the paper-mulberry tree, called _tapa_ or _gnatoo_. The common class
wear a strip of this cloth fastened about the hips and falling below
the knees. The wealthy sometimes have their garments trailing on the
ground, because an ample drapery, particularly if it be very fine and
delicate, is considered an indication of high rank. The upper part of
the person is usually entirely exposed; but on some occasions a mantle
of _tapa_ is thrown over the shoulders. In some places mats are worn,
one before and the other behind, fastened about the hips with a cord of
curious straw work. These mats are made of native flax, very fine and
silky, and woven with great neatness and ingenuity. Sometimes the edges
are ornamented with stripes of various colors, or with black diamonds,
colored with the husk of cocoa-nuts. In several of the islands, one
small square apron of this description constitutes all the clothing;
and a broad leaf, or a wreath of leaves, often supplies the place even
of this slight garment. The women of New Caledonia and New Hebrides
wear a short, clumsy-looking petticoat made of the filaments of the
plantain tree, about eight inches long, fastened to a very long cord
which is passed several times around the waist, until the filaments
lie one above another, several inches in thickness. The queens in the
Sandwich islands sometimes wear cloaks, or mantles, made of feathers of
various colors, and arranged in all manner of beautiful patterns; but
this magnificent dress is worn only by people of the highest rank.
In some of the islands, the women, when they go abroad, hold a green
bough, or a banana leaf, over their heads, by way of parasol; or sit
down and weave little bonnets of matting or cocoa-leaves, whenever they
have need of them. The belles occasionally decorate themselves with
fanciful turbans of fine white _gnatoo_, among which their shining
black ringlets are very tastefully arranged. Sometimes they wear a
curious kind of head-dress made of human hair, in braids nearly as fine
as sewing silk; these braids have been seen more than a mile long,
without a knot. Superb coronets of plumes are worn on state occasions
by people of distinction.
European fashions were adopted with great eagerness; and their
ignorance of the appropriate use of imported articles often led them
into the most grotesque blunders. Mr. Stewart says he has seen a
native woman of high rank, and monstrous size, going to church in a
fine white muslin dress, with a heavy silver-headed cane, an immense
French chapeau, thick woodman’s shoes, and no stockings. But they soon
learned better. In those islands that carry on a traffic with Europe
and America, the royal family now have their walking dresses, dinner
dresses, and evening dresses, of velvet, satin, or crape, in the most
approved style; and their wooden stools are changed for sofas and
pillows covered with morocco or damask.
In nearly all the South Sea islands, it is the custom to make an
incision in the lobe of each ear, into which they introduce large rolls
of leaves, sometimes covered with a very thin plate of tortoise shell,
cylindrical pieces of ivory three inches long, or bits of wood, from
which they suspend shells, or the teeth of fishes. Sometimes these
heavy ornaments distend the ears so much, that the lobes nearly touch
the shoulders; and sometimes they are torn asunder, and hang in two
slips. These people are exceedingly fond of flowers, which they wear
sometimes inserted in the upper edge of the ear, sometimes thrust
through the cartilage of the nose, and sometimes woven in beautiful
garlands, around the head or the neck. They place peculiar value on
necklaces of whale’s teeth, strung in such a manner that the largest
come in front, while the others gradually decrease in size toward the
back of the neck. When the string is drawn, the pointed extremities
diverge, and form a handsome contrast with their dark brown skins.
Both sexes are about equally fond of finery. The men of the South
Sea islands consider profuse tattooing an indication of rank; and
some of them appear to be covered with a permanent suit of embroidery
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. The women are
much less addicted to this practice. Some have their hands tattooed,
like embroidered gloves; the feet and ankles of others are stained to
resemble ornamented half-boots; while others have merely a few dots on
the tip of the tongue, or the palm of the hand. In the Feejee islands
only the women are tattooed, while the men are not.
