The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-01-23
THE PEOPLE OF SAMOA.
A PICTURE aUE AND ROMANTIC
PoLYNEsIAN RACE
Both Men and Women Neat and
Attractive Oratoricala and Other
Traits-A ChieTs Daughter.

Harold NJ. Sewell, Of Maine, United
States ul-Generel in Samoa, re
turned recently to inform the state De.
partment at Washington Of the unhappy
troubles that have overtaken the
Samoans, aud to see if this government
cannot do something to uphold the pres
tige Of the American flag in the Pacific
islynds. VI. Sewell SAID to a Mai and
briF,@ reporter:
"Samoa consists Of three large islands,
with a populat on 3 %. The
Samuans ave of bright copper color.
The women are beaut iul when they are
young. They marry early and fade
quickly. They live and dress pretty
much as they did a hundred years ago.
Some of the men and women who have
become hristians, use calico in dress
ing. Their mode of dressing is simple
ity itself. They wear the tapa, cloth
made from the fibre OF mulberry bark.
THIS is their only garment. there is no
distinction between the dress of males
and females. except in the manner
of tying the bow of the tapa.
The males point the bow, or tie knot. to
hang loosely in front OF their bodies,
and The females are careful to have the
bow gracefully swing ng at their sides.
They arc so clean aud careful in every
way that it does not take uropeau
long to become accustomed to the signt
of their attire. The men keep the skins
so well oiled that they present fine APP
pearance They tattoo p little but not
in profuse aud g otesque manner. They
do not believe in mutilating their faces
with rings through their noses or lips,
but have pride in the personal beauty
of the fare. The Samoans are strong in
upholding ca te. But once noble does
not mean always a noble. Los of power
or favor ofie compels the h gh muck a
muck of village to step down and out,
and become member of the common
herd. Every village has chief. He
belongs to the highest caste, and governs
those under him with more oTcial and
autocrat.c assumption than a Mexican al
cade. His assumption, however, is real,
and carries with it life and death. The
Samoans are the most polite people in the
world, and in merely addressing any one
of distinction they employ many meta
phors aud complimentary terms. They
beg your pardon a thousand times, regret
TO trespass upon your patience, and, in
fact, exhaust catalogue Of polite and
entirely superiuous terms. They have
trained orators, and they are called the
talking men of the districts. Their oratory
is. not rant and noisy luss. l have seen
a trained orator address a meeting, and
I really think that many of our orators
could we'll emulate HIS style. His
auditors were seated in the hut or coun-
Gil chamber, and he stood before them
with a long staff which he leaned upon
while talking. He did not gesticulate
much, but began in a slow and clear
voice. The samoan language, by the
by, is musical. The higher class, how
ever, speak different dialect from the
lower. Gradually the orator worked up
TO his climax and moved his audience in
way that indicated they appreciated
his eloquence and logic. AS a race they
are temper ate and not addicted to the
vices OF foreigners. friendly in dis
position. they welcome the stranger to
their homes with cordiallty that is at
times almost overwhelming. They live
in comfortable homes for a climate that
registers 81 and 0 degrees Fahrenheit
as rule. in the shade Their houses in
many instances are oval in shape and
devoid of windows. When the winds
blow they raj Q he sides of their houses,
or rather roll m up, for they are COM
posed of thick mating. The wind then
has full sweep of the stone floor, where
the occupants sleep on mats with hard
>/bambUo pillows. Their way of sleeping
has a tendency to make them straight
limbed They stretch out at full length
and remain in that position while
sleeping.
"The women arc more interesting
than the men. A belle in those lotus
feeding islands simply wears a more
finely wrought tapa, and uses more cocoa
nut oil on her hair and person. Many
of the MISSIONARIES and foreigners marry
-Stse pa-ti<e women. Then they pc NIT
their beautiful tawny hair to grow long
and at once recogni their important
station in life. but the fore gners do not
marry any but the high ca,teinatives of the
village. The women are proud and are
careful to see that there is no mistake
about the lormality OF the marriage ceTe-
mony. The chiefs of the village are not
polygamous, but they have an arbitrary
way OF returning their wives to their
parents. A chief will take wife Just to
get rich presents from her family. Fol-
days there will be festivities in his viii
la-e in honor of the nuptials and pres,
ents from the brides family will be sent
in and ealously taken possession of by
the chief. In several months or year
he sends his wife back to her parents
and thea looks around for another rich
heiress. Many of the lending chiefs have
been Christanized and take a wife fol
life. A chefs daughter Is called
the 'tanpo' or maid of the village, and
every person in the village has TO honor
her. Il he occupies higher place than
the governors daughter in a civilized
country, aud when she marries the vii.
--lage gains so many presents. The man
who courts the tanpo has to have the
opulence TO give enough presents to
satisfy the village and the chief. Some
of these 'tanpo' maidens have had re.
markable careers, aud one, a famou;
beauty named Faapeo, the daughter of g
noted chief, Asst, has gained a wide
reputation. Faapeo was one of the most
accomplished of Samoan high caste wo.
men and was a great favorite, especially
with the fore gn population. She often
danced in public AID was courted and
invited to many houses. Her case is &
sad one, though, and | do not Ike tc
repeat it. one day Faapeo was invited
to 90 aboard the Adams, a nited States
man of-man at Samoa, and give dance
Ten days after she gave the dance tht
Germans arrested her father, the chic
Asst. aud eXlled him to Marshall Island