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1894. NEW ZEALAND.
SAMOA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS.
Laid upon the Table by Leave of the House.
Mr. C. Phillips to the Hon. the Premiee. My Deae Sib,— The Knoll, Peatherston, 19th June, 1894. I have the honour of now enclosing you the paper upon Samoa, to which the two Appendices (A and B) I left with you belong. So very little is known in the colonies about Samoa that I have made the paper full, for general reading. 1 am not aware of any late historical paper such as this. And, as Samoa is undoubtedly the most valuable group of islands outside the German sphere of influence, containing, too, the best harbours Australasia is ever likely to get in the Pacific, I do trust that the very strongest efforts will be made in bringing pressure to bear upon the different Parliaments, so that this group may be brought under the British flag. I have, &c, The Hon. E. J. Seddon. Coleman Phillips.
SAMOA; OB THE NAVIGATOB ISLANDS. The Navigator Islands are situated in the South Pacific Ocean, N.N.E. of Tonga, and about E.N.B. from Fiji. They extend four degrees east and west, from about 169° to about 173° west longitude, and from about 13° to 14° 50" south latitude." 5 They comprise ten principal inhabited, and a large number of uninhabited islands, and were so named by the French circumnavigator Bougainville, "on account, probably, of the superior construction of the canoes of the natives, and their surprising dexterity in the water." (Bougainville was born in 1729, and died in 1811. His discoveries in his voyage round the world procured as much glory for his nation as Captain Cook had before acquired for England.) Commodore Boggewein really discovered the group in his voyage from Easter Island, which he so named, to the East Indies, wherein he touched, upon Samoa, New Britain, and New Guinea. The poor Commodore died miserably afterwards in prison at Batavia.t A stranger visiting the islands even to-day is still apt to take the impression that the Samoans are a seafaring race, owing to so many canoes sailing and paddling about. Captain Cook does not appear to have visited the Navigators, but he heard of them at Tonga about 1773. La Perouse visited them in 1788, and H.M.S. " Pandora " about 1791. The total area of the group was estimated by Captain Wilkes at about 1,650 square miles. All the islands are of volcanic origin, and some are surrounded by coral reefs. There are several traditions to account for the origin of the name " Samoa." These will be found in Dr. Turner's admirable work, " Nineteen Years in Polynesia." The generally accepted one is that, once upon a time, the Bocks married the Earth, and a child was born which was named Moa,} meaning the centre of the earth. Salevao, the god of the rocks, went to get water wherein to wash the child, and made the water thereafter sacred, or sa, to Moa. The conjunction gives the native name. After the operation, both Bocks and Earth demanded some of the water to drink, which Salevao agreed to give if they could get a bamboo to convey it by. Hence arose springs and streams. Salevao then turned himself into loose stones, and declared that everything which grew, as well as the rocks and earth, should be sacred to Moa— sa-ia-moa, abbreviated to Samoa.
* " Missionary Enterprise in the South Sea Islands " (Williams). f See " Civilization of the Pacific," Trans. Royal Col. Inst., Vol. vii., and Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. ix., p. Gl. There is a mistake of the date herein, 1772 having been printed for 1722. In the table at the end of the paper (p. 92) the proper date of discovery is given, 1722. That paper epitomizes the history of the Pacific Islands generally up to 1873. 't I hope my fellow disputing members of the New Zealand Institute upon the origin of the moa bird will take a note of this tradition. Perhaps in " Samoa "we may find a clue as to the origin of the word.
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The Samoan traditions as to the origin of matter and man are not less curious. First of all was drei, or nothing. From this sprang in succession manamu, fragrance; efuefu, dust; iloa, perceivable things; maua, obtainable things; elule, earth; papain, high rocks; maataanoa, small stones ; maunga, mountains. A marriage between the high rocks and the earth-rocks produced the earth, one between the earth and the winds produced the clouds, while other successive unions evolved dew, shadow, daylight, twilight, and so forth, until emerged Tangaloa, the creation of man, from whom springs a long genealogy down to one Sanea. This Sanea was the founder of the Malietoa dynasty, the twenty-third generation of which is represented by Malietoa, the now recognised King of Samoa. Another tradition places Tangaloa originally in space, where he first made the heavens and then the earth. Once he sent down his daughter to earth in the form of the bird tivei (a kind of snipe), but she could find nothing but ocean ; he sent her forth again, and she found land; he sent her a third time with some earth and a creeping plant, which at first grew, then its leaves withered, then it swarmed with worms, which gradually become men and women. From such traditions as these, it is easy to see that the Samoans may have had a distinct religion of their own. Dr. Turner has enabled us to see something of the nature of that religion, and the character of the numerous deities worshipped or feared ; but the subject is too wide to allow of more than passing mention in this paper. The Samo<ans had both general gods and domestic gods, or tutelary deities; and they certainly believed in some kind of future state. They not only made offerings to their gods, but their worship was a severe, even a slavish one, which the cunning of the priest made as extravagant as possible. But their religion or superstition was sufficiently definite to co-operate with the civil power ■ —that of the chiefs and heads of families—in preserving law and order. These laws were, of course, unwritten; but there seems no doubt that they had penal arrangements with regard to theft, murder, and adultery, and for offences against communal rights. Although cannibalism has not been practised by Samoans within European memory, and never, apparently, from the mere love of human flesh, which was the case with the Fijians, there is no doubt that during their many wars they did occasionally cook and eat the body of an enemy. This, however, seems to have been done, not so much to gratify appetite as to show the climax of hatred and revenge. To threaten a Samoan with roasting is to apply to him the foulest insult. On the other hand, the vanquished in a war will testify submission to the victor by bringing wood for fire, stones for ovens, and split bamboos for knives to the victors, which means " Here we are, your pigs, to be eaten if you please; and here are the knives to cut us up with." To humiliate an enemy or a malefactor he would sometimes be bound, slung on a pole, and carried to one of the pits or earth-ovens where the cooking is done, within which he would be placed for a time, although the fire was not lighted. All this, however, would seem to point to the probability that, in the very distant past, cannibalism was more frequent in Samoa than it has been in recent times. The men tattooed themselves elaborately, but not the women. The reason of this is thus explained : Taela and Tila (the goddesses of tattoo) once swam from Fiji in order to teach the Samoans the craft, and they were ordered to sing all the way, that they might not forget their mission—" Tattoo the women but not the men." The way was long and the water cold, so they got " mixed," and arrived in Samoa singing, " Tattoo the men but not the women." This little mistake made all the difference in Samoan life, for it became the rule that no young man was considered to have attained his majority, or to be entitled to common rights and privileges, until he had been tattooed. The process was tedious and painful, and, although still practised to some extent, is dying away with the introduction of European clothing. The men, indeed, are glad to evade the painful operation, seeing that its results can no longer make them distinguished in the eyes of all observers. The group covers a sea-area of about two hundred miles, and this is, practically, the limits of the navigation of the natives. Within the limits, however, active intercourse has been maintained as long as traditions extend into the dim past; and outside of the limits there has been a frequent, if not a constant, intercourse with the Fijian group, some six hundred miles to the south-west. Like the Fijian, the Samoan Islands lie between the equator and the tropic of Capricorn, and they are second only to Fiji in size and importance among all the archipelagos of Central Polynesia. Generations ago the Samoans had large double canoes like the Fijians; but in recent times their favourite vessel has been the single canoe with outrigger —boats which vary in length between 15ft. and 20ft., and in the width from 18in. to 20in. ; the larger sizes carrying from fifteen to twenty persons. The small canoes are hollowed out of logs, but the large ones are carefully built, the planks being sewn, not nailed, together, and cemented with a kind of gum taken from the breadfruit tree. Some large canoes that I have seen in the Pacific were capable of carrying 200 men, so that it would not have been difficult some centuries ago for five of such canoes to have landed 1,000 people in New Zealand. In the year 1788 this group was visited by the unfortunate La Perouse, whose colleague M. de Langle, and a number of his men, were barbarously murdered by the natives. This tragical act conveyed such an impression of their treachery and ferocity as deterred subsequent voyagers from venturing among them; and for many years they appear not to have been visited by a vessel from any part of the civilised world. The natives are said to number now about thirty-five thousand, and are more or less Christianized, the London Missionary Society having been working amongst them since 1830. This society (known as the "L.M.S.") takes premier place par excellence in the work of sending out missionaries to evangelise the Pacific Islands. Its efforts have been nobly assisted by the S.P.G. (the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), and the S.P.C.K. (the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge). Then, there is the splendid work of the Wesleyan and Presbyterian Missionary Societies, the American Board of Foreign Missions, the Australian, and Hawaiian Mission also to be considered. Indeed, all the great missionary bodies, including those of the Boman Catholic Church, have always done their utmost to civilise these islands.
