SAMOA, OR THE NAVIGATORS’ ISLANDS--_Continued_.
WAR.
CAUSES OF WAR IN SAMOA -- THE MALO, AND STRUGGLES FOR ITS POSSESSION
-- THE CHIEF’S VENGEANCE -- FIRE-ARMS PREVENTIVE OF WAR -- SAMOAN
WEAPONS -- THE CLUBS -- PATTERNS OF CLUBS THROUGHOUT POLYNESIA --
STRANGE MODE OF USING THE SPEAR -- THE SHARK-TOOTH GAUNTLETS --
SUITS OF ARMOR -- GETTING TOGETHER AN ARMY, AND MODE OF FIGHTING --
UNPLEASANT POSITION OF NEUTRALS -- THE SEA-FIGHT -- DISTINGUISHING
PENNANTS -- THE DEFIANCE BEFORE BATTLE -- TROPHIES OF WAR, AND
ELATION OF THE VICTOR -- DISPOSAL OF THE BODIES -- THE HEAD PILE --
SINGLE COMBAT BETWEEN CHIEFS -- SAMOAN LAW -- PUNISHMENT FOR MURDER
AND LESSER OFFENCES -- CANNIBALISM -- NATIVE LAWYERS -- THE PLAINTIFF
DEFEATED WITH HIS OWN WEAPONS.
It was mentioned on page 1014, that women when captured in war become
the absolute property of those who take them; we will therefore
devote a short space to warfare among the Samoans, omitting those
characteristics in which it resembles war among the other Polynesian
tribes, which have already been described.
The causes of war may mostly be reduced to four; namely, the desire of
political supremacy, disputed succession to chieftainship, revenge for
the murder of a chief, and infringement of the strange marriage laws of
the Samoans.
The first of these causes is always rankling. Each island is divided
into several districts, and when one begins to show signs of special
prosperity, another is sure to take umbrage at it and go to war in
order to secure the “Malo,” or political supremacy. One example of such
a war occurred only a few years ago in the island of Apolo.
Manono, one of the three districts into which it is divided, held the
supremacy, and the chiefs felt indignant because another district,
Aâna, was prospering under the teaching of the missionaries. The chiefs
of Manono therefore began to oppress Aâna by making continual demands
of property and food. Still, in spite of their exactions, the district
would persist in flourishing; it made and sold more cocoa-nut oil, and
sold it for more hatchets, calico, and other European treasures, than
the other districts. The Manono chiefs were naturally indignant that
when they went to a subject district they found it better cultivated
and richer than their own, and construed the inferiority which they
could not but feel into an intentional insult on the part of Aâna. So
they proclaimed the people of Aâna to be rebels, and made war against
them.
Such a cause of war, absurd as it may be, and subversive of all real
progress, is intelligible, and to be explained by the petty jealousies
of human nature, which is too prone to feel itself personally hurt
at the prosperity of another. Vengeance for a murdered chief is
intelligible, and so is a war for succession; but the last cause needs
some explanation.
By the laws of Samoa, a woman once a wife is always a wife, even though
she may be put away by her husband. The Samoan chiefs claim the right
of marrying as many wives as they choose, and putting them away as
often as they like. Indeed, a man often marries a girl merely for the
sake of her dower of mats and other property. But even after he has
put away a wife, he still considers her as his own chattel; and if any
other chief takes her to his house, war is at once declared against
him. It is a curious fact that the original husband cares nothing
about the morality of the wife whom he has put away, but only for the
insult offered to himself by taking his property. Such cast-off wives
mostly attach themselves to the Fala-tele, or visiting house, leading
most immoral lives, and may do so without incurring any resentment
from their former husband. But let them marry another, and vengeance
immediately follows the insult.
[Illustration: MANGAIAN SPEAR. (See page 1034.)
_Head larger_
_Full length in proportion to head_]
[Illustration: ADZE MAGNIFIED. (See page 1033.)]
[Illustration: SUIT OF ARMOR. (See page 1019.)]