The hair of the South Sea islanders is remarkably black, glossy, and
beautiful. Some have attributed this to the circumstance of their
being so much in the salt water; and others have supposed it might
be owing to the constant use of cocoa-nut oil. In some islands they
rub the hair frequently with lemon-juice, which is said to give it a
peculiar lustre. In many places the natural beauty of their tresses is
concealed by an artificial color, generally brown or purple, but in a
few instances of a deep orange hue. In the Sandwich islands several
women have been seen, with hair stained rose-color; these women cut
their hair short, comb it back in front, and plaster it with a kind of
lime made of burnt shells, so that there is always a white circle round
the forehead, contrasting strongly with their dark skins. In the Feejee
islands they likewise powder the hair with ashes of the bread-fruit
leaf, or stiffen it with pulverized lime. But generally, throughout
these islands, they wear the hair long and smooth, tied up behind in
a neat and tasteful manner, or suffered to float gracefully over the
shoulders. No small degree of coquetry is shown in playing with it, and
throwing it out upon the wind.
Complexion varies in the different islands from deep copper-color to
light olive. The natives of the Marquesas have light brown complexions,
so clear that the mantling blush may be distinctly seen. They generally
have fine teeth, expressive features, remarkably delicate hands and
arms, and large sparkling eyes, with long glossy eyelashes. These
women are considered pre-eminent among the South Sea islanders for
beauty of face and figure. When they become tanned, they have a method
of bleaching the skin with the juices of certain plants. The first
effect of this cosmetic is a very dark appearance; but they remain in
the house, covered up with mats, until it can be washed off, and then
the skin becomes very fair. This is considered a necessary preparation
for great festivals, though it often costs the ladies several days of
seclusion.
In Otaheite they have graceful forms, teeth white and regular, bright
black eyes, pale brown complexions, and a skin remarkable for its
softness; but the custom of widening the face by continual pressure
during infancy gives it a broad and masculine look.
Notwithstanding the practice of frequent bathing, the inhabitants of
nearly all the Polynesian islands are much afflicted with cutaneous
disorders.
These islanders are, in general, very particular about cleaning their
mouths, and frequently rub their teeth with charcoal, or the husk of
cocoa-nut. They bathe at sunrise and sunset; and if removed from the
vicinity of the sea, they have water poured over them plentifully
from cocoa-nut shells. After this, they generally anoint themselves
with cocoa-nut oil, perfumed with the aroma of flowers; some color it
with the juice of the tumeric, which makes it a pale yellow, or with
the burnt root, which produces a deep orange. Wealthy people anoint
themselves with oil of sandal-wood. White men, who salute the ladies
of the South sea, are sometimes betrayed by a transfer of yellow and
orange tints to their own faces.
Throughout these islands, they salute each other by rubbing noses,
or touching the nose to the forehead, as if smelling. Our mode of
expressing affection seems to them very ridiculous, and they call
it, in derision, “the white man’s kiss.” At Radack it is considered
indecorous for any but husband and wife to salute each other after the
fashion of their country, and even they never do it before strangers.
Sensuality is the prevailing characteristic of the South Sea islanders.
The licentiousness of their habits and manners, unchecked by nearness
of relationship, and unrestrained by any sense of decency, is too
gross to be described. A child not unfrequently finds its mother and
aunt, or mother and grandmother, in the same individual. The Sandwich
islands and the Society islands have maintained a shameful pre-eminence
in this respect; and the evil has been much increased by the frequent
visits of European and American vessels. Some of the islands furnish an
agreeable exception to these remarks. The women of the Tonga islands
are said to be very modest and reserved. They take great care of their
children; and their girls are early taught many little ornamental
accomplishments, such as plaiting flowers in various fanciful devices,
as presents for their fathers, brothers, and superior chiefs. Voyagers
have likewise described the women of Radack and New Caledonia as decent
in their deportment and bashful about mixing with strangers. The
natives of the Pelew islands are characterized by an uncommon degree of
virtue and decorum, and their manners, though simple and untutored,
are remarkably delicate and obliging.
Gluttony is a prevailing fault in most of the islands of the Pacific.
