T11E ANCIENT SAMOAN GOVERNMENT. 
597 
as well as chieftainship. I may here remark that it is difficult now to 
ascertain the origin of these names and titles. The genealogies now 
extant are in some instances confused and disconnected, more or Jess 
substantial or mythical. 
The tulafales are the heads of families and land proprietors, and 
correspond with the rantjalira of New Zealand. These hold great 
influence in the Samoan government. They have power to appoint 
and depose chiefs, though of late years this prerogative has been but 
rarely exercised. Occasionally chiefs were deposed and banished to 
the island of Tutuila. A tulafale was selected by the chief to act as 
his orator and prime minister. 
The all' is, or chiefs, are the heads of tribes or clans, and their 
position, though not absolutely hereditary, is maintained in the tribe 
by the general recognition of the tulafales . Much care is exercised to 
sustain and strengthen their position by suitable marriage, and a 
mesalliance always occasioned difficulty and a loss of dignity and 
prestige. A chief bad power to appoint his successor, and this was 
often done in cases where there was no legitimate heir, or where the 
chief prefeired another member of his family to the rightful heir, and 
in some cases in order to strengthen the position of his clan, by giving 
his title to the chief of another clan. Such appointments, however, 
had to be sanctioned by the tulafales. 
Chiefs are of various ranks, and differ in distinction and authority. 
Some are termed ali i-paia (sacred chiefs), and are of superior rank 
and influence, to whom very great deference is shown. They are a 
highly privileged class, and are beyond the influence of the tulafales y 
although they derive their titles from the districts they represent. Of 
the airi-paid are the supreme chiefs of the three divisions of TJpolu: 
Atua, Le Tuamasanga, and Aana. These possess special titles — viz., 
Tui (lord or king) of the division, as Tui-Atua, and Tui-Aana. They 
are supreme in the land, and have power to make war or declare for 
peace. All the towns and villages of the district render allegiance to 
them. 
There is no royal line in Samoa. A chief possessing all the high 
titles of the ruling districts became king or Tupu-o-Samoa. The 
titles may be conferred on him at the disposition of the respective 
districts, or be secured by conquest in war. These titles are the 
Tui-Atua, Tui~Aana, Le Tama-sodlii, and NgatocT itele, of Le 
Tuamasanga, and Le Lule-o-Salafai, representing the whole of 
Savai’i. The present difficulty and conflicts in Samoa arise from the 
fact that Malietoa-laupepa, whom the three powers have recognised 
as king, has not yet received the titles of “ Tui-Aana” and “Tui- 
Atua,” and he is therefore viewed as a usurper by the districts of 
Aana and Atua. Tutuila and Manu’a are politically united to Atua. 
There is not likely to be any peaceful settlement or permanent 
submission to Malietoa until this rule is complied with. The mistake 
made by the representatives of the tripartite Government is that, 
instead of using a peaceful influence to obtain these titles for Malietoa, 
they have treated the Tui-Atua and Tui-Aana as rebels, and in the 
case of England and Germany have met the claims of Aana and Atua 
by armed resistance. 
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