Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1861-01-05
weeks since from Capt. Randall, whose acquaint-
snce with the group exceeds that of any one else

| Maiana, (tIa's ISandl
Kuria (HOodle's Island) - ..'.i5 500
Aranuka, (Hendervies Isand) .... i go
Apamama Simpsons isiand) 1000
TaputeuWea, (Drummonds Island 900 to 5000
Nukunau, (Byron's IslaRd) -..... s 600 10 6 600
Onoaoa' Clerks Isand)
Tamana, (ROtcher's IsIaHd 900
Arora (ioPe Island) 500
500 to $4,000
In physical appearance this people are darker
and cOarser as a whole than the more western in
habtants of Micronesia They are also a larger
race, some of the chie6sh ones being very corpu-
lent, equang in size the ancient chiefs of Hawaii
This is all the more remarkable from these islands
being the most barren of the atolls of Micronesia
The cocoanut and pandanus, and few laboriously
cultivated taro, are the only vegetable productions
while the greater number of the low islands of the
Marshall and Caroline archipelagoes produce taro,
breadiruit and jackfruit in considerable abundance
Ii is probable, however, that these remarks apply
rather to the inhabitants of the islands to the north
of the Equator which is the portion that has fallen
under my personal observation. Mr.. Hale, of the
United States exploring expedition, speaks of the
natives OF Taputeuwea as of middle size, well
made and slender. The usual height
is about five feet eight or nine inches, but We saw
many who were considerably below this standard.
There are none OF those burly persons among them
which are so common in the Sandwich and Society
Islands, and we did not see one instance of obesi-
ty."
Nothing that have seen would widely separate
the Gilbert islanders from the other Micronesian
races. There is the same slightly acquiine nose
and prominent cheek bones and chin, and the same
well developed cerebrum, particularly in the frontal
and corOnal regions. The hair has the same fine
glOssiness, and often curls. Yet it must be ac-
knowledged that the Micronesan delicacy and per-
fection declines as we proceed southwark in the
group; and their language, both in its vocabulary
and grammar, was to be expected, has greater
affinity with those of Polynesia than any other
Micronesian tongue.
In manners and customs the people exhibit some
thing of the same coarseness betrayed in their
physical developments. The males go naked, save
when they hold or rudely tie o small mat about
them with piece of rope rope yarn stolen
begged from some ship. The matured females
wear a cocoanut leaf fringe about six inches wide.
They prominently indelicate and indecent,
possessing very little, if any. of that refined gen.
tility found on Ponapi Many of their customs
regarding the dead are abOminably filthy and dis
gusting, such as preserving them for days and
weeks and carefully daubing over themselves the
froth from the mouth of the deceased A
wife will frequently for weeks after the death of
her husband continue to sleep beside the corpse
under the same coverlid and mother will some
times carry the body of her infant about with her
till it falls to pieces and then she will cleanse the
bones and carry them. Indeed, it is common to
preserve the bones, particularly the skull, of the
dead, and carry them about, at times carefully
amounting them with oil, and even sharing food
with them.
Heathenism is here seen in some of its lowest
and most disgusting forms though it may be said
in aleviation that there is little of that deliberate
cruelty and none of that religious sacrifice of life
found in many of the groups of the Pacific. Their
religious rites differ in no material respects from
those already described in connection with other
groups Stones, the incarnatiOns of deities, are
found every where some of which are SO noted as
to be the recipients of gifts of food and to receive
the prayers of certain prieStly ones.
On the greater number of the islands, partlcu-
lary on those south OF the equator, what govern
ment there is is of very democratic nature.
man is of Importance in proportion to the amount
of land he possesses and the number of slaves he
owns Each head man is the representative of a
family of brothers, sons &c., who more or less
dependent upon him, and who are always ready to
sustain him. The state is thus divided into large
families each Jealous of the other and ready to
hwart the ambitious pretensions Of any of their
number. On some of the islands, however, par
tcular family has by series OF fortunate events,
either in peace war, IN both, so extended It's
relations to be paramount; and Its patrIarcha
head is consequently the nominal king OF the island
Yet there may be other families so powerful on
these same islands as to prevent the establishment
ercised on Apamama. including the two dependent
islands of Kuria and Aranuka. On Apaiang
similar power is rapidly rising. On Maiana, Ia
rawa, Marakai and Butaritari there nominal
kings but their power is far from absolute.
The explorers of the United States Exploring
Expedition Judged the inhabitants of the islands
south of the equator to be less amiable and kindly
dispositioned than those TO the north while Capt
Randall quite reverses the statement, and thinks
the southern islanders much the cleverest and best
natured Ii is probable that the difference in the
degree of government has something to do with
the different judgments, and that the tendency to
monarchism is greater in the more productive, and
consequently more luxurious, islands of the north
ern portion.
The capacities of this race are developed in three
principal directions IN the securing and prepare
iion of food the erection of houses, particularly of
their noble council houses, and In the construction
of their proas and the navigation of them.
So limited are their resources that very consid-
erable degree of ingenuity is called forth IN secur-
ing their food from land and sea. as on the Mar
shall Islands by far the most important article OF
diet is the pandanus fruit. This is eaten raw
when ripe, and even when green 1t is also cooked
and eaten fresh and is also prepared with great
labor for long preservation The cocoanut fur
nishes them with the meat and water of the nut at
all stages of its growth. From the meat of the
nut thousands of barrels of oil are yearly manu-
factured bv their own hands and sold to traders,
who take the most of it to Sydney. The meat of
each nut is scraped by hand and exposed to the
sun for two or three days, when is pressed under
long, rude lever acting on transverse log.
Agents for the traders are found on each island,
who pay the natives principally in tobacco and
firearms. The cocoanut tree also furnishes them
from its flower stem with delicious sap that forms
most nutritious and healthy drink, especially for
the children who frequently get little else of ali
ment for days together. This sap ferments and
intoxicates, often producing untold mischief and
misery And from it also, by boiling, they prepare
delicious syrup, which they keep IN cocoanut
shells hung up, frequently by hundreds, in their
houses and which they mix with water when their
appetites or hospitality demands something espe-
ciaIIv delicate Rnt the cultivation of the taro