Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
by George Turner · English · Gutenberg #14224 · 369,511 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
Author: George Turner
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Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMOA, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO AND LONG BEFORE ***
[Illustration: SAMOAN WOMAN IN COSTUME OF THE PAST.]
SAMOA
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO
AND LONG BEFORE.
BY
GEORGE TURNER, LL.D.
OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
FIRST PRINTED
LONDON 1884
Reprinted by
Institute of Pacific Studies
University of the South Pacific
1984
[Illustration: _Samoa_ London: Macmillan & Co.]
[Illustration: SAMOAN MAN IN COSTUME OF THE PAST.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
POSITION OF THE ISLANDS--EARLY VISITORS AND
TRADITIONARY ORIGIN
CHAPTER II.
SAMOA--ORIGIN OF THE NAME
CHAPTER III.
A FUTURE STATE--RELIGION, ETC.
CHAPTER IV.
GODS SUPERIOR--WAR AND GENERAL VILLAGE GODS
CHAPTER V.
GODS INFERIOR, OR HOUSEHOLD GODS
CHAPTER VI.
THE PEOPLE--INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER VII.
ADULT AND ADVANCED YEARS
CHAPTER VIII.
FOOD--COOKING--LIQUORS
CHAPTER IX.
CLOTHING
CHAPTER X.
AMUSEMENTS
CHAPTER XI.
MORTALITY, LONGEVITY, DISEASES, ETC.
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH AND BURIAL
CHAPTER XIII.
HOUSES
CHAPTER XIV.
CANOES
CHAPTER XV.
ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE
CHAPTER XVI.
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS
CHAPTER XVII.
WARS
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE HEAVENS, AND THE HEAVENLY BODIES
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ORIGIN OF FIRE, AND OTHER STORIES
CHAPTER XX.
NAMES OF THE ISLANDS--ILLUSTRATING MIGRATIONS, ETC.
CHAPTER XXI.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND PLACES OF NOTE ON UPOLU
CHAPTER XXII.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND PLACES OF NOTE ON SAVAII
CHAPTER I.
POSITION OF THE ISLANDS--EARLY VISITORS AND TRADITIONARY ORIGIN.
Samoa is the native name of the group of volcanic islands in central
Polynesia long known as the "Navigators Islands." They are situated
about 3000 miles from Sydney, and stand on the charts between the
parallels of 13° and 15° south latitude, and 168° and 173° west
longitude. The mountains of Savaii, one of which is 4000 feet high,
may be seen 50 miles off, and, on coming near, the stranger finds a
lovely island, 150 miles in circumference, and covered with vegetation
as far as the eye can reach. The mountains of Upolu and Tutuila rise
2000 and 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and present the same
aspect of richness and fertility. These are the principal islands of
the group. They run east and west. Upolu, 130 miles in circumference,
is in the middle, having Savaii 10 miles to the west; and Tutuila, an
island 80 miles in circumference, about 40 miles to the east. There
are several smaller islands which are inhabited, and several other
isolated romantic spots here and there which are not inhabited.
Upolu is almost entirely surrounded by barrier reefs; these wonderful
submarine walls, or breakwaters, built up to the level of the sea and
forming a fine smooth lagoon, invaluable for fishing and facilitating
all kinds of communication between the settlements along the coast.
The distance between the shore and the reef is from thirty feet to
three or four miles. In some places the lagoons are shallow, and
require the rise of the tide to allow a canoe or boat to pass along;
in other places, and particularly where there are openings in the
reef, they are from ten to twenty fathoms deep, and afford anchorage
to ships. The rivers are neither numerous nor large, but there is no
lack of fresh water; it springs up in abundance in many parts in the
interior and along the coast.
The Dutch "three-ship expedition," under Roggewein, in 1722, seems to
have been the first to notice these islands. Then followed the French
navigators, Bougainville and La Perouse, the former in 1768 and the
latter in 1787. Bougainville, seeing the natives move about so much in
canoes, gave the group the name of the "Isles of the Navigators."
Captain Cook heard of them in 1773 from the Tongans, noted some of
their names, and in 1791 they were visited by H.B.M. ship _Pandora_.
Little, however, was known of these islands until 1830, when a mission
was commenced there by the agents of the London Missionary Society.
The natives, who number about 35,000, are of the prevailing light
copper colour of central and eastern Polynesia. Hardly a vestige is to
be seen among them of the crisped and woolly-haired dark-brown
Papuans, or western Polynesian negroes. But as the physical
characteristics and languages of central and eastern Polynesia are
well known, I pass on to other and traditionary matters, and begin
with what the Samoans have to say on COSMOGONY AND MAN.
1. There was first of all Leai, _nothing_. Thence sprung Nanamu,
_fragrance_. Then Efuefu, _dust_. Then Iloa, _perceivable_. Then Maua,
_obtainable_. Then Eleele, _earth_. Then Papatu, _high rocks_. Then
Maataanoa, _small stones_. Then Maunga, _mountains_. Then Maunga
married Malaeliua, or changeable meeting-place, and had a daughter
called Fasiefu, _piece of dust_. She married Lave i fulufulu tolo, or
down of the sugar-cane flower, and to her was born three sons: Mua,
_first_; Uso, _brother_; Talu, and their sister Sulitonu, or true
heir. And then follows a story as to Mua and Talu originating the
names of two districts on the island of Upolu.
2. A cosmical genealogy takes the form of married couples, and runs as
follows:--
_Male._ _Female._ _Progeny._
1. The high rocks. The earth rocks. The earth.
2. The earth. High winds. Solid clouds.
3. Solid clouds. Flying clouds. (1) Confused winds.
(2) Quiet winds.
(3) Boisterous winds.
(4) Land beating
winds.
(5) Dew of life.
4. Dew of life. Clouds clinging Clouds flying about.
to the heavens.
5. Clouds flying Clear heavens. (1) Shadow.
about. (2) Twilight.
(3) Daylight.
(4) Noonday.
(5) Afternoon.
(6) Sunset.
6. Quiet winds. Beautiful clouds. Cloudless heavens.
7. Cloudless Spread out Tangaloa the
heavens. heavens. originator of men.
8. Tangaloa Great heavens. Tangaloa of the
heavens.
9. Tangaloa of Keeper of the Pili.
the heavens. heavens.
10. Pili. Sina the tropic (1) Sanga.
bird (2) Ana.
(3) Tua.
(4) Tolufale.
(5) Muganitama.
11. Ana. Sina the powerful. Matofaana.
12. Matofaana. Sina the bald. Veta.
13. Veta. Afu lilo. Naituveta.
14. Naituveta. Toe lauoo. Toso.
15. Toso. Langi fiti pula. Siu tau lalovasa.
16. Siu tau Pai (who reckoned Siu toso.
lalovasa. the light).
17. Siu toso. Lau lano ma lau Ata.
vai.
18. Ata. Uliaumi. Siufeai.
19. Siufeai. Polaitu. Siu le lau mato.
20. Siu le lau mato. Sina i lau tolo. Feepo.
21. Feepo. Sea faetele. Ationgie.
22. Ationgie. Tau vai upolu. Savea.
This Savea was the first Malietoa, and then in the continuance of
this genealogy there follow twenty-three generations of Malietoa, down
to Malietoa Talavou, who was proclaimed king in 1878, and subsequently
recognised by the Governments of England, Germany, and the United
States. Many other traditionary genealogies of chiefs might be given,
but let the above suffice as a specimen of the rest.
3. Other descendants of Cloudless heavens (No. 6 above):--
_Male._ _Female._ _Progeny._
(1) Cloudless The eighth heavens. Tangaloa the
heavens. dweller in lands.
(2) Tangaloa Cloudy heavens. Tangaloa the
dweller in explorer of lands.
lands.
(3) Tangaloa the Queen of earth. Valevalenoa, or
explorer of _space_.
lands.
_Space_ had a long-legged seat. At another birth Cloudy heavens
brought forth a head. This was the head that was said to have fallen
from the heavens. Space set it up on his high stool and said to it, "O
beloved! be a son--be a second with me on the earth." Space started
back, for all of a sudden the body of a man-child was added to the
head. The child was sensible, and inquired who his father was. Space
replied, "Your father is yonder in the East, yonder in the West,
yonder towards the sea, and yonder in-land, yonder above and yonder
below." Then the boy said, "I have found my name, call me All the
sides of heaven." And from him sprang the four divisions, East, West,
North, and South. He grew up to manhood, went to the North, married
and had children. Went to the South, married and had children. Went to
the East, married and had children. Went to the West, married and had
children. He then went up to the heavens, and told all his children to
follow him.
4. The children of Ilu, _worm_, and Mamao, _distant,_ were:--
(1) Papa tu, or great rocks.
(2) Papa one, or sandy rocks.
(3) Papa ele, or earthy rocks.
(4) Masina, or the moon.
(5) La, or the sun.
(6) Sami, or the sea.
(7) Vai, or fresh water.
These were all sons, and then there were two daughters, the one named
Great wind and the other Gentle wind.
They all separated and lived apart, but the sea was shut up. Then the
children said, "Let the sea be set free and allowed to come out that
we may look at it." This was done, and then the three kinds of rocks
were flooded and died, but the sun and the moon fled to the heavens
and lived.
5. Fire and water married, and from them sprung the earth, rocks,
trees, and everything.
The cuttle-fish fought with the fire and was beaten. The fire fought
with the rocks, and the rocks conquered. The large stones fought with
the small ones; the small conquered. The small stones fought with the
grass, and the grass conquered. The grass fought with the trees; the
grass was beaten and the trees conquered. The trees fought with the
creepers, the trees were beaten and the creepers conquered. The
creepers rotted, swarmed with maggots, and from maggots they grew to
be men.
6. The god Tangaloa existed in space, but we do not know how or whence
he came. He wished some place to live in, and so he made the heavens.
He also wished to have a place under the heavens, and so he made the
Lalolangi, _under the heavens_, or the earth. Savaii was formed by a
stone rolled down from the heavens, Upolu by another. Other stories
say that they were drawn up from under the ocean by a fishing-hook. He
next made the Fee or cuttle-fish, and told it to go down under the
earth, and hence the lower regions of sea or land are called Sa le
feé, or sacred to the cuttle-fish. The cuttle-fish brought forth all
kinds of rocks, and hence the great one on which we live.
7. Tangaloa the god of heaven sent down his daughter in the form of
the bird Turī, a species of snipe, _Charadrius fulvus_. She flew
about, but could find no resting-place, nothing but ocean. She
returned to the heavens, but was again sent down by Tangaloa to search
for land. First she observed spray, then lumpy places, then water
breaking, then land above the surface, and then a dry place where she
could rest. She went back and told her father. He again sent her down;
she reported extending surface of land, and then he sent her down with
some earth and a creeping plant. The plant grew, and she continued to
come down and visit it. After a time its leaves withered. On her next
visit it was swarming with worms or maggots, and the next time she
came down they had become men and women.
8. The ants and the small coral made the small stones. The small and
large stones caused the loose rocks, and from the loose rocks and the
fire sprang a man called Ariari, _to appear_, and from him and a woman
sprang the cuttle-fish and the race of men.
9. Man is formed from a species of mussel. If made of the hard mussel
he lives long--it is difficult for him to die. But if he happens to be
made of the poisonous mussel, he is fragile, easily upset, and does
not live long.
The soul of man is called his angānga, or that which goes or comes. It
is said to be the daughter of Taufanuu, or _vapour of lands_, which
forms clouds, and as the dark cloudy covering of night comes on, man
feels sleepy, because his soul wishes to go and visit its mother.
10. All the gods had a meeting at a public place on Upolu to decide
what was to be the end of the life of man. One god made a speech and
proposed that it should be like the extinction of the cocoa-nut-leaf
torch, which when it goes out can be shaken, blown, and blaze up
again, so that man after sickness and death might rise again in all
the vigour of youth.
Another god called the Supa or _paralysis_, rose and proposed that the
life of man should be like the extinction of the candle-nut torch,
which when once out cannot be blown in again.
Then followed a number of speeches, some for the one proposal and some
for the other. While the discussion was proceeding a pouring rain came
on and broke up the meeting. The gods ran to the houses for shelter,
and as they were dispersing they called out, "Let the proposal of
Paralysis be carried, and let man's life go out like the candle-nut
torch." And hence the proverb: "It is as Paralysis said." Man dies and
does not return.
Another account of this meeting adds other two proposals. One that men
should cast their skins like the shell-fish; and another that when
they grow old they should dive in the "water of life" and come up
little boys. It finishes, however, with the proposal of Paralysis
being carried, but adds that only men were to die, not women.
CHAPTER II.
SAMOA.
_Origin of the Name._
1. The rocks married the earth, and the earth became pregnant.
Salevao, the god of the rocks, observed motion in the moa or _centre_
of the earth. The child was born and named Moa, from the place where
it was seen moving. Salevao ordered the umbilicus to be laid on a
club, and cut with a stone; and hence the custom ever after on the
birth of a man-child.
Salevao then provided water for washing the child and made it sa, or
_sacred_ to Moa. The rocks and the earth said they wished to get some
of that water to drink. Salevao replied that if they got a bamboo he
would send them a streamlet through it, and hence the origin of
springs.
Salevao said he would become loose stones, and that everything which
grew would be sa ia Moa, or _sacred to_ Moa, till his hair was cut.
After a time his hair was cut and the restriction taken off, and
hence also the rocks and the earth were called Sa ia Moa, or as it is
abbreviated, SAMOA.
2. Tangaloa of the heavens had two children--a son called _Moa_, and a
daughter called Lu. Lu married a brother chief of Tangaloa, and had a
son, who was named Lu after herself. One night when Tangaloa lay down
to sleep, he heard his grandson singing--
Moa Lu,
Moa Lu.
After a time he changed it to--
Lu Moa,
Lu Moa.
Tangaloa was annoyed at the presumption of the lad, as if he wished to
be above Moa the firstborn. He feigned an errand, and called the boy
to come and scratch his back. The boy went to perform the operation,
but on stretching out his hand was seized by his grandfather, and
beaten with the handle of his fly-flapper. Lu made his escape, came
running down to the earth, and named it SAMOA.
3. At one time the land was flooded by the sea, and everything died
except some fowls and pigeons. The pigeons flew away, but the Moa, or
_fowls_, remained and were made sacred by Lu, and not to be killed,
and hence called the Sa Moa or _preserve fowls_ of Lu.
4. Tangaloa of the heavens and his son Lu built a canoe or vessel up
in the heavens. They were aided by a carpenter called Manufili. When
finished it was taken down and set on the Laueleele, or surface of the
earth. There was no sea at that time.
Lu had a wife called Gaogao o le tai, _expanse of sea_. She had a son
who was also called Lu, and when he grew up the vessel was given to
him. When she next brought forth it was a lot of all kinds of
shell-fish. Lu said to his mother, "What is the use of having all
these things lying there bare in the sun?" "Leave it with me to make a
_lake_ for them," was her reply; and then she told him to go and get
his vessel in order, and be ready to get into it when the sea was
made.
The sea was the product of the next birth. Lu caught two fowls, and
when the sea rose took them with him into the vessel. He was not many
days afloat, some say six, when his vessel rested on the top of the
mountain called Malata, in Atua, east end of Upolu. Lu lived there at
the village called Uafato, and had there his Sa Moa, or _preserve
fowls_, which were not to be killed. Another story says that Lu came
from the west with his fowls, and that from his crew all the islands
of the group were peopled. He was said to have come from Pulotu,
Papatea, Pau, Vau, Aoao, and Ngaelu. Others say he came with his fowls
direct from Tafiti apaau, or the _Winged Fiji_.
Two of the people of Tangaloa of the heavens came down to fish. As
they were returning with two baskets of fish, the fowls of Lu leaped
up to peck at the fish. The lads caught and killed the precious
preserve, or Sa Moa, and ran off with them to the heavens.
In the morning Lu missed the fowls, and went off in search of them. He
saw from the unbroken early morning cobwebs across the roads east and
west, that no one had passed along there. He suspected the fishing
party from the heavens, and away he went up there from the top of the
mountain. He had nothing in his hand but his fly-flapper.
In the first heavens he smelled roast fowl, and presently he came upon
the two culprits as they were eating, and believed that they were
crunching the bones of the very fowls of which he was in search. He
charged them. They did not deny, but commenced to lay the blame the
one on the other, and hence the proverb to this day: "It was not I,
but you." He set upon both of them with his fue, or fly-flapper, and
hence the word to _fue_, or to fly-flapper, is used as a milder term
to express beating or killing.
Away the lads fled, and he after them up through the nine heavens,
laying out on them with his fue. When they reached the tenth heaven,
Tangaloa made his appearance and called out, "What is all this about?
Don't you know this is Malae totoa, the _place of rest_? There must be
no fighting here."
In the tenth heaven no strife was allowed; the place was kept
beautifully clean, no rubbish to be seen about the roads, and there
were no clubs hanging in the houses.
Lu told the cause of his anger: his Sa Moa or preserve fowls had been
stolen, and he had found the thieves in the very act of eating them.
Tangaloa said, "It is indeed very bad; but now that you have left
behind all the places where wars may be fought out, and have come to
this heaven of peace, let your wrath abate, spare these men, and you
shall go back with the title of _King of heaven_, and take my daughter
Langituavalu, _Eighth heavens_, to be your wife." "Very good," said
Lu; "let these men live, and let us be at peace, and conform to the
custom of Malae totoa."
A handsome dowry was got up, the marriage took place, and Tangaloa
told Lu to name the earth Samoa when he came down, and so keep in
remembrance his _preserve fowls_.
The two came down, had a child, and named him Samoa, and from them
these islands have been peopled. Hence also the proverb from this lady
coming from heaven and having children on earth: "The heavens are
swinging and touching the earth." Of any one who marries a person far
away it is also said, "It is like Langituavalu."
At the marriage of Langituavalu and Lu, Tangaloa ordered all his
people to contribute a fine white mat each, with which to form her
dowry. A great feast was also provided, but only those were admitted
who had contributed a white mat. When the festive day came there were
many outside who were chagrined that they had not made an effort to
get the white mat, and so have been permitted to share in the grand
celebration, to the music of which they could only listen outside and
in the distance.
CHAPTER III.
A FUTURE STATE--RELIGION, ETC.
The Samoans believed in a soul or disembodied spirit, which they
called the _angānga_. Anga means to _go_ or _come_, according to the
particle of direction suffixed. Anga _atu_ means to go away; anga
_mai_ signifies to come. The reduplicated angānga is used to designate
the soul as distinct from the body, and which at death was supposed to
go away from the body and proceed to the hadean regions under the
ocean, which they called Pulotu.
In describing the localities about Falealupo in another chapter, we
have noted some things about the lower regions which were supposed to
enter from the neighbourhood of Falealupo. We know little, if
anything, more of the notions which the Samoans had of a future state,
and therefore pass on to the religion which prevailed all over the
group.
At one time it was supposed that Samoa was destitute of any kind of
religion, and by some of the early visitors the people were called
"the _godless_ Samoans." On closer acquaintance with them, however,
it was discovered that they lived under the influence of a host of
imaginary deities, claiming alike belief and corresponding practice.
At his birth a Samoan was supposed to be taken under the care of some
god, or _aitu_, as it was called. The help of several of these gods
was probably invoked in succession on the occasion, and the one who
happened to be addressed just as the child was born was fixed on as
the child's god for life.
These gods were supposed to appear in some _visible incarnation_, and
the particular thing in which his god was in the habit of appearing
was to the Samoan an object of veneration. It was, in fact, his idol,
and he was careful never to injure it or treat it with contempt. One,
for instance, saw his god in the eel, another in the shark, another in
the turtle, another in the dog, another in the owl, another in the
lizard, and so on throughout all the fish of the sea, and birds, and
four-footed beasts, and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish,
even, gods were supposed to be present. A man would eat freely of what
was regarded as the incarnation of the god of another man, but the
incarnation of his own particular god he would consider it death to
injure or to eat. The god was supposed to avenge the insult by taking
up his abode in that person's body, and causing to generate there the
very thing which he had eaten, until it produced death. This class of
genii, or tutelary deities, they called _aitu fale_, or gods of the
house.
