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99. Picturesque World’s Fair – Paseleo, A Samoan Chief

PASELEO, A SAMOAN CHIEF.—Splendid specimens of manhood and womanhood physically were the Samoans at the Exposition, and comment was as general upon their fine proportions as upon their intelligence and courtesy of demeanor. It may be that a remembrance of this time when Samoans imperiled their lives so recklessly in aid of the crews of American warships wrecked in the great hurricane at Apia had something to do with the good will shown, but, whatever the cause, the Samoans became popular at once and were admired and made much of. The story of the United States they will carry back to their pleasant island will, assuredly, be one to make the good feeling closer. As magnificent animals, counting nothing else, the visitors deserved all the attention paid them. The climate and the diet of Samoa must be good for humanity, and that may yet become famous as a health resort in the far Pacific to which Americans will go in thousands. Mention has appeared elsewhere of the fact that a cast was made of the limbs of one of the Samoan girls, as models for the Art Institute, and the same compliment was paid Paseleo. Deep-chested, well-jointed and symmetrical, with the suppleness and strength of a leopard, he was a magnificent specimen of a human being. Like the women, the men of the Samoans delighted in garlands about the neck, and Paseleo himself did not feel superior to this simple and natural style of adornment.

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