[Illustration: SAMOAN CLUB. (See page 1019.)]
[Illustration: MANGAIAN PADDLES (See page 1033.)]
Before the introduction of fire-arms, the principal weapons of Samoa
were the spear and the club. The older chiefs have a rooted objection
to the musket, and, like Hotspur’s fop, have not been particularly
willing to take the field since that “villanous saltpetre” has come
into vogue. Muskets, say they, are weapons for boys; clubs for men.
They have some reason to complain of the bullets, which, as they say,
do not know chiefs, because their towering headdresses make them so
conspicuous that they afford excellent marks to the enemy; and if by
chance one of their opponents should have even a moderate notion of
taking aim, their chance of coming safely out of the battle would be a
very small one.
The clubs used in Samoa are remarkable for the excellence of their
make, and the polish and finish with which the native carver loves to
ornament them. Some of them are short, used for one hand, and made just
like the steel maces of European chivalry. Others are almost exactly
like the club No. 1, figured on page 949. The example which is given
in the illustration entitled “Club,” on page 1018, is drawn from a
specimen in my collection, and belonged to the same chief who owned the
war mat and feather headdress which have been described. It is five
feet in length, and very heavy, so that none but a very powerful man
can use it. As it has seen much work, it has been battered about, the
wood of the head cracked, and the carving defaced. I have therefore had
it drawn as it was when new.
As a rule the clubs of Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, and other Polynesian groups
can hardly be definitely referred to any one of them. The commerce
which passes between them has caused an interchange of weapons as
well as of peaceful commodities, so that the two distinct races which
inhabit Fiji and the Tongan and Samoan group use weapons which are
almost identical. Thus the serrated club which has just been mentioned
is equally used in New Guinea, Fiji, and Samoa, the pattern having been
found a convenient one, and so transmitted from one island to the other.
The spears, again, have a great similitude, and are armed with barbs,
the best being tipped with the tail-bone of the sting-ray. In former
days, when a warrior had pierced an enemy with his spear, he tried to
lift him from the ground upon it; and if he were unable to do so, he
was generally assisted by several of his comrades, who all thrust their
spears into his body, lifted him in the air, and bore him aloft in
triumph, not caring whether he were alive or dead.
One weapon, however, seems to be peculiar to Samoa, and has been
mentioned by Mariner. It consists of a pair of gauntlets made of
cocoa-nut fibre, on the inside of which are fixed several rows of
sharks’ teeth, set edgewise. In fact, this weapon is made exactly on
the principle of the terrible “tiger-claw” of India, and is intended
for the purpose of ripping up an adversary, the abdomen being the part
that is always attacked, both by the Samoan and the Hindoo.
One chief, who was of gigantic dimensions, even for a Samoan,
always fought with these terrible gauntlets. He used them, however,
in a different manner, and disdained to tear open the body of his
antagonist. As all the points of the teeth are directed backward, it
is impossible for any one who is grasped by these gauntlets to tear
himself away. The gigantic chief was accustomed to rush at one of the
enemy, seize him with his gauntleted hand, fling him on his face, place
one foot on the small of his back, grasp him by the head and bend
him forcibly upward so as to break his spine. This was his mode of
dealing with able-bodied men. If, however, he seized a small man, he
merely threw the victim across his knee, broke his back, and flung his
dying foe on the ground. The illustration on page 1025 is taken from a
beautiful specimen in the collection of the United Service Museum.
In order to guard themselves against these weapons, the Samoan warriors
gird themselves with a very broad and thick belt, made of cocoa-nut
fibre, wide enough to reach from the arm to the hip. It is not quite
long enough to encircle the body, but is worn mostly on the left side,
that being the side most exposed to the enemy.
One of these belts, in my collection, is two feet nine inches in
length, so that when fastened round the waist it leaves a considerable
portion of the right side exposed. It is made by taking a number of
plaited cords, and passing them over two sticks, so that all the cords
are parallel to each other. They are then bound firmly together by
strings of twisted fibre, which pass under and over each alternately,
and make a very strong armor, through which the dreaded sharks’ teeth
cannot make their way.
