MICRONESIA. 105 



tion of four or five thousand, with a circuit of only twenty-five miles, 

 and a hilly surface, does not always produce a sufficient supply of 

 food for its inhabitants. There are, therefore, many of the poorer 

 classes who are eager to engage as seamen on board whale-ships, 

 where they remain until they have accumulated sufficient property, 

 in those articles which are esteemed valuable among their country- 

 men, to enable them, on their return, to purchase land and live com- 

 fortably for the rest of their days. They make excellent sailors, and 

 are highly prized, not only for their intelligence and docility, but also 

 for their prudence and regular conduct. 



Their system of government is peculiar and singular. The island 

 is divided into twenty-four districts, each under a high chief (ngan- 

 gdtsha). Each of these chiefs, in regular rotation, holds, for the space 

 of twenty months, the sovereignty of the island, during which time 

 -he presides in the councils, and receives tribute from the rest. To- 

 kanina belonged to this class. The official title of the head chief is 

 riamkau, but they use also the Vitian word sau, meaning king. Next 

 to the high chiefs come the councillors or elders (mamthua or mathua), 

 who correspond to the matabules of Tonga. The mass of the people 

 are called tha-muri (da-muri), answering to the ttias, or lower class of 

 the Friendly Islands. 



Of their religion I could obtain but little information. The word 

 for god is oitu or aitu, which is probably the same with the Samoan 

 aitu, spirit. Ri faka-oitu, spirit-house, is the word for temple, and 

 hanua on aitu, land of spirits, is their term for heaven, or the resi- 

 dence of the gods. But whether these spirits are proper divinities, 

 my informant, whose knowledge of English was limited to the most 

 ordinary terms, could not explain. The dress, manufactures, and 

 arts of these islanders have a general resemblance to those of the 

 Friendly and Navigator Islands. Some of their customs, however, 

 appear to be of Feejeean origin. Thus, one of the men who came on 

 board had his hair disposed in frizzled masses around his head ; and 

 the young girls are said to colour their locks of a dingy white by 

 washing them with lime-water. 



It is remarkable that the Rotumans reckon by periods of six 

 months, or moons, instead of the full year. Living as they do, on a 

 small island near the equator, at a distance from any extensive land, 

 the changes of temperature must be slight, and the difference of 

 seasons hardly perceptible. The westerly winds which blow from 

 October to April do, no doubt, serve to distinguish this period of the 



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