ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE.
_Fishing-nets_ of various kinds were in use, and were all manufactured
on the islands. Several of the Polynesian tribes excel in this branch
of industry. A captain of a ship of war, who was buying curiosities
lately at Savage Island, actually refused their fine small
fishing-nets, thinking that they must be articles of _European_
manufacture. In Samoa, net-making is the same now as it was of old. It
is the work of the women, and confined principally to the _inland_
villages. One would have thought that it would be the reverse, and
that the _coast_ districts would have made it their principal
business. The trade being confined to the interior, is probably
occasioned by its proximity to the raw material which abounds in the
bush, viz. the bark of the hibiscus, already referred to in describing
"fine mats."
After the rough outer surface of the bark has been scraped off with a
shell on a board, the remaining fibres are twisted with the mere palm
of the hand across the bare thigh into a strong whip-cord, or finer
twine, according to the size of the meshes of the net. As the good
lady's cord lengthens, she fills her netting-needle, and when that is
full, works it into her net. Their wooden netting-needles are exactly
the same in form as those in common use in Europe. One evening, in
taking a walk, Mrs. Turner and I stood for a few minutes and looked at
a woman working a net. Mrs. Turner begged to be allowed to do a bit,
took the needle, and did a few loops, to the no small amazement of the
woman, who wondered how a European lady could know how to handle a
_Samoan_ netting-needle, and do _Samoan_ work.
They make nets of all sizes, from the small one of eighteen inches
square to the seine of a hundred feet long. A net forty feet long and
twelve feet deep can be had for native mats, or white calico, to the
value of twenty shillings. A hundred men may be able to muster some
twenty nets. These they unite together, and, in the lagoon off their
settlement, take large quantities of mullet and other fish.
_The pearl-shell fish-hook_ is another article long in use, and in the
manufacture of which the Samoans show some ingenuity. They cut a strip
off the shell, from two to three inches long, and rub it smooth on a
stone, so as to resemble a small fish. On the under side, or what may
be called the belly, of this little mock fish, they fasten a hook made
of tortoise-shell, or, it may be, nowadays, an English steel one.
Alongside of the hook, concealing its point, and in imitation of the
fins of a little fish, they fasten two small white feathers. Without
any bait, this pearl-shell contrivance is cast adrift at the stern of
a canoe, with a line of twenty feet, and from its striking resemblance
to a little fish it is soon caught at, and in this way the Samoans
secure a large quantity of their favourite food. No European fish-hook
has yet superseded this purely native invention. They bait and use the
steel fish-hook, however, and in some cases use it on their
pearl-shells, as we have just remarked, instead of the tortoise-shell
fish-hook.
_A curious native drill_ is seen in connection with the manufacture of
these little shell fish-hooks. Fine holes are drilled through the
shell for the purpose of making fast the hook as well as the line, and
the instrument to which we refer answers the purpose admirably. For
the sake of comparison with other parts of the world, this simple
contrivance is worth a few lines of description. Take a piece of wood,
eighteen inches long, twice the thickness of a cedar pencil. Fasten
with a strong thread a fine-pointed nail, or a sail-needle, to the end
of this sort of spindle. Get a thick piece of wood, about the size of
what is called in England a "hot cross bun," and in Scotland a
"cookie," bore a hole in the centre of it, run the spindle through it,
and wedge it fast about the middle of the spindle. At the top of the
spindle fasten two strings, each nine inches long, to the ends of
these strings attach the ends of a common cedar pencil, forming a
triangle with a wooden base and string sides. Stand up the machine
with your left hand, place the iron point where you wish to bore a
hole, and steady the spindle with your left hand. Take hold of the
pencil handle of the upper triangle, twirl round the spindle with your
left hand, which will coil on the strings at the top to the spindle,
pull down the pencil handle quickly, and then the machine will spin
round. Work the handle in this way up and down, like a pump, the cord
will alternately run off and on to the spindle, and the machine will
continue to whirl round, first one way and then the other, until the
pearl-shell, or whatever it may be, is perforated.
There is hardly anything else in the department of manufacture
requiring particular notice. When speaking of garments, we referred to
_native cloth_ and _mats_. Large quantities of _cinnet_ are plaited by
the old men principally. They sit at their ease in their houses, and
twist away very rapidly. At political meetings also, where there are
hours of formal palaver and speechifying, the old men take their work
with them, and improve the time at the cleanly, useful occupation of
twisting cinnet. It is a substitute for twine, and useful for many a
purpose, and is now sold to the merchants at about a shilling per
pound. _Baskets_ and _fans_ are made as of old of the cocoa-nut
leaflet, _floor mats_ and a finer kind of baskets from the pandanus
leaf. Twenty or thirty pieces of the rib of the cocoa-nut leaflet,
fastened close together with a thread of cinnet, form a _comb_. Oval
_tubs_ are made by hollowing out a block of wood. _Clubs_, three feet
long, from the iron-wood, or something else that is heavy. _Spears_,
eight feet long, were made from the cocoa-nut tree, and barbed with
the sting of the ray-fish; a wicked contrivance, for it was meant to
break off from the spear in the body of the unhappy victim. In nine
cases out of ten there was no way of cutting it out, and the poor
creature died in agony.
The Samoans are an agricultural rather than a manufacturing people. In
addition to their own individual wants, their hospitable custom in
supplying, without money and without stint, the wants of visitors from
all parts of the group, was a great drain on their plantations. The
fact that a party of natives could travel from one end of the group to
the other without a penny of expense for food and lodging, was an
encouragement to pleasure excursions, friendly visits, and all sorts
of travelling. Hardly a day passed without there being some strangers
in the "guest house" of the village, to be provided for by a
contribution from every family in the place. After meeting fully,
however, all home wants, large quantities of yams, taro, and bananas,
with pigs and poultry, were still to spare, and were sold to the ships
which called for water and supplies.