NIUE, OR SAVAGE ISLAND.
ORIGIN--COSTUME--LAWS--BURIAL.
REASON FOR THE NAME OF THE ISLAND -- SINGULAR LEGEND -- THE SAILOR
AMONG THE SAVAGES -- APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES -- A SAVAGE WAR DANCE
-- MODE OF DRESSING THE HAIR -- COSTUME OF THE MEN -- A CURIOUS
WEAPON -- PRESUMED ORIGIN OF THE SAVAGE ISLANDERS -- DEFEAT OF THE
TONGANS -- CODE OF LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS -- CANOE MAKING -- SAILING --
NIUAN ARCHITECTURE -- DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
Between the Hervey and the Tongan groups, there lies an island which
was called by Captain Cook “SAVAGE ISLAND,” on account of the behavior
of the natives, who not only declined his overtures of peace, but
attacked him “like so many wild boars.” The native name of the island
is Niue.
This ferocity of theirs is due to an ancient custom of putting to death
all strangers who land on their shores, a fate from which even their
own people do not escape, if they have been absent for any length of
time. The history of this strange people has of late years become
better known, owing to the exertions of the missionaries, who have
discovered that fear rather than ferocity was the cause of this savage
custom. They had an idea that their island was naturally free from
disease, and that all ailments were brought by foreigners, and they in
consequence had a law that all foreigners should be killed as soon as
they could be captured.
On one occasion a native teacher narrowly escaped death in consequence
of his absence. He was obliged to exert all his powers of eloquence
to persuade his countrymen to spare him for a time, so that he might
keep himself far away from their residence, and purify himself by the
healthy air of Niue.
When Mr. Williams visited the island, he contrived to induce two lads
to go off with him for the purpose of being instructed. They were at
first very miserable on board, and howled incessantly for the first few
days, thinking that the white sailors were cannibals and that they were
only carried off to be fattened and eaten. Finding, however, that the
sailors were eating pork, and not human flesh, they became reconciled
to their lot, and were even pleased at the prospect of seeing new
lands. These lads were taken to Raietea, and, having been educated
for their task, were sent home again. Unfortunately, soon after their
arrival, an epidemic disease spread over the island, and the natives,
naturally attributing it to the two travellers, killed them both.
The first white man who landed there since the time of Cook met with a
singular fate. A ship was lying off the island, and bartering with the
natives. Just as the ship got under weigh, the master flung one of the
sailors overboard among the savages, who took him on shore, and held a
great debate as to the course to be pursued. Some were for keeping up
the old custom, and killing him, but others argued that the man had not
landed of his own free will, and that he ought not to be liable to the
usual penalty, even though salt water was in his eye--this being the
mark of a shipwreck.
After a vast amount of discussion they agreed to a compromise, put him
into a canoe, gave him a quantity of bananas and cocoa-nuts, and sent
him out to sea. The man contrived to slip on shore again without being
seen, and, after hiding in caves for some days, he succeeded in getting
on board a whaler that was passing near the island.
[Illustration: (1.) THE WAR DANCE OF THE NIUANS. (See page 1055.)]
[Illustration: (2.) PRESENTING THE CLOTH. (See page 1060.)]
The appearance of the natives as they were before the missionaries came
to them was anything but prepossessing. Mr. Williams gives a graphic
account of an old chief who was induced, after much trouble, to come
on board. “His appearance was truly terrific. He was about sixty years
of age, his person tall, his cheek-bones raised and prominent, and his
countenance most forbidding. His whole body was smeared with charcoal,
his hair and beard were long and gray, and the latter, plaited and
twisted together, hung from his mouth like so many rat’s tails. He wore
no clothing except a narrow strip of cloth round his loins, for the
purpose of passing a spear through, or any other article he might wish
to carry.
“On reaching the deck the old man was most frantic in his
gesticulations, leaping about from place to place, and using the
most vociferous exclamations at everything he saw. All attempts at
conversation with him were entirely useless, as we could not persuade
him to stand still for a single second. Our natives attempted to clothe
him, by fastening round his person a piece of native cloth, but,
tearing it off in a rage, he threw it upon deck, and, stamping upon it
exclaimed, ‘Am I a woman, that I should be encumbered with that stuff?’