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Samoa was first visited by the Bey. Mr. Williams, of the London Missionary Society, in 1830-32. Several native missionaries were labouring in Samoa when, in 1835, the Wesleyan missionaries from Tonga commenced a mission there; and soon after the Bey. Mr. Piatt, of the L.M.S., commenced another mission, or, rather, reinforced the mission already established there. By the agreement of the two societies the Wesleyans relinquished the mission. Unfortunately, the King of Tonga sent Native teachers to Samoa in 1856, and, soon after, the Wesleyan Committee in Sydney appointed European missionaries. The action was disapproved of by the General Committee in London, but the Sydney committee found it difficult to withdraw without producing greater evils than those arising out of two missionary societies labouring in the same field.* The great work, too, of the British and American Bible Societies, in translating the Scriptures into the different Polynesian languages, must not be overlooked, nor the labour of the different missionary clergymen in providing grammars and dictionaries. | The white residents number some 365 souls, which I understand is all that the group contains at present. Of this number 225 are British born, 90 Germans, 20 Americans, 15 Scandinavians, and 15 various nationalities. I am not quite certain of the exactitude of these figures, but they are the nearest I can give. The Chinese are also settling in Samoa, as well as in other parts of the Pacific Islands. In the Sandwich Islands they are in large numbers. I need scarcely point out to the Australasian Colonies the great danger that will arise should these islands fall a prey to Chinese settlement and piratage, like European vessels often experience among the Malay Islands. With regard to foreign trade, that with the Australasian Colonies largely preponderates, New Zealand alone exporting £18,000 to £20,000 annually to Samoa. The Australasian Colonies send Samoa more goods than all the other exporting countries trading with the group put together. The British trade, too, is increasing, as it is bound to do, with these Pacific Islands so near our colonies. For some fifty years or more, prior to 1872, the trade of the islands was almost entirely in the hands of the firm of Goddefroy and Company, of Hamburg. This great firm was almost a political organization, and ruled things in the South Pacific much as the East India Company used to do in India. They had resident agents and stores on every island where trade was to be clone; they concluded treaties with the chiefs; they kept a fleet of vessels constantly coming and going ; they acquired land, by all sorts of methods ; and they had plantations and factories of all kinds. After the Franco-German war this firm collapsed, and a company was formed to carry out the Samoan branch of their business. But other foreigners had gradually settled in the islands, and the Germans are no longer in a majority there. The trade of the islands is, therefore, no longer monopolised by Hamburg. Of a total import value of £120,000, £50,000 comes from Sydney ; £40,000 from San Francisco; £20,000 from New Zealand ; and not £10,000 from Hamburg. The exports are of the value of about £70,000 annually, and consist of about 4,000 tons of copra, and 2,000 bales of cotton. Here, again, I ask to be excused if my figures are incorrect; they applied a few years ago. Copra is the dried kernel of the cocoanut, and is shipped to Sydney and London for the manufacture of cocoanut-oil. The imports are materials for clothing, timber, tinned meats, and preserved provisions generally, petroleum oil, hardware, flour, biscuits, and lager beer. Of this last item, it is said that the foreigners in Samoa consume more per head than any other community, but it is certainly infinitely preferable to the " square gin " which used to be a favorite drink when I was in Fiji. The greater portion of the foreigners reside in Apia, where are also the consular offices. Apia is on the Island of Upolu, and at the head of a bay which for beauty is said to exceed anything known to travellers, and to throw into second place even such exquisite scenes as the Bay of Naples and the Harbour of Sydney. Although cotton and copra form at present almost the entire exports, the islands are, beyond doubt, capable of producing a variety of other produce. The experiments instituted by Goddefroy and Company proved that both soil and climate are admirably adapted to the cultivation of wheat, coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, jute, chinchona, &c. The great difficulty is that which hampers Fiji —labour. The Samoans will not work; and the British Government will not allow their subjects freely to import labour, at least in the present uncertain political condition. The Germans have been accustomed to import Polynesians from the Kingsmill Islands, and even from New Guinea; but the supply has been decreasing, and last year was only about one-half of what it was three or four years ago. The total acreage of the Samoan Group is something under 850,000 acres, of which 240,000 acres belong now to the English, 210,000 to Americans, and only about 80,000 to Germans. I suppose when the group enjoys the blessing of a recognised civilised Government, other than that of native chiefs, this land question will have to be taken into consideration, and a far less area allowed the Whites than what they claim at present—s3o,ooo acres out of 850,000 acres being, in my opinion, far too great a proportion for the natives to have already alienated. It is to be feared, however, that, owing to the constant state of warfare which, it is alleged, is brought about by the English, German, and American rivalry, the natives will alienate nearly .all their lands to the whites; and the difficulty will then be to take the land off the different consular registers without international complication. "For their extent of surface, Samoa deserves special consideration. There are many valleys containing thousands of acres of rich soil entirely untilled; indeed, the portion of country under cultivation is very inconsiderable. For, as the fruits grow so abundantly without labour, the Samoans, like the Tahitians, display but little ingenuity in agriculture. In this they are greatly surpassed by their neighbours, the Tongatabuans, who subsist almost entirely upon produce raised by themselves. So long as the Tahitians and the light-hearted Samoans can work or play, rove
* " Statistics of Protestant Missionary Societies," 1872-73. t See the " Samoan Grammar," by the Eev. George Pratt (1861).
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abroad or stay at home, dance or sleep, with the assurance that the beautiful grove of breadfruit trees in which his cottage is embowered will afford him an abundant supply, and (if these should prove insufficient) that the mountains abound with bananas, plantains, wild yams, and other esculents, more than enough to supply the deficiency, what necessity has he to work at all ? Notwithstanding this, however, the Samoans cultivate vast quantities of taro, because they prefer it to the yam. The soil is so exceedingly rich that coffee, sugar, and cotton, and every other tropical production, may be raised in these islands to almost any extent; and, as they are well-watered and abound with springs, lakes, and streams, machinery, in many places, might be worked with the greatest facility. This, of course, enhances the value of these superb islands incalculably." In comparison with Australian or New Zealand land, every acre in Samoa is worth twenty of the former. The growth of cane or cotton or cocoanut or banana upon one acre of insular land within the tropics is simply astonishing. Therefore, it is not because the area of Samoa is small that this group is to be despised. I should think that the small Island of Mauritius, a mere speck in the ocean, exports fully one-half what New Zealand now exports. And I think time will prove that the arable land of the South Sea Islands collectively, suitable for agriculture, will hereafter run the Australasian Colonies pretty close as to the value of their exports ; insular tropical exports being so much more valuable than the exports derived from grazing-lands or wheat culture. Of course, there is a great amount of lofty volcanic rock and limestone quite unfitted for agriculture in the islands. At present a cloud hangs over all the insular land within the tropics—namely, the West Indies, Ceylon, Malaysia, and the Pacific Islands, in consequence of the bonuses given to beet-sugar growers in Europe. Directly these bonuses cease, as they must shortly cease, cane-sugar will be again in demand, and then insular cane-sugar, such as can be grown in Fiji and Samoa, will be produced more cheaply than the cane-sugar of the tropical continental lands. But I must proceed briefly to describe the islands of the group, a description I extract from Williams's standard work.* " Of the ten inhabited islands, the eight chief ones are Manua, Orosenga, Ofu, Tutuila, Upolu, Manono, Aborima, and Savaii. " The names given to these islands by the French navigators are incorrect and confused. In this respect, as well as in every other, Captain Cook's superiority is strikingly displayed. The accuracy of his directions is such that you may follow them with as much confidence as you travel the high roads of England ; and the excellent sense of this prince of navigators is manifested in his retaining the native names of the places at which he touched. This is of singular advantage to persons visiting the numerous islands of the Pacific. " Manua. —Sailing to the eastward (after passing a small uninhabited island, about seventy miles east of the whole group), this island, 169° 1' west longitude, 14° 9' south latitude, presents itself. It is circular, and so elevated as to be visible at a distance of forty or fifty miles. The shore is lofty and bold, and there appears to be but little low land. I did not observe any dangers off the coast. The inhabitants of Manua are regarded as a conquered people, and are in consequence despised and oppressed by the other islanders. Indeed, in most of the groups of the Pacific, one island was subject to peculiar oppression, and supplied the others with human sacrifices and slaves; and in single islands particular districts were thus subjected. This was the case with the District of Arorangi, at Barotonga, the chief and people of which dwelt in the mountains. " Oeosenga and Ofu next appear. These are two comparatively insignificant islands, nearly united at right angles. The inhabitants were not as numerous as at Manua; indeed, most of the people of Ofu have been destroyed by those of Orosenga. The coast appears to be free from danger. "Tutuila is about fifty miles west of Orosenga, in 170° 16' west longitude, 14° 20' south latitude. This is a fine, romantic island of from eighty to a hundred miles in circumference. It was here that the unfortunate M. de Langle lost his life; and on this account the bay in which he was murdered received the name of Massacre Cove. In sailing down the south coast we observed several fine bays, two of which attracted our particular observation. " Upolu, the next island of the group, is in circumference between one hundred and fifty and two hundred miles. The mountains on this island are very high, and in clear weather may be seen for fifty or sixty miles. These are richly clothed with verdure to their summits ; and in the northeast parts of the island they present a variety in their form and character which, in some situations, renders their appearance romantic and sublime, in others, soft, luxuriant, and beautiful. It has been stated that there were no harbours in this group ; but at this island alone we found three, and there may be others. The one at Apia, in which we anchored, is spacious, commodious, and safe, and, as it faces the north, it admits with the prevailing trade-wind of easy ingress and egress. The bottom is sandy, and at twenty yards from the shore there are about five fathoms of water. A river falls into the bay, so that any quantity of excellent water may easily be obtained there. " Manono lies next, and is about five miles in circumference. It is attached by a shoal and reef to the south-west extremity of Upolu; the reef passes round it and rejoins Upolu on the opposite side. This island offers several good harbours for vessels of forty to fifty tons burden. There is shoal water to a considerable distance from the shore; but I am not aware that any rocks exist to render approach dangerous. On the north side of the island there is a good roadstead. Manono, although small, is of great importance, for, as its inhabitants have been victorious in every struggle, it has obtained a kind of political superiority over the whole group. It has many dependent settlements on the larger islands of Savaii and Upolu, and, when engaged in a contest, draws such assistance from these as to form a force which no single chief can withstand. Hence the inhabitants of Manono are called the " Malo " or victorious people. Notwithstanding this, it is affirmed that they have never been the aggressors in a conflict. The island is badly supplied with water, but the natives have sunk wells, and have thus succeeded in obtaining it.
