The Samoan Archipelago and Its Inhabitans
By James Cowles Prichard, Edwin Norris
Book "The Natural History of Man" 1855
The Samoan islands are situated near the confines of the three great Oceanic provinces into which the vast regions of the Pacific have been divided by late geographers. On the western, or the Asiatic side of that ocean, and between the Samoan Archipelago and the insular empire of Nippon, is situated Micronesia, so named by the late much-lamented Admiral Dumont d'Urville, who has been followed by many writers of recent times. Micronesia is a region of small islands: it comprehends many insular groups, widely dispersed, of which the particular islets are mostly of small extent. Their inhabitants are said to differ in some respects from the Polynesian tribes in general-that is, from the various nations, the Tongans, Tahitians, Hawaiians, and Maorians [ New Zealanders], who people the principal groups of distant Oceanica. The Micronesians have been thought to approach more nearly to the Tagalan and Bisayan races of the adjacent Philippines; and by a celebrated naturalist, who has traversed the Pacific in one of the naval expeditions sent by the late French government to pursue nautical discovery in the Austral seas, these people have been termed Pelagian Mongoles.
They are regarded by M. Lesson as foreigners in Oceanica, and by him supposed to have descended from the high table-land of Central Asia, as an offset of that race who, according to their own mythological tradition, issued by aid of fire and blast from the iron-bound valley of Irguenekonn. The opinion of M. Lesson has been, if I am not mistaken, sufficiently refuted by Admiral Lütké, who has displayed in full the proofs of relationship between the dialects of the Micronesian islanders and the Polynesian idioms. It seems, on the whole, evident that the Micronesian islanders differ somewhat in physical characters and habits from the rest of the Polynesians, but the differences are not such as are usually typical of separate races-I mean of races which have been immemorially separate, and without indications of original consanguinity. The idioms of these islanders differ only as dialects from the languages of the great Malayo- Polynesian family. To which group of these nations the Samoan islanders are to be referred, whether to the Micronesian, the Tongan, or the Maorian, has not been proved. It seems not improbable that they will be found to be in some respects intermediate between these subdivisions of the Oceanic race.
Another region of the Great Ocean, which has been separated by geographers from Polynesia, and made a distinct province of the Pacific, approaches and almost touches on the limits of the Samoan Archipelago. This province may be termed " Kelænonesia, " or the " region of islands inhabited by blacks. " It lies to the southward of Micronesia, and to the westward ofthe central spaces of Oceanica. Kelænonesia presents a striking contrast to the beautifully variegated groups of the Polynesian islands, covered with rich vegetation, and spread out in clusters of gems under the sunny sky of the great Ocean. The more extensive lands of Kelænonesia contain denser masses of lofty mountains and unexplored wildernesses covered with primeval forests.
Unlike the lively, cheerful Polynesians, the natives of these gloomy retreats, ferocious and sullen, of repulsive and menacing aspect, have ever shunned the approach of strangers. The moral and physical characters of these savage people distinguish them equally from the agile, graceful, and comparatively fair Polynesians. Some of the tribes of Kelænonesia recede further than others from the almost Asiatic beauty of the Marquesans and Tahitians, and even exceed, as it is said, in ugliness the most ill favoured brood of the African forests, whom they rival in the sooty blackness of their complexions. We shall form a correct idea of this region if we represent Australia as its nucleus or great continental centre. The outskirts of Kelænonesia, or Oceanic Negroland, stretch themselves into far-distant spaces to the eastward, northward, and westward of Australia, and form a crescent of islands and groups of islands which presents its convex front towards the more open seas of eastern Oceanica.
Situated near the junction of these departments of the Great Ocean, the Samoan Archipelago appears likely to become the centre of a widely- spreading influence, and the Christian mission which, since the misfortunes of Tahiti, has there established the seat of its active operations, is already beginning to produce a strong impression on the surrounding insular nations. The influence of this mission may be expected before long to open a way into the darkest parts of Pelagian Negroland, on the history and languages of which a new light is very soon to be diffused. Some brief notices of the Archipelago, which has hitherto been very obscurely known to Europeans, cannot fail, I think, to be interesting to the students of ethnology.
The chain of the Samoan islands occupies an extent of almost 100 leagues from east to west, nearly under the fourteenth degree of southern latitude. The most westerly islands are the largest in this chain. They are smaller in extent towards the east, and Rose island, the last in this direction, is a mere rock.