“He then proceeded to give us a specimen of a war dance, which he
commenced by poising and quivering his spear, running to and fro,
leaping and vociferating, as though possessed by the spirit of
wildness. Then he distorted his features most horribly by extending his
mouth, gnashing his teeth, and forcing his eyes almost out of their
sockets. At length he concluded this exhibition by thrusting the whole
of his long grey beard into his mouth, and gnawing it with the most
savage vengeance. During the whole of the performance he kept up a
loud and hideous howl.” On the preceding page the artist has given the
reader an illustration of this singular war dance of the Niuans.
These islanders do not use the tattoo, though they are fond of
decorating their bodies with paint. Those who come on board European
vessels are delighted to be adorned with streaks and spots of red and
green paint, especially the latter, which is a novelty to them, and
for which they are willing to pay highly. At a little distance, they
look much as if they were suffering from some cutaneous disease, but
a closer inspection shows that their appearance is partly due to the
salt of the sea crystallizing on their oiled bodies, and partly to the
multitudinous flies which settle upon them.
The hair is sometimes seen very short and sometimes very long, and this
is the case with both sexes. They allow it to grow to a considerable
length, and when it is a foot or eighteen inches long, they cut it
off, and plait it into thin bands which are worn round the waist. The
men prize these ornaments highly, and Captain Hood thinks that the
love-locks are exchanged, and are valued accordingly. The younger men
do not wear their beards, but the elders suffer them to grow to a
great length, plait them, and adorn them with pieces of oyster or clam
shell. They know the art of coloring the hair a yellowish red by the
application of lime.
As to dress, the men think it quite needless, and wear nothing but the
belt round the waist. Some, however, wear a very small apron, only ten
or twelve inches square, and this is considered rather in the light of
ornament than of dress. They are of moderate stature, rather under than
over the middle height, thus forming a strong contrast to the gigantic
Marquesans and Samoans. The natural color of the skin is a clear brown,
and their limbs are round and well shaped.
In weapons, they use the spear, the club, and the bow, all made well
and neatly. They do not seem to invade other islands, and their warfare
is therefore waged mostly among themselves. It seems rather strange
that in an island only thirty miles in circumference war should exist,
but in Niue, the usual Polynesian custom exists of dividing an island
into several districts, among which is perpetual feud.
They use a very curious weapon. On their island are a number of caves
in the coral limestone, similar in character to that which has been
described in page 1006, though not approached in the same curious
manner. From the roof hang vast numbers of stalactites, from which
water continually drops. Indeed, the natives owe their fresh water
almost entirely to these caves, and since the missionaries came to
reside among them have learned to collect it by digging wells in the
caves, into which the water flows, and so insure a certain instead of a
precarious supply. The floor of the caves is covered with stalagmitic
masses, and from these the natives make oval balls about the size of
cricket balls, which they hurl from the hand with wonderful force and
accuracy, not using the sling, as is the case with so many Polynesian
tribes. Specimens of these balls are in the Christy collection.
These caves are evidently due to the character of the island, which is
partly coral and partly volcanic, the coral having been upheaved by
volcanic force, leaving the surface fissured and broken by the sudden
violence of the shock. The native legend respecting the origin of
the island points to the same conclusion. They state that the island
was raised to its present elevation by two of their ancestors, named
Hananaki and Fao, who swam there from Tonga, and found the island only
just above the waves. They stamped twice upon it, the first stamp
elevating the island to its present height, and the second clothing
it with trees and plants. They made wives for themselves out of the
Ti tree, and so the island became peopled. We may easily see in this
tradition a record of the two facts that the island was elevated
suddenly from the sea, and that the inhabitants are not aborigines,
but emigrants from some other part of Polynesia, probably from Tonga.
Though they believe themselves to be derived from this origin, they
have been subject to invasion from the restless and daring Tongans,
whom they repulsed by an ingenious stratagem. The Tongans, possessed of
far better weapons and better disciplined than the Niue islanders, and
being equally courageous, were rapidly completing the conquest of the
island, when the natives took advantage of the peculiar formation of
their country.