* " Missionary Enterprise in the South Sea Islands."
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" Aborima is about two miles in circumference, from 200 ft. to 300 ft. in height, and is situated half-way between Manono and Savaii. It received its name, which signifies the hollow of the hand, from its remarkable shape. Most probably it is the crater of an extinct volcano. It is precipitous and inaccessable except at one small opening ; and the people of Manono, to whom it is subject, use it in time of war as a fortress for their families and property, and, in event of defeat, as a retreat for themselves. For these purposes it is well adapted, as it is so completely protected on all sides by inaccessible rocks that it is only necessary to guard the narrow entrance. This is done most effectually : first, by throwing tripping-lines across it, so that men stationed on the jutting rocks that flanked the passage could easily overturn every canoe that entered it; and, secondly, by constructing a platform or bridge on the rocks that overhang this opening, from which they could hurl huge stones upon the invaders. Although, therefore, the people of Manono have been at times driven from their own island, this retreat was so effectually guarded, and so well provided with food, that they have never been, and scarcely could be, subdued. Barren and sterile as are the sides of the rocks, a very different appearance is presented when you arrive opposite to the point where the crater has emptied itself. Here the whole of the interior opens at once to the view, and anything more beautiful or unique I never beheld. The island is a basin, most regularly scooped out, and ascending with a gentle slope from the centre to the circumference ; and, although on a.pproaching it nothing meets the eye but sterile cliffs, when you catch a glimpse of the amphitheatre within, you discover there a glorious contrast to the dreariness and desolation without. Not a barren spot is to be seen, but one verdant mass of tropical vegetation, the whole of which, from the peculiar form of the island, presents itself at a single view, and fills the beholder with delight. If anything could enhance the beauty of the scene, it is the group of native dwellings which, half revealed among the trees of cocoanut, breadfruit, and banana, form the settlement. " Savaii, the last and largest of the group, which is said to be 250 miles in circumference. The mountains of this superb island are very lofty, and visible at a distance of sixty or seventy miles. These gradually increase in height from the sea to the centre of the island, and all of them are covered and crowned with noble forests. Savaii, in beauty, extent, and importance, yields to few of the many charming islands that bestud and adorn the bosom of the Pacific." The straits between Upolu and Savaii are from ten to fifteen miles wide, and at their southern entrance are Manono and Aborima. They may be passed by vessels of the largest class with perfect safety, and are entered either between Savaii and Aborima, or between Manono and Aborima, both openings being sufficiently wide, and perfectly free from rocks and shoals. Mr. G. F. Angas, in his valuable little work "Polynesia," makes the following remarks upon Samoa. I given them in extenso, as so very little is known in the Australasian Colonies regarding these islands ; yet the subject is of the utmost importance to our future welfare: — " All the islands of the Samoan chain are lofty and volcanic. The mountains in Savaii attain an altitude of 3,000 ft., and the group is generally fertile and beautiful in the extreme. The abundance of trees, bearing the usual nutritions fruits of tropical Polynesia, maintain the natives in plenty, which supply of food is further augmented by the great number of dogs, poultry, and hogs, of which latter, it is stated, La Perouse purchased 500 at the period of his visit." t " Since the year 1845 the village of Apia, on the Island of Upolu, has been the residence of a British, German, and American Consul, whose duty it is to look after the interests of the numerous vessels belonging to their respective nations which visit the harbours of Upolu and Tutuila. "The United States exploring expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes visited and surveyed all the Samoan Group in the year 1839. " The devoted John Williams, in connection with the London Missionary Society, first planted a Christian mission in the Samoas in 1830, since which period the islanders generally have embraced Christianity. There exists at Upolu an institution for training and educating native teachers; and, at the printing-press of this establishment, the scriptures are issued in the Samoan tongue. A periodical, called the Samoan Reporter, formerly had an extensive circulation throughout Polynesia. "The population of the entire group is calculated not to exceed 37,000 at the present time, though formerly it appears to have been considerably greater. " Upolu is estimated, with Manono, as having about 20,000 inhabitants, whilst the population of Savaii may be taken at 12,000, leaving the aggregate amount of 5,000 for Tutuila and the Manua Group. These islands are subject to the diseases of ophthalmia and elephantiasis, and for several years past, during the wet season, a severe kind of influenza has occurred in the form of an epidemic ; whooping-cough has also been introduced. "This group, like others in the same parallel of latitude in the Western Pacific, is subject to violent hurricanes between the months of November and May, during which period the trade-winds are sometimes suspended for two or three days at a time. These rotatory storms are called by the natives afa fuli fao, or "knock-down winds." Earthquakes are also of frequent occurrence, but they do no injury to the elastic buildings of the country." The romantic harbour of Pangopango, in the Island of Tutuila, is an ancient crater, very deep, but completely landlocked by lofty mountains, under the protection of which a vessel, with proper precautions, might ride out even one of the fearful summer hurricanes. Mr. Hood, of H.M.S. " Fawn," thus describes the aspect of Tutuila in 1862 : " To those who have never beheld tropical scenery, it is difficult to give any description which will enable them to realise the singular beauty of these islands. Here, high rugged mountains, clothed with dense green forests, sink sheer down to the water; a grey precipice now and then relieving the eye. Against the blue sky the outline is broken by a graceful palm, or some high pinnacle, or by the waving bamboo or banana. Silvery sands stretch along in front of the narrow plain, shaded by thick groves of cocoanut trees, whose leaves wave and dance, reflecting the rays of the bright sun ; underneath which are the scattered villages of the natives. Upon the narrow fringing coral-reef the dark-green waves break dazzlingly, while at the head of the bay the white cottage and mission church give an air of quiet
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civilisation to the scene, enlivened by numbers of canoes, with their picturesque occupants moving about in all directions; and over all, the deep blue heaven is shaded ever and anon by rolling clouds borne by the trade winds." There appears to be no principal chief exercising supreme authority over the entire group, as is the case in many other islands. Every settlement is a sort of independent State, governed by its own petty chiefs, who often unite to oppose aggressions from more powerful neighbours. Wars were formerly exceedingly frequent amongst them, and, indeed, have raged, more or less, up to the present time, in spite of all the endeavours of the Consuls and missionaries to quell them. Mr. Williams says that, at the Island of Aborima, their natural fortress, the people of Manona, "though ignorant of writing, kept an account of the number of battles they had fought by depositing a stone of a peculiar shape in a basket, which was carefully fastened to the ridge-pole of a sacred house for that purpose. This was let down, and the stones were counted when I was there, and the number was 197." The Samoans, although so frequently engaged in internecine wars and skirmishes of a not very sanguinary character, are certainly less barbarous and more tractable than most of their Polynesian neighbours. Human sacrifices appear to have been unknown amongst them; and Mr. Williams tells us that " they are not addicted to cannibalism, which they spoke of with just horror and detestation." On the other hand, the Bey. Mr. Turner, in his "Ethnology of Polynesia," states: "It has been questioned whether cannibalism ever prevailed in Samoa. During some of their wars a body was occasionally cooked; but they affirm that in such a case it was always some one of the enemy who had been notorious for provocation or cruelty, and that eating a part of his body was considered the climax of hatred and revenge, and was not occasioned by the mere relish of human flesh, such as obtains throughout the Fiji, the New Hebrides, and New Caledonian Groups. In more remote heathen times, however, they may have indulged in this savage custom." The Samoans are a remarkably fine-looking race of people. They are very light-coloured, and the men are usually tattooed from the loins to the knees. This tattooing of the body from the waist to the knees has all the appearance of a pair of light breeches ; and, with the narrow apron of dragon leaves, supplies the place of dress in their estimation. Indeed, so perfect is the deception, that, in an account of these islands in 1772, the people were described as " being clothed from the waist downwards with fringes and long hose, made of a kind of silken stuff artifically wrought." Their features are often beautiful, but the nose is somewhat flatter than with us. This is caused by the mothers artifically pressing them when infants, with a view of improving their personal appearance, as all the Polynesians seem to have a repugnance to long and sharp noses. Their dress is either the lava-lava of native cloth, similar to the tapa of Tahiti, and which they gather round their waists in flowing folds like a Boman toga, or the titi, a picturesque sort of petticoat of the frosh leaves of the Dracaena, or dragon-tree, which sets off their fine muscular limbs to advantage. The women usually adopt besides the titi a garment called tiputa, resembling a small poncho, with a slit for the head, hanging so as to decently cover the bosom. The higher class also wear a white mat or petticoat