Their marriages and burials. 

 Their dress. 



THE SAMOANS. 



Their dress. 



Ill 



dresses are favourably received. The formal offer 

 is made by a large present to the family of the 

 female, which being accepted, the match is made, 

 and if refused, the courtship is at an end. The 

 parents expect their children to abide by their 

 decision. The " Malo" party have been in the 

 habit of taking wives from their conquered ene- 

 mies when they thought proper. At a marriage 

 ceremony a great feast is made, particularly if it 

 be a chief's. 



A man is at liberty to repudiate his wife and 

 marry again on certain conditions, but the woman 

 cannot leave her husband without his consent. 



Adultery was formerly punished with death, and 

 is very seldom committed. Among single women, 

 intercourse with a Samoan before marriage is a 

 reproach, but not with transient foreigners. 



It is a common practice for parents to make a 

 present of their children to chiefs or others, who 

 adopt the child as their own, and treat it ever after 

 as such. After it is grown up, one-half of its earn- 

 ings goes to its adopted parent. This custom gives 

 the chiefs many adopted children of both sexes, 

 who continue to live with them, and are in all 

 respects treated as their own ; and spreads their 

 connexions far and wide. 



In tlieir burials at Upolu, they have but little 

 ceremony. The body is enveloped in many folds of 

 tapa, and deposited, as has already been described, 

 at Tutuila, with the ti planted around. No utensils, 

 arms, &c., are deposited with the bodies ; for, 

 according to their belief, they have these things 

 pi-ovided for them in their Elysium. A feast is 

 made for the attendants, consisting of pigs, taro, 

 bread-fruit, &c. ; presents are made by all the 

 relatives to the family of the deceased, and if the 

 family can afford it, a small canoe is procured for 

 a coffin. After the body has lain in the grave some 

 time, they take up the skull and place it in a box 

 in their houses. The reason assigned for this is to 

 prevent their enemies from possessing themselves 

 of it, for it was a custom in their wars to violate 

 the sanctity of the grave. We heard that a few of 

 the bodies of chiefs had been preserved by oil and 

 heat ; and the missionaries informed me that they 

 had seen the bodies of those who died thirty or 

 forty years before, preserved in this manner. 



Their mode of showing their grief is to burn 

 themselves to blisters, (forming indelible marks,) 

 with little rolls of twisted tapa, which, on being 

 lighted, soon produced a coal. They also scratch 

 their bodies. The females are said (in token of 

 affliction for deceased friends) to have pricked holes 

 in the corpse, and sucked out the fluids. All these 

 practices may be now said to be passing away, and 

 are almost obliterated. 



There is already a very great difference, not only 

 in dress but in appearance, between those who have 

 adopted Christianity, and those who adhere to hea- 

 thenism. The latter have a wild look, to which 

 their long hair, tied in a bunch behind, adds not 

 a little ; and when going to war they let it hang 

 down in wild confusion, which increases their savage 

 appearance. 



On the other hand, the Christians crop their hair 

 short, a fashion introduced by the missionaries. 



The hair of the children is cropped close, except 

 a lock on each side of the head. The manners of 

 the people in the Christian and heathen villages 

 are as different as their appearance. In the latter 



no schools are seen, nor any of the incipient marks 

 of civilization. Their reception of strangers in the 

 Christian villages is always kind and hospitable, 

 although, as has been stated, a return is looked 

 for. Among the heathen, the manner of reception 

 cannot be counted upon with certainty, for they at 

 one time welcome their visitors with cordiality, and 

 at another are rude, insolent, and anxious to ob- 

 tain all the strangers possess. When in good 

 humour, they entertain their guests with the las- 

 civious dances we have described, performed by 

 native girls. Their whole manner and conduct are 

 so different from those of villages within a short 

 distance of them, that the effect produced on the 

 latter by the instruction of the missionaries, ap- 

 pears almost miraculous. 



In the heathen villages the dress of the Samoans 

 is to be seen in its primitive simplicity. It is no 

 more than the titi, which is a short apron and 

 girdle of the leaves of the ti (dracsena), tied around 

 the loins and falling down to the thighs. The 

 women besmear themselves with cocoa-nut oil 

 mixed with turmeric, which gives them a shining 

 yellow tint, that is considered as a beauty; on each 

 breast is a spot of reddish brown, of a singular 

 shape, and of various sizes, from that of a dollar to 

 that of a dessert-plate. They do not show the least 

 sign of feminine bashfulness, while those of the 

 Christian villages cover their bosoms, and exhibit 

 as much modesty as those of any country. 



During the last ten years the dress of the na- 

 tives has undergone much change ; the titi has 

 been increased in length, and extends all round the 

 body ; it has a neat and pretty effect when first put 

 on, but requires renewing often, as the leaves wilt 

 in a few days ; this garment is well adapted to the 

 climate, being cool, and the necessity of frequent 

 change insures cleanliness. 



The Wesleyan missionaries from the Friendly 

 Islands have introduced the siapo, of Tonga, which 

 has now come into common use. It is soft, pliable, 

 and not glazed, and is principally used as a wrap- 

 per, after the manner of the pareu of the Tahiti 

 islanders. A piece of cotton cloth is usually worn 

 by the chiefs as a siapo. 



The maro is worn when engaged in active exer- 

 cise, or in war, as being less cumbrous. The women 

 often wear a beautifully white shaggy mat (ie sina), 

 hanging from the neck to the feet. It is woven by 

 hand from the fine threads of the hibiscus ; they 

 also sometimes wear wrappers of the siapo form, 

 and the tiputa, a kind of poncho, of the same mate- 

 rial, after the old fashion of the Tahitians, which is 

 more becoming than the loose gown introduced into 

 that island by the missionaries. 



There is another kind of mat, of very fine tex- 

 ture, worn on great occasions, and used in their 

 dances as a kind of cloak. It is ornamented with a 

 border of red feathers. This is the most valuable 

 property they possess, for they cost much pains to 

 the manufacturers, and are often a year or eighteen 

 months in their hands. 



In the way of ornaments they use but few. The 

 men usually wear a shell (the ovula) suspended 

 around the neck by a string. 



Their hair formerly occupied much of their atten- 

 tion, as it does still that of the heathen, who, as has 

 been seen, wear it long, and have it nicely combed 

 and twisted up in a knot on the top of the head. 

 The females frequently used to wear a wreath of 