Sometimes the Samoan warrior seems to have been mistrustful of the
efficacy of the belt, and to have feared the effects of the shark’s
teeth on his naked arms and legs. There is in the collection of the
United Service Museum a complete suit of armor, most ingeniously made
out of fibre, and so formed as to cover the greater part of the body
and limbs. It is in two portions, the upper being put on as a coat,
and the lower as trousers. By the sides of the armor, on p. 1018, are
two small sketches, showing on an enlarged scale the patterns of the
plaiting.
There is no definite army among the Samoans, each man being considered
as a soldier, and having his weapons always at hand. He is liable at
any time to be called out by his chief, and, as a rule, he troubles
himself very little about the cause of the war, only concerning himself
to fight in the train of his chief. The Samoans are a brave race, and,
if properly led and taught the veriest rudiments of discipline, would
make good soldiers. As it is, however, no Samoan warrior fights with
the knowledge that his movements are directed in accordance with a
definite plan, or that he will be supported by others. He does not feel
himself a simple unit among many, but has to look out for himself, to
select his own adversary, to advance when he thinks he can do so with
advantage, to run away when he feels himself getting into undue peril.
Whenever a few Samoans have put themselves under the guidance of a
white man, they have always repelled their foes. In one such case,
twenty men drove off a body of five hundred enemies, flushed with
success and bloodshed. Both parties were armed with muskets, but the
regular though insignificant volleys of the twenty men so completely
disorganized the five hundred undisciplined foes, that the latter dared
not attack the little stone wall, five feet high and twenty-five yards
long, behind which the defenders were lying.
Had the latter been left to their own devices, they would have fired
all their pieces at once, and been left with unloaded muskets at the
mercy of their foes. But being taught always to keep half their muskets
loaded, they had always a volley ready for their enemies, who were
utterly discomfited at their reception, and at last were only too glad
to escape as they best could, with the loss of many men.
The position of a neutral is not at all a pleasant one in Samoa, as, in
case either side should appear to be likely to win the day, those of
the losing side who happen to be friendly with the unfortunate neutral
make a point of stripping him of all his property, to prevent it from
falling into the hands of the enemy. Those Europeans who know the
native customs always erect barricades whenever war parties come near
them, knowing that they stand in equal danger from friends or foes.
When a chief decides on going to war, he calls out all the warriors
in his district. Though there is no real discipline of the soldiers,
there is at all events some semblance of order in their arrangement.
Each town has its definite place, and the inhabitants would resent
any attempt on the part of another town to take the place which they
consider as their own. The most honorable post is in front, and, though
it is a post of danger, it is so honorable that if a man belonging to
any town privileged to lead the war were placed in the rear, he would
probably desert to the enemy. In fact, a vast amount of desertion
does take place, and by means of the deserters and the women, both
parties know tolerably well the designs of their antagonists. The idea
of conceiving, maturing a plan, keeping it secret, and then suddenly
acting on it, seems never to have entered the mind of the Samoan chiefs.
Though the vanguard is the post of danger as well as of honor, it is
greatly coveted, for it is also the post of profit both in peace and
war. The inhabitants of the privileged towns claim the largest share
at the feasts, and generally rule the district in which they live. As
all the Samoans dress much alike and speak the same language, they are
obliged to wear a sort of uniform, by which they shall know friends
from foes. In the case of warriors, the hair is dressed in some strange
way, or a white shell is hung round the neck, or a strip of cloth tied
round the arm, these symbols being changed every three or four days, in
order to prevent the enemy from imitating them.
When canoes unite under one leader, they hang out symbols of a similar
character, such as bunches of leaves, strips of matting, or even a
sort of flag made of native matting, and having painted on it the rude
figure of some animal, such as a pig, a dog, or a bird. True to the
independent nature of Samoan warriors, the two men who respectively
command the land and the sea forces never think of consulting together,
and acting in concert together, but each does what he thinks best on
the spur of the moment. In the case already mentioned, where twenty
Aâna men repulsed five hundred of the Savaiis, the latter might have
been cut off to a man. While they were kept in check by the twenty
disciplined warriors, a fleet of Aâna canoes appeared off the shore;
and, if the commander had only landed his men, a most thorough example
would have been made of the invaders. But he had nothing to do with the
land force, and so allowed the enemy to escape without even attempting
to stop them.
