THE SAMOAN COCOANUT* 



Samoa, the Navigators islands of the old geographies, is a 

 volcanic group, consisting of four principal islands, lying be- 

 tween 13° and 15° S. latitude and 168° and 173° W. longitude. 

 Samoa has an area of about 1,300 square miles, in size between 

 Rhode Island and Delaware. Apia is the single port of entry. 

 Savaii, the most westerly island, is much the largest, 45 miles 

 in length by 25 in breadth. Upolu, 12 miles to the east, is 40 

 miles in length by 15 in breadth. Tutuila, 38 miles east of Upolu, 

 is 17 miles in length by 5 miles in breadth. 



The entire export from Samoa for 1894, excluding bondedgoods 

 and other re-exports, was $254,630 ; of this total, copra (dried 

 cocoanut meat) constituted $248,570. The single exportable 

 staple for which Samoa is eminently adapted, and the one upon 

 which all its business today rests and must for the future be 

 predicated, is the cocoanut (Cocos nucifera). It is to Samoa what 

 cotton and corn are to the United States ; all that grain, meats, and 

 wool are to the Australasian colonies. The export of the copra 

 (the dried meat of the cocoanut) alone, save with trifling and in- 

 appreciable exception, represents the entire agricultural product- 

 ive capacity of Samoa, and through this source every dollar that 

 trade and commerce bring into these islands finds its way. Were 

 the cocoanut crop an absolute failure for a single year, the entire 

 volume of export of this Kingdom for that year would not amount 

 to more than $6,000. This illustration will adequately represent 

 the prime importance of this single article to the country and its 

 needs. 



Like other primitive peoples depending largely on a single re- 

 source, the native Samoans have a tradition or myth concerning 

 the origin of their most useful plant — the cocoanut palm ; and the 

 myth is peculiarly interesting as an illustration of the inconse- 

 quence of ideas in primitive tradition. This myth, with many 

 others, was collected by Mr William Churchill, for some years 

 consul-general to Samoa, who has recently returned to Washing- 

 ton. To understand the myth it is necessary to remember that the 



* This article, compiled by Gen. A. W. Greely, is composed mainly of excerpts from the 

 interesting and valuable report on Samoa made to the Department of State by Consul- 

 General James H. Mulligan, and published in Consular Reports, vol. 51, pp. 050-748. 



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