The father of the family was _the high-priest_, and usually offered a
short prayer at the evening meal, that they might all be kept from
fines, sickness, war, and death. Occasionally, too, he would direct
that they have a family feast in honour of their household gods; and
on these occasions a cup of their intoxicating ava draught was poured
out as a drink-offering. They did this in their family house, where
they were all assembled, supposing that their gods had a spiritual
presence there, as well as in the material objects to which we have
referred. Often it was supposed that the god came among them, and
spoke through the father or some other member of the family, telling
them what to do in order to remove a present evil or avert a
threatened one. Sometimes it would be that the family should get a
canoe built and keep it sacred to the god. They might travel in it and
use it themselves, but it was death to sell or part with a canoe which
had been built specially for the god.
_Another class of Samoan deities_ may be called gods of the town or
village. Every village had its god, and every one born in that village
was regarded as the property of that god. I have got a child for
so-and-so, a woman would say on the birth of her child, and name the
village god. There was a small house or temple also consecrated to
the deity of the place. Where there was no formal temple, the great
house of the village, where the chiefs were in the habit of
assembling, was the temple for the time being, as occasion required.
Some settlements had a sacred grove as well as a temple, where prayers
and offerings were presented.
_In their temples_ they had generally something for the eye to rest
upon with superstitious veneration. In one might be seen a conch
shell, suspended from the roof in a basket made of cinnet network; and
this the god was supposed to blow when he wished the people to rise to
war. In another, two stones were kept. In another, something
resembling the head of a man, with white streamers flying, was raised
on a pole at the door of the temple, on the usual day of worship. In
another, a cocoa-nut shell drinking-cup was suspended from the roof,
and before it prayers were addressed and offerings presented. This cup
was also used in oaths. If they wished to find out a thief, the
suspected parties were assembled before the chiefs, the cup sent for,
and each would approach, lay his hand on it, and say, "With my hand on
this cup, may the god look upon me, and send swift destruction, if I
took the thing which has been stolen." The stones and the shells were
used in a similar way. Before this ordeal, the truth was rarely
concealed. They firmly believed that it would be death to touch the
cup and tell a lie.
_The priests_ in some cases were the chiefs of the place; but in
general some one in a particular family claimed the privilege, and
professed to declare the will of the god. His office was hereditary.
He fixed the days for the annual feasts in honour of the deity,
received the offerings, and thanked the people for them. He decided
also whether or not the people might go to war.
_The offerings_ were principally cooked food. The first cup was in
honour of the god. It was either poured out on the ground or _waved_
towards the heavens. The chiefs all drank a portion out of the same
cup, according to rank; and after that the food brought as an offering
was divided and eaten there before the god. This feast was annual, and
frequently about the month of May. In some places it passed off
quietly; in others it was associated with games, sham-fights,
night-dances, etc., and lasted for days. In time of war special feasts
were ordered by the priests. Of the offerings on war occasions women
and children were forbidden to partake, as it was not their province
to go to battle. They supposed it would bring sickness and death on
the party eating who did not go to the war, and hence were careful to
bury or throw into the sea whatever food was over after the festival.
In some cases the feasts in honour of the god were regulated by the
appearance in the settlement of the bird which was thought to be the
incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen the priest would
say that the god had come, and fix upon a day for his entertainment.
The village gods, like those of the household, had all some particular
incarnation: one was supposed to appear as a bat, another as a heron,
another as an owl. If a man found a dead owl by the roadside, and if
that happened to be the incarnation of his village god, he would sit
down and weep over it, and beat his forehead with stones till the
blood flowed. This was thought pleasing to the deity. Then the bird
would be wrapped up and buried with care and ceremony, as if it were a
human body. This, however, was not the death of the god. He was
supposed to be yet alive, and incarnate in all the owls in existence.
The flight of these birds was observed in time of war. If the bird
flew before them, it was a signal to go on; but if it crossed the
path, it was a bad omen, and a sign to retreat. Others saw their
village god in the rainbow, others saw him in the shooting star; and
in time of war the position of a rainbow and the direction of a
shooting star were always ominous.
The constant dread of the gods, and the numerous and extravagant
demands of a cunning and avaricious priesthood, made the heathenism of
Samoa a hard service.
I have collected and arranged alphabetically in the two following
chapters the names of the principal gods formerly worshipped in
Samoa. The notices of each will explain more fully the religion of the
people, and especially that system of zoolatry which so extensively
prevailed.
CHAPTER IV.
GODS SUPERIOR--WAR AND GENERAL VILLAGE GODS.
1. AITU LANGI, or _Gods of heaven._
1. These gods were supposed to have fallen from the heavens at the
call of a blind man to protect his son from a cannibal chief. They
were scattered over several villages, but did not move about in the
bodies of mortals. A large temple was erected to one of them in which
there were ten seats on which sat the principal chiefs. A large shell
was the only visible representation of the god, and in time of war it
was carefully consulted. If it stood on end and made an unusual noise
they went to battle cheerfully; if, however, it only murmured what
they imagined to be "Go back, go back," there was no fighting that
day. Tupai was the name of the high priest and prophet. He was greatly
dreaded. His very look was poison. If he looked at a cocoa-nut tree it
died, and if he glanced at a bread-fruit tree it also withered away.
2. Aitu langi was the name of a village god in another place, and
supposed to be incarnate in the owl. If, when going to fight, an owl
flew before, it was a good sign; but if across the road or backwards
they returned immediately.
2. ALII TU, or _The God who stands._
This god was seen in the Ve'a, or rail (_Rallus pectoralis_). The
flight of this bird was also observed during war. If it flew before,
it was a good omen; if otherwise they went back disconcerted.
3. AVE I LE TALA, Or _Take to the end of the house._
This was the name of an accoucheur god, whose priest went, when sent
for, and prayed for the safety of the patient. This god is specially
noted as having predicted the arrival of a powerful foreign god, who
was to eat up all the gods of Samoa except one, and that was himself;
and then he added pathetically through the priest to the family where
he was supposed to reside, "When the great god comes, do not you all
leave me, but let two still keep aloof and stand by me." On the
introduction and rapid spread of Christianity many said, "The
prediction of Ave i le tala has come true."
4. FONGE AND TOAFA.
1. These were the names of two oblong smooth stones which stood on a
raised platform of loose stones inland of one of the villages. They
were supposed to be the parents of Saato, a god who controlled the
rain. When the chiefs and people were ready to go off for weeks to
certain places in the bush for the sport of pigeon-catching, offerings
of cooked taro and fish were laid on the stones, accompanied by
prayers for fine weather and no rain. Any one who refused an offering
to the stones was frowned upon; and in the event of rain was blamed
and punished for bringing down the wrath of the fine-weather god, and
spoiling the sports of the season.
2. Persons going to search for bush yams in time of scarcity gave a
yam to the stones as a thank-offering, supposing that these gods
caused the yams to grow, and could lead them to the best places for
finding such edible roots.
3. Any one passing by casually with a basket of cooked food would stop
and lay a morsel on the stones.
4. When such offerings were eaten in the night by dogs or rats, it was
supposed that the god chose to become incarnate for the time being in
the form of such living creatures.
5. FANONGA, _Destruction._
1. This was the name of a war-god, and supposed to be incarnate in the
Samoan owl (_Strix delicatula_). In time of war, offerings of food
were presented to a pet one which was kept for the purpose. If it
flew about above while the troops were walking along below that was a
good omen; but if it flew away in the direction of the enemy it was
supposed to have left the one party and gone to join the other, and
therefore a calamity.
2. At the beginning of the annual fish festivals, the chiefs and
people of the village assembled round the opening of the first oven,
and give the first fish to the god.
3. A dead owl found under a tree in the settlement was the signal for
all the village to assemble at the place, burn their bodies with
firebrands, and beat their foreheads with stones till the blood
flowed, and so they expressed their sympathy and condolence with the
god over the calamity "by an offering of blood." He still lived,
however, and moved about in all the other existing owls of the
country.
6. FAAMALU, _Shade._
1. The name of a village god, and represented by a trumpet-shell. On
the month for annual worship all the people met in the place of public
gatherings with heaps of cooked food. First there were offerings and
prayers to the god to avert calamities and give prosperity; then they
feasted with and before their god, and after that any strangers
present might eat.
At the same settlement a marine deity called Tamauanuu, or _Plenty
for the land_, was worshipped at the same time. On that day no one
dared to swim on his back off the settlement, or eat a cocoa-nut. Any
one transgressing would have to go to the beach and beat his forehead
with stones till the blood flowed, so as to prevent his being devoured
by a shark the next time he went to fish.
In time of war Faamalu was also represented by a fish, the movements
of which were watched. If it was seen to swim briskly they went to
battle cheerfully; but if it turned round now and then on its back
that was a veto on fighting.
Faamalu was also seen in a cloud or shade. If a cloud preceded them in
going to battle they advanced courageously; if, however, the clouds
were all behind they were afraid.
2. In a quarrel a mischief-maker would be cursed and given over to the
wrath of Faamalu. If anything was stolen the sufferer would go along
the road shouting and calling on Faamalu to be avenged on the thief.
3. In another district Faamalu was only a war-god--had a temple with a
shell in it, and the shell was carried about with the troops. The
trees all around the temple were sacred, and never used for any
purpose.
7. FAAOLA, _Life-giver._
The name of a war-god. Before going to fight the people of the
district where he was worshipped all met and prayed that they might be
"strong-hearted" and free from cowardice.
8. O LE FE'E, _The cuttle-fish (Octopus)._
1. This was a war-god said to have been brought by a chief called
Tapuaau, who swam hither from Fiji with his cuttle-fish. When taken
into a house it showed a special fondness for a piece of white native
cloth by stretching over to it, and hence this white cloth became an
emblem of the god, and his worshippers in going to battle were known
by white turbans, which they thought would please the god and be a
defence against the enemy.
Before starting all assembled in the public place of the village, and
one of the priests prayed as follows:--
Le Fe'e e! faafofoga mai ia
O au o Fale le a tulai atu nei.
Le Fe'e e! au mai ia ou mūmū fua
Sei tau a'i le taua nei.
Which may be translated as follows:--O Fe'e! listen--I am Fale who now
stand up--O Fe'e! give us your red flaming rage with which to fight
this battle.
All listened carefully to the enunciation of this prayer by the
priest, for if he was observed to _stutter_ in a single word it was a
bad omen.
The Fe'e was also supposed to be present in the white shell of the
_Cypræa ovula_; hence a string of these shells was suspended in the
house of the priest, and were supposed to murmur, or "cry," when war
was determined on. The colour of the shells was also watched. A clear
white was a good omen, but if they looked dark and dingy it was a bad
one.
The movements of the cuttle-fish at sea were also looked after at
war-times. If seen near the shore when the people were mustering for
battle it was a good sign; if far off the reverse.
2. In one place the Fe'e was a general village god, whose province was
not confined to war. The month of May was sacred to his worship. No
traveller was then allowed to pass through the village by the public
road; nor was any canoe allowed in the lagoon off that part of the
settlement. There was great feasting, too, on these occasions, and
also games, club exercise, spear-throwing, wrestling, etc.
A new temple was at this time erected, to the material of which every
man, woman, and child contributed something, even if only a stick or a
reed of thatch. Some were drafted off to put up the house, and the
rest commenced to fight in real earnest, and settle any old grudges
with each other. He who got the most wounds was set down for special
favours from the god. With the completion of the temple the fighting
ended, and that was to suffice for the year. A quarrel of neighbours
at any other time, and rising to blows, was frowned upon by the god
Fe'e, because it was not left till next year and temple-building day.
In another district three months were sacred to the worship of the
Fe'e. During that time any one passing along the road, or in the
lagoon, would be beaten, if not killed, for insulting the god. For the
first month torches and all other lights were forbidden, as the god
was about and did not wish to be seen. White turbans were also
forbidden during the festivities, and confined to war. At this time,
also, all unsightly projecting burdens--such as a log of firewood on
the shoulder--were forbidden, lest it should be considered by the god
as a mockery of his _tentacula_.
The priest at this place had a large wooden bowl, which he called
lipi, or _sudden death_. This was another representative of the god,
and by this the family had no small gains. In a case of stealing, fine
mats or other gifts were taken by the injured party to the priest to
curse the thief and make him ill. The priest would then sit down with
some select members of the family around the bowl representative of
the god, and pray for speedy vengeance on the guilty; then they waited
the issue. These imprecations were dreaded. Conscience-stricken
thieves, when taken ill, were carried off by their friends on a litter
and laid down at the door of the priest, with taro, cocoa-nuts, or
yams, in lieu of those confessed to have been stolen; and they would
add fine mats and other presents, that the priest might pray again
over the death-bowl, and have the sentence reversed.
There is a story that the cuttle-fish gods of Savaii were once chased
by an Upolu hero, who caught them in a great net and killed them. They
were changed into stones, and now stand up in a rocky part of the
lagoon on the north side of Upolu. For a long time travelling parties
from Savaii felt _eerie_ when they came to the place--did not like to
go through between the stones, but took the outside passage.
Another fragment makes out that a Savaii Fe'e married the daughter of
a chief on Upolu, and for convenience in coming and going made a hole
in the reef, and hence the harbour at Apia. He went up the river also
at that place, and built a stone house inland, the "Stonehenge" relics
of which are still pointed out, and named to this day "the house of
the Fe'e." In time of war he sent a branch drifting down the river as
a good omen, and a sign to the people that they might go on with the
war, sure of driving the enemy.
3. In some instances the Fe'e was a household god only. If any visitor
caught a cuttle-fish and cooked it, or if any member of that family
had been where a cuttle-fish was eaten, the family would meet over the
case, and a man or woman would be selected to go and lie down in a
_cold_ oven, and be covered over with leaves, as in the process of
baking, and all this as a would-be or mock burnt-offering to avert the
wrath of the god. While this was being done the family united in
praying: "O bald-headed Fe'e! forgive what has been done--it was all
the work of a _stranger_." Failing such signs of respect and humility,
it was supposed the god would come to the family, and cause a
cuttle-fish to grow internally, and be the death of some of them.
9. FUAI LANGI, _Beginner of the Heavens._
A god of one of the small islands, and seen in the sea-eel, or
_Maræna_. If the sea-eel happened to be driven on to the shore in a
gale or by any tidal wave it portended evil, and created a commotion
all over the place.
10. GA'E FEFE, _Breathless fear._
A war-god in some of the villages, and seen in a cocoa-nut-leaf
basket. It is said that during a battle between the gods of Samoa and
those of Tonga the former crouched about the trunks of the cocoa-nut
trees; but Ga'e fefe hid in a cocoa-nut-leaf basket, and escaped while
many others were killed. Hence the _basket_ became a sign of the god,
and no one would step over such a thing, supposing the god might be in
it. Hence, also, if in going to fight they fell in with a
newly-plaited cocoa-nut-leaf basket turned upside down it was a bad
omen, and sent them back. If, however, the basket was an old one, and
not lying _across_ the road, but to the one side, and "fore and aft,"
it was a good sign, and encouraged them to proceed.
11. LA'ALA'A--_Step over._
1. A village war god in Savaii. Supposed to go before the troops, but
invisible. When the people turned out, according to hospitality usage,
to take food to a travelling party, they would arrange to lay down ten
pigs. If the visitors, in recounting and shouting out in public, as
they do, what they had got, said that there were _eleven_ pigs, it was
supposed that the god had added _one_. Then they would compare notes,
and say: "Oh yes, it must have been that old woman we saw with a dry
shrunk leaf girdle." There were other instances of the "devil's dozen"
in Samoa.
Once, when the people were driven by a war fleet from Upolu, the god
became incarnate in a _yellow_ man, went and lay down in a house, and
there they killed him to please the Upolu people and stop the war,
which the latter agreed to do in return for killing the god. Out of
respect to the god the people of that village never used the word
la'ala'a for _stepping over_, but sought a new word in soposopo, which
is still a current synonym for la'ala'a.
2. La'ala'a was also the name of a god who took care of the
plantations. He guarded them by the help of the god _thunder_. They
never spoke of _lightning_ as doing harm, it is always the thunder.
"Thunder" once struck the house of Fala and Paongo. The family rose
up, caught him, tied him up with pandanus leaves, and frightened him
by poking him with firebrands. He cried out in distress:
"Oh! Fala, I'm burning,
Oh! Paongo, I wish to live!"
They decided to spare him, and make him a god to keep the rats away
from their food. They made a hieroglyphic scare for him, also, of a
basket filled with pandanus leaves and charred firebrands, and hung it
up among the trees, that he might know what to expect if he destroyed
a house again. This basket was also a scare for a thief, and an
imprecation that _thunder_ might destroy his plantation.
3. La'ala'a was also the name of a god in Upolu, who was the champion
of _wrestlers_. The place was supposed to be filled with gods who came
to wrestle.
4. The same name was given to a god who predicted in war, sickness,
and family events. In sickness the people of the village confessed
crimes, and prayed that they might be _stepped over_ or forgiven. He
was supposed to dwell in the mountain, and any part of it sufficed as
a confessional.
There was a priest also who, when he prayed to la'ala'a, became
possessed, told the cause of disease, and forbade the evil conduct of
the suffering culprit.
12. LAA MAOMAO--_The great step._
This is one of the names of the rainbow, which was a representative of
a war god of several villages. If, when going to battle, a rainbow
sprang up right before them and _across_ the path, or across the
course of the canoes at sea, the troops and the fleet would return.
The same if the rainbow arch, or _long step_, of the god was seen
behind them. If, however, it was sideways they went on with spirit,
thinking the god was marching along with them and encouraging them to
advance.
13. MAO MA ULI--_Mistake and Black._
Two teeth of the sperm whale, and said to have come from Fiji, were so
named, and represented the war gods of a large village. They were kept
in a cave, and when the people went to fight a priest remained behind
to pray for success and watch and report the position of the teeth. If
they lay east and west it was a good omen, but if they turned over and
lay north and south it was a sign of defeat.
14. MATUU--_Heron_, or "_Andrea sacra._"
The heron was the incarnation of a war god on the island of Manono. If
it flew _before_ the troops that was a good sign, but the reverse if
it flew across the path.
A story is told of Heron and his brother Destruction. They cooked
some food one day, but it was not half done. The enraged family set
upon the two. Destruction had his neck broken by a stick thrown at
him; but Heron escaped by having his neck pulled long, as it is to
this day.
15. MOSO.
1. This was the name of one of the great _land_ gods, in opposition to
Tangaloa, the god of the heavens. The root of the word is the name of
a tree--"_Cananga odorata_"--the yellow flowers of which are highly
fragrant. A stone was his representative in one village, on which
passing travellers laid down a scented wreath or necklace as an
offering to Moso.
2. In another place Moso's representative was a large wooden bowl,
decorated with white shells, and called Lipi, or sudden death, as
described under Le Fe'e, No. 8. The priest received offerings from the
injured, and, in lieu of them, prayed to Moso with loud crying and
forced tears to curse with sudden death the unknown thief or other
injurer. "Oh Moso! make haste, show your power, send down to the lower
regions, sweep away like a flood, may they never see the light of
another day." These were the usual imprecations shrieked out over the
bowl.
3. One of the kings of the district of Atua was supposed to be a man
and move about among mortals in the daytime; but at night he was
Moso, and away among the gods.
4. Moso was also a household god in some families. In one he was
incarnate as a man. He helped himself to food of any kind from the
plantations of his neighbours, and, if chased, suddenly disappeared;
and hence they considered he was a god, and prayed to him and laid
down offerings.
5. In another family Moso was said to appear, but only one old man
could discern him when he came. A visit was known by the old man
shouting out, "Your excellency! Your excellency has come!" and some
such chief's language. Then would follow a conversation between the
old man and the god, all through the lips of the old impostor himself;
and then the family would hear of some new house, or canoe, or food,
or marriage, or something else that was wanted.
6. Moso also appeared in one family in the form of a pet pigeon called
the Tu (_Phlegoenas Stairi_). When food was brought in, no water was
to be spilled on the doorstep. It would make the protecting god Tu
angry, and cause him to go off.
In another family he was incarnate in the domestic fowl, and if any of
them ate a piece of fowl the consequence was delirium and death.
In another family Moso was incarnate in the cuttle-fish, and none of
them dared to eat one.