The wealthy class, who can freely indulge their appetites, attain to a
size quite as unwieldy as the Moorish women. It is mentioned of one of
the queens of the Sandwich islands, that she was in the habit of eating
so inordinately, that she remained sluggish for the remainder of the
day, and it became necessary for attendants to rub her continually. Mr.
Stewart speaks of seeing one of the king’s wives greedily devouring a
large living fish, while the blood spirted over her face, and the poor
animal wreathed its fins about her head in expiring agony.
Cannibalism prevails in nearly all the islands. The flesh of women and
children is preferred to that of men; and captives taken in war are
often devoted to this dreadful purpose. In some of the islands this
practice is abolished.
Infanticide is of common occurrence in many of the South Sea islands.
In Radack, on account of scarcity of provisions, no woman is allowed to
bring up more than three children; if she has more than this number,
she is herself obliged to bury them alive; the families of chiefs
only are exempted from this horrible necessity. Among the warlike
inhabitants of New Zealand, boys are of course prized more highly than
girls; and when mothers have several daughters in succession, they do
not hesitate to destroy them as soon as they are born. When a chief is
very ill, it is customary to strangle the infant child of some female
slave, or inferior person, from the idea that it will propitiate the
gods. Mr. Mariner relates an instance of this kind that occurred while
he was in the Tonga islands. The mother, having some forebodings of
what was to be done, hid her babe. But it was discovered, and carried
off by some men, who ordered the poor woman to be held back by force,
to prevent her from following them. When the child heard her voice,
he began to cry; but when arrived at the place of execution, he was
so much pleased with the bright band of _gnatoo_ about to be tied
round his neck, that he looked up and laughed with delight. This
excited so much pity, that even the executioner could not help saying,
“Poor little innocent!” Two men pulled the cords, and the smiling
little victim was soon deprived of life. In some instances, mothers
whose children have been thus destroyed have become crazy, and never
recovered their senses.
In the Marquesas and Caroline islands, infanticide is a thing unknown.
Even in New Zealand, and in other places where this shocking custom
prevails and is justified, the children they do rear are cherished
with the most indulgent tenderness, and no difference of treatment is
observable toward sons or daughters.
Mr. Ellis thus describes the conduct of a chief named Tetoro, whom he
saw at the Bay of Islands in 1816: “Before we set out on our short
excursion, an incident occurred, which greatly raised my estimation of
Tetoro’s character. In the front of the hut sat his wife, with two or
three children playing around her. In passing from the hut to the boat,
he struck one of the little ones with his foot; the child cried, and
though the chief had his mat on, and his gun in his hand, and was in
the act of stepping into the boat, where we were waiting for him, he no
sooner heard its cries, than he turned back, took the child up in his
arms, stroked its little head, dried its tears, and giving it to the
mother, hastened to join us.”
The unbounded and almost incredible licentiousness that has prevailed
in the Sandwich islands and at Otaheite, has produced the natural
effect of diminishing parental and maternal love. When it is
inconvenient to take care of children, there is no hesitation about
killing them; if strangers wish to buy, they are willing to sell
them for a string of beads; they generally pay little attention to
their cries or sufferings; and if the poor little creatures are very
ill, they lay them down upon the sands to die. The introduction of
Christianity into these islands is, however, gradually producing a
better state of things.
The birth of a son is hailed with the utmost delight. He generally
receives the name of some animal, river, or island; but sometimes
slight incidents give rise to a name; thus a little girl of the
Sandwich islands was called Lealea-hoku, or _The Star Necklace_,
because she had a necklace made of small steel stars, such as European
ladies formerly wore on their shoes.
In New Zealand, fathers take the entire care of boys from the moment
they are weaned. The child clasps his little arms about the neck of
his parent, and remains suspended on his shoulders, covered with his
mat, during the longest journeys and most toilsome occupations. The
children are so much accustomed to this position, that they sleep with
perfect security.
