Life of the Samoans
① The Samoan islands are 2,300 miles south of the Hawaiian islands. Though the land is steep, the islands have a plant cover watered by up to 200 inches of rain a year. All that rain does not affect outdoor activity much, since the showers do not last long. And the water disappears quickly into the soil.
② The Samoans plant three major tree crops. They require little work except in harvesting. Once planted, with a few years of waiting, the breadfruit tree continues to produce about two crops a year for up to half a century. Coconut (椰子) trees may continue to produce for a hundred years. And banana trees make new stems of fruit for many years.
③ The Samoan men also clear small land for a crop called taro. But even taro doesn't require much work; planting requires nothing more than slightly burying the top sliced off a root just harvested. Young men do most of the planting and harvesting and women mostly do the occasional weeding.
④ This kind of farming behavior makes people think the Samoans are lazy. But they cannot weed as often as European farmers. In contrast with the flat European farmlands, the land of Samoa is steep. The casual farming allows the deep and shallow roots of the various plants growing together to hold the loose soil.
⑤ The Samoans keep chickens and pigs, but they are eaten only occasionally. The major source of animal protein (蛋白质) for the Samoans is fish. Younger men may swim in the deep sea for fish; older men will be more likely to stand on the reef (珊瑚礁) and catch the fish swimming inside the reef.
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6. The yearly rainfall of the Samoan islands is
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10. Chickens and pigs are kept by the Samoans, but
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