The student of anthropology always finds that human nature is much the
same in different parts of the earth, and that manners and customs
wonderfully resemble each other in principle, though they may be
modified in detail by the accident of time and place. It has already
been mentioned that many of the Samoan laws are identical with those
given by Moses, though there is no possibility that any geographical
connection could ever have taken place between Polynesia and Sinai.
Warfare is carried on at the present day in Samoa just as the
scriptures tell us it used to be in Palestine and Syria, and as Homer
tells us it was waged on the plains of Troy. When two opposing bodies
meet, the leaders challenge and abuse each other in good set terms,
each boasting of his own prowess, depreciating that of the adversary,
and threatening after he has killed his enemy to dishonor his corpse
in some way. Thus, we find that when David had accepted the challenge
of Goliath, before they proceeded to action they reviled each other,
Goliath threatening to give David’s flesh unto the “fowls of the air
and the beasts of the field,” and David retorting in almost the same
words, but adding that he would do the same by the bodies of the whole
army.
Thus, in the old Homeric story, where Ulysses flings his spear at
Socus, he uses almost exactly the same formula of words:--
“Ah, wretch! no father shall thy corpse compose,
Thy dying eye no tender mother close;
But hungry birds shall tear those balls away,
And hovering vultures scream around their prey.”
Thus, the Fijian warrior defies his enemy in words before he proceeds
to blows, threatening to bake and eat his body and make a drinking-cup
of his scull. Thus, the Samoan war parties always think it necessary
to pause and defy each other in words before they proceed to blows.
For example, when the Manono and Aâna men fought in the struggle which
has just been described, they exchanged threats and injurious epithets
wonderfully like the “winged words” of the Homeric warriors, the
sentiment being identical, though the imagery is necessarily different.
The illustration No. 1, on page 1027, shows these Samoan warriors
exchanging defiance with their foes.
“You banana-eating Manono men, be your throats consumed by Moso.”
“Ye cocoa-nut eating Aâna men, be your tongues wasted.”
“Where is that Savii pig that comes to his death?”
“Roast that Atua king who is about to die by my spear;” and so on _ad
infinitum_.
These war parties afford excellent opportunities of studying the dress
and ornaments of the Samoans. It is thought a point of honor with them,
as with the American Indians, to go into action in the fullest dress
and decorated with every ornament that can be procured, so that the
headdress and general accoutrements of a chief when engaged in war are
sure to be the best examples that can be seen.
The proceedings that take place after a battle are well described by
Mr. Pritchard. “After a fight, the heads of the slain warriors are
paraded in presence of the assembled chiefs and people, when the heroes
are individually thanked, and their general prowess and daring publicly
acknowledged. The excitement of the successful warrior is intense,
as he passes before the chiefs with his bleeding trophy, capering in
the most fantastic evolutions, with blackened face and oiled body,
throwing his club high in the air, and catching it behind his back or
between his legs; sometimes himself carrying his dead enemy’s head,
sometimes dancing round a comrade who carries it for him, all the while
shouting in his loudest voice, ‘Ou te mau tangata! Ou te mau tangata!’
(‘I have my man, I have my man!’)”
To a young Samoan this is the realization of his highest ambition, to
be thus publicly thanked by the chief for slaying an enemy in mortal
combat, as he careers before his comrades with the reeking head of his
foe in one hand, and his club in the other.
“Then, again, when the war is over, and he returns to his village, to
hear his companions rehearse the exploit, and the girls pronounce him
‘toa’ _i. e._ brave; then it is you see in their very perfection the
complacent dignity and latent pride that lurk within that brown-skinned
islander. As he assumes an air of unconscious disregard of the praises
his deeds evoke, you see the sublime and the ludicrous neatly blending,
when he turns to the girls, and mildly exclaims, ‘Funa mai si rului!’
