But the obligation was only moral; it could not be, or was not, enforced; as a matter of fact, it was disregarded.

The language had recently to borrow from the Tahitians a word for debt; while by a significant excidence, it possessed a native expression for the failure to pay--"to omit to make a return for property begged." Conceive now the position of the householder besieged by harpies, and all defence denied him by the laws of honour.

The sacramental gesture of refusal, his last and single resource, was supposed to signify "my house is destitute." Until that point was reached, in other words, the conduct prescribed for a Samoan was to give and to continue giving.

But it does not appear he was at all expected to give with a good grace.

The dictionary is well stocked with expressions standing ready, like missiles, to be discharged upon the locusts--"troop of shamefaced ones," "you draw in your head like a tern," "you make your voice small like a whistle-pipe," "you beg like one delirious"; and the verb _pongitai_, "to look cross," is equipped with the pregnant rider, "as at the sight of beggars." This insolence of beggars and the weakness of proprietors can only be illustrated by examples.