Another family had Moso incarnate with them in a creeper bird called
the Fuia (_Sturnoides atrifusca_). If it came about in the morning or
the evening it was a sign that their prayers were accepted. If it did
not come Moso was supposed to be angry. The bird did not appear at
noon owing to the glare of the sun. The priest interpreted to the
family the meaning of the _chirps_ as his inclination or fancy
dictated.
7. _Long Moso_ was the name of another family god. The turtle and the
mullet were sacred to him, and eaten only by the priest. The family
prayed to him before the evening meal.
8. The Fai, or stinging ray fish, and also the mullet were
incarnations of _Moso the strong_ in another family. If visitors or
friends caught or brought with them either of these fish, a child of
the family would be taken and laid down in an unheated oven, as a
peace-offering to Moso for the indignity done to him by the strangers.
If any member of the family tasted of these sacred fish he was
sentenced by the heads of the family to drink a cupful of rancid oil
dregs as a punishment and to stay the wrath of Moso.
16. NAFANUA--_Hidden inland._
This was the name of the goddess of a district in the west end of
the island of Savaii. She was the daughter of Saveasiuleo, the
god of Pulotu, and was _hidden_ inland, or in the bush, when an
infant by her mother, who was ashamed of the illegitimate birth.
She came from Pulotu, the Samoan haedes, at a time when the
ruling power was so oppressive as to compel the people to climb
cocoa-nut trees with their feet upwards, their heads downwards,
and to pluck the nuts with their toes. As she passed along she
saw a poor fellow struggling up a tree with his head downward,
and calling out in despair that he could endure it no longer. She
told him to come down, and that she would put an end to it. She
summoned all to battle, took the lead herself, and completely
routed the enemy, and raised the district to a position of honour
and equality. When she went to the fight she covered her breasts
with cocoa-nut leaflets that the enemy might not see she was a
woman, and the distinguishing mark or pass-word of her troops was
a few cocoa-nut leaflets bound round the waist. After the battle
in which she conquered, she ordered cocoa-nut leaflets to be tied
round the trees, marking them out as hers, and defying the enemy
or any one else to touch them. To this day a strip of cocoa-nut
leaflets encircling a tree is a sign that it is claimed by some
one for a special purpose, and that the nuts there are not to be
indiscriminately plucked without permission.
2. Nafanua was also the name of a village god on the island of Upolu.
In a case of concealed theft, all the people assembled before the
chiefs, and one by one implored vengeance on himself if he was
guilty. If all denied, the chiefs wound up the inquiry by shouting
out, "O Nafanua! Compassionate us, let us know who it was, and let
speedy death be upon him!"
In war, all assembled to be sprinkled with Nafanua's cocoa-nut water
before going to battle. If well done, they conquered; if not, they
were driven before the enemy. Confession of offences sometimes
preceded the sprinkling, as it was a sign of pardon and purification.
Occasional torchlight processions through the village were held in
honour of Nafanua. Cases of sickness were also brought and laid before
the priest. Those who took fine mats were cured, but shabby offerings
of native cloth only prolonged the disease.
17. NAVE.
Nave was the name of a village god on the island of Tutuila. It was
represented by a stone called Maa o Nave, or the stone of Nave. This
was abbreviated and euphonised into Amanave, and is the name of the
village to this day.
18. NONIA.
This was the name of a village god, and was supposed to be incarnate
in the cockle. If this shell-fish was eaten by any one of the place a
cockle would grow on his nose. If one was picked up and taken away
from the shore, a cockle would appear on some part of that person's
body.
May was the usual month for feasting and prayers to Nonia, for the
removal of coughs and other ailments usually prevalent during that
time of transition from the wet to the dry months. On the days of
worship the people went about with bundles of cockles, and through
them prayed to Nonia.
19. O LE NIFO LOA--_The long tooth._
This was the name of a disease-making god, said to have come from Fiji
and taken up his abode about the south side of Savaii. People, canoes,
or property of any kind belonging to that place, were supposed to be
media by which the long tooth might be conveyed and cause disease and
death. One day the tooth was visible to an old lady, and struck by
some scalding greens which she threw at it, and ever after it was
crooked and not so deadly. If a person recovered it was said that the
tooth must have had the crook running _outside_ of the wound, and
_vice versa_ in a case of death.
To this day the long tooth superstition is a nuisance. A few years ago
some people went to that part of Savaii to buy a canoe. They did not
get it, but, from a number of deaths soon after at their village, they
believed that the tooth had followed them. After a battle ten years
ago a man from the long tooth district in Savaii who had been killed,
was buried in a village in Upolu. After a time a young chief died
there rather suddenly. The tooth was suspected by some of the old
people, and so they dug up the bones of the man who had died in battle
four years before, and threw them away into the sea, far off outside
the reef, so as to rid the land, as they supposed, from the long tooth
enemy. Like the celebrated tooth of Buddha at Ceylon, visited by the
Prince of Wales in 1875, about which kings fought, the attempt to burn
which burst the furnace, and, although buried deep in the earth and
trodden down by elephants, managed to come up again, so the long tooth
god of Samoa continues to come up every now and then after a sudden
death or a prolonged disease of the knee joint, or other deadly
ailment.
20. PAVA.
This was the name of a war god on the south side of Upolu. It was
originally the name of a man who came from the east end of the group.
He and his wife went to work as usual in the bush, and left their
children in the house. The children kindled a fire to cook some food.
Tangaloa, seeing the smoke, came down from the heavens. He found only
the children, and inquired where their parents were. Gone to work,
said they. "Go and tell them I am here." The children ran off and told
them there was a chief in the house. Pava made haste home, found
Tangaloa, and prepared a bowl of 'ava (_Piper methisticum_) for him.
A little child in creeping about the floor upset the 'ava. Tangaloa
flew into a rage, and beat the child to death. He again made it live,
however, but Pava got up in anger, went out, plucked a taro leaf
(_Arum esculentum_), stepped on to it and went off to Fiji. After a
time he came back with a son of the king of Fiji, to the amazement of
everybody, and when he died had a place in the Samoan pantheon.
His emblem was a taro leaf, and all his adherents in going to battle
were known by taro leaf caps. The slain of that particular village
were also known by the round leaf cap. Pava was seen in the rainbow.
If it was clear and reflected down on the village, that was a good
omen; but if it appeared far inland, the sign was bad, and a veto on
any fighting for that day at least.
Another story places the killing of the child in the east end of the
group, and says that Pava fled from place to place, and from island to
island to get away from the presence of Tangaloa. As soon, however, as
he reached a fresh place and thought of remaining there, he saw the
terrible eye of Tangaloa looking down on him. Off he went to another
village or another island, but still the piercing eye of Tangaloa
followed him, until he reached the district to which I have referred,
and where the dreaded eye was no longer visible.
21. PILI MA LE MAA--_The lizard and the stone._
These were the names of twin gods, and worshipped at certain villages
in time of war, famine, and pestilence. The month of May was a
specially fixed time for prayers, and food offerings. The lizard was
the guiding incarnation, and carefully watched in times of war. If in
going to battle a lizard was seen darting _across_ the road, they
returned at once. If it ran ahead, however, they were cheered, and
went right on to meet the enemy.
Another plan in searching for an omen was to plait cocoa-nut leaves
and cover the middle post of the great house, from the floor to the
ridge pole, and there the chiefs sat and watched. If a lizard from the
roof came _straight_ down on the matting, that was a good sign; but if
it came down zigzag, the omen was bad, and fighting suspended. Before
going to the fight they met and were sprinkled with cocoa-nut juice by
the priest, each at the same time uttering the prayer, "May the road I
take flow with blood."
22. STONES.
1. Two unchiselled "smooth stones of the stream" were kept in a temple
at one of the villages, and guarded with great care. No stranger or
over-curious person was allowed to go near the place, under penalty of
a beating from the custodians of these gods. They represented good and
not malicious death-causing gods. The one made the yams, bread,
fruit, and cocoa-nuts, and the other sent fish to the nets.
2. Another stone was carefully housed in another village as the
representative of a rain-making god. When there was over-much rain,
the stone was laid by the fire and kept heated till fine weather set
in. In a time of drought, the priest and his followers dressed up in
fine mats, and went in procession to the stream, dipped the stone and
prayed for rain.
3. In a road leading to village plantations a stone stood which was
said to have been a petrified coward. He and his brother entered into
compact that they would be brave in battle, and implored their god
that if either fled that one should be changed into a stone. The day
came, the battle was fought, but one of the brothers turned and fled
before the face of the enemy, and so was changed into a stone there
and then by the god Fe'e. All the people as they passed inland to work
in their plantations kissed, or rather "_smelled_" the stone, and in
coming back did the same. Death was supposed to be the consequence of
the neglect of this mark of deference to the power of the Fe'e.
4. At the boundary line between two villages there were two stones,
said to have been two young men who quarrelled, fought, and killed
each other on that very spot, and whose bodies were immediately
changed into stones. If any quarrel took place in either of these two
villages there was never any general disturbance. "Go and settle it at
the stones" was the standing order; and so all who were inclined to be
demonstrative in any affair of honesty or honour went to the stones
and fought it out. If either of the duellists was knocked down, that
was the final settlement. No one else interfered, and so, by common
consent in such matters, these two villages were noted for peace and
order.
5. In a district said to have been early populated by settlers from
Fiji, a number of fancy Fijian stones were kept in a temple, and
worshipped in time of war. The priest, in consulting them, built them
up in the form of a wall, and then watched to see how they fell. If
they fell to the westward, it was a sign that the enemy there was to
be driven; but if they fell to eastward, that was a warning of defeat,
and delay in making an attack was ordered accordingly.
The iconoclast native teachers from Tahiti, in the early stage of the
mission, when such stones were given up to them, had them taken off to
the beach and broken into fragments, and so stamp out at once the
heathenism with which they were associated. Hardly a single relic of
the kind can be found at the present day.
23. LE SA--_The sacred one._
1. The name of a war god in several villages, and incarnate in the
lizard. Before going to battle the movements of a lizard in a bundle
of spears was watched. If the lizard ran about the points of the
spears and the outside of the bundle, it was a good omen; but if it
rather worked its way into the centre for concealment, it was a bad
sign.
A piece of matting was also spread over one of the posts of the house,
and if a lizard was seen coming down on the matting, the sign was
good; but if a bare post was chosen by the creature for its descent
from the rafters to the floor, it augured ill. If a lizard crossed the
path or ran against any one going to battle, that also was an evil
omen.
2. In some places Le Sa was incarnate in an owl, was more of an
agricultural god, who sent rain and abundance of food, and was
worshipped about the month of April. He was prayed to and propitiated
with offerings for the removal of caterpillars from the plantations,
as they were thought to be servants under his orders to forage and
punish. He was supposed to be fond of the bodies of thieves, and to go
at once and devour them if prayed to do so. Bad-tempered parents
frightened the children by saying that they would call Le Sa to
_drink_ them up. In cases of sickness the patient went and weeded some
piece of bush land as an offering to Le Sa; and the consequence was
often a wonderful cure to the indolent dyspeptic!
3. Le Sa in one place was a household god, and incarnate in the
centipede. If any one was bitten by the reptile, or otherwise ailing,
an offering of a fine mat and a fan was presented, and the god
entreated in some such words as:
"Lord! if you are angry,
Tell us the reason
And send recovery."
24. SILI VAAI--_Far-seeing._
1. This was the name of a village war god, and seen in a bird. Flight
of the bird in the direction of the enemy was a good sign, otherwise
the omen was bad.
2. This was also the name of a family god, and seen in a star.
25. SA FULU SA--_Of the sacred feather._
This was the name of a village war god in Upolu. Incarnate in the
kingfisher bird, which, if seen flying _before_ the troops, was a good
sign. If observed to come flying towards the people as they were
preparing to start, the omen signified defeat.
26. SAMA--_Yellow._
The name of the cannibal god of a village in Savaii. He was incarnate
as a man, who had human flesh laid before him when he chose to call
for it. This man's power extended to several villages, and his
descendants are traced to the present day.
27. SALEVAO--_Sacred one of the bush._
1. This was a war god in a number of villages, and incarnate in a
dog--a white one usually. When he wagged his tail, barked, and dashed
ahead in sight of the troops of the enemy, it was a good sign; but to
retreat or howl was a bad omen.
2. In some places Salevao was a general village god, as well as a war
god. A time was fixed for giving thanks for good crops, and prayers
were offered for more. Each family took it in turn to provide food,
and they feasted until it had gone the round of the village. The
family who had a great display of good things was praised; but the
stingy, stinted offerers were cursed. After all had prayed and
partaken for the day, nothing was kept for another meal. Whatever was
over was thrown away or buried. At one place in Savaii Salevao had a
temple in which a priest constantly resided. The sick were taken there
and laid down with offerings of fine mats. The priest went out and
stroked the diseased part, and recovery was supposed to follow. At
this place Salevao was declared to be a good god in raising a
plentiful supply of food, and also noted for his power in keeping away
other gods. A story is told of a party of gods from Upolu who were on
a journey, but on coming to that place left the public highway along
the beach and took a circuitous course far inland, owing to their
dread of Salevao. He was generous, however, to travelling parties of
mortals. When the chiefs laid down a previously arranged number of
cooked pigs and other food to visitors, there was an odd one over and
above found among the lot, and this they attributed to the special
favour of the god (see 11).
A story of his kindness to Nonu, one of his worshippers, relates that
when Nonu was on a visit to the King of Tonga, he and the king had a
dispute about the age of the moon. Nonu maintained that it was then to
be seen in the morning, the king held that it was not visible in the
morning. Nonu said he would stake his life on it; and so it was left
for the morning to decide. In the night Salevao appeared to Nonu and
said to him: "Nonu, you are wrong; the moon is not now seen in the
morning. But, lest you should be killed, I will go and be the moon in
the horizon to-morrow morning, and make the king believe you were
right after all, and so save your life." In the morning Salevao, as
the moon, was seen, and Nonu was saved. Such stories added alike to
reverence for the god and to the treasury of the priest.
3. Salevao was the name of a family god also, and incarnate in the eel
and the turtle. Any one of the family eating such things was taken
ill; and before death they heard the god saying from within the body:
"I am killing this man; he ate my incarnation."
In a case of sickness, a cup of kava was made and poured on the ground
outside the house as a drink-offering, and the god called by name to
come and accept of it and heal the sick.
In another family the head of the household was the priest. At the
evening hour, and other times fixed for worship, all were studiously
present, as it was supposed that death would be the penalty if any one
was absent.
28. SEPO MALOSI--_Sepo the strong._
1. Was worshipped in Savaii as a war god, and incarnate in the large
bat, or flying-fox. While the bat flew before the warriors all was
right; but if it turned round and shut up the way, it was a sign of
defeat and a warning to go back.
2. But Sepo in many places was a household god. In an inland village
family in Upolu he was called the "Lord of the mountain," and
incarnate in the domestic fowl and the pigeon. In another family he
was seen in a very small fish which is difficult to catch; and by
another family he was supposed to be in the prickly sea-urchin
(_Echinus_). The penalty of eating this incarnation was death from a
supposed growth of a prickly sea-urchin inside the body.
29. SIULEO--_Tail of the voice, or echo._
This was the name of a village god in Savaii. Said to have come from
Tonga, and able to walk on the sea. He was the fisherman's god. He had
a fisherman's hut erected for him on the sea-shore, and was supposed
to preside over a certain division of coast.
30. TAAFANUA--_Walk the land._
This was the name of a war god of one of the islands in the east end
of the group. It was incarnate in the Ve'a, or rail _(Rallus
Pectoralis)._ When the bird screeched and flew before, the people went
to battle; but if it turned and flew back, they hesitated.
31. TANGALOA LANGI--_Tangaloa of the heavens._
The derivation of Tangaloa is uncertain. Loa means long, and tanga, a
bag; or, as an adjective, freedom from restriction. The unrestricted,
or unconditioned, may therefore fairly be regarded as the name of this
Samoan Jupiter. Tangaloa langi tuavalu, Tangaloa of the eighth heaven;
Tangaloa faatupu nuu, Tangaloa the creator of lands; Tangaloa asiasi
nuu, Tangaloa the visitor of lands; Tangaloa lafoai nuu, Tangaloa the
abandoner of lands--these were some of the names by which this god
superior was known.
1. At one place he was seen in the moon, and principally worshipped
in the month of May. He was also incarnate in the Turi, or snipe. At
the stated time of worship no one went from home, and no strangers
were allowed to pass through the land. Only men were allowed to
partake in the offerings of food; women and children were excluded
from any share.
2. At another place his image was a large wooden bowl, said to have
come from Fiji. He was also supposed to be present in a hollow stone.
A temple was built for him there, and called "The house of the gods."
It was carefully shut up all round; thinking that if it was not so,
the gods would get out and in too easily, and be all the more
destructive. Offerings were presented on war occasions; and he was
also presented with gifts, and had prayers offered to him, before
going to fish, before planting some fresh section of bush land, and
also in times of sickness or special epidemic. It was firmly believed
that if there was no prayer to Tangaloa there could be no blessing.
Thunder was a sign that the prayer was heard. Slight tremulous
reverberation, however, was a sign rather of rejected prayer and
threatened punishment.
3. In another district Tangaloa was said to have come along the ocean
in a canoe, with seven of a crew, and to have taken up his abode in
the bush inland of the settlement. Confused noises from the bush
there were supposed to be the murmurs of the gods, and a cause of
death in the village.
When war broke out two of the chiefs went inland to consult Tangaloa.
One sat down in front of the sacred grove of high trees, and the other
went round behind. This man was covered from head to foot with leaves,
and had only a hole left for the eyes. No creepers ran up the trees,
and no leaves were allowed to be seen on the small stones under the
trees, as it was supposed the god was in the stones. If the stones
appeared separated and unusually far apart, that was a sign that the
district was about to be broken up and killed or banished. But if the
stones were huddled together, that was a good omen, and indicated
union, victory, and strength.
32. TAPAAI--_Beckoning._
This was a war god of a family on Tutuila. He was supposed to be
present in a trumpet-shell. When the people were about to go to war
the shell was blown by the priest, and all listened. If it blew rough
and hollow it was a bad sign; but if clear and euphonic all were
cheered, and went off joyfully under the good omen.
33. TAEMA--_Glittering black._
1. The name of a war god incarnate in the kingfisher bird. If it flew
right on before the troops without returning it was a good sign.
There was also a temple with only one opening. In times of difficulty
the old men of the place went inside and addressed the god, who
replied in a human voice, but no body was seen.
2. This was also the name of a goddess said to have been found by some
fishermen swimming between Tutuila and Upolu. They covered her with
some fine native cloth, and conveyed her to a place in the bush, where
they built a temple for her. Offerings of food and fine mats were
taken to the place, and laid before two men who acted as priests. On
the change from heathenism to Christianity these men had a large
quantity of fine mats among the temple treasures. The temple was
destroyed, and with the fine mats pigs were bought, and a grand feast
was the final adieu to the darkness and follies of the past.
3. In another place Taema was a war god, and present in a bundle of
sharks' teeth. These curiosities were done up in a piece of native
cloth, and consulted before going to battle. If the bundle felt heavy,
that was a bad omen; but if light, the sign was good, and off they
went to the fight.
4. Taema and Tila fainga, or Tila the _sportive_, were the goddesses
of the tattooers. They swam from Fiji to introduce the craft to Samoa,
and on leaving Fiji were commissioned to sing all the way,
"Tattoo the women, but not the men."
They got muddled over it in the long journey, and arrived at Samoa
singing,
"Tattoo the _men_ and not the women."
And hence the universal exercise of the blackening art on the men
rather than the women.
5. Taema and Titi were the names of two household gods in a family at
the east end of the group. They were twins, and _Siamese_. Their
bodies were united back to back. They swam from the east, and as they
came along the one said to the other: "What a pity it is that we can
only hear each other's voice, but cannot see each other's face!" On
this they were struck by a wave, which cleaved asunder the joining and
separated them. Members of the family going on a journey were supposed
to have these gods with them as their guardian angels. Everything
_double_--such as a double yam, two bananas adhering, etc.--was
sacred, and not to be used under penalty of death. It was also
forbidden for any member of the family to sit back to back, lest it
should be considered mockery and insult to the gods, and incur
displeasure.
