Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1887 — SOUTH SEA COURTSHIP. [ARTICLE]

SOUTH SEA COURTSHIP.

Eccentricities of the Natives of the Navigator Group. —'' ; . I •an Branaboo Bxaminer. j Dr. W, B. Waller, of Caldwell, Ohio, returned on the last steamer after fortr months’residence in the islands of the Navigator group. He gave some strange ; incidents of his experiences there, and i of the queer habits of the bronzed na- 1 fives, to a representative of the Exam u I iner at the Grand Hptel yesterday. “The Samoans are a simple-minded, honest people,” said he. “It has been charged that they steal every thing they - can lay their hands on, but this is a mistake. They just take. Almost every thing is common property. Stop at one of their reed cabins in the bush, and you can’t tell whether the folke there own the cabin or not. Perhaps they are just occupying it for a week, while the builders of it are away occupying soirife body eise’s cabin. Or, per haps, two families arh there together; Let a Samoan drop into any cabin and see a coat that he wants and he just takes it. It’s all right.- The owner of it will take the next one he sees anywhere, or if he asks for the one he bad he can readily get it back. Just so with

every' thing they have. “The Navigator Island people never kiss. They simply rub noses. And should a young man wish to marry- a girl he, if he has a servant, simply sends him to the girl, stating that his master likes her and would like to marry her. If she is willing to.marry him she send® back word, naming'an early evening when she willmeet him. The meeting usually' takes place in the bush back of the girl’s home. .It" their trystjng place, and here every thing is talked over, the lovers sitting upon the ground, and every thing is arranged. Perhaps the next day, or very soon thereafter, they disappear, without saying a word to anybody. They may be gone four or six weeks in the bush before anybody hears from them or has the leastinkling of where they are. Then they as suddenly reappear, whereupon they are formally jbmwb in marriageby one of the chiefs and missionaries, and all their friends join in .giving them a big dinner of pork. Then they are substantially married, but should either grow tired of the othef, he or she simply removes to one of the other islands, where the party is as free again as though never married, the. ceremony not holding good there, nor, in fact, at home, after a little time. “The Samoan girls' marry at the age of ten or twelve years. They are then as magnificently developed physically as they eve- are, but in mind they are oftentimes but little, else than children, “Another thing about these stran-e natives of the Navigator group is that they are double jointed, and that is whv they are such fine and are, altogether, the most graceful people in the world. Their legs at the knge joints, their arms at the elbows and their shoulders with their ball and socket joints, are reversible in a way that would astonish you. The elbow and knee joints, can be bent exactly contrary to the natural condition of all Other persons. “The missionaries have taught the ] Samoans.to avoid profanity, and they never s wear in their presence, but outside of it they think it-is all right, and I have heard them cuss like troopers, and a half hour after lead a family prayer with a fervor that is amazing. Tney are a devout people, and, with all their occasional profanity, are never angry. They are the most even-tempered people I ever saw.”