(‘Woman, hand me a cigar.’) This modest little order is at once pretty
and pert, dignified and careless, when it falls from the lips of a hero
or a beau. And proud is the girl who hands it to him; she has but one
ambition then, to become his wife, even with the certainty of being
cast off in less than a month for another.
“After the heads have been paraded before the chiefs, they are piled
up in the malae, or open space in the centre of the town, the head
of the greatest chief slain being placed uppermost. If among the
visitors there are any relatives of the slain, they claim the heads
and bury them, or send them back to the comrades of the deceased. The
unclaimed heads are buried together in the malae. Any bodies that may
be recognized are also buried by their friends, while those who have no
relations among the visitors are left to rot and make food for the dogs.
“The relations are careful to bury the bodies they identify, lest
their spirits should haunt them or wander about the field of battle,
disconsolate and mournful, lamenting the fate which left their bodies
to rot or to be eaten by the dogs. I have often heard the natives say,
‘Hear that spirit moaning, I am cold! I am cold!’ when a stormy night
has thrown its darkness and poured its torrents of rain and gusts of
wind over the battle-field. It was vain to tell them that the noise
they heard was merely the creaking boughs or the pelting rain; to them
it was nothing else than the spirit of the unburied dead enemy.”
The feelings of vanity are so acute in a Samoan warrior that he will
do almost anything to procure applause at these meetings after a
battle. One man who had failed to kill an enemy was greatly annoyed
with himself at having missed the public applause which he had hoped
to gain, and hit upon another mode of obtaining a sort of celebrity.
He cut off the great toes of a dead enemy whose head had already been
taken, and with these toes in his mouth paraded before the chiefs as if
he had taken a head. Finding that this novel act excited admiration, he
became so excited that he ate the toes, even without cooking them, in
the presence of all the people.
Such an act as this might induce the reader to suppose that the
Samoans, like many Polynesians, are cannibals. In the ordinary sense of
the word, they are not so. After a battle they will sometimes cook and
eat a human body, but this is done as an act of disgrace, and not as
a gratification of the appetite. In one instance, a young woman whose
father had been killed in battle obtained a scalp that had belonged to
the enemy. She first burned it to ashes, then beat it to powder, and
scattered the dust on the fire over which she cooked her provisions.
After a decisive battle, the chiefs of the beaten side come humbly
before their victorious antagonists, carrying firewood, stones and
pieces of bamboo. They lay their burdens before the principal chief,
and prostrate themselves on the ground, lying there in silence.
Should, as is generally the case, the victors be willing to accept the
submission, the prostrate chiefs are told to rise and return home; but
if they should not be satisfied, the men are clubbed where they lie,
while the people whom they represent suffer all the horrors of savage
warfare.
The firewood, stones, and bamboo are considered as emblems of the
utterly abject state to which the bearers have been reduced. The
stones, being the material with which the native ovens are made,
signify that those who deposit them at the feet of the victors give
themselves up to be baked and eaten by the conquerors. The firewood
represents the material with which the ovens are heated, and the bamboo
serves as a double symbol. In the first place, the knives with which
the Samoans cut up their food were always made of bamboo before the
use of iron was introduced by Europeans; and in the second place,
the instruments by which torture was inflicted on prisoners by cruel
captors were made of the same material.
When the conquered party are pardoned, they enter the house of the
chief, kiss his feet, and present him with fine mats, bark cloth, food,
and similar property. This ceremony is called Ifonga, and is sometimes
employed on other occasions. For example, during the war between Manono
and Aâna, two of the most influential chiefs of the latter party took
umbrage at some slight, either real or fancied, and deserted to the
enemy. Desertion of this nature is quite a common event in Samoan
warfare, inasmuch as the chiefs are almost entirely independent of
each other, and are bound together by the slightest of ties. In fact,
the condition of these islanders much resembles that of the Scottish
Highlanders in the old times, when it was hardly possible to wage a
regular war on account of the rival jealousies of the different chiefs,
besides the internal dissensions among the members of each clan.
