ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES OF TOKELAU, ETC., ISLANDEKS. 603 
Lis wish that, as he was the first of his family who had obtained the 
dignity of tupu or king of Samoa, no other tnpu should be chosen 
after him, but that his name might descend to posterity as the last 
king of Samoa. 
“Malietoa’s wish seemed at one time in a fair way of being 
granted ; at all events he was the last king unfettered and unhampered 
by outside influence. At the time of his death there were many 
candidates for the vacant honour, and so many difficulties presented 
themselves that the parties having the power to bestow the various 
titles so as to confer the dignity refrained from doing so, or even from 
acceding to the old chief’s wish that his several ao might be divided 
among the three relatives he nominated. His brother, Tai-ma-le-langi 
(Sea and Sky), succeeded to the family name of Malietoa, and was 
acknowledged as Le Tupu-o-Salafai (King of Savai’i),but A ana and 
-Atua refused to acknowledge the claims of the aspirant to their ao 
(titles) further than as a matter of courtesy. Later on they seem to 
have united and conferred their ao upon a succeeding Malietoa, and 
thus rallied for mutual defence in the face of outward pressure ; and 
when their king was forcibly deposed, and an outsider and tool exalted 
to the dignity, the spirit of the people was stirred, and Mataafa, one 
of the three great families of the group, was either forced or allowed 
to go to the front and form a rallying point against their oppressors.’* 
3.— NOTES, CHIEFLY ETHNOLOGICAL, OF THE TOKELAU, 
ELLICE, AND GILBERT ISLANDERS. 
By Rev. J. E. NEWELL , London Missionary Society, Samoa , South Seas. 
The following notes are the result of personal inquiries and 
observations made during two brief visits to the islands in 18S5 and in 
1894. They are necessarily brief and discursive and incomplete. The 
time spent at each island was largely occupied in missionary work, and 
would, apart from that, have been much too short for detailed inquiry 
into the legendary history and folk lore of the people occupying this 
section of the great tropical belt that encircles the earth. 
The information, such as it is, was obtained from the most 
intelligent and reliable native sources, with the help of the resident 
Samoan native teacher. 
I. The Tokelau, or Union Group of Islands, consists of three 
groups of islets or atolls named respectively : Fakaofo (or Bowditch 
Island), Atafu or Atahu (Duke of York Island), and Nukunono. 
Of these, the last named has not been visited by the writer, and 
is only casually referred to in these notes. 
Fakaofo — situated about Lat. 9° 26' S., Long. 171° 12' W . — is the 
name of a group of some thirty islets enclosed by a reef inside a lagoon 
triangular in shape, and about 20 miles in circumference. 
The principal islets are named Fale, or “ the house” or “ home”; 
Nukumatau, “right hand” or “easterly island”; Nukulakia, or 
“westerly island”; Fanualoa, or “long land”; Sakea; Te atu; 
Motu, or “ the group of islands”; Matangi, or “ windy” island ; and 
Fanuafala, or the land of fala or pandanus fruit. 