The reader will remember that Niue is rocky, and covered with deep and
narrow clefts, the result of the upheaval which elevated the island
above the sea. Across one of these the Niuans laid small branches,
which they covered with banana and cocoa-nut leaves, and then strewed
over all a slight covering of earth, which they arranged so as to look
exactly like the surrounding soil. They then executed a sham retreat,
and slipped round to the further side of the chasm, so that the
Tongans, flushed with victory, rushed on their retreating enemies with
yells of triumph, and a great number of the foremost and best warriors
were hurled down to the bottom of the cavern. Before the survivors
could recover from their surprise, an attack was made upon them in
overwhelming numbers, and of the whole Tongan expedition not a man
escaped alive.
It was formerly thought that the Niuans were cannibals, but, as far as
can be ascertained, the natives have never eaten human flesh. They do
not even care for animal food of any kind; and, though at the present
time they have pigs in abundance, they use them almost entirely for the
market to European ships, contenting themselves with bananas, yams,
taro, and fish. Strangely enough, they have not imported into Niue the
custom of kava drinking, and they stand almost alone in their non-use
of tobacco.
Polygamy is still practised among the inhabitants of Niue, though it
is fast dying out under the influence of the missionaries, who have
further conferred a vast boon on the people by their discouragement
of infanticide, which at one time prevailed to a terrible extent. The
mere check which they have placed on this custom has already raised the
number of the population by more than three hundred--a considerable
increase when the small size of the island is taken into consideration.
Even before the missionaries came, a tolerably comprehensive and just
code of laws was in existence, so that the Niuans were in reality much
less savage than many of their neighbors, and the missionaries had
a better ground to work on than in other islands of more promising
aspect. Their standard of morality was much higher than is usually the
case among savages, infidelity among women being severely punished. So
great was their horror of this crime that illegitimate children were
always thrown into the sea until the missionaries taught the people
that, though the parents might be liable to punishment, the innocent
children ought not to suffer.
Their punishment consisted generally in deprivation of food. For
example, for some offences, the criminal was tied to a post, and
allowed no food except bitter and acrid fruits, while for more serious
offences he is lashed hand and foot to a bamboo for a considerable
length of time, only sufficient food being given to save him from
actually dying of starvation. For these punishments the missionaries
have induced the natives to substitute forced labor in well sinking,
road making, and other useful works.
The Niuans are good canoe-makers, constructing their vessels
very neatly, and ornamenting them with devices in shells and
mother-of-pearl. They manage these canoes well, and as a rule are
excellent swimmers. There are, however, some families living in the
interior of the island who, although they can be barely four miles
from the sea, have never visited it, and are greatly despised by their
neighbors because they can neither swim nor sail a canoe.
The native architecture is not particularly good, but it has been
much improved by the instructions of the Samoan teachers, who have
instructed the Niuans in their own mode of building houses, upon
which the Niuans have engrafted their own mode of adornment, so that
altogether the effect of a modern Niuan house is quaint, and at the
same time artistic. The natives seem to be wonderfully quick at
learning, and have even acquired the use of the pen, so that a Niuan
can now be scarcely better pleased than by the gift of a pencil and a
supply of white paper.
Nothing shows the wonderful advance that these people have made more
than the fact that they have not only utterly discarded their old habit
of murdering foreigners, but that they display the greatest eagerness
to be taken as sailors on board European ships. They contrive to
smuggle themselves on board without the knowledge of the captain and
crew; and whereas in former times it was scarcely possible to induce a
Niuan to venture on board an European ship, the difficulty is now, to
find a mode of keeping them out of the vessels.
The method of disposing of the dead is twofold. When one mode is
followed, the body is laid on a bier and left in the woods until
all the flesh has decayed, when the bones are removed to the family
burying-place, which is usually a cave in the limestone rock. When the
other method is employed, the body is laid in a canoe, and sent adrift
in the sea to go wherever the wind and tides may carry it.