made from the fibres of the native cotton-tree, andihey decorate their necks with beads, and their heads with a profusion of gay-coloured flowers. But few of the women are tattooed, though many of them adopt the practice of sengisengi, or spotting, which is effected by raising small blisters on the skin with the burning tinder of native cloth. These, when healed, leave the spot of a lighter colour than the ordinary skin. The Samoans have the custom, not generally adopted in Polynesia, of purchasing their wives; and sometimes as many as two hundred pigs, together with a quantity of siapo, or native cloth, is given for a comely damsel. The system of their polygamy is to allow each wife to enjoy three day's supremacy in rotation, and by this arrangement comparatively little quarrelling occurs amongst them. Their women are treated with great consideration, and their lives are always considered too valuable to be sacrificed on the death of their husbands, as was the case in some parts of Polynesia. When a chief dies, his widow is generally taken by his brother or some near relative. Of the younger population seen at Tutuila, Captain Erskiue, of H.M.S. " Havannah " (who visited the Navigators in 1850), says, "The girls were generally good-humoured-looking, but the inferiority of their beauty compared to that of the men is most striking, and cannot be accounted for, as in New Zealand, by their being called upon to perform laborious and inferior duties, as they are here held in much higher estimation. The manly beauty of the young men is very remarkable; one in particular, who accompanied us to-day, and had decked his hair with the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an Antinous. They are exceedingly fond of their children, often injudiciously so, permitting them to eat whatever they like, and as much as they please. "On the whole," says Mr. Hood, of H.M.S. "Fawn," " a happier race of people could not be found than the Samoans. A scowling or discontented face is seldom seen; want or poverty is unknown; and Nature has showered upon their country her choicest gifts. They are partial to amusements; the inhabitants of the various villages frequently pay each other visits, and on these occasions the evenings are usually spent in singing and dancing. Men and women generally dance separately, but sometimes together. The men, splendidlooking fellows, in full native costume, wear aprons of red Draccena leaves, well oiled. All the tattooing is visible, of course. On their heads they have full wigs of a reddish colour, frizzed out, and made of their own hair, which every man for a certain period allows to grow long for the purpose of making these head-dresses, which are worn in war and in the dance. Around their foreheads both sexes twine strings of large ornaments made from the pearly nautilus, or coronets of the flowers of the scarlet Hibiscus, which together look very handsome." Indeed, when the Samoan belles enter the dancing circle in the full evening costume, with their shining pearly coronets, and their necklaces of red and yellow flowers, their appearance is really imposing. Some wear great mats of value, beautifully plaited, whilst others display snow-white shaggy dresses of cotton-tree fibre, of the most ample proportions.
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In matters of cleanliness and habits of decency these people carry their customs to a higher point even than the most fastidious of civilised nations, although they are not so far advanced in the useful and ornamental arts as the Society Islanders and other people to the eastward. Their canoes are built of separate pieces of timber tied together, with the usual outrigger, and the covered part or deck is ornamented with rows of white ovulum shells. Their larger canoes are hauled up on the beaches beneath thatched sheds, to protect them from the sun, These large canoes, in which they make voyages to the neighbouring islands, are capable of holding fourteen paddlers besides the helmsman, and are constructed, in addition to the floatingoutrigger, with a long spar projecting to windward, on which stands one of the crew as ballast, regulating his distance from the gunwale according to the strength of the breeze. The sail is of matting, narrow at the top, and set between two masts. As they have no way of reefing, they are sometimes blown off the coast, and either perish or are picked up by some passing vessel. A Samoan village is thus described by Captain Erskine: " Our approach to the village of Fanga-saa was indicated by the provision-grounds, fenced with low walls of broken coral, in which, interspersed with breadfruit-trees, were growing bananas, yams, taro, and the kava pepper (Piper mythisticum). A neatly-kept path led into the village, situated under the shade of a cocoanut grove, and only a few yards distant from the sea, on the borders of which were seen their canoes and sheds. The houses stand at irregular distances, and in no formal order; the path or street being, however, cleanly swept, as is the open space in front of the large house which is common to all the inhabitants when meeting either for business or amusement, and is also the residence of casual strangers. This house, although of larger dimensions, is of similar construction to all the others, forming an oblong with elliptical ends, of about 50ft. long by 20ft. broad. Three posts of from 20ft. to 30ft. high support the ridge-pole, which, with the surrounding line of posts of sft. high, form, as it were, the skeleton of the structure. The roof, which is constructed separately from the rest of the building, is composed of three parts, the centre and the two ends, the rafters of the former being parallel to each other, and those of the ends curved, and resembling an immense cabriolet hood. The effect of the latter is very singular and pleasing ; and they, being of considerable length, are made of separate pieces of the wood of the breadfruit-tree, joined together by an ingenious scarf or joint. These portions of the roof, which are well thatched with the leaf of the sugar-cane, being elevated on the frame above mentioned, are securely lashed with cord made of the cocoanut fibre, first to the lower row of posts and then to each other, no nails or pegs of any description being made use of; thus leaving the whole house open to the height of sft. from the ground. Mats suspended from the lower part of the roof may, however, be let down when required; and the floor, which is raised some feet above the level of the surrounding ground, and paved with pebbles like many of our summer-houses, is covered with soft mats for sitting or reclining. Two wood fires are generally kept burning between the central posts, and the large kava bowl occupies a conspicuous place." All cooking is performed outside of the houses, in the hot-stone ovens common in Polynesia. When a stranger of consequence enters a house, a new and clean mat is offered for his seat; and an air of cleanliness and freshness pervades the whole building. These buildings occupy a considerable time in their construction, and a regular gang of carpenters are employed for that purpose. When built, they are easily taken to pieces and moved from one place to another, the three compartments of the roof being made so as form separate loads. In the missionary villages there are cha.pels of coral plastered with lime, and the dwellings of the missionaries are usually constructed of the same more durable material. Although former voyagers who have come into contact with the Samoans described them as fierce and dishonest, and M. de la Perouse spoke of them as a set of barbarous savages, later visitors to those islands give us a much more favourable account. Captain Erskine says that, on leaving Tutuila, " there was a general feeling of regret in parting with those people, who are certainly the most agreeable to deal with of any I have ever seen in a similar condition. That this has been owing, in great measure, to their communication with a good class of white men, and to the teachings of the missionaries, no person who reads the opinions of the first discoverers with respect to the islanders is likely to deny. Captain Wilkes mentions that the massacre of Le Langle, eighty years ago, was projected by the then savage people in consequence of the death of one of their number, who was shot alongside one of the French ships ; and, were both sides of the question impartially told in connection with the various massacres that have taken place in former times amongst the Polynesian Islands, it is probable that the Europeans would be found frequently to have been the aggressors in the first-instance." Captain Erskine's opinion, however, only applies to former times—that is, previous to 1850. The murders set out in Appendix B were extremely cold-blooded, and the whites were not the aggressors. It is a matter of regret that this fine race has so little stimulus to steady industry. They lead an easy and happy life in the luxurious climate of the tropics, the lavish gifts of Nature surrounding them on every side with all that they require in the shape of food and clothing. They could easily produce cocoanut-oil to an almost unlimited extent, as well as cotton and arrowroot; and all descriptions of tropical produce might be grown in abundance on these fertile islands. Their manner of extracting the oil from the cocoanut is of the simplest kind; they merely scoop the kernels of the nuts, and, putting them into an old canoe perforated at the bottom, leave the oil to drip through into vessels placed beneath to receive it. The missionaries have obtained iron tanks in which to store up the oil, and several hundred pounds' worth of it have been contributed annually by the Samoans for sale on behalf of the missionary societies. " The timber of the Pacific Islands is now, and must be in future, of great value. The trees at Samoa exhibit great beauty and variety. Some are remarkable for their size, and others for their flowers, fragrance, or fruit. Most of them are evergreens —indeed, there are but two or threo deciduous trees on the islands. In general, the new and old leaves, the bud and the blossom, the young fruit and the ripe, appear together, and adorn these through the whole circle of the year. Some of the trees are exceedingly valuable as timber. This is tho case with the tamanu (Calo-
