"Mailesaeia and Mailetupengia," replied the lad.
etc.

19. Out rushed the parents in tears,
The children they cast away had come back,
And now their love returned to them.
etc.




CHAPTER VII.

ADULT AND ADVANCED YEARS.


Passing from infancy and childhood we proceed to the ceremonies,
superstitions, and customs connected with more advanced years.

_Tattooing._--"Herodotus found among the Thracians that the barbarians
could be exceedingly foppish after their fashion. The man who was not
tattooed among them was not respected." It was the same in Samoa.
Until a young man was tattooed, he was considered in his minority. He
could not think of marriage, and he was constantly exposed to taunts
and ridicule, as being poor and of low birth, and as having no right
to speak in the society of men. But as soon as he was tattooed he
passed into his majority, and considered himself entitled to the
respect and privileges of mature years. When a youth, therefore,
reached the age of sixteen, he and his friends were all anxiety that
he should be tattooed. He was then on the outlook for the tattooing of