Penisimani papers

boost Samoa studies

Samoan studies are expected to take a big leap forward as a result of researches now being carried out on what have come to be known as the Penisimani manuscripts.

The manuscripts comprise over 700 pages of hand-written material about Samoan cus toms and traditions, written in about 1860 by a Samoan Lon don Missionary Society pastor known simply as Penisimani.

They are being kept at the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

According to Dr Derek Free man, professor emeritus of anthropology at the Australian National University and found ing professor of anthropology of the luniuesite o Samoa, the manuscripts can be considered as the most important literature about Samoa to be discovered within living memory.

“The discovery of the Penisi mani manuscripts can be com pared to the discovery of the writings of Chaucer for the English,” Dr Freeman, best known internationally as a critic of Dr Margaret Mead, said.

It was Dr Freeman himself who is believed to have been the first person to discover the existence of the manuscripts at the Mitchell Library in 1948. It was after the war and Dr Freeman was continuing his anthropological studies on Samoa. As he recalled he had visited the Mitchell Library and had casually asked the librarian

whether there was any “other” material on Samoa. The libra rian showed him the papers.

Since then, the first known public mention of the manu scripts was by Dr Jacob Wain wright Love of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who quoted from the Penisimani manu scripts in his review of Dr Brad Shore’s book Salailua: A Sa moan Mystery , Columbia Uni versity Press, New York, 1982.

Dr Love referred to Penisima ni’s rendering of the meanings of the words “aga” and “amio”

The luniuesite o Samoa is also taking a keen interest in the manuscripts. One of its first graduates (Felise Va’a) is now working on the manuscripts at the Australian National Univer sity.

Penisimani is said to have been a graduate of the London Missionary Society theological college at Malua, Western Samoa. He wrote the manu scripts at the request of the Rev.

George Brown, a missionary of the Methodist Church, who was interested in preserving some of the aspects of Samoan culture.

The writing of the manu scripts took years, and were among the sources used by the Rev. Mr Pratt in the compilation of his English-Samoan diction ary. When Mr Brown returned to Sydney where he retired after his missionary work, he brought the manuscripts with him and deposited them, to gether with other personal papers, at the Mitchell Library, where they remained until dis covered by Dr Freeman.

The manuscripts include de scriptions of legends, myths, old Samoan customs and a lexicon of rare Samoan words, many of which are rarely used today and might have been lost but for Penisimani’s account.

During his time, Penisimani was regarded as one of the foremost experts on Samoan custom and tradition. It is also said that he knew few Euro peans and, therefore, his know ledge of Samoan custom is little tainted by foreign influences.

From a Special Correspondent in Canberra.