Besides, as in the old Scottish clans, there is no discipline by which
even the men are bound together. Each man serves as long as he chooses,
and no longer. If he thinks himself slighted, or if his crops at home
have to be got in, he has no hesitation in shouldering his club, and
going off to his own village; nor is there any law by which he can
be punished for so doing. In the war to which we are now alluding, a
vast number of the Savaii allies of Manono had gone off to their own
plantations.
In order to carry out the principle of obtaining the Malo, or
sovereignty, it was necessary that the deserters should do homage
to Manono, and be replaced in state in their homes, which they were
supposed to hold under Manono as vassals in charge. If they could take
possession without being attacked by the opposing party, they were
supposed to have asserted their rights.
Accordingly, a great ceremony was projected. The Manono chiefs recalled
all the allies who had escaped from the war, ostensibly to look after
their plantations, but in reality because they had a strong objection
to bullets, and summoned them to bring the produce of their plantations
to a great “fono,” or discussion. Accordingly, they all came back,
allured by the prospect of the feast which accompanies such a “fono.”
The two deserting chiefs were introduced to the assembly, and went
through the ceremony of Ifonga as a matter of form. Next they had to
be safely installed in their own villages. With one of them this was a
comparatively easy matter, as the whole district was deserted. So the
chief was taken there in triumph, escorted by thirty or forty canoes,
and formally installed in his own domains, as vassal to Manono, and
therefore acknowledging the right of Malo to belong to that district.
He had no followers with him, and in a day or two he left the place
and returned to Manono. Still, the transaction had been completed, the
time during which he held his domain not being of any importance. The
reader may be glad to know that this chief suffered the usual fate of
renegades, being received at first with great ceremony, and made much
of, and afterward sinking into utter obscurity.
As to the other chief, there was a difficulty respecting the
installation. It so happened that, he having been one of the most
influential leaders, all the united forces of the two districts, Aâna
and Atua, were encamped in and about the place, and if he had been
taken there he would not only have been attacked, but the invading
party would probably have been repelled by the united forces of the
other two districts. So, after much deliberation, it was determined
that he should be installed at a convenient season, but that the
precise time for performing the ceremony need not for the present be
fixed upon.
Sometimes a couple of chiefs quarrel, and, instead of going to war,
fight it out themselves with their clubs. They display great dexterity
in fencing and guarding, as well as striking, and are watched intently
by the spectators. They are usually parted before they do any serious
harm to each other, because in case either were killed, or even
seriously injured, a war of vengeance would be the inevitable result.
* * * * *
Comparatively little is known of the native laws of Samoa, which, like
all similar institutions, are always on the change, and of late years
have been almost forgotten by reason of the presence of Europeans in
the islands. We find, however, from several travellers, especially
from those who have lived among the Samoans as missionaries, that a
tolerably well-defined code of laws is recognized, and administered by
the chief and his councillors.
Murder, for example, was punishable by death; and this was so well
known that when one man murdered another, he and all his family
generally fled to another district, where they were sure of protection.
It was necessary that all the family should accompany the murderer,
because the relatives of the slain man might wreak their vengeance
upon any relation of the murderer. Practically, the punishment for
murder resolved itself into a heavy fine. The fugitive necessarily
left behind him his plantations, his house, and other property, all
of which was seized by the chief. Sometimes the whole of the property
was confiscated, the house burned down, the plantation devastated, and
a message sent to the murderer that he might never return to his own
village. Generally, however, this extreme punishment was commuted for
a heavy fine, part of which consisted in giving a feast to the entire
village.
Damaging a fruit tree was held to be a crime deserving of heavy
punishment; and so was speaking disrespectfully to a chief, destroying
a fence, or behaving rudely to strangers. For several offences the
Samoans had a curiously graduated scale of punishments. Sometimes, when
the offence was a light one, the offender was sentenced to seat himself
in front of the chief and his council, and take five bites of a cruelly
pungent root. Sometimes he was obliged to toss and catch a certain
number of times one of the prickly sea-urchins, which are covered with
slender spikes, as sharp as needles and as brittle as glass. Sometimes
he had to beat his head with sharp stones until his face was covered
with blood.