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phyllum). These grow to an amazing size. I have seen them sft. in diameter. The natives select this wood for their canoes, stools, pillows, bowls, and other articles, which are wrought with immense labour out of the solid mass. It has been used by us in shipbuilding ; and as it is durable, and holds a nail with great tenacity, it is very valuable for that purpose. Its value is further enhanced by the circumstance that iron lasts much longer in the tamanu than in any other wood. We have also made furniture of it; it has a veiny and beautiful grain, and is susceptible of a high polish. In the hands of European cabinetmakers it would vie with some of our most admired woods. This might become an important article of commerce." :;: The amai, or miro, is also susceptible of a high polish, is easily worked, and makes beautiful furniture. The tou (Cordia) also makes beautiful furniture. The toi is blood-red towards the heart and like satin-wood in the outer parts. The toa (Gasuarina) is very hard, and is useful for sheaves of blocks, cogs in sugar-mill machinery, &c. The natives make their clubs and spears from this tree. Several of the trees produce very valuable gums and dyes. The candlenut-tree (Aleurites triloba) abounds in the mountains, and, as its leaves are nearly white, they form a most agreeable contrast to the dark-green foliage of the other trees among which it is interspersed. It bears a nut, about the size of a walnut, which is used as a substitute for a candle. Having stripped off the shell, the natives perforate the kernel, and string a number of these on a rib of the cocoanut leaflet, and then light them. By burning large quantities of this nut in a curiously constructed oven the natives obtain a fine lamp-black, with which they paint their canoes, idols, and drums, and print various devices upon their ornamental garments. They also use the colouring thus obtained in tattooing their skin. Besides this, the tuitui furnishes a gum with which they varnish the cloth made from the bark of the breadfruit-tree, thus rendering it more impervious and durable. From its inner bark a juice is produced, which is a valuable substitute for paint-oil, and when mixed with lampblack, or with the dye from the Gasuarina and other trees, it becomes so permanent that it never washes off. Finding that the cocoanut-oil when mixed with paint did not dry, we extracted an oil from candlenut which answered the purpose much better. Of the breadfruit-tree I need not write, as most people know that it is everything to the natives—their house, their food, their clothing. This, and the cocoanut-tree, affords an ample and admirable provision for any tropical people. Cocoanut matting is natural cloth, woven in the loom of Nature with a regularity which gives it the appearance of being the product of human ingenuity. All our modern ideas of cloth-weaving were, no doubt, taken from the matting which so admirably supports the giant leaves of the cocoanut-tree. The following is a list of works upon the Pacific that I find in my library, other than those I have already mentioned. The reader should consult some of these writers if he desires to post himself up in the minutiae of Island history —their ethnology, botany, fauna, and flora, &c. There are numerous works besides these to be consulted, but Ido not happen to possess them. The following works are chiefly the standard works upon the Islands. Many works have been since written by late travellers of more or less utility : " Cook's Voyages, 1768-1780"; "Polynesian Besearcb.es," Ellis; "Voyages dv Grand Ocean," Moerenhout; "Mission in Western Polynesia," Murray; "Voyages and Travels," Tyerman and Bennet; " Nouvelle-Caledonie," Brainne; "Fiji and the Fijians," W 7 illiams and Calvert; "Mission Life in the Pacific," Buzacott; " Pitcairn Island," Brodie; "The Missionaries' Eecord," G. Pritchard; "Work and Adventure in New Guinea," Chalmers and Gill; " Through Atolls and Islands in the Great South Seas," Moss ; " The King and People of Fiji," Waterhouse ; " Gems from the Coral Islands," Gill; " Savage Life in Polynesia," Gill; " Codification dcs Actes dv Gouvernement dans les Etablissements Francais de l'Oceanie et le Protectorat dcs lies de la Societe et Dependances," 1867; "Acts of Fijian Government under King Cakobau," 1873. Appendix A contains a record of historical events that have happened in the South Seas from 1872 to 1889. Appendix B contains a list of murders of our sailors and traders in the Pacific Islands generally, from 1875 to 1885. This great loss of life would never have happened had proper trading stations been established. Appendix D contains a list of the islands and possessions belonging to the different foreign Powers, as well as lam able to settle their international rights. There has been such a hoisting and lowering of flags upon these islands that I do not think the nations themselves quite know what they do or do not own. Poor Samoa, however, has for half a century nearly been the very theatre of these international struggles. • Coleman Phillips. Wairarapa, Wellington, New Zealand, 19th June, 1894.
APPENDICES, APPENDIX A. List op HistoeicAl Events connected with and happening in the South Sea Islands and New Guinea from 1872 to 1889, being an Addendum to my paper upon the " Civilisation of the Pacific," read before the Boyal Colonial Institute, March. 1876, a copy of which paper will be found in the " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute " for that year.
* Williams,
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September, 1872.—The Directors of the Bank of New Zealand agreed to lend King Cakobau's Government, in Fiji, a sum of £45,000, in order to enable the king to establish his authority over the whole of Fiji and the chief Maafu, who represented German influence. This sum of money consolidated the king's power, and enabled him subsequently to cede the group to Great Britain. It was afterwards repaid by the British Government. June 7, 1873.—Departure of the s.s. " Star of the South," from Auckland to Fiji, thus establishing the first regular steam communication between the Australian Colonies and the Islands. December, 1873. —Establishment of the Auckland and Fiji Bank, the first bank in the Islands. This bank was subsequently replaced, by the Bank of New Zealand extending its own charter so as to include the South Sea Islands. [The loan to King Cakobau, the establishment of this bank, and the institution of regular steam traffic I had the honour of suggesting, for the further progress and civilisation of the Islands.] September 16, 1874. —Colonel Steinberger, as Commissioner for the United States of America, entered into an agreement with Cassar Godeffroy and Sons re the Harbour of Apia, Upolu, Samoa. October 10, 1874.—Fiji ceded unconditionally to the British Crown. August 12, 1875. —Commodore Goodenough shot by a poisoned arrow off Carlisle Bay, Santa Cruz. The same island where Bishop Patteson lost his life. April, 1876. —Engagement of H.M.S. " Barracouta " with the Samoans, fourteen of our men were killed, and thirty-five wounded. Deportation of Colonel Steinberger to Levuka. July, 1876.—The mission schooner " Wesley " opened a new mission to the Duke of York, New Britain, and New Ireland group of islands. November 12, 1876. —The Tainui and Faipule of Samoa appoint Mr. G. W. Griffin, United States Consul, to cede the Islands to the United States of America. February, 1877. —Germany denies the cession of territory by the King of Tonga. The use of one of the ports only is ceded as a coaling-station. May 24, 1877. —Mr. Griffin hoists the American flag at the king's house, Point Mulinuu, on the west side of Apia Harbour, Samoa. October 31, 1877.—Germany enters into a treaty with Tonga. August 28, 1879.—Sir Arthur Gordon signs a treaty of ten Articles between Her Majesty and King Malietoa and the Samoan Government. June 29, 1880. —France annexes Tahiti, in preparation of Prince Bismarck establishing a naval station in Samoa; King Pomare V. ceding his independency to the French Commandant. October, 1881.—The French flag hoisted at Baiatea, which the French Government afterwards repudiated. March 17, 1882. —The House of Commons approves the charter granted by the Government of the day to the North Borneo Trading Company. March 31, 1882. —The Marquis De Bay, with the surviving Italian colonists, abandon the settlement in New Ireland. December, 1882.—The Governor-General of the Philippines takes possession of the Island of Tavitavi, situate north-east of Borneo. February 1, 1883.—Death of King Cakobau of Fiji. April 4, 1883. —The Queensland Government takes formal possession of Eastern New Guinea, and hoists the Union Jack. Both Mr. Gladstone and Lord Derby disapprove the action. June 2, 1883. —Presbyterian Ministers waited upon the Premier of Victoria urging him to call upon the Imperial Government to annex the New Hebrides, the Solomons, and New Britain. July 10, 1883. —The Paris Temps urges the French Government to grant a charter to a French company to acquire the New Hebrides, with concessions similar to those granted to the North Borneo Trading Company. November 19, 1883.—Dread of Germany taking possession of Samoa causes King Malietoa to write the following letter : — " Capital of Samoa, Molinuu, November 19th, 1883. "To Her Most Gracious Majesty, Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. "Youe Majesty,— "I write this letter to your Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain, because I wish to bring my petition to your notice. I know well that you have a regard for me, because you are in the habit of sending visitors to me—great chiefs of your Government —year after year, and they always tell me of the good wishes of your Majesty. Your Majesty, I write this letter, being certain of your regard for me, and love of right; and, because I have seen and heard that other nations, both white and black, which are under your Majesty's Government, have happiness in this world, and have no more trouble nor fear, but have peace in their lives, therefore I wish to be under your arm. I wish to tell you my mind to be under the flag of your Government. I, and three-quarters of the chiefs and people of Samoa, wish to see put up the flag of Great Britain at once. I should be very glad and thankful to your Majesty if you would send me one or two chiefs of your Government, that we can talk face to face, and that we can tell them our wishes for the British flag to be put up in our kingdom, the same as" you have done in Fiji. Your Majesty, I hope that I shall have an answer according to my wishes. I hope God will take care of you and your people. " I am, &c, " Malietoa, King of Samoa."