The principal isles of the Samoan chain are named as follows: Opoun [Manua], Leone [Ofu?], and Fanfoue [Orosenga], separated by narrow channels from each other, are elevated lands covered with wood; at a distance they appear to be one island. Maouna [Tutuila], is a mountainous and woody island; it is about seventeen miles long, and six or seven in width, and has two islets at the eastern and western extremities. Farther westward is Oïolava [ Upolu], a delightful and still more fertile island, forty miles long, and ten miles at its greatest breadth. Several islets adjoin the eastward and westward extremities of Oïolava; to the westward is the fertile and populous islet of Platte [Manono].
Pola [Savaii], the most westerly of the group, is a magnificent island; its beauty and fertility have been extolled by La Pérouse and Kotzebue. The western part of this island forms an immense cone, which is compared by Kotzebue in form to Mouna- Roa, the lofty volcano of Hawaii, and in height to the Peak of Teneriffe. This island is one hundred leagues in circuit. It was supposed by the historian of " Discoveries in the Southern Ocean, " that the Samoan islands were first seen by Admiral Roggewein in 1722, and that they are the group named by him Isles of Baumann, after the captain of the ship Tienhoven. Roggewein, however, placed these islands under the twelfth degree of south latitude. His description of them agrees with that of the Samoan chain; he says that they were islands of pleasant appearance, and were covered with fruit-bearing trees and leguminousplants. They were intersected by mountains and smiling valleys, some of them being ten, fifteen, and twenty leagues in circuit. Every family on these islands governed itself, and the tribes were classed as at Easter island. The natives came out to sea to meet the Dutch, and offered them fish, cocoanuts, bananas, and other fruits, for which they only received some worthless trinkets. Roggewein supposed the population to be very large; he judged from the crowd of people he saw upon the sea-shore. He says the men were white, and only differ from Europeans in having their complexion darkened by the heat of the sun; their bodies were painted of divers colours; their arms were bows and arrows; their countenances had a gentle and kind expression, and they were lively and cheerful. He says they were the most honest and civilised people in the Southern Ocean. They took the Dutchmen for gods, and grieved at their departure.
It is probable that the isles visited by Roggewein were the Samoan group, but the discovery is commonly attributed to Bougainville, the first navigator who accurately described them. Bougainville was acquainted with all the principal islands. He gave an account of the inhabitants, which differs widely from that of Roggewein; he says the people are not so mild in disposition as the natives of Tahiti. "Their countenances are more savage, and their disposition more false and cunning. Their most remarkable characteristic is their skill in navigation. Their canoes are better constructed than those of any other oceanic tribe, and seem to fly over the water with great rapidity. " Bougainville called the group, from this circumstance, the Islands of Navigators, a name which they have retained on maps from that era.
La Pérouse spent some time on the island of Maouna, where he had many adventures, and lost one of his best officers. He described the inhabitants as a tall, athletic race; he says the ordinary stature of the men was five feet ten inches, and the proportion of their limbs colossal; the females were tall, slender, graceful, and sometimes beautiful. His account of their moral character is by no means very favourable. Kotzebue was the next writer of celebrity who gave an account from his own observation of the Samoan islanders; but I believe their name was first made known by M. Mariner, who spent some years in captivity in the Tonga islands. In his time the natives of these islands had frequent intercourse with the people of the Samoan Archipelago. Among these Mariner obtained much information respecting the Samoans, but he modified their name according to the peculiarity of the Tongan dialect.
The most full and detailed account yet published of the Samoan islanders is that which has been given by Mr. Wilkes, the commander of the exploratory voyage sent out by the United States of America. We have, however, still more recent information in the papers published by the Christian mission to the Samoan Archipelago, the members of which not only exert themselves with zeal and remarkable success in their sacred calling, but seize every opportunity that permits itself of collecting materials for the history of the native tribes with whom theyhave intercourse, and their languages. It is from them that we are likely to obtain a satisfactory account, not only of the Polynesian tribes in this part of the ocean, but likewise of the yet unexplored nations of Kelænonesia.
Physical Characters
The Samoan islanders are described by the missionaries as a people of yellowish brown complexion and black hair, who in their features and stature bear a resemblance to the Polynesian tribes, and likewise to the Malayan race, distinctively so termed. Among the Polynesian islanders the men of Samoa are said to rank in personal appearance as second only to the Tongans; the women are rather ill-formed and stout. When very young, some of them are pretty, and their colour is light, being little darker than that of a brunette or South American Spaniard. The girls are lively, have a good expression of countenance, and what is rare in Polynesia, some degree of bashfulness.
