(2.) _Faleata_, or the "House-of-Ata," embraces a number of small villages, and was so named from the chief Ata. Ata was killed in battle, and his brother Too took it so much to heart that he went away inland, scooped out a great hollow, and filled it with his tears; and hence the lake there called _Lanutoo_, or "Lake-of-Too."

The Faleata people were and still are distinguished for their heroism and clever scheming in war. In a battle on Savaii they fled before the Safune people, or rather _pretended_ to flee. While some fled others lay down among the slain as if motionless and dead; and when the Safune people came to search for those of their own who had fallen, up started the living Faleata people with their clubs, rushed at them, and again conquered Safune. Hence a _sham_ retreat in war is to this day called "a _Faleata_ flight."

Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before — Part 116

(3.) _Apia_ is the name of the principal harbour in the Tuamasanga. The word is abbreviated from Apitia, or _straightened_, and the place was so named in remembrance of a battle, in which the Tuamasanga came suddenly down from the bush on to the fleet of Manono canoes, threw them into disorder, and, in their haste to escape, ran upon one another in the narrow passage out of the harbour. The village inland of Apia, called Tanumamanono, or "The-burial-place-of-Manono," keeps up in its name the remembrance of the slain of Manono buried there.

Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before — Part 116

(4.) _Laulii_ is the name of a village in the east end of the Tuamasanga. A couple lived there called Lau and Lii, with a party who came from Fiji and took up their abode in the bay there which was called "Sacred to the gods." A large canoe was being built by three chiefs there in the bush. Lau and Lii wished to see it, as it was a very superior one, and to be called, "The canoe without a leak." They mistook the road, wandered, could not find either the canoe or its builders, and were so angry over the disappointment that they changed themselves into two rocks which stand there, and in remembrance of them the place is called Laulii.

Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before — Part 116

(5.) _Laloata_ is the name of a village inland of Apia. The word means "Under the shade," and had its origin as follows:--Pai and his wife lived there, and had a daughter called Sina. The woman went down to the sea one day to fetch salt water for cooking purposes; a small sea eel stuck to her cocoa-nut shell water-bottle, and she took it home as a plaything for her child Sina to feed and keep in a cup. The eel grew, and then they digged a well for it. One day Pai and his wife returned from some plantation work and found Sina crying, as the eel had bitten her. They concluded that it must have become the incarnation of some cruel god, and determined to go away from the place.