December 7th, 1883.—The Parliament of Samoa unanimously agree to petition the Parliament of New Zealand for annexation to that colony. ' February, 1884.—The claims of Spain to the Sulu Islands are likely to be recognised if Spain abandons its claim in Borneo. March, 1884.—The final report of the Western Pacific Commission is laid before Parliament. It condemns the supervision of the labour traffic by colonial agents, and urges that the latter
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should be appointed by the Crown. It expresses opposition to the control of Polynesian and New Guinea races-being vested in colonial Governments. It recommends that the High Commissioner of Western Polynesia should be separated from the Fijian Governor's commission, and a separate officer appointed, with the status of an Australian Governor, and to reside in New Guinea. June, 1884.—Baron Macleay denies the statement that he advised Bussia to to annex all the independent Pacific Islands. Ho explains that his advice only referred to certain islands in the North Pacific. October, 1884.—The King, vice-King, and fifty-two chiefs of Samoa, write a second letter to Her Majesty, of which the following is a copy : — " To Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. " Youe Majesty,— " We are the Kings and Chiefs of Samoa, who write to your Majesty to pray and intreat you to receive our request. It is now nearly a year since our King wrote to give over to your Majesty the sovereignty of Samoa. We have been very anxiously waiting for an answer, but no answer has been received. Your Majesty, great is our regard for your Government. We know well our people will be protected, and we shall have peace under your rule. Therefore we entreat your Majesty that our anxiety may be relieved, which arises from our earnest desire that Samoa may be given over to your Government. It is entirely at the disposal of your Majesty, as to whether it is better for us to become an English colony or to be annexed to the Government of New Zealand. Your Majesty, our hearts are grieved and our fear is very great indeed, with regard to other Governments who desire to take possession of our country, which is not according to our wish. We therefore hope your Majesty will speedily come to our assistance and save us, in accordance with the sentiments in the request. We wish to make it clearly understood to your Majesty, we the Kings and Chiefs of Samoa, that we give over our country to the rule of the Government of your Majesty to protect our people. We hope and pray to God that your Majesty and your Government may prosper. " Malietoa (King), Tapu (vice-King), and fifty-two Chiefs." November 6, 1884.—A British protectorate is declared over Eastern New Guinea, to the annoyance of Germany. December 19, 1884. —The German flag was hoisted and a protectorate established over Northern New Guinea, and the Islands of New Britain, New Ireland, New Hanover, and the Admiralty Group. This action was officially confirmed at Berlin on the 22nd instant. December 30, 1884.—Commodore Erskine is instructed to hoist the British flag in the Louisade Archipelago, Woodlark Islands, Tory Islands, and the Book Islands, if foreign warships threaten annexation in the vicinity of these groups. February 9, 1885. —The Upper and Lower House of the Samoan Parliament pass a Bill annexing that group to New Zealand. The Act is signed and sealed by Malietoa, King; Wainautc, Speaker; Selu, Secretary. February 13, 1885.—The German Consul at Samoa takes possession of the Town and District of Apia, under an agreement concluded with Malietoa in November last. The English and American Consuls protest. February, 1885.—Lord Granville informs Count Munster, the German Minister in London, that if the German-Samoan agreement of November last is ratified, it will be necessary for England to conclude a similar agreement for the benefit of British subjects. King Malietoa complains that the treaty with Germany was unjustly obtained, and asks the German Emperor to reject it. February, 1885.—Lord Derby wires to the Governor of New Zealand (Sir William Jervois) to discontinue the annexation of Samoa, as Germany disclaims any intention of annexing. March 29, 1885.—The people of Fiji, at a crowded public meeting in Levuka, determined to petition New Zealand for annexation. 1886. —A joint British and German Pacific Commission agrees : (1.) To recognise the equality of rights of the subjects of each Power in the territory of the other. (2.) That no differential duties shall be established in such new settlements as New Guinea. (3.) That navigation as well as trading shall be left free to each. (4.) That arms, alcohol, and ammunition, shall not be supplied by either to the aborigines. (5.) That the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, Samoa, and certain other islands shall be declared open for communication, and that the independence of each shall be recognised.* June, 1885.- The Government of North New Guinea is to be intrusted to the German South Sea Trading Company by Imperial charter. The Beichstag votes also funds for the establishment of additional consulates in the Pacific. August 24, 1885. —At a public meeting of 30,000 people in Madrid a resolution is carried with great enthusiasm protesting against the hoisting of the German flag at Uap (Carolines). The people also insult the German flag. September 7, 1885.—Germany disavows the action of the Commodore of the German gunboat at Uap, and Spain apologises for the outrage on the German flag at Madrid. January, 1886.—1t is stated that the French Government will be allowed to retain possession of the Island of Baiatia, in return for certain fishery concessions in Newfoundland. January, 1886. —Captain C. Bridge, of H.M.S. "Espiegle," reads a very interesting paper before the Boyal Geographical Society upon Western Polynesia and New Guinea, pointing out that a highly civilised people must have at one time inhabited some of these islands, as he has come across the remains of canals and artificial harbcurs. In the island of Panape there exists the remains of a large city. Febru.ary, 1886. —It is officially announced that Germany has annexed the Marshall, Brown, and Providence groups of islands in the Pacific.
* See Appendix E.
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June 30, 1886.—A peaceful revolution at Honolulu restricts the King's power of appointing the Ministry, and deposes Mr. W. M. Gibson, the Colonial Secretary. Mr. Gibson had been charged with bribery, and he had also filled King Kalakaua's mind with the idea of his becoming " Emperor of the Pacific." The two purchased a war vessel, and despatched an embassy to Samoa, in order to form an alliance with King Malietoa and attach his islands to the Kingdom of Hawaii. August, 1886.—The American, warship " Mohican " inspects and reports upon a newly-formed volcanic island, about forty-eight miles N.N.W. of Nukualofa. August 12, 1886.—-An English protectorate proclaimed over the Ellice Group. December 15, 1886.—1t is announced that Germany has annexed the Bougainville, Choiseul, and Isabel Islands (Solomons). August, 1887. —A revolution in Samoa. The German warships land about 700 men at Apia, declare war against Malietoa, take possession of Government House, and, on the 25th instant, install Tamasese as king. December 9, 1887.—The Bey. J. Jones is expelled by the French from Mare (one of the Loyalty Group) because his presence there was objectionable to the French Government. He had resided there for nearly thirty-four years; Mare being a mission station of the London Missionary Society. December 18, 1887. —The Germans land two parties of 140 men from the "Eber" and "Olga" near Laulu Point, Samoa, whom Mataafa's troops, incited thereto by an American citizen, attack. The Germans lost in the skirmish fifteen men and thirty-seven wounded, besides officers. The Samoans were defeated. December 30,1887. —The s.s. "Bichmond" reports at Auckland that the French have annexed Baiatea. Six chiefs, with 800 men, refused to submit, and the French warship " Scorpion" bombards the town. September 20, 1888.—The Acting British Consul at Barotonga proclaims a British protectorate over the Hervey or Cook Group. The despatch containing this instruction was sent through Sir J. Prendergast, Deputy-Governor of New Zealand. The present British Besident, Mr. Moss, is partly subject to the authority of the New Zealand Parliament. January, 1889.—The United States Committee of Congress on Foreign Belations propose that 500,000 dollars be voted to protect American interests in Samoa, and 100,000 dollars to improve Pangopango Harbour (which belongs to the United States). Mr. Sewell, the American Consul at Samoa, informs the Committee that he believes England and Germany are acting together, Germany to receive Samoa, and England Tonga and Hawaii. April 22, 1889. —H.M.S. " Bapid" hoists the British flag on Suwarrow, and annexes that island to Great Britain. March 16, 1889. —Great hurricane at Samoa. The German warships " Eber," "Olga," " Adler," and "Nipsic," and the American warships "Trenton" and " Valdalia" are wrecked, with great loss of life. Captain Kane, in H.M.S. " Calliope," steams out of Apia Harbour in the teeth of the gale, the "Trenton's " crew cheering her as she passes. Wellington, 11th June, 1894.
