Mixed Marriages In Polynesia

Unions Made By Many Europeans With Attractive Daughters of Samoa

By H. Charles Reed, Of Apia.

"VTEWCOMERS in these attractive is lands of the Samoan Group appear to have considerable interest in the is land ways of love and marriage—especi ally mixed marriages, which, from their intimate nature, are a subject rarely broached in print.

This writer has personally known, in Western Samoa, a great many highly respected men of gentle birth and of edu cation who, in former days, chose to marry fair daughters of the island chiefs, or girls of part-European parentage, who are called “European-born” in Samoa.

Among those men who chose to make Samoa their residence and adopted home w r ere quite a number of professional men, including lawyers, doctors, dentists, sur veyors, chemists, merchants and traders,

master-mariners, schoolmasters, mana gers of plantations, and gentlemen of means . . .

It has often been said that there is a subtle charm and attractiveness about the comely daughters of the chiefly fami lies of Samoa. That they can lay claim to an amiable disposition is true. “The Samoans certainly have learned the way to live and love,” the author of a well known book, once remarked. R. L.

Stevenson said, “I love Samoa —its people are a glad race.”

But in choosing a consort from among the light-skinned Polynesian daughters of Samoan chiefs, or from among the lighter-hued European-born girls, there are certain pros and cons that will need to be carefully weighed. A knowledge of Samoa, and an understanding or know ledge by residence of local conditions of the country and its people, are requisite.

All things being equal it must not be imagined that the most vivacious nymph will provide the best alliance. Milk and coffee need to be carefully blended. A sacred contract, such as marriage is con sidered to be, needs careful forethought, and that careful thought should be the responsibility of the man, in the writer’s opinion.

Most of the daughters of Samoan chiefs, as also the fair maidens of the European-born community, are fitted by reason of modern schooling advantages to more than hold their own in a con versation in English. They will, in gen eral, have a pretty good insight of house keeping and of domestic economy. The Samoans really do excel in the art of cake-making. With the sewing machine, as with the needle, the girls of these islands are adepts, and they usually cut and make their own costumes or frocks.

But when it comes to a discussion of the art and crafts of European origin one cannot expect a people whose environ ment, in most cases, has been that of the Islands from childhood maybe, to have even an understanding, far less a sym pathetic, interest in such subjects.

They may be called illogical. Yet how can they appear otherwise? How can a people, whose parents in some cases, have but little evolved from the later Stone Age, have an intimate understanding of outside world matters, except, of course, those more fortunate girls who have travelled. Many young people of Samoa have visited New Zealand, Aus tralia, and Europe.

The more versatile among the young women of Samoa will play tunefully on the piano, guitar, or ukelele. They are vivacious, and fond of the dance, the “talkies,” and the lagoon. But in this, per haps they are not alone. They have beautiful voices and, with training, often

become good singers. A poetical sense is theirs, while they are keen on music.

The Island-born girls do not suffer the health shortcomings, such as white women usually experience, soon after residence in Samoa, and which frequently necessitate their leaving the islands at short notice, under a doctor’s advice.

Since the New Zealand occupation of Western Samoa, under Mandate (1914), mixed marriages in Samoa have been sternly frowned upon by officialdom: and those of the residents who have taken a stake in the country, or married a fair daughter of Samoa, in order to make this territory their home, by choice and adop tion —these are, for most part, men who are engaged in planting, or shipping, or in the trade —are quietly, but callously, ostracised, by some unwritten law.

Mr. Stephan Savage has written on this topic as follows: “The colour bar and prejudice which exist to-day in these islands was virtually non-existant or un known until very recent years.”

Mr. F. M. Keesing. in his scholarly work, Modem Samoa . page 458. says: “With the passing of frontier conditions, a growing number of white women, mainly the wives of officials, are coming to the islands, allowing the dev'e’opment of family and social life, from which, to greater and greater extent, Europeans married in the country, tend to be ex cluded.

“Sentiment against the half-caste (European-born, is the modern term) is manifested more openly. The visitor can hear in Samoa, to-day, stories to prove him ‘dishonest,’ ‘unreliable,’ ‘intellectu ally-inferior,’ etc. An increasing discrimi nation is being shown against all except the few who are in an unassailable posi tion, because of their economic status.”