34. TAISUMALIE--_Tide gently rising._
1. This was the name of a lady in Upolu who went away among the gods,
was worshipped first by her family, and then by all the people of the
land where she resided. She spoke through one of the heads of the
family. The bat also was an incarnation, and an unusual number of
them came about the temple in time of war. One flying ahead of the
troops was always a good omen. If a neighbour killed a bat, it might
lead to war to avenge the insult. Another representative of this deity
was a shrub (_Ascarina lanceolata_). The leaf of the ti (_Dracaena
terminalis_) was carried as a banner wherever the troops went. June
was the usual month for special worship. All kinds of food from the
land and the sea were provided as a feast, but only the one family of
the priest was allowed to partake. Whatever was over after the meal
was buried at the beach. After that followed club exercise, and in
terrible earnest they battered each other's scalps till the blood
streamed down and over their faces and bodies; and this as an offering
to the deity. Old and young, men, women, and children, all took part
in this general _mêlée_ and blood-letting, in the belief that
Taisumalie would thereby be all the more pleased with their
devotedness, and answer prayer for health, good crops, and success in
battle.
2. This was also the name of a war god in Savaii. Incarnate in a man
and spoke through him. When the war fleet was about to cross to
another island to fight, they went out from the shore half a mile and
then returned to a streamlet where they prayed for success, and were
sprinkled or purified, and then went off to the fight, free, as they
thought, from any delinquency curse which might have been resting
upon them.
This deity was also supposed to be incarnate in the sea eel
(_Muraena_). In a village where the first Christian native teachers
were located one of them caught an eel and had it cooked. Two lads of
the place who were their servants ate a bit at the evening meal. As
soon as the people heard that these lads had "eaten the god," they
mustered, gave them a beating, and dragged them off to a cooking
house. They laid them down in the oven pit, and covered them with
leaves _as if_ they had been killed, and were now to be cooked as a
peace-offering to avert the wrath of the deity. It was expected that
the lads would immediately die, but as nothing amiss happened to them
beyond the weals of the rods used by mortals, it was concluded that
Taisumalie was a mere sham, and that they had better now turn to the
God of heaven.
3. Taisumalie was also the name of a household god, and worshipped
among various families in different parts of the group.
(1.) In one place a member of the family was the incarnation, and
consulted on everything of importance. Before going to war each one
would ask whether he should go, what was to befall him, etc. If wounds
or death were predicted, the person would perhaps turn round and beat
the priest for giving _such_ a response!
(2.) In another place this god was incarnate in an old man who acted
as the doctor of the family. The neighbours also took in their sick to
him. His principal remedy was to rub the affected part with oil, and
then shout out at the top of his voice five times the word Taisumalie,
and five times also call him to come and heal. This being done, the
patient was dismissed to wait a recovery. On recovery the family had a
feast over it, poured out on the ground a cup of kava to the god,
thanked for healing and health, and prayed that he might continue to
turn his _back_ towards them for protection, and set his _face_
against all the enemies of the family.
(3.) To another family he was incarnate in the cuttle-fish
(_Octopus_). To another in the mullet. To another in the turtle. If,
through a stranger or by any member of the family, an incarnation had
been cooked in the family oven, it could not be used again until some
one had been laid there as a mock burnt-offering, and gone through the
"make-believe" process of cooking. It was death to the family if the
oven was used without this ceremony.
35. TILI TILI--_Swift._
A village god in Upolu, noted for mischief-making, and supposed to be
the cause of quarrels, war, and darkness. Seen in the lightning. If
there was much of it in a time of war it was believed that the god had
come to help and direct. Constant lightning in a particular place
indicated an ambushment of the enemy. Continued flashes in front was a
sign that the troops of the enemy were driven. But if the lightning
moved from the front backwards, that betokened danger, and was an
order to retreat.
36. TITI USI--_Glittering leaf girdle._
The name of a village god in Savaii, and worshipped at the new moon,
when he appeared to them like a bright shining leaf girdle. At that
time all work was suspended for a day or two. The cocoa-nut leaf
blinds were kept down, and the people sat still in their houses. Any
one walking in front of the house risked a beating. After prayer and
feasting a man went about and blew a shell-trumpet as a sign to all
that the ceremonies were over, and that the usual routine of village
and family life might be resumed. Out of respect to the god the name
of the leaf girdle, titi, was changed into savalinga, or walking. The
said girdle is made of the ti leaves (_Dracaena terminalis_).
37. TONGO--_Mangrove._
1. This was the name of a war god, and incarnate in the owl. If it
hovered over or flew before the troops, that was a sign of victory. If
it crossed the path or flew back on them, that was a warning to
retreat.
A dead owl found under a tree in the settlement was at once covered
over with a piece of white native cloth by the person who discovered
it. Then all the village would assemble around it, sit down and beat
and bruise their foreheads with any stones they could lay their hands
on. This was "an offering of blood" to Tongo, and, with an
accompanying death wail, expressed their sympathy with the god over
the calamity. Tongo, however, still existed, and was seen in all the
remaining owls, which continued to be his incarnations.
2. There was also a family god of this name, and incarnate in the
mullet. If any one of that household ate a piece of that fish it
brought on a curse in the form of a _squint_.
38. TU--_Stand._
Stand was the name of this war god, as he was said never to sit down.
He was incarnate in the rail. If the bird appeared reddish and glossy,
it was a sign the people were to go to war. If dark and dingy, the
omen was bad, and they were ordered to sit still.
39. TUFI--_To pick up._
A cocoa-nut tree spear ten feet long was the idol representative of
this war god. When the people met for worship the spear was stood up,
and offerings were laid before it. It was taken in the war fleet also
as a sign that Tu was with them.
In time of peace Tu was a doctor, and supposed to be powerful in
removing sickness in return for prayers and offerings.
40. TURIA--_Driven._
This was the name of a god in Savaii by whose help a district once
fought and conquered against fearful odds. He was of use in peace also
as well as in times of war. He could change the drought into rainy
weather, and this again into sunshine. He was also supposed to come
with his share of food for the entertainment of strangers, and add a
pig to the number prepared by the people. If six were laid down, the
guests found, when they separated the heap of dainties they had
received, that there would be _seven_ instead of six. The trick of
adding secretly a pig was carried on by some of the priesthood, and,
in the eyes of the credulous multitude, added vastly to the
wonder-working power of Turia. On another island the shrine of Turia
was a very smooth stone in a sacred grove. The priest was careful to
weed all round about, and covered it with branches to keep the god
warm. When praying on account of war, drought, famine, or epidemic,
the branch _clothes_ were carefully renewed. No one dared to touch
this stone, lest a poisonous and deadly influence of some kind should
at once radiate from it to the transgressor.
41. TUIFITI--_King of Fiji._
This was the name of a village god in Savaii supposed to be incarnate
in a man who walked about but was never visible to the people of the
place. He could be seen, however, by strangers. For instance, if a
large travelling party were spending a day at the settlement, and
entertained in the usual way by every inhabitant turning out to march
in procession to the guests, each with a basket of cooked food, the
god would be among them. This was known by two things. First, more
pigs by one, two, or three than the chiefs arranged to provide; and
secondly, by the guests after the ceremony putting such a question as,
"Whose son was that handsome young man dressed with a girdle of fancy
bush leaves?" while at the same time no one of the place had seen such
a person.
The special abode of Tuifiti was a grove of large and durable trees
called Ifilele, or _Afzelia bijuga_. No one dared to cut that timber.
A story is told of a party from Upolu who once attempted it, and the
consequence was that _blood_ flowed from the tree and that the
sacrilegious strangers all took ill and died. In later times the trees
fell harmlessly under the axes of the villagers, and were very useful
in building a house for their missionary.
42. TUNA MA FATA--_The Eel and the Litter._
There are two mountains at the west end of Upolu with a stream between
them. On the one mountain Tuna lived, and on the other Fata. They
were in the habit of meeting at the stream close by the habitat of a
great eel. With this they amused themselves by taking it out of the
water and carrying it about shoulder high on a litter.
43. VAVE--_Swift._
1. This was the name of a war god in Savaii, said to have come from
Tonga, and incarnate in the Manualii (_Porphyris Samoensis_). Bird of
Lii, or Bird of Chiefs, the word may be translated. If it flew about
and behind the war party, they were encouraged and sure of victory;
but if the bird fluttered about before them, it was a sign of defeat.
Again, if in time of peace it was seen pecking at the ridge pole of
the house, that was a sign of a coming disturbance, and the pressure
of some heavy fine. When the people mustered in the village for
battle, and before going off to meet the enemy, they were first of all
sprinkled with the juice of a cocoa-nut, and then all united with the
priest in the following prayer:--
"Our own Lord Vave!
Level up the stumps of the trees,
Take away the rough stones,
Give light to our eyes,
And let blood flow in our path."
2. In another village in Upolu Vave was incarnate in a pigeon which
was carefully kept and fed by the different members of the family in
turn. But the special residence of Vave there was an old tree inland
of the village which was a "place of refuge" for murderers and other
capital offenders. If that tree was reached by the criminal he was
safe, and the avenger of blood could pursue no farther, but wait
investigation and trial. It is said that the king of a division of
Upolu, called Atua, once lived at that spot. After he died the house
fell into decay, but the tree was fixed on as representing the
departed king, and out of respect for his memory it was made the
substitute of a living and royal protector. It was called "O le asi
pulu tangata," _the asi tree the refuge of men_. This reminds me of
what I once heard from a native of another island. He said that at one
time they had been ten years without a king, and so anxious were they
to have some protecting substitute, that they fixed upon a large O'a
tree (_Bischoffia Javanica_), and made it the representative of a
king, and an asylum for the thief or the homicide when pursued by the
injured in hot haste for vengence.
3. Vave was also the name of a war god in another village, and
incarnate in the Ve'a, or rail bird. When it was heard chattering, or
"scolding," as they called it, at midnight, it prognosticated an
attack next day, and they would at once send off the women and
children to a place of safety. When offerings of food were presented
at the temple of Vave, long poles were erected, one at each corner,
and these were covered with fragrant-scented leaves and flowers. When
they started to fight they prayed and professed to be guided by the
flight of the Ve'a. If it flew before them that was enough, they
followed. A notable instance of the power of Vave is given in an
account of the battle with the Tongan invaders. Many were killed in
single combat by a hero called One. Vave was once more implored to
help, and that very day One was killed at a single blow by a chief
called Tuato, and hence the proverb which obtains to the present day:
"Ua 'ai tasi Tuato, or
Tuato bites but once."
The power of Vave was again seen in another way. A number of gods came
to raise a rocky precipice right between the village and the ocean.
Vave, however, was immediately up in arms against them, and drove them
off for miles along the coast into another district, where they
effected their object and made the beach there a great high iron-bound
shore, which remains to the present day.
4. In another place Vave was the name of a household god, and
incarnate in the eel. If any one of the family was sick, Vave was
prayed to in the evening. Next morning a search was made among the
bundles of mats and other property. If an eel was found among them it
was a sign of death; if not, it was a sign of recovery.
CHAPTER V.
GODS INFERIOR, OR HOUSEHOLD GODS.
1. ALOIMASINA--_Child of the Moon._
This was the name of a household god, and seen in the moon. On the
appearance of the new moon all the members of the family called out:
"Child of the moon, you have come." They assembled also, presented
offerings of food, had a united feast, and joined in the prayer:
"Oh, child of the moon!
Keep far away
Disease and death."
They also prayed thus before leaving the house to go to battle:
"Oh, child of the moon!
Bury up your hollows
And stumps of trees
And lumpy stones
For our running at ease."
2. APELESA--_Sacred fulness._
1. In one family this god was incarnate in the turtle. While one of
the family dared not partake, he would help a neighbour to cut up and
cook one; only while he was doing that, he had a bandage tied over his
mouth lest some embryo turtle should slip down his throat, grow up,
and cause his death.
2. In another family Apelesa spoke at times through an old man. When
an oven of food was opened the first basket was hung up on the outside
of one of the posts of the house for the god. If the rats, or a dog,
or any hungry mortal took it in the night, it was supposed that
Apelesa chose to come in _that_ form for his offering. He was also
considered the guardian of the family, and if any other gods came
about he frightened them away.
3. In another family a woman called Alaiava, or _means of
entertainment_, was priestess of Apelesa. She prayed at parturition
times, and in cases of severe illness. Her usual mode of acting the
doctor was, first of all, to order down all the cocoa-nut leaf
window-blinds of one end of the house. She then went into the darkened
place. Presently that end of the house shook as if by an earthquake,
and when she came out she declared what the disease was, and ordered
corresponding treatment; the result was that, "some recovered, and
some died."
In this family the first basket of cooked food was also sacred to the
god, but their custom was to take it and hang it up in the large house
of the village where passing travellers were accustomed to call and
rest. No one of the village dared to touch that basket without
risking the wrath of the god. Any passing _stranger_, however, was as
welcome to partake as if he had been specially sent for it by Apelesa.
3. ASOMUA--_First Day._
This was a household god, and particularly useful to the family in
detecting and telling out the name of the thief when anything was
missed. He was called _first day_, as it was supposed that he existed
in the world before mortals.
4. LEATUALOA--_The long god, or the centipede._
This was the name of a god seen in the centipede. A tree near the
house was the residence of the creature. When any one of the family
was ill, he went out with a fine mat and spread it under the tree, and
there waited for the centipede to come down. If it came down and
crawled _under_ the mat, that was a sign that the sick person was to
be covered over with mats and buried. If, however, it crawled on the
top of the mat, that was a sign of recovery.
5. O LE AUMĀ--_The red liver._
This family god was seen, or incarnate, in the wild pigeon. If any
visitor happened to roast a pigeon while staying there, some member of
the household would pay the penalty by being done up in leaves, as if
ready to be baked, and carried and laid in the _cool_ oven for a
time, as an offering to show their unabated regard to Aumā.
The use of the reddish-seared bread-fruit leaf for any purpose was
also insulting to this deity. Such leaves were in common use as
_plates_ on which to hand a bit of food from one to another, but that
particular family dared not use them under a penalty of being seized
with rheumatic swellings, or an eruption all over the body called
tangosusu, and resembling chicken-pox.
6. IULAUTALO--_Ends of the taro leaf._
To this family god the _ends_ of leaves and other things were
considered sacred, and not to be handled or used in any way. In daily
life it was no small trouble to this particular household to cut off
the ends of all the taro, bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut leaves which they
required for culinary purposes. Ends of taro, yams, bananas, fish,
etc., were also carefully laid aside, and considered as unfit to be
eaten as if they were poison. In a case of sickness, however, the god
allowed, and indeed required, that the patient should be fanned with
the _ends_ of cocoa-nut leaflets.
7. O LE ALII O FITI--_The Chief of Fiji._
This was the name of a god in a certain household, and present in the
form of an eel, and hence the eel was never used by them as an article
of food. This god was supposed to be unusually kind, and never
injured any of the family. They showed their gratitude by presenting
the first fruits of their taro plantation.
8. LIMULIMUTA--_Sea-weed._
This was the name by which another protector was known. If any members
of the family went to fight at sea, they collected some sea-weed to
take with them. If in pursuit of a canoe, they threw out some of it to
hinder the progress of the enemy, and make the chase successful in
obtaining a decapitated head or two. If the enemy tried to pick up any
of this deified sea-weed it immediately sank, but rose again and
floated on the surface if one of its friends paddled up to the spot.
9. MOSO'OI.
This is the name of a tree (_Conanga Odorata_), the yellow flowers of
which are highly fragrant. In one place it was supposed to be the
habitat of a household god, and anything aromatic or sweet-scented
which the family happened to get was presented as an offering.
At any household gathering the god was sent for to be present. Three
different messengers had to go at short intervals, as it was not
expected that he would come before the _third_ appeal or entreaty for
his presence.
10. FATUPUAA MA LE FEE--_The pig's heart and the octopus._
Another family supposed that two of their gods were embodied in the
said heart and octopus. Men, women, and children of them were most
scrupulous never to eat either the one or the other, believing that
such a meal would be the swallowing of a germ of a living heart or
octopus growth, by which the insulted gods would bring about death.
11. PU'A.
This is the name of a large tree (_Hernandia Peltata_). A family god
of the same name was supposed to live in it, and hence no one dared to
pluck a leaf or break a branch.
The same god was also supposed to be incarnate in the octopus, and
also in the land crab. If one of these crabs found its way into the
house, it was a sign that the head of the house was about to die.
12. SAMANI.
This was the name of a family god. It was seen in the turtle, the sea
eel, the octopus, and the garden lizard. Any one eating or injuring
such things had either to be _sham_ baked in an unheated oven, or
drink a quantity of rancid oil as penance and a purgative. This god
predicted that there was a time coming when Samoa would be filled
with foreign gods.
13. SATIA.
1. In one place the member of the family supposed to be the priest of
the god was noted for cannibalism. At times he would cry out furiously
and order those about him to be off and get him some of his "sacred
food." He professed to be doctor as well as demon. A great chief when
ill was once taken to him, and the doctor's bill for a cure was the
erection of a mound of stones, on the top of which a house was to be
built. The bill was paid by the retinue of the chief.
2. In another family it was supposed that their god Satia had the
power to become incarnate in a man or a woman. If he wished to go to a
particular woman, he became a man; and if he desired a man, he changed
into a woman.
14. SENGI VAVE--_Snatch quickly._
An old man named Sengi, or _snatch_, was an incarnation of this
household god. All the fine mats and other valuables were in some
mysterious way under his control. On returning from any kind of daily
work in the bush every one on entering the house had to salute him, as
the representative of the god, in some apologetic phrase, such as "I
beg your pardon." If any one omitted this mark of respect, the
penalty was the disappearance of a fine mat from the family bundle
without any one knowing how it was taken.
15. SOESAI.
This was the name of a household god in some families. In one, the god
was seen in the domestic fowl. In another, the incarnations were the
eel, the octopus, and turtle. Prayers for life and recovery were
offered in cases of great danger, and also at child-birth.
16. SI'U--_Extremity or end._
The family in which this god was worshipped said that he appeared in
the form of a _skull_ once a year, about the month of May. Lemana, or
the Powerful, was the name of the priest. If in time of famine or
pestilence the family had been preserved thanks were specially offered
to Lemana for having been so successful in his pleadings with the god.
17. SINA 'AI MATA--_Sina the eye-eater._
This god was incarnate in the bird called Ve'a, and was the juvenile
scarecrow of the family. "Do not make such a noise; Sina, the
eye-eater, will come and pick out your eyes." The eyes of fish were
sacred to this god, and never eaten by any of the family.
18. TONGO.
1. In one family this god was incarnate in the bat, and was supposed
to be specially attentive to turmeric. When a party of women were met
to grate the root and prepare some of this native dye and cosmetic
they usually had some food together. If at such a time a woman
concealed a tit-bit to eat by the sly, when she came to put it to her
mouth it had been changed into _turmeric_ by the anger and power of
Tongo.
2. The stinging ray fish was the incarnation of Tongo in another
family. If they heard of any neighbour who had caught a fish of the
sort, they would go and beg them to give it up and not to cook it. A
refusal would be followed by a fight.
3. In another family Tongo was incarnate in the mullet, and the
penalty for eating that fish by any of them was a disease ending in a
squint.
19. TUIALII--_King of Chiefs._
1. In one family this god was greatly praised as being a good and kind
deity. In a time of scarcity, for instance, he led them to some place
in the bush where they could dig up plenty of wild yams.
2. In another family this god was prayed to for life and health before
the evening meal; an offering of a blazing fire was essential to the
success of the prayer, which ran as follows:--
"This is our fire to you, it burns bright; other fires are dim and
going out; send these families to the lower regions, but give us
life and health."
The sea eel, octopus, and mullet were incarnations of this god. He
was also seen in the _ends_ of banana leaves. If any one used the end
of a banana leaf as a cap, baldness was the punishment. All the
children born in the family were called by the name of the god.
20. TUIPANGOTA--_The King of Criminals._
A household god, and the special guardian of a particular family
against thieving. If any thing was stolen the unknown culprit was
given over by prayer to be put to death in some way by Tuipangota. A
raised stone platform was erected in the house on which he was
supposed to sit, and close beside it was another to serve the purpose
of an altar, on which offerings were laid.
21. TAUMANUPEPE--_Fight creature butterfly._
This family god was incarnate in butterflies. Any one of that
household catching or killing these beautiful winged insects were
liable to be struck dead by the god.
