THE SAMOAN REPORTER.

Samoan Reporter, Issue 13, 1 July 1851, Page 1

THE SAMOAN REPORTER.

XI. ETHNOLOGY OF POLYNESIA.

SAMOA, OR NAVIGATORS’ ISLANDS. INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY LIFE (continued). Under the head of amusements, dancing, wrestling, boxing, fencing, and a variety of games and sports call for description ; and to these we shah, in this paper, briefly advert. Dancing was a common entertainment on festive occasions, such as a marriage ; it is practised still, but principally among people who are professedly heathen. Some of their dances are in the daytime, and, like certain dress balls of other countries, are accompanied with a display of fancy mats and other Samoan finery. i\.t the night assemblies, the men dress in their short leaf aprons. Sometimes only the men dance, at other times women, and occasionally the parties are mixed. They dance in parties of two, three, and upwards, on either side. If the- one party moves in one direction, the other party takes the opposite. They have also various gesticulations, which they practise with some regularity. If, for example, the one party moves along with the rieht arm raised, the other dees precisely tl»e same. Singing, clapping the hands, beating time on the floor mats, arm drumming are the usual musical accompaniments. For a drum, they have two or three contrivances. One is, a log of wood six or eight feet long, hollowed out from a narrow elongated opening on the upper surface; and this they beat with a short stick or mallet. Another is, a set of bamboos, four feet long and downwards, arranged like a Pan’s pipe, having the open ends enclosed in a mat bag, and this bag they beat with a stick. A third kind of drumming is effected by four or five men, each with a bamboo open at the top and closed at the bottom, with which, holding vertically, they beat the ground, or a stone, or any hard substance, and, as the bamboos are of various lengths, they emit a variety of sounds. At these night dances, all kinds of obscenity in looks, language, and gesture prevail; and often they dance and revel till daylight. Court buffoons furnish some amusement at dancing and other festivals. If a chief of importance goes to any of these assemblies, he has in his train one or two who, by oddity in dress, gait, or gesture, or by lascivious jokes, try to excite laughter. Boxing and fencing w T ere common formerly on festive days, and often led to serious quarrels. In fencing, they used the stalk of the cocoanut leaf as a substitute for a club. Women as well as men entered the ring, and strove for the fame of a pugilist. Wrestling is another amusement. Sometimes,

they chcose sides, say four against four; and the party who have the most thrown have to furnish their opponents with a cooked pig served up with taro, cr supply any other kind of ood that may be staked at the outset of the game. A supply of some kind of food is the usual forfeit in all their games. Clasp) and undo is another kind of wrestling. One man clasps a second tightly round the waist, and this second does the same to a third. The three thus fastened together lay down and challenge any single man to separate them. If he succeeds, they pay the forfeit; if not, he does. Throwing the spear is also common. The young men of one street or village will match against those of another; and. alter fixing a mark in the distance, throw a small wooden javelin so that it may first strike the ground and then spring upwards and onwards in the direction of the mark. r l hey who throw .farthest win the game, and have a repast of food at the expense of those who lose it. In more direct spear throw ing, they set up the stem of a ycung cocoanut tree, with the base upwards, which is soft and spongy. One party throws at it, and-fills it with spears. The other

party throw, and try to knock them down. If any remain after all have thrown, they are counted until they reach the numb’er fixed for the game. In another of these amusements, at which they may be said to “ learn war,” a man stands in the distance and allows another to throw spears at him. He has no shield, but merely a club; and with this he shows surprizing dexterity in hitting off spear after spear as it approaches him. Fishing matches are in vogue at particular seasons. The party who takes the most fish win, and are treated with cooked pigs and other viands by those who lose. Pigeon another amusement, and one in which the chiefs especially delight. The principal season sets in about June. Great preparations are made for it; all the pigs of a settlement will be slaughtered and baked for the occasion ; and, laden with all kinds of food, the whole population of the place go off to certain pigeon grounds in the bush. There they put up huts, and remain sometimes for months at the sport. The ground being cleared, the chiefs station themselves at distances all round a large circular space, each concealed under a low shed or covering oi brushwood, having by his side a net attached to a long bamboo, and in his hand a stick with a tame pigeon on a crook at the end of it. This pigeon is trained to fly round and round, as directed by its owner, with a string at its foot thirty feet long, attaciied to the end of the stick. Every man flies his pigeon, and then the whole circle looks like a place where pigeons are flocking round food or water. The scene soon attracts some wild pigeon ; and, as it approaches the spot, whoever is next to it raises his net, and tries to entangle it. He who gets the greatest number of pigeons ift-the hero of the day, and honored by his friends with various kinds of food, with which he treats his less successful competitors. Some of the pigeons are baked, others are distributed about and tamed for further use. Taming and exercising them for the sporting season is a common pastime. Of all the Samoan sports, none, perhaps, is a greater hinderance to missionary work than pigeon-catching. Schools are deserted, and whole villages scattered by it on a career of dissipation for many weeks at a time. But, happily it is fast becoming unpopopular. The fowling piece is taking the place of the pigeon-net. Few, comparatively, now go to the grounds; 'and, ere long, fewer still, perhaps, will follow in the train of those who go. Spinning the cocoanut is another amusementA party sit down in a circle, and one in the centre spins a cocoanut. When it rests, they see to whom the three black marks or eyes on the end of the shell point, and impose upon him some little service to the whole, such as unhusking chesnuts, or going for a load of cocoanuts for them. This is especially worthy of remark, as it is the Samoan method of casting lots. If a number of people are unwilling to go a message, or do a piece of work, they will decide the matter by wheeling round the cocoanut to see to whom it turns its face, as they call it, when it rests. Formerly, they would sometimes appeal to this lot, and fix the charge of stealing on a person towards whom the face of the cocoanut pointed. They have also a game of Hide-and-seek, with the addition that those who hide try to escape those who seek, and run to a given post or mark. All who reach the post are counted towards making up the game. Pitching small cocoanut shells to the end of a mat, is a favourite amusement of the chiefs. They try to knock each other’s shells off* the given spot. They play in parties of two and two, with five shells each, lhey who have most shells left on the place, after all have thrown, win. They have also guessing sports. One party hide; the other bundle up one of their number in a large basket covered over with a cloth. Then they, too, hide, all but three, who carry the basket to the other party, for them to guess whois in it. If they guess correctly, then they in turn get the basket to do the same. The successful guesses are counted for the game. They have sundry other amusements. Swim-

ming in the surf on a board, and steering little canoes while borne along on the crest of a wave towards the shore, are favourite juvenile sports. Canoe-racing, races with one party in a canoe and another along the beach, races with both parties on land, climbing cocoanut trees to see who can go up quickest, reviews and sham fighting, cockfighting, tossing up oranges and keeping threa, four, or more of them on the move ; these and many other things were of old, and are still numbered among Samoan sports. The teeth and jaws, too, are called into exercise. One man will engage to unhusk with his teeth, and eat five large native chesnuts (tuscapus edulis) before another can run a certain distance and return. If he fails, he pays his basket of cocoanuts, or whatever may be previously agreed upon. Our juvenile friends at the antipodes will be sure to recognize some of their favourite amusements in the description we have given, and will, perhaps, feel inclined to try the novelty of some of these Samoan variations. What a surprising unity of thought and feeling is discoverable among the various races of mankind from a comparison of such customs as these! These illustrations also suffice to shew, that, while in their heathen state, the Samoans found plenty to occupy their leisure hours, day and night, all through the year. Now, however, many of them find in Christianity other and better occupations, and have neither time nor inclination to follow after the “ childish things” in which they were wont to revel in by-gone days.

G. T.