Infants in this part of the world are nursed a long time. They are
often able to run about and talk, before they are weaned. When mothers
are busy at their work, they lay them down on a clean mat, and when
necessary to carry them about, they fasten them in a sort of satchel at
their backs. Little children seldom wear clothing of any kind. In the
Marquesas, every child inherits at least one bread-fruit tree from its
parents; for if they have no trees in their possession, one is planted
as soon as an infant is born, that it may have something for future
maintenance. The tree is immediately _tabooed_, or forbidden, to every
one except the individual for whom it is set apart. Even the parents
of the child are not allowed to eat of the fruit, or to dispose of it.
Both girls and boys, men and women, hold this species of property with
perfect security.
The connections formed in the South Sea islands hardly deserve the
name of marriage. They take place with very little ceremony, and are
dissolved whenever the husband wishes for a change. A woman often has
five or six husbands in succession, without the slightest disparagement
to her character; but whether she continues to like her companion or
not, she is bound to remain with him till he consents to a separation.
The first time a daughter is married, her parents present a hog, a
fowl, or a plantain tree, to their son-in-law, before it is allowable
for them to eat of his provisions; but this is not customary when the
woman has previously had a husband. In some places the lover offers
the bride’s father a present of fruit, fish, or other articles, the
value of which depends upon his rank. Chieftains of the higher classes
generally give a feast on the occasion of a daughter’s marriage. The
bride is loaded with mats of the finest workmanship, anointed with
fragrant oil, and veiled in delicate white gnatoo. The guests wear
wreaths of flowers, and floating red ribands, resembling silk, made of
the fine membrane of a tree. When the father gives his daughter to the
bridegroom, he reminds her that she is now _tabooed_, or belongs solely
and sacredly to her husband. The entertainment concludes with singing,
dancing, and wrestling.
If a powerful chief takes a fancy to a girl, he often carries her
off by force, and in spite of her resistance; ambitious parents not
unfrequently betroth their daughters in infancy to some man of rank,
and the contract must afterward be fulfilled; female captives taken
in war are always at the disposal of their conquerors; but, generally
speaking, mutual inclination constitutes the sole bond of union in all
the islands of the Pacific.
At Nukuhiva it is the custom for every woman to have two husbands. Some
favorite of a girl’s father becomes her husband, while she is yet very
young, and remains under the paternal roof, until she is contracted
in marriage to another individual. On this occasion, the wife and her
first companion remove to their new residence, and are both supported
by the second husband.
In the other islands, polygamy prevails under the more usual form of
a plurality of wives. The number varies according to circumstances;
the poor seldom have more than one or two; the chiefs sometimes have
twelve or fifteen. She who is of the best family is the principal wife;
the others are subordinate to her, and her children take precedence
of theirs. If the mothers are not noble, the children are never so,
whatever may be the rank of their father.
When Mr. Marsden, the missionary, talked with some of the New Zealand
chiefs concerning the disadvantages of polygamy, they frankly admitted
that they should have a more quiet life with one wife, for their
women always quarrelled. The younger wives, particularly if they are
handsome, often suffer a great deal from the tyranny of the older
ones; and if their rank be inferior, their situation is sometimes most
lamentable. All the women, who heard the subject discussed, agreed that
it would be far better for each man to have but one wife.
Finow, one of the most powerful of the Tonga chiefs, had a sister, who
was a very beautiful and lively girl. She talked much about England,
and had a desire to go there to amass a great quantity of beads; but
she said she supposed the _papalangi_ men would not marry a girl
with such a brown skin, and it would be a sad pity to leave so many
handsome young chiefs in the Tonga islands, for the sake of living
unmarried in England. She added, laughing, “I think the white men must
be uncommonly kind, good-natured husbands, or else white women must
have very little spirit; for if it were not so, they could not live so
long together without parting. It is a very good custom to have but one
wife, provided the husband loves her; but if he does not, he will only
tyrannize over her the more; and then she has not so good a chance to
deceive him, as where his attention is divided between five or six.”
Notwithstanding the universal practice of polygamy, there are instances
of very strong domestic attachment in the South Sea islands. It is said
that the infidelity of a husband or wife has often driven the other
party to suicide.