In another family this god was supposed to have three mouths. There it
was forbidden to drink from a cocoa-nut shell water-bottle which had
all the three eyes or openings perforated. Only one, or at the most
two, apertures for drinking were allowed. A third would be a mockery,
and bring down the wrath of his butterflyship.
22. ULAVAI--_Fresh-water prawn, or crayfishes._
This was a household god in a family in one of the villages of Aana. A
woman had been bathing and brought on a premature event which happens
sometimes. When she told her friends they went to search for the
child. Nothing could be seen, however, but an unusual number of prawns
or crayfishes, into which they supposed the infant had been changed.
And so they commenced to regard the crayfish as the incarnation of a
new household god, gave it food, and offered prayers before it for
family prosperity.
To these may be added the names of forty-six other gods, making in all
one hundred and ten, but of whom I have little to say different from
the descriptions of Samoa Zoolatry, etc., already given. A few more
are referred to in the Cosmogony and other details, making up the
number of Samoan deities of which I have heard to about a hundred and
twenty, all claiming and receiving the two essentials of
religion--something to be believed and something to be done.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PEOPLE--INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.
At the birth of her child, the mother had a liberal share in the kind
attentions of her friends. Her own mother was almost invariably _la
sage-femme_; but, failing her, some other female friend. Her father
was generally present on the occasion, and either he or her husband
prayed to the household god, and promised to give any offering he
might require, if he would only preserve mother and child in safety. A
prayer was thus expressed: "O Moso, be propitious; let this my
daughter be preserved alive! Be compassionate to us; save my daughter,
and we will do anything you wish as our redemption price." Offerings
to the god, as we have already seen, were regulated by the caprice and
covetousness of the cunning priest. Sometimes a canoe was demanded; at
other times a house was to be built; and often fine mats or other
valuable property was required. The household god of the family of the
father was generally prayed to first; but, if the case was tedious or
difficult, the god of the family of the mother was then invoked; and
when the child was born, the mother would call out: "Who were you
praying to?" and the god prayed to just before was carefully
remembered and its incarnation duly acknowledged throughout the future
life of the child. By way of respect to him the child was called his
_merda_; and was actually named during infancy and childhood "merda of
Tongo," or "Satiā," or whatever other deity it might be. If the little
stranger was a boy, the umbilical cord was cut on a club, that he
might grow up to be brave in war. If of the other sex, it was done on
the board on which they beat out the bark of which they make their
native cloth. Cloth-making is the work of women; and their wish was
that the little girl should grow up and prove useful to the family in
her proper occupation.
_Infanticide_, as it prevailed in Eastern Polynesia and elsewhere, was
unknown in Samoa. Nor were children ever exposed. After they were born
they were affectionately cared for. But the custom of destroying them
_before_ that prevailed to a melancholy extent. Shame, fear of
punishment, lazy unwillingness to nurse, and a dread of soon being
old-looking, were the prevailing causes. Pressure was the means
employed, and in some cases proved the death of the unnatural parent.
_As to nursing_, during the first two or three days the nurse
bestowed great attention to the head of the child, that it might be
modified and shaped after notions of propriety and beauty. The child
was laid on its back, and the head surrounded with three flat stones.
One was placed close to the crown of the head, and one on either side.
The forehead was then pressed with the hand, that it might be
flattened. The nose, too, was carefully flattened. Our "canoe noses,"
as they call them, are blemishes in their estimation. For the first
three days the infant was fed with the juice of the chewed kernel of
the cocoa-nut, pressed through a piece of native cloth, and dropped
into the mouth. On the third day a woman of the sacred craft was sent
for to examine the milk. A little was put into a cup, with water and
two heated stones, and then examined. If it had the slightest curdled
appearance she pronounced it bitter and poisonous. This process she
repeated two or three times a day for several days, until it was drawn
off free from coagulation, and then she pronounced it sweet and
wholesome, and the child was forthwith permitted to partake of its
proper nourishment. Of course she was well paid for her services, and
had every inducement to prolong them for several days. During this
time the infant was fed with the juice of the cocoa-nut or the
sugar-cane. Many fell victims to this improper treatment. At a very
early period the child was fed, and sometimes weaned altogether at
four months. This was another fruitful source of mortality among
children. Occasionally the father, or some member of the family,
through whom it was supposed the god of the family spoke, expressly
ordered that the child have nothing but the breast for an indefinite
time. This was a mark of respect to the god, and called his "banana."
In these cases the child grew amazingly, and was soon, literally, as
plump as a banana.
A modified form of _circumcision_ prevailed. About the eighth or tenth
year two or three boys would unite and go of their own accord to some
one in the village, who would make the customary incision, and give
him some trifling reward for his trouble. There was no further
ceremony on the occasion, as at other periods of life.
_Names._--Out of respect to the household god, as we have already
remarked, the child was named after him, during the time of infancy
and childhood; after that, a name was given. The animal and vegetable
kingdoms, places, occupations, actions, and passing events, furnished
them with the principal names. The primitive rule, "one man, one
word," invariably prevailed. Occasionally a chief bore the name of one
of the gods superior.
_Rejoicing._--About the third day the woman was up and at her usual
occupation, and ready to take part in the rejoicings connected with
the occasion. By this time the principal friends were assembled. They
all brought presents, and observed an unvarying rule in the _kind_ of
presents each was expected to bring. The relations of the husband
brought "_oloa_," which included pigs, canoes, and all kinds of
foreign property. The relations of the wife brought "_tonga_," which
included the leading articles manufactured by the females--viz. fine
mats and native cloth. The "_oloa_" brought by the friends of the
husband was all distributed among those of the wife, and the "_tonga_"
brought by the friends of the wife was divided among those of the
husband; and thus the whole affair was so managed that the friends
were the benefited parties chiefly, and the husband and wife left no
richer than they were. Still, they had the satisfaction of having seen
what they considered a great honour--viz. heaps of property collected
on occasion of the birth of their child. Feasting, sham-fighting,
night-dancing, and many other heathen customs, formed one continued
scene of revelry for two or three days, when the party broke up. When
the child became strong and able to sit there was another feast for
"the sitting of the child." A third feast was for the "creeping of the
child." A fourth when the child was able to stand, and called "the
standing feast." But the greatest was the _fifth_, when the child
could walk. Then there was singing and night-dances, and then, too, if
the child danced and sang, and was "impudent," the parents boasted
over its abilities.
_Twins_ were rare. Triplets still more so; indeed, there is only a
vague tradition of such a thing. Twins were supposed to be of one
mind, and to think, feel, and act alike, during the time of infancy
and childhood at least. There were a few instances of large families,
but four or five would be the average.
_Adopted Children._--The number of children seen in a family was
small, occasioned, to a great extent, by the bad management and
consequent mortality of children, and also a custom which prevailed of
parting with their children to friends who wished to adopt them. The
general rule was for the husband to give away his child to his sister.
She and her husband gave, in return for the child, some foreign
property, just as if they had received so many fine mats or native
cloth. The adopted child was viewed as "_tonga_" and was, to the
family who adopted it, a channel through which native property (or
"_tonga_") continued to flow to that family from the parents of the
child. On the other hand, the child was to its parents a source of
obtaining foreign property (or "_oloa_") from the parties who adopted
it, not only at the time of its adoption, but as long as the child
lived. Hence the custom of adoption was not so much the want of
natural affection as the sacrifice of it to this systematic facility
of traffic in native and foreign property. Hence, also, parents may
have had in their family adopted children, and their own real children
elsewhere.
_Employments._--Girls always, and boys for four or five years, were
under the special charge of the mother, and followed her in domestic
avocations. The girl was taught to draw water, gather shell-fish, make
mats and native cloth. The boy after a time followed his father, and
soon became useful in planting, fishing, house-building, and all kinds
of manual labour. Boys were also accustomed to club together, and
wander about the settlement, the plantation, or in the bush. If they
fell in with a fallen cocoa-nut one boy would sit down and name some
to come and join him in eating it, and to the rest he would call out,
"Go and catch butterflies." Hence one who is excluded from eating
anything nice is called _a butterfly-catcher_. If they called at the
residence of one of themselves, then perhaps the lad of that house
would select some to have food with him there, and call them
"cocoa-nut princes," and the rest he would send off, calling them
"cocoa-nut pigs." The latter would go off offended, and vow to each
other never again to be friendly with that stingy, _stunted_ fellow!
The following is a translated specimen of one of the old songs chanted
for the diversion of children, or to lessen the tedium of a long canoe
journey. I do not tamper with an exact translation by any attempt at
rhythm or rhyme, but simply give the thoughts as they stand, and as a
fair translation would explain them.:--
1. Mailesaeia and Mailetupengia were married.
They had two children, and these were their names,
The boy Tulifauiave, and the girl Sinataevaeva.
_Chorus_--Aue! or _wonderful!_
2. They were unkind to their children, and deserted them;
They did not wish to have children.
etc.
3. Then said the girl to the boy: "Come let us go,
Let us seek another home," and away they wandered.
etc.
4. They called at the house of Tangaloa of the heavens,
And Tangaloa took the girl and married her.
etc.
5. The brother of the girl acted as their child.
He was a lovely boy, and grew up to be a beauty.
etc.
6. Tangaloa of the heavens became jealous of the lad,
And told his people to kill him.
etc.
7. They took him to the bush and killed him,
He yielded to their wishes and resisted not.
etc.
8. They were divided about the disposal of the body,
Some said throw it into the river, others said leave it in the bush.
etc.
9. They cast it into the river to float to the sea,
It came floating down, and there his sister stood on the beach.
etc.
10. She screamed, and wept, and wailed;
She seized the body, patted his head, and prayed for life.
etc.
11. The wounds closed up and healed, the lad sat up,
And thus he spake: "Let us both be off together."
etc.
12. They went to the village, the people were in the bush;
They smashed every canoe but one, and in that they left,
To search for the land of their parents.
etc.
13. The people returned from work, no Sinataevaeva was there,
Tangaloa called for his daughters Darkness, Lightning, and Thunder,
And ordered them off in search of his wife.
etc.
14. The three daughters obeyed, Thunder roared and Lightning flashed,
Darkness and Storm were added, and the canoe was found.
etc.
15. The ladies shouted out: "Don't be afraid; all's well!
You two be off, a calm and a smooth sea to you!
'Twas cruel to kill a child yonder."
etc.
16. The two went on and reached their land and home,
First the boy went on shore, his sister remained in the canoe.
etc.
17. Their parents called out: "Where are you two going?"
"My sister and I are in search of the home of our parents."
etc.
18. "Who are your parents, tell us their names?"
"Mailesaeia and Mailetupengia," replied the lad.
etc.
19. Out rushed the parents in tears,
The children they cast away had come back,
And now their love returned to them.
etc.
CHAPTER VII.
ADULT AND ADVANCED YEARS.
Passing from infancy and childhood we proceed to the ceremonies,
superstitions, and customs connected with more advanced years.
_Tattooing._--"Herodotus found among the Thracians that the barbarians
could be exceedingly foppish after their fashion. The man who was not
tattooed among them was not respected." It was the same in Samoa.
Until a young man was tattooed, he was considered in his minority. He
could not think of marriage, and he was constantly exposed to taunts
and ridicule, as being poor and of low birth, and as having no right
to speak in the society of men. But as soon as he was tattooed he
passed into his majority, and considered himself entitled to the
respect and privileges of mature years. When a youth, therefore,
reached the age of sixteen, he and his friends were all anxiety that
he should be tattooed. He was then on the outlook for the tattooing of
some young chief with whom he might unite. On these occasions, six or
a dozen young men would be tattooed at one time; and for these there
might be four or five tattooers employed.
Tattooing is still kept up to some extent, and is a regular
profession, just as house-building, and well paid. The custom is
traced to Taēmā and Tilafainga (see p. 55); and they were worshipped
by the tattooers as the presiding deities of their craft.
The instrument used in the operation is an oblong piece of human bone
(_os ilium_), about an inch and a half broad and two inches long. A
time of war and slaughter was a harvest for the tattooers to get a
supply of instruments. The one end is cut like a small-toothed comb,
and the other is fastened to a piece of cane, and looks like a little
serrated adze. They dip it into a mixture of candle-nut ashes and
water, and, tapping it with a little mallet, it sinks into the skin;
and in this way they puncture the whole surface over which the
tattooing extends. The greater part of the body from the waist down to
the knee is covered with it, variegated here and there with neat
regular stripes of the untattooed skin, which when they are well
oiled, make them appear in the distance as if they had on black silk
knee-breeches. Behrens, in describing these natives in his narrative
of Roggewein's voyage of 1772, says: "They were clothed from the waist
downwards with fringes and a kind of silken stuff artificially
wrought." A nearer inspection would have shown that the "fringes"
were a bunch of red _ti_ leaves (_Dracæna terminalis_) glistening with
cocoa-nut oil, and the "kind of silken stuff," the tattooing just
described. As it extends over such a large surface the operation is a
tedious and painful affair. After smarting and bleeding for a while
under the hands of the tattooers, the patience of the youth is
exhausted. They then let him rest and heal for a time, and, before
returning to him again, do a little piece on each of the party. In two
or three months the whole is completed. The friends of the young men
are all the while in attendance with food. They also bring quantities
of fine mats and native cloth, as the hire of the tattooers; connected
with them, too, are many waiting on for a share in the food and
property.
The waste of time, revelling, and immorality connected with the custom
have led many to discountenance it; and it is, to a considerable
extent, given up. But the gay youth still thinks it manly and
respectable to be tattooed; parental pride says the same thing; and so
the custom still obtains. It is not likely, however, to stand long
before advancing civilisation. European clothing, and a sense of
propriety they are daily acquiring, lead them to cover the tattooed
part of the body entirely; and, when its display is considered a shame
rather than a boast, it will probably be given up as painful,
expensive, and useless; and then, too, instead of the tattooing, age,
experience, common-sense, and education will determine whether or not
the young man is entitled to the respect and privileges of mature
years.
There was a custom observed by the other sex worth noticing, for the
sake of comparison with other parts of the world. About the time of
entering into womanhood, their parents and other relatives collected a
quantity of fine mats and cloth, prepared a feast, and invited all the
unmarried women of the settlement. After the feast the property was
distributed among them, and they dispersed. None but females were
present. It was considered mean and a mark of poverty if a family did
not thus observe the occasion.
_Chastity_ was ostensibly cultivated by both sexes; but it was more a
name than a reality. From their childhood their ears were familiar
with the most obscene conversation; and as a whole family, to some
extent, herded together, immorality was the natural and prevalent
consequence. There were exceptions, especially among the daughters of
persons of rank; but they were the exceptions, not the rule.
_Adultery_, too, was sadly prevalent, although often severely punished
by private revenge. If the injured husband sought revenge in the blood
of the seducer no one thought he had done wrong. But the worst feature
of the law of private revenge was that the brother, or any near
relation of the culprit, was as liable to be killed as himself.
_Marriage_ contracts were never entered into before the parties
reached the years of maturity just described. Considerable care was
taken to prevent any union between near relatives; so much so, that a
list of what they deemed improper marriages would almost compare with
the "Table of kindred and affinity." They say that, of old, custom and
the gods frowned upon the union of those in whom consanguinity could
be closely traced. Few had the hardihood to run in the face of
superstition; but if they did, and their children died at a premature
age, it was sure to be traced to the anger of the household god on
account of the forbidden marriage.
A young man rarely, in the first instance, paid his addresses in
person to the object of his choice. A present of food was taken to her
and her relatives by a friend of his, who was, at the same time,
commissioned to convey the proposal to her father; or, failing him, to
the elder brother of the young woman. Her consent was, of course,
asked too; but that was a secondary consideration. She had to agree if
her parents were in favour of the match. If the present of food was
received and the reply favourable, the matter was considered settled.
There was also a somewhat formal meal directly after the marriage
ceremony.
All parties consenting, preparations commenced, and one, two, or
three months were spent collecting various kinds of property. All the
family and relatives of the bride were called upon to assist, and thus
they raised a great quantity of _tonga_, which included all kinds of
fine mats and native cloth, manufactured by the women. This was
invariably the dowry presented to the bridegroom and his friends on
the celebration of the nuptials. He and his friends, on the other
hand, collected in a similar manner for the family of the bride
_oloa_, which included canoes, pigs, and foreign property of any kind
which might fall into their hands, such as knives, hatchets, trinkets,
cloth, garments, etc., received through a Tongan canoe or a passing
vessel.
A time was fixed when the parties assembled. The bride and her
friends, taking with them her dowry, proceeded to the home of the
bridegroom, which might be in another settlement, or on an adjacent
island. If they were people of rank it was the custom that the
ceremonies of the occasion pass off in the marae. The marae is the
forum or place of public assembly--an open circular space, surrounded
by bread-fruit trees, under the shade of which the people sit. Here
the bridegroom and his friends and the whole village assembled,
together with the friends of the bride. All were seated cross-legged
around the marae, glistening from head to foot with scented oil, and
decked off with beads, garlands of sweet-smelling flowers, and
whatever else their varying fancy might suggest for the joyous
occasion. In a house close by the bride was seated. A pathway from
this house to the marae, in front of where the bridegroom sits, was
carpeted with fancy native cloth; and, all being ready, the bride,
decked off with beads, a garland of flowers or fancy shells, and girt
round the waist with fine mats, flowing in a train five or six feet
behind her, moved slowly along towards the marae. She was followed
along the carpeted pathway by a train of young women, dressed like
herself, each bearing a valuable mat, half spread out, holding it to
the gaze of the assembly; and, when they reached the bridegroom, the
mats were laid down before him. They then returned to the house for
more, and went on renewing the procession and display until some fifty
or a hundred fine mats and two or three hundred pieces of native cloth
were heaped before the bridegroom. This was the dowry. The bride then
advanced to the bridegroom and sat down. By-and-by she rose up before
the assembly, and was received with shouts of applause, and, as a
further expression of respect, her immediate friends, young and old,
took up stones and beat themselves until their heads were bruised and
bleeding. The obscenity to prove her virginity which preceded this
burst of feeling will not bear the light of description. Then followed
a display of the _oloa_ (or property) which the bridegroom presented
to the friends of the bride. Then they had dinner, and after that,
the distribution of the property. The father, or, failing him, the
brother or sister of the father of the bridegroom, had the disposal of
the _tonga_ which formed the dowry; and on the other hand, the father
or brother of the bride had the disposal of the property which was
given by the bridegroom. Night-dances and their attendant immoralities
wound up the ceremonies.
The marriage ceremonies of common people passed off in a house, and
with less display; but the same obscene form was gone through to which
we have referred--a custom which, doubtless, had some influence in
cultivating chastity, especially among young women of rank. There was
a fear of disgracing themselves and their friends, and a dread of a
severe beating from the latter after the ceremony to which the
faithless bride was sometimes subjected, almost as if the letter of
the Mosaic law had been carried out upon her.
But there were many marriages without any such ceremonies at all. If
there was a probability that the parents would not consent, from
disparity of rank or other causes, an elopement took place; and, if
the young man was a chief of any importance, a number of his
associates mustered in the evening, and walked through the settlement,
singing his praises and shouting out the name of the person with whom
he had eloped. This was sometimes the first intimation the parents had
of it, and, however mortified they might be, it was too late. After a
time, if the couple continued to live together, their friends
acknowledged the union by festivities and an exchange of property.
_Concubinage._--When the newly-married woman took up her abode in the
family of her husband she was attended by a daughter of her brother,
who was, in fact, a concubine. Her brother considered that if he did
not give up his daughter for this purpose, he should fail in duty and
respect towards his sister, and incur the displeasure of their
household god. Failing her brother, her mother's relatives supplied
her with this maid of honour. Hence, with his wife, a chief had one,
two, or three concubines. Each of these took with her _tonga_ as a
dowry, which, perhaps, was the most important part of the business,
for, after presenting her dowry, she might live with him or not, as
she pleased. Often the addition of these concubines to the family was
attended with all the display and ceremonies of a regular marriage.