These punishments were usually inflicted, but there was a severe set
of penalties for graver offences. In some cases the offender was hung
by the feet to the branch of a tree, or stripped of all his clothes,
and set in the burning rays of the mid-day sun. One of the severest,
as well as most degrading punishments consisted in taking a pole cut
from a very prickly tree, tying together the culprit’s feet and hands,
slinging him on the pole as pigs are slung when they are being taken to
the oven, and carrying him to the house or village against which he had
offended.
The degrading part of this punishment consisted in likening the
offender to a pig going to the oven. It is always held as a deep insult
to a Samoan to compare him to a pig; while the very idea of being baked
in the oven is most repulsive to the feelings of the people, who have
the same contempt for any of the processes of cookery that prevails
throughout New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga. So utterly humiliating is this
punishment, that when the culprit is laid helpless at the feet of those
whom he has injured he is almost invariably released and forgiven,
the extreme degradation being accepted as an atonement for almost any
offence, no matter how heinous. This is the reason why the ceremony of
Ifonga is considered as so degrading.
Indeed, it is in consequence of this feeling that cannibalism is
occasionally practised, though, as has already been mentioned, it
exists in a very modified form. Formerly, the women always attended
upon the warriors for the sake of obtaining the bodies of the slain
foes, which they dragged out of the field, and then cooked, by way
of expressing the utmost contempt for them. The priests used also to
accompany the warriors, and pray to the gods for success. They had good
reason for wishing for victory, as their portion of the food was only
the hands of the slain warriors, and as long as the struggle lasted
they were not allowed to eat any other food except these hands. The
priests of the losing side have sometimes been obliged to fast for
several days in succession.
When the body of a chief was carried off to the oven, great rejoicings
were made, and every one was expected to eat a piece of it, no matter
how small. On such occasions, even the women and little children had
a share, the question being frequently asked whether all have tasted.
Sometimes, when a captive has been taken alive, the Samoans have been
known to tie him up to a tree, dig a hole in front of him, line it with
stones, heat it before his eyes, and then throw him into it.
According to the accounts of the natives, wars were formerly much more
common than is now the case, the musket having almost driven the club
and spear out of the field, and rendering useless the strength and
skill of the warriors, who prided themselves on their dexterity of
handling their weapons. How well they fence with the club has already
been described, and that they were equally efficient in the use of the
spear is evident from an anecdote told by Mr. Williams.
A chief named Matetau had come on board an English vessel, and
the captain, wishing to test the skill of his visitor, painted on
the foresail a ring about four or five inches in diameter, and
asked Matetau to throw his spear at it. The chief retired to the
quarter-deck, about eighty feet from the mark, poised his spear for
a moment, and sent it through the middle of the ring. Warriors thus
skilful in the use of their weapons might well feel indignant at the
introduction of fire-arms, which equalize the weak and the strong, and
enable a mere boy only just tattooed to kill the greatest chief.
When cases are brought before the council for adjudication, both
plaintiff and defendant exhibit the greatest ingenuity in stating
their case, and are wonderfully fertile in inventing new arguments.
The Samoan litigant is as slippery as an eel, and no sooner has he
found one post untenable than he has contrived to glide away from it
and establish himself in another. Mr. Pritchard gives a very amusing
instance of this characteristic of the Samoan.
The property of an English resident, who was popularly called “Monkey
Jack,” had been wantonly destroyed, and the injured man referred the
case to the council. As at that time two ships of war arrived, the
matter was by common consent referred to the senior officer, and the
plaintiff, accompanied by his friends, proceeded to the spot. The
chiefs were convened, and, though they could not deny that the property
had been destroyed, they put forward a series of excuses for refusing
to pay any indemnity.