Throughout the South Sea islands a woman may carry on as many amours
as she chooses, without incurring any blame, until she is married,
and thus becomes an article of property; yet notwithstanding this
unpropitious course of education, instances of misconduct after
marriage are said to be by no means frequent.
The king’s wives are always guarded by attendants, who keep a strict
watch upon their proceedings, and whose lives are responsible for a
breach of trust.
Where the parties are of high rank, an unfaithful wife and her paramour
are sometimes both strangled and thrown into the sea; but usually the
woman receives a sound beating, and no farther notice is taken of the
offence. In the Marquesas, if a husband have just cause of complaint,
he can transfer his wife, even against her will, to any man who will
take her.
In some of the islands, men form what is called “the bond of
friendship” with each other. By this bond, individuals are bound to
protect and assist each other under all circumstances; and one friend
is expected to resign his wife to the other, whenever he visits his
house.
It is a common practice for women of rank to be the adopted mother of
some individual for whom their husbands entertain great regard. One of
the wives of Finow performed this office for Mr. Mariner during his
residence in the Tonga islands, and he owed much of his convenience and
comfort to her motherly care.
The women of the Ladrone or Marian islands are of a dark yellow
complexion. Their teeth are spoiled by the constant use of betel. They
dress modestly, and wear the hair tied very low, almost in the neck. If
a man marries a woman whose fortune is superior to his, he performs the
menial offices of household labor; he cannot dispose of the smallest
article without her permission; and should his temper or habits prove
disagreeable, she can leave him, carrying with her all the children and
property. If he detects her in misconduct, he may kill the gallant,
but has no right to use her ill. Should he, on the contrary, be found
guilty of the same fault, his wife collects all the women of the
neighborhood, who destroy his garden, his grain, and his dwelling, and
beat him like so many furies, if they can find him.
Where the husband and wife possess an equal degree of property, labor
and authority is more equally divided. It is not probable that these
things are regulated by laws; but where women are upheld by powerful
connections, their husbands are compelled to yield to the right of the
strongest. According to an ancient law, if the father or brother of a
young woman saved a superior from any imminent danger, the latter was
required to prove his gratitude by marrying the girl without any dowry.
This law was repealed, but by the force of custom it is still generally
observed. Disputes between the men are decided by the women; but female
disputes are settled by themselves. When champions try their skill in
single combat, women adjudge the victory, and present the reward, which
usually consists of fruit or linen. Mourning is worn in the Ladrone
islands two months for a man, and six months for a woman.
In the South Sea islands men and women never eat together. Women take
their food in the same huts in which they sleep; and if any one should
presume to enter the eating-houses of the men, she would be immediately
strangled and thrown into the sea. Articles of luxury, such as pork,
turtle, shark, cocoa-nuts, bananas, or plantains, are forbidden to
women. These rigorous prohibitions are disobeyed whenever it can be
done secretly. When ships are near the shore, the women often swim
off to them in the night, and indulge their appetites by feasting on
various forbidden delicacies. Mr. Campbell says that he once saw the
queen of the Sandwich islands herself guilty of this transgression;
but she told him her life would be forfeited, should the circumstance
be discovered.
On sacred days women are not allowed to enter the morai, or temple;
and at such seasons they must not go out in a canoe. At the Caroline
islands, where they have no idols, but offer the first-fruits of the
earth to invisible gods, men and women present their offerings in
different temples, and at different times, and no man is allowed to be
present while the women perform their religious ceremonies.
Riho-Riho, king of the Sandwich islands, at the same time that he
caused all the idols to be destroyed, abolished the custom which made
it impossible for women to eat with their own husbands and fathers.
He invited all the principal chiefs, foreign traders, and mercantile
agents to a dinner party. Two long tables, covered with dainties, were
spread in an open bower, around which a great multitude had assembled.
When the company had all taken their seats, the king, with considerable
agitation, seated himself between two of his queens, offered them some
of the food forbidden to women, and himself ate from the same dish with
them. Some fears were entertained lest this bold innovation of ancient
usages should occasion a revolt; but the temporary excitement among the
people soon yielded to their habitual obedience to the chief.