_Polygamy._--The marriage ceremony being such a prolific source of
festivities and profit to the chief and his friends, the latter,
whether he was disposed to do it or not, often urged on another and
another repetition of what we have described. They took the thing
almost entirely into their own hands, looked out for a match in a rich
family, and, if that family was agreeable to it, the affair was pushed
on, whether or not the daughter was disposed to it. She, too, as a
matter of etiquette, must be attended by her complement of one or
more young women. According to this system, a chief might have some
ten or a dozen wives and concubines in a short time. Owing, however,
to quarrelling and jealousies, many of them soon returned to their
parental home; and it was rare to find a chief with more than two
wives living with him at the same time.
_Divorce._--If the marriage had been contracted merely for the sake of
the property and festivities of the occasion, the wife was not likely
to be more than a few days or weeks with her husband. With or without
leave, she soon found her way home to her parents. If, however, a
couple had lived together for years and wished to separate, if they
were mutually agreed, they did it in a more formal way. They talked
over the matter coolly, made a fair division of their property, and
then the wife was conveyed back to her friends, taking with her any
young children, and leaving those more advanced with their father. A
woman might thus go home and separate entirely from her husband; but,
while that husband lived, she dared not marry another. Nor could she
marry even after his death, if he was a chief of high rank, without
the special permission of the family with which she had connected
herself by marriage. Any one who broke through the custom, and married
her without this, was liable to have his life taken from him by that
family, or at least he had to pay them a heavy fine.
_Widows._--The brother of a deceased husband considered himself
entitled to have his brother's wife, and to be regarded by the orphan
children as their father. If he was already married, she would,
nevertheless, live with him as a second wife. In the event of there
being several brothers, they met and arranged which of them was to act
the part of the deceased brother. The principal reason they alleged
for the custom was a desire to prevent the woman and her children
returning to her friends, and thereby diminishing the number and
influence of their own family. And hence, failing a brother, some
other relative would offer himself, and be received by the widow.
Should none of them, however, wish to live with her, or should there
be any unwillingness on her part, she was, in either case, at liberty
to return to her own friends.
The following is a specimen of one of their love songs:--
1. There was Tafitofau and Ongafau, and they had two daughters;
The one was Sinaleuuna and the other Sinaeteva.
The two girls sat and wished they had a brother.
_Chorus_--Aue!
2. Again Ongafau had a child, and it was a boy.
The child grew up, but his sisters never saw him,
They lived apart from their parents and the boy.
etc.
3. Then Tafitofau and Ongafau said to the boy, who was called
Maluafiti ("Shade of Fiji"): "Go with some food to the ladies."
The lad went down, the girls looked and were struck with his beauty,
etc.
4. He came with the food and said he was their brother;
The sisters rejoiced and gave thanks that their desire was granted,
They had now a brother.
etc.
5. Then the sisters sat down and filled into a bamboo bottle
The liquid shadow of their brother.
etc.
6. A report came from Fiji of the beautiful lady Sina,
And that all the swells of Fiji were running after her.
etc.
7. Then off went Sinaleuuna and Sinaeteva to Fiji,
And took with them the shadow of their brother Maluafiti.
etc.
8. The two sisters dressed up and went to tell her
All about their handsome brother.
But they were slighted and shamefully treated by Sina.
etc.
9. Sina did not know they were the sisters of Maluafiti.
She had heard of his beauty and longed for his coming.
etc.
10. The sisters were still ill-treated by Sina; their anger rose,
And off they went to the water where Sina was bathing.
They threw out from the bottle on to the water the shadow of their
brother.
etc.
11. Sina looked at the shadow and was struck with its beauty.
"That is my husband," said she, "wherever I can find him."
etc.
12. Then Sinaleuuna wept and uttered in soliloquy:
"Oh, Sinaleuuna, Sinaeteva, you are enraged!
Where is our brother? 'Tis for him we are here and slighted."
etc.
13. Sina called out to the villagers for all to come,
All the beautiful young men to assemble and find out
Of whom the figure in the water was the image.
etc.
14. They sought in vain, they could not find.
The shadow was bright and beautiful and compared with no one.
When Maluafiti turned about in his own land,
The shadow wheeled round and round in the water.
etc.
15. But Sina heard not the weeping of the sisters of Maluafiti.
Again their song rang out, "Where is our brother?
'Tis for him we are here and slighted."
etc.
16. "Oh, Maluafiti! rise up, it is day;
Your shadow prolongs our ill-treatment.
Maluafiti come and talk with her face to face,
Instead of that image in water."
etc.
17. Sina had listened, and now she knew 'twas the shadow of Maluafiti.
These are his sisters too, and I've been ill-using them.
etc.
18. Sina reproached herself: "Oh! I fear these ladies;
I knew not they were seeking a wife for their brother Maluafiti.
etc.
19. "Come, oh come," said Sina, "forgive me, I've done you wrong."
Sina begged pardon in vain, the ladies were angry still.
etc.
20. The canoe of Maluafiti arrived.
He came to court Lady Sina, and also to fetch his sisters.
etc.
21. He came, he heard the tale of his sisters,
And then up flew implacable rage.
etc.
22. Sina longed to get Maluafiti;
He was her heart's desire, and long she had waited for him.
etc.
23. Maluafiti frowned and would return,
And off he went with his sisters.
Sina cried and screamed, and determined to follow swimming.
etc.
24. The sisters pleaded to save and to bring her,
Maluafiti relented not, and Sina died in the ocean.
etc.
In a story about another lady called Sinasengi, we are told about her
wonderful pool. She had "caught the shadows" of a variety of scenes,
and imprinted them on the _water_. A problem this for the
photographers! Night-dances, races, club exercise, battles, public
meetings, and some of the ordinary employments of daily life were all
there. The pool was covered over, but by the removal of a stone this
"chamber of imagery" could be all seen. Everything seemed so real
that a man one day was so enraptured with the sight of one of his
favourite sports that he jumped in to join a dancing party. But, alas!
he bruised his head and broke his arm on the _stones_ which he found
under the surface, instead of the gambols of living men.
Stories also of wifely and husband affection and the reverse are
preserved in song. Take the following as a specimen. The original runs
through twenty-six verses, but I abbreviate and give the substance:--
There was a youth called Siati noted for his singing. A serenading god
came along, threw down a challenge, and promised him his fair daughter
if he was the better singer. They sung, Siati beat, and off he went to
the land of the god, riding on a shark belonging to his aunt.
They reached the place. The shark went in to the shore, set him down,
and told him to go to the bathing-place, where he would find the
daughters of the god, the one was called Puapae, "White Fish," and the
other Puauli, "Dark Fish."
Siati went and sat down at the bathing-place. The girls had been
there, but had gone away. Puapae had forgotten her comb, returned to
get it, and there she found Siati. "Siati," said she, "however have
you come here?" "I've come to seek the song-god and get his daughter
to wife." "My father," said she, "is more of a god than a man--eat
nothing he hands you, never sit on a high seat lest death should
follow, and now let us unite." Siati and Puapae were united in
marriage, but they were sent off to live elsewhere.
The god sent his daughter Puauli to Puapae to tell her husband to
build him a house, and that it must be finished that very day, under a
penalty of death and the oven. Siati cried, but his wife Puapae
comforted him, said she could do it, and off she went and built the
house, and by the evening was weeding all around it.
In came another order, and that was for Siati to fight with the dog.
The fight took place and Siati conquered. Next the god had lost his
ring, and Siati must go to the sea and find it. Again Siati wept, and
again his wife cheered him. "I'll find the ring," said she; "only do
what I tell you. Cut my body in two, throw me into the sea, and stand
still on the beach till I come." He did so, cut her in two, threw her
into the sea, she was changed into a fish, and away she went to seek
for the ring.
Siati stood, and stood, sat and lay down, stood again, and then lay
down, and went off to sleep. Puapae returned, she was thrown up by the
fish and stood on the shore. Siati awoke by the splash of the sea on
his face. She scolded him for not keeping awake, and then said, "There
is the ring, go with it in the early morning," and in the morning off
the two went to her father.
That very morning the god called his daughter Puauli and said, "Come,
take me on your back, and let us seek Siati that I may eat him."
Presently they started back, Siati and Puapae were coming. Puapae and
Siati threw down the comb and it became a bush of thorns in the way to
intercept the god and Puauli. But they struggled through the thorns. A
bottle of earth was next thrown down, and that became a mountain; and
then followed their bottle of water, and that became a sea and drowned
the god and Puauli.
Puapae said to Siati, "My father and sister are dead, and all on
account of my love to you; you may go now and visit your family and
friends while I remain here, but see that you do not behave unseemly."
He went, visited all his friends, and then he forgot his wife Puapae.
He tried to marry again, but Puapae came and stood on the other side.
The chief called out, "Which is your wife, Siati?" "The one on the
right side." Puapae then broke silence with, "Ah Siati, you have
forgotten all I did for you;" and off she went. Siati remembered it
all, darted after her crying, and then fell down and died.
CHAPTER VIII.
FOOD--COOKING--LIQUORS.
_Animal and Vegetable Food._--Bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, and
cocoa-nuts formed the staff of life in Samoa. The lagoons and reefs
furnish a large supply of fish and shell-fish, of which the natives
are very fond; and occasionally all, but especially persons of rank,
regaled themselves on pigs, fowls, and turtle. A detailed account of
the flora and fauna in this and other groups in Central and Eastern
Polynesia will be found in the published volumes of the United States
Exploring Squadron of 1838-1842.
Taro, cocoa-nuts, and 'ava were said to have been brought from the
heavens by a chief called Losi. When on a visit there he was pleased
with the taste of taro, and tried to get some to take down with him.
He found a young shoot about the cooking-house, concealed it under his
clothing, but the Tangaloans were on the watch. They made him take off
his roundabout, snatched the plant from him, pulled his hair,
scratched and cut his skin, and back he came to the earth in a great
rage.
He engaged six of the gods to go up with him again and be avenged on
Tangaloa and his people. He proposed to take up a present of fish.
They caught ten, and were up before daybreak, and laid down a fish on
the doorstep of ten of the houses. When the people came out of their
houses they stumbled over the slippery fish, fell and cut their
foreheads. They cooked the fish, but ate it with bruised heads. And
hence the proverb in times of difficulty, "To eat with a bruise."
Then followed a number of schemes on the part of the Tangaloans to
kill Losi and his party similar to those described (p. 250). But all
failed, and then up jumped Losi and his party, and ran at the
Tangaloans, who fled and called out as they ran, "What do you want?"
"Cocoa-nuts," said Losi. "Take them all," was the reply. Losi again
called to his party to _chase_, and they rushed after the Tangaloans,
who again shouted back, "What do you want?" "Taro," said Losi, "to
compensate for ill usage and the tearing of my skin." "Take it, your
claim is just; take it and be off." Losi ordered still to pursue, and
again the call came from the frightened Tangaloans, "What else do you
want?" "I want 'ava," replied Losi. "Take it, all kinds of it, and be
off." Losi conquered, had his revenge, and got what he wanted, and so
came down from the heavens with taro, cocoa-nuts, and 'ava, and
planted them all about.
For about half the year the Samoans have an abundant supply of food
from the bread-fruit trees. During the other half they depend
principally on their taro plantations. Bananas and cocoa-nuts are
plentiful throughout the year. While the bread-fruit is in season
every family lays up a quantity in a pit lined with banana and
cocoa-nut leaves, and covered in with stones. It soon ferments; but
they keep it in that state for years, and the older it is they relish
it all the more. They bake this in the form of little cakes, when the
bread-fruit is out of season, and especially when there is a scarcity
of taro. The odour of these cakes is offensive in the extreme to a
European; but a Samoan turns from a bit of English cheese with far
more disgust than we do from his fermented bread-fruit.
A crop of bread-fruit is sometimes shaken off the trees by a gale
before it is ripe, and occasionally taro plantations are destroyed by
drought and caterpillars; but the people have wild yams in the bush,
preserved bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and fish to fall back upon; so that
there is rarely, if ever, anything like a serious famine. A scarcity
of food, occasioned by any of the causes just named, they were in the
habit of tracing to the wrath of one of their gods, called _O le Sa_
(or the Sacred One). The sun, storms, caterpillars, and all
destructive insects were said to be his _au ao_, or servants, who
were commissioned to go forth and eat up the plantations of those with
whom he was displeased. In times of plenty as well as of scarcity the
people were in the habit of assembling with offerings of food, and
poured out drink-offerings of _'ava_ to _Le Sa_, to propitiate his
favour.
A story is told of a woman and her child, who in a time of great
scarcity were neglected by the family. One day they cooked some wild
yams, but never offered her a share. She was vexed, asked the child to
follow her, and when they reached a precipice on the rocky coast,
seized the child and jumped over. It is said they were changed into
turtles, and afterwards came in that form at the call of the people of
the village.
_Cannibalism._--During some of their wars, a body was occasionally
cooked by the Samoans; but they affirm that, in such a case, it was
always some one of the enemy who had been notorious for provocation or
cruelty, and that eating a part of his body was considered the climax
of hatred and revenge, and was not occasioned by the mere relish for
human flesh, such as obtained in the Fiji, New Hebrides, and New
Caledonian groups. In more remote heathen times, however, they may
have indulged this savage appetite. To speak of roasting him is the
very worst language that can be addressed to a Samoan. If applied to a
chief of importance, he may raise war to avenge the insult. It is the
custom on the submission of one party to another to bow down before
their conquerors each with a piece of firewood and a bundle of leaves,
such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven; as much as to say,
"Kill us and cook us, if you please." Criminals, too, are sometimes
bound hand to hand and foot to foot; slung on a pole put through
between the hands and feet, carried and laid down before the parties
they have injured, like a pig about to be killed and cooked. So deeply
humiliating is this act considered that the culprit who consents to
degrade himself so far is almost sure to be forgiven.
From such references to cannibalism as we have at pp. 47, 48, and also
the following fragments from old stories, it is further apparent that
the custom was not unknown in Samoa.
During a great scarcity occasioned by a gale cannibalism prevailed.
When a light was wanted in the evening, two or three went to fetch
it--it was not safe for one to go alone. If a child was seen out of
doors, some one would entice it by holding up something white and
calling the child to get a bit of cocoa-nut kernel, and so kidnap and
cook.
A story is also told of a woman who had a child who was playing on the
surf on the beach. Three of her brothers came along and begged her to
let them have the child. She said that if a _bloody_ surf should
suddenly appear they might have the child, but not otherwise.
Presently the surf dashed red and bloody on the shore. She kept to
her word, and let the heartless fellows carry off the boy to the oven.
Here is another piece about Ae a Tongan, who attached himself to the
Samoan chief Tinilau. Tinilau travelled from place to place on two
turtles. Ae wished to visit Tonga, and begged from his master the loan
of the turtles. He got them, with the caution to be very careful of
them. As soon as he reached Tonga he called his friends to take on
shore the turtles, kill them, and have a feast, and this they gladly
did.
Tinilau, after waiting long for the return of the turtles, suspected
they had been killed. This was confirmed in his mind by the appearance
on the beach of a bloody wave. He called a meeting of all the avenging
gods of Savaii, and put the case into their hands. They went off to
Tonga, found Ae at midnight in a sound sleep, picked him up, brought
him back to Samoa, and laid him down in the front room of the house of
Tinilau.
At cock-crowing Ae woke up and said aloud, "Why, you cock! you crow
like the one belonging to the _pig_ I lived with." Tinilau called out
from his room, "Had the fellow you lived with such a fowl?" "Yes, the
_pig_ had one just like it." "Tell us more about him," and so Ae went
on chattering, and still using the abusive epithet _pig_ when speaking
of his master, and talked about the turtles, what a fine feast they
had, etc. As it got lighter, he looked up to the roof and said, "This
too is just like the house the _pig_ lived in." By-and-by he woke up,
as it got light, to the full consciousness that somehow or other he
was again in the very house of Tinilau, and that his cannibal master
was in the next room. He was dumb and panic-stricken. Orders were
given to kill him, and he was despatched accordingly, and his body
dressed for the oven. And hence the proverb for any similar action, or
if any one takes by mistake or intention what belongs to another, he
says in making an apology, "I am like Ae."
Another curious fragment goes from cannibalism to the origin of pigs.
A cannibal chief had human victims taken to him regularly, and was in
the habit of throwing the heads into a cave close by. A great many
heads had been cast in, and he thought no more about them. One day,
however, he was sitting on a rock outside the cave when he heard an
unusual noise. On looking in, the place was full of _pigs_, and hence
the belief that pigs had their origin in the heads of men, or, as some
would call it, a humbling case of evolution _downwards_!
_Cooking._--The Samoans had and still have, the mode of cooking with
hot stones which has been often described as prevailing in the South
Sea Islands. Fifty or sixty stones about the size of an orange, heated
by kindling a fire under them, form, with the hot ashes, an ordinary
oven. The taro, bread-fruit, or yams, are laid among the stones, a
thick covering of bread-fruit and banana leaves is laid over all, and
in about an hour all is well cooked. In the same oven they bake other
things, such as fish, done up in leaves and laid side by side with the
taro or other vegetables. Little bundles of taro leaves, too, mixed
with the expressed juice of the cocoa-nut kernel, and some other
dishes, of which cocoa-nut is generally the chief ingredient, are
baked at the same time, and used as a relish in the absence of animal
food. Salt water is frequently mixed up with these dishes, which is
the only form in which they use salt. They had no salt, and were not
in the habit of preserving fish or pork otherwise than by repeated
cooking. In this way they kept pork for a week, and fish for three
weeks or a month. However large, they cooked the entire pig at once;
then, using a piece of split bamboo as a carving-knife, cut it up and
divided it among the different branches of the family. The duties of
cooking devolved on the men; and all, even chiefs of the highest rank,
considered it no disgrace to assist in the cooking-house occasionally.
_Forbidden Food._--Some birds and fishes were sacred to particular
deities, as has been described, and certain parties abstained from
eating them. A man would not eat a fish which was supposed to be under
the protection and care of his household god; but he would eat,
without scruple, fish sacred to the gods of other families. The dog,
and some kinds of fish and birds, were sacred to the greater
deities--the _dii majorum gentium_ of the Samoans; and, of course, all
the people rigidly abstained from these things. For a man to kill and
eat anything he considered to be under the special protection of his
god, was supposed to be followed by the god's displeasure in the
sickness or death of himself, or some member of the family. The same
idea seems to have been a check on cannibalism, as there was a fear
lest the god of the deceased would be avenged on those who might cook
and eat the body.
_Liquors._--The young cocoa-nut contains about a tumblerful of a
liquid something resembling water sweetened with lump-sugar, and very
slightly acid. This is the ordinary beverage of the Samoans. A young
cocoa-nut baked in the oven yields a hot draught, which is very
pleasant to an invalid. They had no fermented liquors; but they made
an intoxicating draught from an infusion of the chewn root of the 'ava
plant (_Piper methysticum_). A bowl of this disgustingly-prepared
stuff was made and served out when a party of chiefs sat down to a
meal. At their ordinary meals few partook of it but the father, or
other senior members of the family. It was always taken before, and
not after the meal. Among a formal party of chiefs it was handed round
in a cocoa-nut shell cup with a good deal of ceremony. When the cup
was filled the name, or title rather, of the person for whom it was
intended was called out; the cup-bearer took it to him, he received
it, drank it off, and returned the cup to be filled again, as the
"portion" of another chief. The most important chiefs had the first
cups, and, following the order of rank, all had a draught. The liquor
was much diluted; few drank to excess; and, upon the whole, the
Samoans were perhaps among the most temperate 'ava drinkers in the
South Seas. The old men considered that a little of it strengthened
them and prolonged life; and often they had a cup the first thing in
the morning.
_Hospitality._--The Samoans were remarkable for hospitality.
Travelling parties never needed to take food for any place beyond the
first stage of their journey. Every village had its "large house,"
kept in good order, and well spread with mats for the reception of
strangers. On the arrival of a party some of the members of every
family in the village assembled and prepared food for them. It was the
province of the head of one particular family to decide, and send word
to the rest, how much it would be necessary for each to provide. After
all was cooked, it was taken and laid down in front of the house, and,
on presenting it, one of them would make a speech, welcoming them to
their village; and, although a sumptuous repast had been provided, an
apology would be made that there was nothing better. The strangers
replied, returned thanks, and exchanged kind words. In the event of
there being a chief of high rank among the party, it would probably be
decided that every man, woman, and child of the place turn out, dress
themselves in their best, walk in single file, each carrying a fish, a
fowl, a lobster, a yam, or something else in the hand, and, singing
some merry chant as they went along, proceed to the place, and there
lay down in a heap what they had provided for their guests. An evening
ball or night-dance was also considered an indispensable accompaniment
to the entertainment. A travelling party rarely spent more than one
night at a place.