APPENDIX B. List op Muedees of Sailors and Traders in the South Sea Islands during the Ten Years, June, 1875, to June, 1885. - June 2, 1875.—Murder of Mr. St. John Keys, at Opia, Gilbert Group. His murderer wa3 afterwards blown from one of the guns of H.M.S. " Benard." June, 1876. —Massacre of the master and crew of the " Dancing Wave," at the Florida Islands, Solomon Group. June, 1876. —Murder of Captain Anderson, of the labour schooner " Lucy and Adelaide," of Brisbane, at the Island of St. Bartholomew, New Hebrides. September, 1876. —Dr. James killed by New Guinea natives. October 13, 1880. —Commander and five seamen of H.M.S. " Sandfly" killed and eaten. November 27, 1880.—Captain and crew of "Annie Brooks" killed and eaten. Party of naturalists killed, at Moresby Island. December 1, 1880. —Town Hall of Cooktown draped in black, for the murder of thirty Europeans, besides Kanakas and Chinese, at New Guinea, during the past three years. December 18, 1880. —Schooner "Leslie" reported a vessel wrecked on Bougainville Island ; Captain eaten, some of the crew poisoned. January 11, 1881.—Captain and crew of the "Zephyr" murdered at the Solomons. January 18 to March 15, 1881. —Crew of the trading-ship "Hongkong" all killed, except the captain. Grew of the schooner " Prosperity " massacred at Moresby Island. The Tanna natives fired upon the " Jabberwock's " boats. Crew of the "Borealis" murdered at the Solomons, except the captain. Master of the schooner "Leslie" murdered at the Solomons. Beported also that Captain Lawrie, of the "Black Hawk," has been killed. April 1, 1881.—The following murders also reported to date : Captain Mcintosh, of the "Esperanza"; Captain Fergusson, of the "Bipple"; Captain Murray, of the "Lcelia." June 29, 1881. —Seven Kanakas and one European, of the schooner " May Queen," murdered. November 7, 1881. —Schooner " Atlantic " attacked at the Solomons, and several of her crew (Kanakas) killed. November 22, 1881.—Schooners "Ariel" and "Dancing Wave" attacked at the Solomons by twenty canoes. December 12, 1881.—Mr. H. Mair, the mate, and two of the Fijian crew of the schooner " Isabella," killed and eaten at the New Hebrides; Mr. W. H. C. Lyttelton murdered, at Port Weber, New Britain. March 12, 1882. —Lieutenant Luckcraft, of H.M.S. " Cormorant," killed at the New Hebrides. May 2, 1882. —The labour agent, the mate, and four of the crew of the brig "Janet Stewart," murdered at the Solomons, and the vessel burnt,
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September 14, 1882.—Three French traders and one Kanaka murdered at Santo. December 11, 1882.—Beported in Sydney that the crew of a vessel, the " Taviuni," sixteen in all, killed and eaten by New Guinea natives. The "Mystery " and " Dauntless " massacres must also be included in this period; but of these two atrocities I have no dates. April, 1883.—Two Frenchmen from New Caledonia killed at Flat Island, in the Louisade Archipelago. July, 1883. —Second mate, and four of the crew of the schooner " Lavinia," and the Government agent, murdered at Opia, Gilberts. December 15, 1883.—-Arthur M. B. Bose, labour agent, of the schooner " Fairlie," murdered by the natives of a small island to the eastward of St. Mathias. July 4, 1883.—H.M.5. "Dart" investigates the murder of Captain Belbin, of the " Borough Belle," at Ambrym, and punishes eight natives with death, one of the " Dart's " men being killed and the boatswain wounded. September 13, 1883. — H.M.S. "Diamond" and "Dart" investigate the murder of the Government agent's boats-crew and officer at Opi. September 27, 1883.—The " Dart " investigates the murder of a trader named E. McCuan on the south coast of Apia. December 27, 1883. —The Auckland schooner "Pirate" wrecked at Manihiki, and cargo plundered by the natives. January, 1884. —A terrible butchery at Naroati (Gilberts) reported at Auckland by Captain Hayward, of the " Kate McGregor," caused by twenty to thirty returned Apiang and Tarawa people. March 21, 1884. —The brigantine " Oamaru " reports at Auckland that the coxswain of one of the German schooner " Christine's " boats was lately killed on the Western Pacific by natives. January 15, 1885. —Captain Howie and four of the crew of the " Elibank Castle " brutally murdered at Point Bangetta, Solomon Islands. December 23, 1884.—William Beid, mate of the ketch " Wild Duck," killed by the natives of an island of the Engineer Group. June, 1885.—Two German crews killed and eaten by the natives of the Hermit Islands, and the vessels plundered and burnt. Amongst the relics obtained from the massacre was a woman's chemise, marked " A.P." There is no doubt that on board the three-masted schooner was a white woman named Annie Pagels. Note. —The above list contains the terrible list of slaughter for this decade. The next decade (1885-1894) will show a vast decrease in the deaths, owing to the increased vigilance of Her Majesty's warships. I regret that I have not been careful enough to preserve the actual list of murders since 1885, having been engaged in other pursuits, but my intention is to look them up, and publish the same for general information. That the loss of life has not by any means ceased is shown by the fact that in April last, only three months ago, Gaptain Donald Guy, a trader well known in New Zealand, was murdered by the natives of Novo Island (Solomons), who tomahawked the unfortunate man in order to obtain his head for a new war canoe.
APPENDIX C—FOREIGN POSSESSIONS IN THE PACIFIC. Beitish Possessions. Easter Island. Ducie Island': 24° 40' S. lat., 124° 48' W. long. Pitcaim Island. Cook or Hervey Islands, between 18° and 22° S. lat., 157° and 163° W. long. There are six islands and about nine islets and reefs. The largest, Barotonga, the residence of the British Administrator, F. J. Moss, Esq., is fifty-three miles in circumference, with a population of 3,000. Mangaia has 2,000 inhabitants. Vatiu, or Atiu, twenty miles m circumference, 1,200 inhabitants. Hervey Islands, three small islets. Aitutaki, eighteen miles in circumference, 2,000 inhabitants. Palmerston Islands, group of islets. Other islands are Takutea, Mitiaro, and Mauki. Savage or Nine Island, 20° S. lat., 171° W. long. The " Stateman's Year-book" gives this island as belonging to England; but it will be seen in Appendix E that it was excepted in the AngloGerman Convention of 1886. Manihiki Group, including Beirson or Bakoango, Manihiki or Humphrey, Penrhyn or Tongarewa, Vostock and Flint Islands, lying around 10° S. lat., and between 150° and 160 v W. long. Dudoza Island :7° 40' S. lat.; 161° W. long. Union or Tokelau Group, between 8° 30' and 11° S. lat., and 171° and 172° W. long. Three clusters of islets, the principal of which are, Fakaafu or Bowditch, Nukunono or Duke of Clarence, Oatafu or Duke of York. Phoenix Group, between 2° 30' and 4° 30' S. lat., and 171° and 174° 30' W. long. Eight islands Mary, Enderbury, Phoenix, Birney, Gardner, McKean, Hall, Sydney. Maiden Island : 4° S. lat., 155° W. long. Starbuck Island: 5° 30' S. lat., 155° W. long. Caroline Island: 10° S. lat., 150° 30' W. long. Lagoon or Ellice Island, between 5° 30' and 11° 20' S. lat., and 176° and 180° E. long. Nine islands and islets groups. The principal are Sophia or Bocky Island, Nukulaelae or Mitchell Group, Ellice, Mukufetau, Vaitupu, Netherland, Lynx. (Some of these islands are differently named on the chart.) Christmas Island : 1° 57' N. lat., 157° 27' W. long. Fanning Island : 3° 50' N. lat., 159° W. long. Washington Island: 4° 40' N. lat., 160° 20' W. long.