Firstly, they said that the plaintiff had joined the enemy, and that
they were therefore entitled to wage war on him. This accusation being
refuted, they shifted their ground from the man to his wife, saying
that she was related to the enemy, and that her husband necessarily
partook of the relationship. Fortunately, the woman happened to be
related equally to both sides, so that the defendants had to abandon
that plea.
Their next count was, that the destruction of the property was
accidental, and that therefore the owner had no claim on them. As their
own previous admissions contradicted them, there was no difficulty in
disposing of this allegation. Their next line of defence was a very
ludicrous one, and showed that they were nearly brought to bay. It so
happened that “Monkey Jack” was something of an armorer, and used to
repair for the natives the muskets which their rough hands had damaged.
His opponents suddenly recollected this and turned it to account,
saying that his charges for repairs were so much heavier to them than
to the enemy, that in self-defence they had taken his property in
compensation. Evidence was brought that his charges were always the
same to any natives, no matter to which party they belonged, and so the
defendants were again beaten.
Like wise men, however, they had reserved their weightiest argument
to the last. It has already been mentioned that in time of war either
party has no scruple in destroying or confiscating the property of
a friend, on the plea that it is better for them to have the use of
the property than for the enemy to take it. The defendants brought
forward an argument based on this custom, saying that they only acted
in accordance with national custom, and that they had destroyed the
property of the plaintiff, in order to keep it out of the hands of the
enemy.
This was by far the most formidable argument they could have employed,
but “Monkey Jack” was as clever as his opponents, and replied with
crushing effect, that for several weeks the opposite party had been
able, if they had desired to do so, to destroy all his property, but
had refrained from touching it.
When the chiefs saw that they had met with men more skilful than
themselves in argument, they were sadly perplexed, and some of the
younger chiefs hit on a mode by which they thought that they might
escape from paying the indemnity. They agreed quietly to surround the
spot where the captain and the consul were sitting, and suddenly carry
them off, and retain them as hostages until the indemnity should be
given up. Fortunately, Mr. Pritchard detected their plot, and contrived
to slip back to the boats, where he arranged a counter plot.
Before very long, the Samoans surrounded the place where the intended
captives were sitting, and, just as they were about to seize them, Mr.
Pritchard called out to them, and showed them that they were covered by
the levelled muskets of the sailors and marines, who had accompanied
the captain and the consul to the spot. Knowing that, unlike
themselves, the English warriors had an inconvenient habit of hitting
when they fired, the Samoan chiefs acknowledged themselves conquered,
and agreed to pay the indemnity.
Another case, much more petty, was a very ludicrous one, the Samoan
absolutely granting himself to be defeated by the logic of his
opponent.
There was a certain West Indian negro, who had taken up his residence
in Samoa, and had attained in a neighboring tribe the rank of chief,
together with the name of Paunga. A native chief, named Toe-tangata
(called, for brevity’s sake, Toe), had a dog, which was in the habit
of stealing from Paunga’s house. The latter had often complained to
the owner of the animal, but without success, and at last, as the dog
continued to steal, Paunga shot it. Now in Samoa to insult a chief’s
dog is to insult the owner, and so Toe considered himself to have been
shot by Paunga.
The case was at last referred to the captain of an English man-of-war,
but Paunga refused to appear, saying that he was a Samoan chief, and
not under the jurisdiction of a foreigner. A file of armed marines
was at once sent for Paunga, who ingeniously took advantage of the
proceeding, placing himself at their head, and telling the people that
they might now see that he was a chief among the white people as well
as among natives, and had his guard of honor, without which he would
not have stirred out of the house.
Both being before the captain, Toe made his complaint, and was
instantly crushed by Paunga’s reply. He admitted that the property of
a chief was identical with the owner. Consequently, when Toe’s dog ate
Paunga’s food, he, Toe, ate Paunga. Therefore, when Paunga shot Toe in
the person of his dog, he only balanced the account, and neither party
had grounds of complaint against the other.
[Illustration: SHARK-TOOTH GAUNTLET. (See page 1019.)]