_Meals._--The Samoans had a meal about 11 A.M., and their principal
meal in the evening. At the evening meal every family was assembled;
and men, women, and children all ate together. They had no tables, but
seated themselves cross-legged round the circular house on mats. Each
had his portion laid down before him on a bread-fruit leaf; and thus
they partook, in primitive style, without knife, fork, or spoon.
Should any strangers be present, due respect was shown to them by
laying before them "a worthy portion." After the meal, water to wash
was handed round, and a _rub_ on the post of the house was the usual
table-napkin.
The head of the family, in taking his cup of 'ava at the commencement
of the evening meal, would pour out a little of it on the ground, as a
drink-offering to the gods, and, all being silent, he would utter
aloud the following prayer:--
"Here is 'ava for you, O gods! Look kindly towards this family; let
it prosper and increase; and let us all be kept in health. Let our
plantations be productive; let fruit grow; and may there be
abundance of food for us, your creatures.
"Here is 'ava for you, our war gods! Let there be a strong and
numerous people for you in this land.
"Here is 'ava for you, O sailing gods![1] Do not come on shore at
this place; but be pleased to depart along the ocean to some other
land."
It was also very common to pray with an offering of "flaming fire,"
just before the evening meal. Calling upon some one to blow up the
fire and make it blaze, and begging all to be silent, a senior member
of the family would pray aloud as follows:--
"This light is for you, O king[2] and gods superior and inferior!
If any of you are forgotten do not be angry, this light is for you
all. Be propitious to this family; give life to all; and may your
presence be prosperity. Let our children be blessed and multiplied.
Remove far from us fines and sicknesses. Regard our poverty; and
send us food to eat, and cloth to keep us warm. Drive away from us
sailing gods, lest they come and cause disease and death. Protect
this family by your presence, and may health and long life be given
to us all."
It is related of an old chief in Savaii, that one night at the evening
meal he ordered a sea-crab to be reserved for his breakfast. In the
night some lads of the family got up and ate it. Next morning the old
man was in a great rage, rose, and said to his daughter that he was
going off to commit suicide, he could bear no longer the unkindness of
the family. He seized his staff and went off to the mountain, where
there is a deep ravine. When he reached the edge of the precipice he
called to his daughter, who had followed him, that he would jump over,
and cause a storm to arise and destroy the place--and over he went.
The daughter thought it was of no use to go home, and so she lay down
on the edge of the ravine, and became a mountain to shut up the storm
and save the people from the threatened wrath of her father.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Gods supposed to come in Tongan canoes and foreign
vessels.]
[Footnote 2: The principal god of the family.]
CHAPTER IX.
CLOTHING.
In our last chapter we alluded to the food of the Samoans, and now
proceed to a description of their clothing, the materials of which it
is made, their modes of ornament, etc.
During the day a covering of _ti_ leaves _(Dracæna terminalis_) was
all that either sex thought necessary. "They sewed" _ti_ "leaves
together, and made themselves aprons." The men had a small one about a
foot square, the women had theirs made of longer _ti_ leaves, reaching
from the waist down below the knee, and made wide, so as to form a
girdle covering all round. They had no regular covering for any other
part of the body. Occasionally, during rain, they would tie a banana
leaf round the head for a cap, or hold one over them as an umbrella.
They made shades for the eyes of a little piece of plaited cocoa-nut
leaflet; and sometimes they made sandals of the plaited bark of the
_Hibiscus tiliaceus_, to protect the feet while fishing among the
prickly coral about the reef.
_Native Cloth._--At night they slept on a mat, using as a covering a
mat or a sheet of native cloth, and inclosed all round by a curtain of
the same material to keep out musquitoes. In sickness, also, they
wrapped themselves up in native cloth. Their native cloth was made of
the inner bark of the paper mulberry (_Morus papyrifera_) beaten out
on a board, and joined together with arrow-root, so as to form any
width or length of cloth required.
The juice of the raspings of the bark of trees, together with red
clay, turmeric, and the soot of burnt candle-nut, furnished them with
colouring matter and varnish, with which they daubed their native
cloth in the form of squares, stripes, triangles, etc., but, with a
few exceptions, perhaps, devoid of taste or regularity.
Tutunga is the native name of the paper mulberry. A fabulous story is
told of it and a stinging tree called Salato. As the tale goes, they
were two brothers, and had each his plot of ground and a distinct
boundary. One morning Tutunga stretched over his boundary and crossed
to Salato. Salato was displeased and complained to Tutunga, but he was
sullen and made no reply. The affair was referred to the parents; who
decided that the two should separate, and that Salato should go
further inland, and be sacred and respected; and so it is, no one
dares to touch it. On the other hand, Tutunga was severely punished
for having proudly crossed his boundary. He was to be cut, and
skinned, and beaten, and painted, and made to cover the bodies of men.
Then to rot, and then to be burned. And so it is--thus ends Tutunga
the proud.
_Fine Mats._--Their fine mats were, and are still, considered their
most valuable clothing. These mats are made of the leaves of a species
of pandanus scraped clean and thin as writing-paper, and slit into
strips about the sixteenth part of an inch wide. They are made by the
women; and, when completed, are from two to three yards square. They
are of a straw and cream colour, are fringed, and, in some instances,
ornamented with small scarlet feathers inserted here and there. These
mats are thin, and almost as flexible as a piece of calico. Few of the
women can make them, and many months--yea, years, are sometimes spent
over the making of a single mat. These fine mats are considered their
most valuable property, and form a sort of currency which they give
and receive in exchange. They value them at from two to forty
shillings each. They are preserved with great care; some of them pass
through several generations, and as their age and historic interest
increase, they are all the more valued.
Another kind of fine mats for clothing they weave out of the bark of a
plant of the nettle tribe, which is extensively spread over these
islands without any cultivation. They are shaggy on the one side, and,
when bleached white, resemble a prepared fleecy sheep-skin. These
they sometimes dye with red clay found in the mountains. From the
strength and whiteness of the fibre manufactured from this plant, it
is capable of being turned to great use.
_Cleanliness._--As the native cloth cannot be washed without
destroying it, it is generally filthy in the extreme before it is laid
aside. This has induced a habit of carelessness in washing cotton and
other garments, which is very offensive and difficult to eradicate.
They are cleanly, however, in other habits beyond most of the natives
of Polynesia. Their floor and sleeping mats are kept clean and tidy.
They generally use the juice of the wild orange in cleansing, and
bathe regularly every day. It is worth remarking, too, that, while
bathing, they have a girdle of leaves or some other covering round the
waist. In this delicate sense of propriety it would be well for some
more civilised parts of the world to learn a lesson from the Samoans.
_Special Occasions._--At marriages and on other gala days, the women,
and many of the men, laid aside the leaves and girded themselves with
fine mats. Gay young men and women decorated themselves with garlands
of flowers or shells. The nautilus shell, broken into small pieces,
and strung together, was a favourite head-dress. They oiled themselves
from head to foot with scented oil, and sometimes mixed turmeric with
the oil to give their skin a tinge of yellow.
Both sexes kept uncovered the upper part of the body, and wore
shells, beads, or other trinkets round the neck. They prided
themselves also in dressing their children in a similar style. The
women wore the hair short, and, on occasions, sometimes had it raised
and stiffened with a mixture of scented oil and the gum of the
bread-fruit tree. It was fashionable, also, for young women to have a
small twisted lock of hair, with a curl at the end of it, hanging from
the left temple. The men wore their hair long and gathered up in a
knot on the crown of the head, a little to the right side. In company,
however, and when attending religious services, they were careful to
untie the string, and let their hair flow behind, as a mark of
respect. Gay young men occasionally cut their hair short, leaving a
small twisted lock hanging down towards the breast from either temple.
Their hair is naturally black; but they were fond of dyeing it a light
brown colour, by the application of lime, which they made by burning
the coral. To dye hair, and also to rub and blind the eyes of pigs
which trespassed into neighbouring plantations, were the only uses to
which they applied lime in the time of heathenism.
The beard they shaved with the teeth of the shark. Armlets of small
white shells were worn by the men above the elbow-joint. Some pierced
their ears with a thorn, and wore a small flower for an earring; but
this was not very common. A long comb, made from the stem of the
cocoa-nut leaflet, was a common ornament of the women, and worn in the
hair behind the ear. For a looking-glass, they sometimes used a tub of
water; but in arranging the head-dress, they were more frequently
guided by the eyes and taste of others. The tattooing, which we
described in a previous chapter, was also considered one of their
principal ornaments.
There is a story told of a Fijian chief called Fulualela,
_Feathers-of-the-Sun_, who came with his daughter to visit Samoa. He
had heard of the beauty of the islands and their handsome inhabitants,
and thought he might find here a husband chief for his daughter. He
was greatly surprised, however, to discover that while the islands
were lovely, and the people attractive, they had no mats in their
houses, but slept on dried grass like the pigs. He could not think of
leaving his daughter; but when he returned to Fiji he made up a
present of fine mats, native cloth, and scented oil, as if it were his
daughter's dowry, and went back to Samoa with the generous gift,
adding also pandanus and paper mulberry plants with which to stock
Samoa with material for making such household comforts as mats and
native cloth. And hence it is said that ever since the gift of
Feathers-of-the-Sun from Fiji, Samoa has had the luxuries of mats to
sleep on, and sheets of native cloth to cover them.
CHAPTER X.
AMUSEMENTS.
Under the head of _amusements_, dancing, wrestling, boxing, fencing,
and a variety of games and sports, call for description, and to these
we shall briefly advert.
_Dancing_ was a common entertainment on festive occasions, such as a
marriage. Some of their dances were in the daytime, and, like
dress-balls of other countries, were accompanied with a display of
fancy mats and other Samoan finery. At the night assemblies the men
dressed in their short leaf aprons. Sometimes only the men danced, at
other times women, and occasionally the parties were mixed. They
danced in parties of two, three, and upwards, on either side. If the
one party moved in one direction, the other party took the opposite.
They had also various gesticulations, which they practised with some
regularity. If, for example, the one party moved along with the right
arm raised, the other did precisely the same. It was posturing rather
than saltation.
Singing, clapping the hands, beating time on the floor-mats, and
drumming, were the usual musical accompaniments. Their music, on these
occasions, was a monotonous chant of a line or two, repeated over and
over again, with no variety beyond two or three notes. They sought
variety rather in _time_. They began slow, and gradually increased
until, at the end of ten or twenty minutes, they were full of
excitement, the perspiration streaming down, and their tongues
galloping over the rhyme at breathless speed. For a drum, they had two
or three contrivances. One, a log of wood six or eight feet long,
hollowed out from a narrow elongated opening on the upper surface; and
this they beat with a short stick or mallet. Another was a set of
bamboos, four feet long and downwards, arranged like a Pan's pipe,
having the open ends inclosed in a mat bag, and this bag they beat
with a stick. A third kind of drumming was effected by four or five
men, each with a bamboo open at the top and closed at the bottom, with
which, holding vertically, they beat the ground, or a stone or any
hard substance, and as the bamboos are of various lengths, they
emitted a variety of sounds. At these night-dances all kinds of
obscenity in looks, language, and gesture prevailed; and often they
danced and revelled till daylight.
_Court buffoons_ furnished some amusement at dancing and other
festivals, and also at public meetings. If a chief of importance went
to any of these assemblies he had in his train one or two humourists,
who, by oddity in dress, gait, or gesture, or by lascivious jokes,
tried to excite laughter.
_Boxing and fencing_ were common on festive days, and often led to
serious quarrels. In fencing, they used the stalk of the cocoa-nut
leaf as a substitute for a club. _Women_, as well as men, entered the
ring, and strove for the fame of a pugilist.
_Wrestling_ was another amusement. Sometimes they chose sides, say
four against four; and the party who had the most thrown had to
furnish their opponents with a cooked pig, served up with taro, or
supply any other kind of food that might be staked at the outset of
the game. A supply of some kind of food was the usual forfeit in all
their games.
_Clasp and undo_ was another kind of wrestling. One man clasped a
second tightly round the waist, and this second does the same to a
third. The three thus fastened together lay down and challenged any
single man to separate them. If he succeeded, they paid the forfeit;
if not, he did.
_Throwing the spear_ was also common. The young men of one street or
village matched against those of another; and, after fixing a mark in
the distance, threw a small wooden javelin so that it might first
strike the ground, and then spring upwards and onwards in the
direction of the mark. They who threw farthest won the game, and had a
repast of food at the expense of those who lost it. In more direct
spear-throwing they set up the stem of a young cocoa-nut tree, with
the base upwards, which is soft and spongy. One party threw at it, and
filled it with spears. The other party threw, and tried to knock them
down. If any remained after all had thrown they were counted until
they reached the number fixed for the game. In another of these
amusements a man stood in the distance and allowed another to throw
spears at him. He had no shield, but merely a club; and with this he
showed surprising dexterity in hitting off spear after spear as it
approached him.
_Fishing matches_ were in vogue at particular seasons. The party who
took the most fish won, and were treated with cooked pigs and other
viands by those who lost.
_Pigeon-catching_ was another amusement, and one, like our English
falconry of other days, in which the chiefs especially delighted. The
principal season set in about June. Great preparations were made for
it; all the pigs of a settlement were sometimes slaughtered and baked
for the occasion; and, laden with all kinds of food, the whole
population of the place went off to certain pigeon-grounds in the
bush. There they put up huts, and remained sometimes for months at the
sport.
The ground being cleared, the chiefs stationed themselves at distances
all round a large circular space, each concealed under a low shed or
covering of brushwood, having by his side a net attached to a long
bamboo, and in his hand a stick with a tame pigeon on a crook at the
end of it. This pigeon was trained to fly round and round, as directed
by its owner, with a string at its foot thirty feet long, attached to
the end of his stick. Every man flew his pigeon, and then the whole
circle looked like a place where pigeons were flocking round food or
water. The scene soon attracted some wild pigeon; and, as it
approached the spot, whoever was next to it raised his net and tried
to entangle it. He who got the greatest number of pigeons was the hero
of the day, and honoured by his friends with various kinds of food,
with which he treated his less successful competitors. Some of the
pigeons were baked, others were distributed about and tamed for
further use. Taming and exercising them for the sporting season was a
common pastime.
_Spinning the cocoa-nut_ was another amusement. A party sat down in a
circle, and one in the centre spinned a cocoa-nut. When it rested they
saw to whom the three black marks or eyes on the end of the shell
pointed, and imposed upon him some little service to the whole, such
as unhusking chestnuts, or going for a load of cocoa-nuts. This is
especially worthy of remark, as it was the Samoan method of _casting
lots_. If a number of people were unwilling to go a message or do a
piece of work, they decided the matter by wheeling round the
cocoa-nut to see to whom it turned its _face_, as they called it, when
it rested. Sometimes they appealed to this lot, and fixed the charge
of stealing on a person towards whom the _face_ of the cocoa-nut
pointed.
They had also a game of _hide-and-seek_, with the addition that those
who hid tried to escape those who sought, and ran to a given post or
mark. All who reached the post were counted towards making up the
game.
_Pitching_ small cocoa-nut shells to the end of a mat was a favourite
amusement of the chiefs. They tried to knock each other's shells off
the given spot. They played in parties of two and two, with five
shells each. They who had most shells left on the place after all had
thrown won.
They had also _guessing_ sports. One party hid, the other bundled up
one of their number in a large basket covered over with a mat or
cloth. Then they too hid, all but three, who carried the basket to the
other party for them to guess who was in it. If they guessed
correctly, then they in turn got the basket to do the same. The
successful guesses were counted for the game.
They were in the habit of amusing themselves with _riddles_, of which
the following are a specimen:--
"1. A man who continues standing out of doors with a burden on his
back.--_Explanation._ A banana tree, with a bunch of bananas.
"2. There are twenty brothers, each with a hat on his
head.--_Explan._ A man's fingers and toes; the nails of which are
represented as hats.
"3. A man who stands between two ravenous fish.--_Explan._ The
tongue, as being placed between the teeth of the upper and lower
jaws.
"4. There are four brothers, who are always bearing about their
father.--_Explan._ The Samoan pillow, formed by four legs and a
bamboo; the legs being the four brothers, the bamboo the father.
"5. There is a man who calls out continually day and
night.--_Explan._ The surf on the reef, which never rests.
"6. There is a man who, when he leaves the bush, is very little;
but when he has reached the sea-shore, becomes very
great.--_Explan._ The bark of the paper-mulberry, which, when first
taken off the wood, is very narrow; but, when beaten out to make
the native cloth, becomes very broad.
"7. A man who has a white head stands above the fence, and reaches
to the heavens.--_Explan._ The smoke rising from the oven.
"8. The person who sleeps on a bed of whales' teeth.--_Explan._ A
fowl sitting on her eggs.
"9. Many brothers, but only one intestine.--_Explan._ A string of
beads. The beads being the brothers, and the string the intestine.
"10. A long house with one post.--_Explan._ The nose; the septum
being the post."
They had also games at _rhyming_. One party would choose the names of
trees and another the names of men. Those who sided with the trees
would say: "There is the _Fau_ tree, tell us a name which will rhyme
with it." The reply would perhaps be _Tulifau_.
Again, there is the _Toa_, and the other party would reply
_Tuisamoa_. And so on they went till one party had exhausted all the
names they could think of, owned the defeat, and paid the forfeit.
In a similar game one party would name a bird or beast, and the other
a fish with a corresponding rhyme. For example, for the birds:
Lupe, they would give the name of the fish, Une.
Ngongo, Do. do. do. Alongo.
Tiotala, Do. do. do. Ngatala.
Here, too, there was a forfeit if beaten. They had _tripping and
stammering_ games also. One party would say to the other--you repeat
"O lo matou niu afaafa lava le la i tuafale,
Sasa, ma fili, ma faataa, ma lafo i fongavai."
If any one tripped when repeating it he had to pay a forfeit.
Another might be in rhyme and run as follows:
"Na au sau mai Safata,
Ou afe i le ngatai ala,
E fafanga i si au tiaa,
Fafanga, fafanga, pa le manava.
Fafanga, fafanga, pa le manava."
Another as his puzzle to repeat correctly would give:
"Na au sau mai Mali'oli'o,
Lou ala i umu,
Lou ala i paito,
Lou ala i puto pute,
Lou ala i pute puto."
If any one slipped in repeating he paid the forfeit.
In some of their evening sports _theatricals_ were in vogue.
Illustrations would be given of selfish schemes to take things easy at
the expense of others, clownish processions to create laughter, or
marriage ceremonies in which, when it came to the point, the bride
rebelled and would not have her husband. Ventriloquism also was
attempted, in which, as they say, "voices spoke to them without
bodies."
They amused each other also by stories of _hoodwinking and trickery_,
such as the following:--A Samoan and a Tongan made friends with each
other. When the latter went away on a visit to Tonga the former begged
him to bring back one of their large cocoa-nuts, which are prized as
water-bottles. He promised to do it on condition that the Samoan would
look out for him a fine white fowl.
The Samoan got ready the fowl, and made a basket in which to put it.
The Tongan returned with a large unhusked nut, but on the voyage he
split up the husk, took out the nut, and closed all up again. The
Samoan had the gift of _second sight_, knew what the Tongan had done,
and so he let loose the white fowl, and put an _owl_ in its place in
the basket.
The Tongan on his arrival gave him the large _mock_ nut, _minus_ the
real nut and kernel, and the Samoan handed him the basket with the
pretended white fowl.
The Tongan jumped into his canoe again, and went off in high glee
singing:
"Niu niu, pulu!
Niu niu, pulu!"
"Cocoa-nut, cocoa-nut,
Only a _husk_!"
But the wind was taken out of his sail by the laughter and antics of
his friend on the beach shouting after him:
"Moa, moa, lulu!"
"Fowl, fowl, only an _owl_!"
They had _sundry other amusements_. Swimming in the surf on a board,
and steering little canoes while borne along on the crest of a wave
towards the shore, were favourite juvenile sports. Canoe-racing, races
with one party in a canoe and another along the beach, races with both
parties on land, climbing cocoa-nut trees to see who can go up
quickest, reviews and sham-fighting, cock-fighting, tossing up oranges
and keeping three, four, or more of them on the move: these and many
other things were of old and are still numbered among Samoan sports.
