arm
rose and fell her short, black wavy hair danced about her cheeks and hid
the red mouth and white teeth when she smiled at me. And she smiled at
me very often, and the man and woman beside me laughed when they saw me
regard her so intently, and asked me was it in my mind to have her for
my wife.

"I did not answer at once, for I knew that if I ran away from the ship
for the sake of this girl I would be doing a foolish thing, for I had
money coming to me when the ship was _oti folau_ (paid off). But, as I
pondered, the girl bent forward and again her eyes smiled at me through
her hair; and then it was I saw that on her head there was a narrow
shaven strip from the crown backward. Now, in Tokelau, this fashion is
called _tu tagita_, and showeth that a girl is in her virginity. When I
saw this I was pleased, but to make sure I said to my friends, 'Her hair
is _tu tagita_. Is she a virgin?'

"The woman of Nanomaga laughed loudly at this and pinched my hand, then
she translated my words to the girl who looked into my face and laughed
too, shaking her head as she put one hand over her eyes--

"'Nay, nay, O stranger,' she said, 'I am no virgin; neither am I a
harlot. I am respectable, and my father and mother have land. I do not
go to the ships.' Then she tossed her hair back from her face and began
to beat the kava again.

"Now, this girl pleased me greatly, for there were no twists in her
tongue; so, when the kava-drinking was finished I made her sit beside
me, and the Nanomaga woman told her I would run away from the ship if