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Jarvis Island : On the Equator, 159° W. long. Gilbert Islands : On the Equator, between 172° and 177° E. long. Annexed 1872; area 170 square miles ; population, 36,800. Consist of sixteen atolls. Ocean Island. Pleasant Island. The Fiji Group. The Solomon Islands. In July, 1873, H.M.S. " Goldfinch " hoisted the British flag in various parts of the islands of this group, lying to the south of Isabel and the German line, thus confirming the British Protectorate. Also, see Bishop Selwyn's paper upon the Western Pacific, read before the Boyal Colonial Institute, June, 1874. The Woodlark Islands : Also below the German line. The Louisiade Archipelago. Norfolk Island. Lord Howe Island The Kermadecs. I extract a considerable portion of the above information from the " Stateman's Year-book," for 1894, adding to and amending the matter therein contained where requisite. It will be noticed that we have no small harbour in the North Pacific which would serve as a point d' appui, or as a place of retreat for a disabled ship acting against Vladivostock, Japan, or the Corea. Feench Possessions. New Caledonia and its dependencies: the Isle of Pines, the Loyalty Archipelago, the Huon Islands, Chesterfield Island. Wallis Island (placed under the protectorate of France in 1887). The Society Islands. The Paumotas or Low Archipelago. The Tubuai or Austral Islands. The Marquesas. Gambicr Island. Geeman Possessions. North-Hast New Guinea : Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, including Long Island, Dampier Island, and some other small islands. The Bismarck Archipelago, so named in 1884, comprising the New Britain, New Ireland, and New Hanover Archipelagoes, and several adjacent groups of islands, all lying within the German sphere of influence, hitherto called Duke of York Islands, and Fischer, Gerrit, Denys, Admiralty (previously belonging to England), Anchorite, Commerson, Hermit, and other islands. (The chart has not all these islands duly named.) The Marshall Group, comprising the Badack and Ballick Chains, Brown Island, and Providence Island. Also the German Sphere of Influence, agreed to by Great Britain, 6th April, 1886 (see Appendix D.). This runs from the southern boundary of German New Guinea, straight across to Choiseul Island in the Solomons, thence down to Quadalcanar in the same group, including Ysabel; thence north-north-east to Mulgrave Island in the Marshalls; thence north to about latitude 15° N., so as to include the Badack and Ballick Chains. The Solomon Islands. Germany therefore owns the more northerly part of this group, including Bougainville, Choiseul, Ysabel (or Isabel), and various smaller islands, comprising an area of about 9,000 square miles, with a population of 90,000 people. The islands are placed under the officials of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. (The German New Guinea Trading Company is really exploiting all these places much like our own North Borneo Trading Company is exploiting Borneo. Spanish Possessions. The Philippines, Sulu Islands, the Pelew Islands, and the Ladrones. Spain also claims the Caroline Islands, but this claim has not yet been fully recognised. Uap belongs, however, to Spain. Dutch Possessions. Western New Guinea to the 141° of E. long., Celebes, Southern Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Western Timor, and other islands in Malaysia. POETUGAL. Eastern portion of Timor. Ameeican Possessions. The United States may claim Pangopango Harbour, Samoa, but I much doubt whether Congress will continue to infringe the Munroe Doctrine for such a petty possession, thereby involving itself with the great European Powers over a matter which will only entail " expense, responsibilities, and entanglements.'' (See President Cleveland's message to the United States' Senate, 9th May, 1894.)
APPENDIX D. Convention between Geeat Beitain and Geemany as to the Spheees of Bespective Influence in the Westeen Pacific. (April 6, 1886.) Declaeation between the Governments of Great Britain and the German Empire relating to the demarcation of the British and German spheres of influence in the Western Pacific. (Signed at Berlin, 6th April, 1886). The Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Government of His Majesty the German Emperor, having resolved to define the limits of the British and the German spheres of influence in the Western Pacific :
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The undersigned, duly empowered for that purpose—namely : 1., Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary; 11., Count Herbert Bismarck, His Imperial Majesty's Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, have agreed, on behalf of their respective Governments, to make the following declaration : — 1. For the purpose of this declaration the expression "Western Pacific" means that part of the Pacific Ocean lying between the 15th parallel of north latitude and the 30th parallel of south latitude, and between the 165 th meridian of longitude west and the 130 th meridian of longitude east of Greenwich. 2. A conventional line of demarcation in the Western Pacific is agreed to, starting from the north-east coast of New Guinea, at a point near Mitre Bock, on the Bth parallel of south latitude, being the boundary between the British and German possessions on that coast, and following that parallel to point A, and thence continuing to points B, C, D, E, F, G, as indicated in the accompanying charts, which points are situated as follows : A, 8° south latitude, 154° longitude east of Greenwich ; B, 7° 15' south latitude, 155° 25' east longitude ; C, 7° 15' south latitude, 155° 35' east longitude; D, 7° 25' south latitude, 156° 40' east longitude; E, 8° 50' south latitude, 159° 50' east longitude; F, 6° north latitude, 173° 30' east longitude ; G, 15° north latitude, 173° 30' east longitude. The point Ais indicated on the British Admiralty Chart 780, Pacific Ocean (south-west sheet) ; the points B, C, D, and E are indicated on the British Admiralty Chart 214 (South Pacific, Solomon Islands), and the points F and G on the British Admiralty Chart 781, Pacific Ocean (north-west sheet). 3. Germany engages not to make acquisitions of territory, except protectorates, or interfere with the extension of British influence, and to give up any acquisitions of territory or protectorates already established in that part of the Western Pacific lying to the east, south-east, or south of the said conventional line. 4. Great Britain engages not to make acquisitions of territory except protectorates, or interfere with the extension of German influence, and to give up any acquisitions of territory or protectorates already established in that part of the Western Pacific lying to the west, north-west, or north of the said conventional line. 5. Should further surveys show that any islands now indicated on the said charts as lying on one side of the said conventional line are, in reality, on the other side, the said line shall be modified so that such islands shall appear on the same side of the line as at present shown on the said charts. 6. This declaration does not apply to the Navigator Islands (Samoa), which are affected by treaties with Great Britain, Germany, and the United States; nor to the Friendly Islands (Tonga), which are affected by treaties with Great Britain and Germany ; nor to the Island of Niue (Savage Island), which groups of islands shall continue to form a neutral region; nor to any islands or places in the Western Pacific which are now under the sovereignty or protection of any other civilised power than Great Britain or Germany. Declared and signed in duplicate, at Berlin, this sixth day of April, 1886. (1.5.) Edwabd B. Malet. (1.5.) Geaf Bismaeck.
Declaeation between the Governments of Great Britain and the German Empire relating to the reciprocal freedom of Trade and Commerce in the British and German Possessions and Protectorates in the Western Pacific. (Signed at Berlin, 10th April, 1886.) The Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Government of His Majesty the German Emperor, having resolved to guarantee to each other, so soon as the British and German spheres of influence in the Western Pacific have been demarcated, reciprocal freedom of trade and commerce in their possessions and protectorates within the limits specified in the present declaration, the undersigned, Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Count Herbert Bismarck, His Imperial Majesty's Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, having been duly empowered to that effect, have agreed, on behalf of their respective Governments, to make the following declaration : — 1. For the purpose of this declaration, the expression "Western Pacific" means that part of the Pacific Ocean lying between the 15th parallel of north latitude and the 30th parallel of south latitude, and between the 165 th meridian of longitude west and the 130 th meridian of longitude east of Greenwich. 2. The Government of Her Britannic Majesty and the Government of His Majesty the Emperor agree that the subjects of either State shall be free to resort to all the possessions or protectorates of the other State in the Western Pacific, and to settle there, and to acquire and to hold all kinds of property, and to engage in all descriptions of trades and professions, and agricultural and industrial undertakings, subject to the same conditions and laws, and enjoying the same religious freedom, and the same protection and privileges, as the subjects of the Sovereign or protecting State. 3. In all the British and German possessions and protectorates in the W r estern Pacific the ships of both States shall, in all respects, reciprocally enjoy equal treatment, as well as most-favoured-nation treatment, and merchandise of whatever origin imported by the subjects of either State, under whatever flag, shall not be liable to any other or higher duties than that imported by the subjects of the other State, or of any third power. 4. All disputed claims to land alleged to have been acquired by a British subject in a German possession or protectorate, or by a German subject in a British possession or protectorate, prior to the proclamation of sovereignty or of protectorate by either of the two Governments, shall be examined and decided by a mixed Commission, to be nominated for that purpose by the two Governments. The claim may, however, be settled by the local authority alone, if the claimant to the land makes formal application to that effect.
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5. Both Governments engage not to establish any penal settlements in or to transport convicts to the Western Pacific. 6. In this declaration, the words " possessions and protectorates in the Western Pacific " shall not include the colonies which have now fully-constituted Governments and Legislatures. The present declaration shall take effect from the date of its signature. Declared and signed in duplicate, at Berlin, this tenth day of x\pril, 1886. (1.5.) Edwaed B. Malet. (1.5.) Geaf Bismaeck. Approximate Cost of Paper.— Preparation, not given; printing (1,400 copies), _9 18s., exclusive ol map.
Authority : Samuel Costall, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB94.
Price Is.}
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1894-I.2.1.2.9
Bibliographic details
SAMOA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS., Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1894 Session I, A-06
Word Count
13,945SAMOA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS. Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1894 Session I, A-06
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