"The average height of the men is five feet ten inches, and some of the chiefs, whose limbs are well rounded, would be called fine- looking men in any part of the world. Their features are not in general prominent, but are well marked and distinct, and are all referable to a common type." This type is thus minutely described:
"The nose is short and wide at the base, the mouth large, and well filled with large and white teeth, with full and well-turned lips; the eyes black, and often large and bright; the forehead narrow and high, and the cheekbones prominent. It was observed that some of them had the eye turned up at the outer corner, like the Chinese. Of beard they have but little, but their hair is strong, straight, and very black. Little difference was perceived in the shape of the head between the two sexes. The general form of the skull is broad and short, and it is highest near the crown."
Two natives of the Samoan Archipelago were lately brought to England by the Rev. Mr. Stair, one of the missionaries who had been resident in those islands. I have availed myself of the kindness of that gentleman, and have taken the opportunity afforded me of obtaining correct portraits of these persons, which will furnish the best idea of the physical characters of the race. The groups now enumerated and described appear to comprise the most numerous of the nations into which the Polynesian race is subdivided. But there are other offsets of this stock, less known, but perhaps not less peculiar. The inhabitants of Easter Island may be considered as one of these. In many respects, they differ considerably from the other tribes, from whom they are separated by a vast space in the Great Southern Ocean. Another curious and interesting people are the inhabitants of the small Island of Tikopia. They are described in the Notes of MM. Quoy and Gaimard, appended to Captain Dumont d'Urville's voyage round the world. The plate adjoined contains the figure of a Tikopian, accurately copied from M. d'Urville's picturesque Atlas.
The most unfortunate circumstance noted is the steady decrease in their numbers, which unmistakeably forces itself on our attention. In 1849, while the births were 1422, the deaths amounted to 4320, more than three times as many. Such a proportion, if continued, will soon leave the Hawaians among the " things that were. " A similar observation is made in the Friendly [Tonga] Islands. The Rev. Walter Lawry says they do not live long. "The females are women at thirteen, and grow old women before thirty. Their food is very simple, and mostly vegetable; but in size they far outstrip Europeans, -so also, as they think, in personal attractions and beauty. But, alas! they quickly pass away, and are gone. " Some authorities, however, declare the Tonga islands to have an increasing population. The same decrease in numbers is also observed in our thriving colony of New Zealand; but this may be accounted for by the horrible practice of female infanticide, which was very prevalent during the last generation; giving rise to a visible scarcity of young women among the native tribes at this day. This cause of decrease has now wholly ceased, and we may expect that here at least the Polynesian may not perish before the European. In the language of Governor Grey, who is speaking of the English intercourse with the natives, " both races already form one harmonious community, connected by commercial and agricultural pursuits, professing the same faith, resorting to the same courts of justice, joining in the same public sports, standing mutually and indifferently to each other in the relation of landlord and tenant, and thus insensibly forming one people."
May not the New Zealanders owe their exemption from the fatality which appears to attend the appearance of Europeans among the Polynesians, to the slight intermixture of the more energetic Papuan, which has been suspected, as alluded to above? They nowvie with Englishmen in many of their pursuits: they are expert riders and breeders of horses, they understand perfectly how to make a bargain, they erect buildings, cultivate land, and form good roads, far beyond the limits of the English settlements. The more opulent among them become ship-owners, landlords, and millers, the latter being especially a favourite occupation; the poorer people make roads, till the ground, tend cattle, build houses and ships, fish for whales, and navigate ships generally; according to good authority, the most regular, clean, and orderly of all the coasting vessels plying between Auckland and the Bay of Islands, is owned and manned wholly by natives, and is preferred by the public as a conveyance for passengers, before all the others. They resort readily to the English law-courts, becoming even annoyingly litigious; and their favourite conversation is said to be "religious and political discussion, and the general news of the day. Of their skill in military tactics, and great courage in fight, we have had some unpleasant experience, and they have decidedly abandoned all their ancient barbarous warlike customs, conducting their combats with us in the most chivalrous spirit, and carefully avoiding injury to all but actual combatants. From men capable of such an advance we may hope much, and we cannot fear that the English mixture will produce any deterioration among them. The only drawback we knowis, that they do not acquire English enough for steady intercourse, the English rather learn their language; a result fatal to the mental progress of the native, and injurious to that of the Englishman. It is perhaps accounted for by the great facility of the New Zealand language; we would not willingly attribute it to the same want of national stamina which has made the Spaniard and Portuguese in South America forsake their own tongues and European usages, to acquire the difficult idioms and listless habits of the Guaranis, and kindred tribes.]
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