The teeth and jaws, too, are called into exercise. One man would
engage to unhusk with his teeth and eat five large native chesnuts
(_Tuscapus edulis_) before another could run a certain distance and
return. If he failed, he paid his basket of cocoa-nuts, or whatever
might be previously agreed upon.
Our juvenile friends will be sure to recognise some of their
favourite amusements in this description, and will, perhaps, feel
inclined to try the novelty of some of these Samoan variations. What a
surprising unity of thought and feeling is discoverable among the
various races of mankind from a comparison of such customs as these!
CHAPTER XI.
MORTALITY, LONGEVITY, DISEASES, ETC.
Mortality, longevity, diseases, and the treatment of the sick, will
now form the subject of a few observations; and here we begin with--
_Infants._--Before the introduction of Christianity probably not less
than two-thirds of the Samoan race died in infancy and childhood. This
mortality arose principally from carelessness and mismanagement in
nursing; evils which still prevail to a great extent. Even now,
perhaps, one-half of them die before they reach their second year. The
poor little things are often carried about with their bare heads
exposed to the scorching rays of a vertical sun. Exposure to the
night-damps also, and above all stuffing them with improper food, are
evils which often make us wonder that the mortality among them is not
greater than it is. The Samoans were always fond of their children,
and would have done anything for them when ill; but, with the
exception of external applications for skin diseases, they had no
proper remedies for the numerous disorders of children. Were their
care in preventing disease equal to their anxiety to observe a cure
when the child is really ill, there would probably be less sickness
among them, and fewer deaths.
_Adults._--The universal opinion of the natives is that the mortality
is now greater among young and middle-aged people than it was
formerly. "It was common," they say, "to see three or four old men in
a house, whereas you rarely see more than one now." Among a people
destitute of statistics or records of any kind, it is difficult to
speak correctly of an earlier date than 1830. Since that time,
however, the population has been remarkably stationary. We have not
observed any marked disproportion in the deaths of adults of any
particular age compared with other parts of the world. A person died
in 1847 who was present at the massacre of M. de Langle and others
connected with the exploring expedition of La Perouse in 1787, and who
was then a youth of about fourteen years of age. Judging from his
appearance, we may suppose that there are some in every village who
must be sixty, seventy, and even eighty years of age.
They have stories of a _giant race_, and tell particularly of one
called _Tafai_. He was very tall and strong, but not cruel to any one.
He could throw a long cocoa-nut tree at the rocks as if he were but
hurling a thin spear. He plucked up by the roots a great Malili tree,
eighty feet high, carried it off on his shoulder, branches and all,
and could throw it up and catch it again as if he were playing with a
small crab. It is said, too, that so great was his weight, if he put
his foot on a rock it left a footprint as if the rock had been soft
sand.
_Diseases._--Pulmonary affections, paralysis, diseases of the spine
producing humpback, ophthalmia, skin diseases, scrofulous, and other
ulcers, elephantiasis, and a species of leprosy, are among the
principal diseases with which they were afflicted. Ophthalmia and
various diseases of the eye were very prevalent. There were few cases
of total blindness; but many had one of the organs of vision
destroyed. Connected with diseases of the eye, pterygium is common;
not only single, but double, triple, and even quadruple are
occasionally met with. The leprosy of which we speak has greatly
abated. The natives say that formerly many had it, and suffered from
its ulcerous sores until all the fingers of a hand or the toes of a
foot had fallen off. Elephantiasis, producing great enlargement of the
legs and arms, has, they think, somewhat abated too; only, they say,
it prevails among the _young_ men more now than it did formerly.
Insanity is occasionally met with. It was invariably traced in former
times to the immediate presence of an evil spirit. If furious, the
party was tied hand to hand and foot to foot until a change for the
better appeared. Idiots are not common. Consumption they call
"Moomoo;" and there were certain native doctors who were supposed to
be successful in spearing the disease, or rather the spirit causing
it. The doctor when sent for would come in, sit down before the
patient, and chant as follows:--
"Moomoo e! Moomoo e!
O le ā ou velosia atu oe;"
which in English is--
"O Moomoo! O Moomoo!
I'm on the eve of spearing you."
Then he would rise up, flourish about with his spear over the head of
the patient, and leave the house. No one dared speak or smile during
the ceremony. Influenza is a new disease to the natives. They say that
the first attack of it ever known in Samoa was during the Aana war in
1830, just as the missionaries Williams and Barff, with Tahitian
teachers, first reached their shores. The natives at once traced the
disease to the foreigners and the new religion; the same opinion
spread through these seas, and especially among the islands of the New
Hebrides. Ever since there have been returns of the disease almost
annually. It is generally preceded by unsettled weather, and westerly
or southerly winds. Its course is generally from east to west. It
lasts for about a month, and passes off as fine weather and steady
trade-winds set in. In many cases it is fatal to old people and those
who have been previously weakened by pulmonary diseases. There was an
attack in May 1837, and another in November 1846, both of which were
unusually severe and fatal. They have a tradition of an epidemic,
answering the description of cholera, which raged with fearful
violence probably about eighty years ago. In 1849 hooping-cough made
its appearance, and prevailed for several months, among adults as well
as children. A good many of the children died. In 1851 another new
disease surprised the natives--viz. the mumps. It was traced to a
vessel from California collecting pigs, and soon spread all over the
group. Scarcely a native escaped. It answered the usual description of
the attack given in medical works, and passed off in ten days or a
fortnight. Hitherto they have been exempt from small-pox. Some years
ago the missionaries vaccinated all the natives, and continue to do so
as often as a supply of vaccine lymph is obtained.
_Medicine._--The Samoans in their heathenism seldom had recourse to
any internal remedy except an emetic, which they used after having
eaten a poisonous fish. Sometimes juices from the bush were tried; at
other times the patient drank on at water until it was rejected; and,
on some occasions, mud, and even the most unmentionable filth, was
mixed up and taken as an emetic draught. Latterly, as their
intercourse with Tongans, Fijians, Tahitians, and Sandwich Islanders
increased, they made additions to their _pharmacopœia_ of juices from
the bush. Each disease had its particular physician. Shampooing and
anointing the affected part of the body with scented oil by the native
doctors was common; and to this charms were frequently added,
consisting of some flowers from the bush done up in a piece of native
cloth and put in a conspicuous place in the thatch over the patient.
The advocates of _kinnesipathy_ would be interested in finding, were
they to visit the South Seas, that most of their friction, percussion,
and other manipulations, were in vogue there ages ago, and are still
practised. Now, however, European medicines are eagerly sought after;
so much so, that every missionary is obliged to have a dispensary, and
to set apart a certain hour every day to give advice and medicine to
the sick.
As the Samoans supposed disease to be occasioned by the wrath of some
particular deity, their principal desire, in any difficult case, was
not for medicine, but to ascertain the cause of the calamity. The
friends of the sick went to the high priest of the village. He was
sure to assign some cause; and, whatever that was, they were all
anxiety to have it removed, as the means of restoration. If he said
they were to give up a canoe to the god, it was given up. If a piece
of land was asked, it was passed over at once. Or, if he did not wish
anything particular from the party, he would probably tell them to
assemble the family, "confess, and throw out." In this ceremony each
member of the family confessed his crimes and any judgments which, in
anger, he had invoked on the family or upon the particular member of
it then ill; and, as a proof that he revoked all such imprecations, he
took a little water in his mouth, and spurted it out towards the
person who was sick.
In _surgery_, they lanced ulcers with a shell or a shark's tooth, and,
in a similar way, bled from the arm. For inflammatory swellings they
sometimes tried local bleeding; but shampooing and rubbing with oil
were the more common remedies in such cases. Cuts they washed in the
sea, and bound up with a leaf. Into wounds in the scalp they blew the
smoke of burnt chestnut wood. To take a barbed spear from the arm or
leg they cut into the limb from the opposite side and pushed it right
through. Amputation they never attempted.
The _treatment of the sick_ was invariably humane, and all that could
be expected. They wanted for no kind of food which they might desire,
night or day, if it was at all in the power of their friends to
procure it. In the event of the disease assuming a dangerous form,
messengers were despatched to friends at a distance that they might
have an opportunity of being in time to see and say farewell to a
departing relative. The greater the rank the greater the stir and
muster about the sick of friends from the neighbourhood and from a
distance. Every one who went to visit a sick friend supposed to be
near death took with him a present of a fine mat, or some other kind
of valuable property, as a farewell expression of regard, to aid in
paying native doctors or conjurors, and to help also in the cost of
pigs, etc., with which to entertain the friends who were assembled.
The following story illustrates the ideas and doings of the people at
such a time:--
Tuitopetope and Tuioleole were two brother conjurors belonging to
Upolu who had been on a visit to Tutuila. On their return they landed
at night at Aleipata just as messengers were running from place to
place to inform the friends of the dangerous illness of the chief
Puepuemai. The two looked into the house, and there they saw a number
of gods from the mountain called Fiso sitting in the doorway. They
were handing from one to another the soul of the dying chief. It was
wrapped up in a leaf, and had been passed by the gods inside the house
to those sitting in the doorway. One of them said to Tuitopetope, "You
take this," and handed the soul to him. He took it. The god mistook
him in the dark for another of their god party. Then all the gods went
off, but Tuitopetope remained in the village and kept the soul of the
chief.
Next morning some women of the family were sent off with a present of
fine mats to fetch a noted priest doctor. Tuitopetope and his
brother, who were sitting on the beach as they passed along, asked
where they were going with that bundle of property. "To fetch a doctor
to Puepuemai," was the reply. "Leave it here," said they, "and take
_us_." "Lads! you are joking," said the women. "No, we are not; _we_
can heal him." The women went back to the house to consult again with
the friends assembled around the dying man. All agreed to let the
young men come and do what they could.
Tuitopetope and his brother were accordingly sent for. The chief was
very ill, his jaw hanging down, and apparently breathing his last.
They undid the leaf, let the soul into him again, and immediately he
brightened up and lived. It was blazed abroad that Puepuemai was
brought to life again by Tuitopetope and his brother, and they gained
a wonderful celebrity. It was supposed they knew everything and could
do anything; and so they were sent for by chiefs all over the group to
heal the sick and find out the guilty in thieving and other
criminalities.
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH AND BURIAL.
Whenever the eye was fixed in death the house became a scene of
indescribable lamentation and wailing. "Oh, my father, why did you not
let me die, and you live here still?" "Oh, my brother, why have you
run away and left your only brother to be trampled upon?" "Oh, my
child, had I known you were going to die! Of what use is it for me to
survive you; would that I had died for you!" These and other doleful
cries might have been heard two hundred yards from the house; and they
were accompanied by the most frantic expressions of grief, such as
rending garments, tearing the hair, thumping the face and eyes,
burning the body with small piercing firebrands, beating the head with
stones till the blood ran, and this they called an "offering of blood"
for the dead.
After an hour or so the more boisterous wailing subsided, and, as in
such a climate the corpse must be buried in a few hours, preparations
were made without delay. The body was laid out on a mat, oiled with
scented oil, and, to modify the cadaverous look, they tinged the oil
for the face with a little turmeric. The body was then wound up with
several folds of native cloth, the chin propped up with a little
bundle of the same material, and the face and head left uncovered,
while, for some hours longer, the body was surrounded by weeping
relatives. If the person had died of a complaint which carried off
some other members of the family, they would probably open the body to
"search for the disease." Any inflamed substance they happened to find
they took away and burned, thinking that this would prevent any other
members of the family being affected with the same disease. This was
done when the body was laid in the grave.
While a dead body was in the house no food was eaten under the same
roof; the family had their meals outside, or in another house. Those
who attended the deceased were most careful not to handle food, and
for days were fed by others as if they were helpless infants. Baldness
and the loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by
the household god if they violated the rule. Fasting was common at
such times, and they who did so ate nothing during the day, but had a
meal in the evening. The fifth day was a day of "purification." They
bathed the face and hands with hot water, and then they were "clean,"
and resumed the usual time and mode of eating.
The death of a chief of high rank was attended with great excitement
and display; all work was suspended in the settlement; no stranger
dared to pass through the place. For days they kept the body unburied,
until all the different parties connected with that particular clan
assembled from various parts of the islands, and until each party had,
in turn, paraded the body, shoulder high, through the village, singing
at the same time some mournful dirge. The body, too, was wrapped up in
the most valuable fine mat clothing which the deceased possessed.
_The burial_ generally took place the day after death. As many of the
friends as could be present in time attended. Every one brought a
present, and the day after the funeral these presents were all so
distributed again as that every one went away with something in return
for what he brought. The body was buried without a coffin, except in
the case of chiefs, when a log of wood was hollowed out for the
purpose. The body being put into this rude encasement, all was done up
again in some other folds of native cloth, and carried on the
shoulders of four or five men to the grave. The friends followed, but
in no particular order; and at the grave again there was often further
wailing and exclamations, such as, "Alas! I looked to you for
protection, but you have gone away; why did you die? would that I had
died for you!"
_The grave_ was called "the fast resting-place," and in the case of
chiefs, "the house thatched with the leaves of the sandal wood,"
alluding to the custom of planting some tree with pretty foliage near
the grave. There was no village burying-ground all preferred laying
their dead among the ashes of their ancestors on their own particular
ground. They carried the skulls of their dead from a land where they
had been residing during war back to the graves of their fathers as
soon as possible after peace was proclaimed. The grave was often dug
close by the house. They made it about four feet deep, and after
spreading it with mats, like a comfortable bed, there they placed the
body with the head to the rising of the sun, and the feet to the west.
With the body they deposited several things which may have been used
during the person's illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup,
and his bamboo pillow. The sticks used to answer the purpose of a
pick-axe in digging the grave were also carefully buried with the
body. Not that they thought these things of use to the dead; but it
was supposed that if they were left and handled by others further
disease and death would be the consequence. Other mats were spread
over the body, on these a layer of white sand from the beach, and then
they filled up the grave. The spot was marked by a little heap of
stones a foot or two high. The grave of a chief was neatly built up in
an oblong slanting form, about three feet high at the foot and four
at the head. White stones or shells were intermixed with the top
layer, and if it had been a noted warrior his grave might be
surrounded with spears, or his club laid loosely on the top.
_Embalming_ was known and practised with surprising skill in one
particular family of chiefs. Unlike the Egyptian method, as described
by Herodotus, it was performed in Samoa exclusively by women. The
viscera being removed and buried, they, day after day, anointed the
body with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids
escape, they continued to puncture the body all over with fine
needles. In about two months the process of desiccation was completed.
The hair, which had been cut and laid aside at the commencement of the
operation, was now glued carefully on to the scalp by a resin from the
bush. The abdomen was filled up with folds of native cloth; the body
was wrapped up with the same material, and laid out on a mat, leaving
the hands, face, and head exposed. A house was built for the purpose,
and there the body was placed with a sheet of native cloth loosely
thrown over it. Now and then the face was oiled with a mixture of
scented oil and turmeric, and passing strangers were freely admitted
to see the remains of the departed. Until about twenty years ago there
were four bodies laid out in this way in a house belonging to the
family to which we refer, viz. a chief, his wife, and two sons. They
were laid on a platform raised on a double canoe. They must have been
embalmed upwards of thirty years, and although thus exposed, they were
in a remarkable state of preservation. They assigned no particular
reason for this embalming, further than that it was the expression of
their affection to keep the bodies of the departed still with them as
if they were alive. None were allowed to dress them but a particular
family of old ladies, who all died off; and, as there was a
superstitious fear on the part of some, and an unwillingness on the
part of others, to handle them, it was resolved at last to lay them
underground.
_Burnings for the dead._--On the evening after the burial of any
important chief his friends kindled a number of fires at distances of
some twenty feet from each other, near the grave; and there they sat
and kept them burning till morning light. This was continued sometimes
for ten days after the funeral; it was also done before burial. In the
house where the body lay, or out in front of it, fires were kept
burning all night by the immediate relatives of the departed. The
common people had a similar custom. After burial they kept a fire
blazing in the house all night, and had the space between the house
and the grave so cleared as that a stream of light went forth all
night from the fire to the grave. The account the Samoans give of it
is, that it was merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and
a mark of tender regard.
_The unburied_ occasioned great concern. No Roman was ever more
grieved at the thought of his unburied friend wandering a hundred
years along the banks of the Styx than were the Samoans while they
thought of the spirit of one who had been drowned, or of another who
had fallen in war, wandering about neglected and comfortless. They
supposed the spirit haunted them everywhere, night and day, and
imagined they heard it calling upon them in a most pitiful tone, and
saying, "Oh, how cold! oh, how cold!" Nor were the Samoans, like the
ancient Romans, satisfied with a mere "_tumulus inanis_" at which to
observe the usual solemnities; they thought it was possible to obtain
the soul of the departed in some tangible transmigrated form. On the
beach, near where a person had been drowned, and whose body was
supposed to have become a porpoise, or on the battlefield, where
another fell, might have been seen, sitting in silence, a group of
five or six, and one a few yards before them with a sheet of native
cloth spread out on the ground in front of him. Addressing some god of
the family he said, "Oh, be kind to us; let us obtain without
difficulty the spirit of the young man!" The first thing that happened
to light upon the sheet was supposed to be the spirit. If nothing came
it was supposed that the spirit had some ill-will to the person
praying. That person after a time retired, and another stepped
forward, addressed some other god, and waited the result. By-and-by
something came; grasshopper, butterfly, ant, or whatever else it
might be, it was carefully wrapped up, taken to the family, the
friends assembled, and the bundle buried with all due ceremony, as if
it contained the real spirit of the departed. The grave, however, was
not the hades of the Samoans, as we have already seen in Chapter III.
Prayers at the grave of a parent or brother or _chief_ were common.
Some, for example, would pray for health in sickness and might or
might not recover. A woman prayed for the death of her brother, he
died, but soon after she died also. A chief promised to give a woman
some fine mats, he deceived her, and off she went and prayed at the
grave of his predecessor in the title. The man took ill and died. She
confessed what she had done, but said she did not pray for death, but
only _pain_ to make him smart for his deceit. And so the custom was
carried on, but with fluctuating belief in its efficacy.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOUSES.
The Samoans have a tradition that of old their forefathers had no
houses. They say that in those days the people were "housed by the
heavens," and describe the ingenuity of a chief who first contrived to
build houses. He had two sons, and out of love to them built for each
of them a house. But leaving tradition let me describe the houses to
be seen at the present day in some of the villages, and the
counterpart of those which have been in use for ages. Imagine a
gigantic bee-hive, thirty-five feet in diameter, a hundred in
circumference, and raised from the ground by a number of short posts,
at intervals of four feet from each other all round, and you have a
good idea of the appearance of a Samoan house.
The spaces between these posts, which may be called open doors or
windows all round the house, are shut in at night by roughly-plaited
cocoa-nut leaf blinds. During the day the blinds are pulled up, and
all the interior exposed to a free current of air. The floor is raised
six or eight inches with rough stones, then an upper layer of smooth
pebbles, then some cocoa-nut leaf mats, and then a layer of finer
matting. Houses of important chiefs are erected on a raised platform
of stones three feet high. In the centre of the house there are two,
and sometimes three, posts or pillars, twenty feet long, sunk three
feet into the ground, and extending to and supporting the ridge pole.
These are the main props of the building. Any _Samson_ or giant
_Tafai_ pulling them away would bring down the whole house. The space
between the rafters is filled up with what they call _ribs_--viz. the
wood of the bread-fruit tree, split up into small pieces, and joined
together so as to form a long rod the thickness of the thumb, running
from the ridge pole down to the eaves. All are kept in their places,
an inch and a half apart, by cross pieces, made fast with cinnet. The
whole of this upper cagelike work looks compact and tidy, and at the
first glance is admired by strangers as being alike novel, ingenious,
and neat. The wood of the bread-fruit tree, of which the greater part
of the best houses are built, is durable, and, if preserved from wet,
will last fifty years.
The thatch also is laid on with great care and taste; the long dry
leaves of the sugar-cane are strung on to pieces of reed five feet
long; they are made fast to the reed by overlapping the one end of
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