The most noisy and conspicuous supporters of that party are the inhabitants of Manono.

Hence in the elaborate, allusive oratory of Samoa, Malie is always referred to by the name of _Pule_ (authority) as having the power of the name, and Manono by that of _Ainga_ (clan, sept, or household) as forming the immediate family of the chief.

But these, though so important, are only small communities; and perhaps the chief numerical force of the Malietoas inhabits the island of Savaii.

Savaii has no royal name to bestow, all the five being in the gift of different districts of Upolu; but she has the weight of numbers, and in these latter days has acquired a certain force by the preponderance in her councils of a single man, the orator Lauati.

The reader will now understand the peculiar significance of a deputation which should embrace Lauati and the orators of both Malie and Manono, how it would represent all that is most effective on the Malietoa side, and all that is most considerable in Samoan politics, except the opposite feudal party of the Tupua.