The Pacific Islands lying east from the Melanesian Islands, beginning with New Zealand and stretching to Easter Island, were occupied by Polynesians. The best known of their island groups were New Zealand, the Society Islands, Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands. These islands are either volcanic islands or coral islands, and the natural animal and vegetable life occurring on them is less varied than on the great islands lying nearer to the Asiatic or Australian continents.
The Polynesians present a fine type. They are often tall and well built; their skins, though brown, are frequently light; the features are regular and the faces handsome. They are quick and intelligent, think and reason well, take new ideas readily, and are fond of beauty. They were barbarians, but had made so much progress that they were at the border-line of civilization. Living in a mass of islands that presented few natural resources, they had made the most of everything nature gave them.
TATTOOED NEW ZEALANDER (VERNEAU).
Many Polynesian tribes tattoo. Elaborate patterns are pricked into the skin, with lines of needles set side by side and dipped in color. The New Zealanders tattooed their faces with curious curved-line patterns, each line had its proper place, and the patterns probably had a meaning. The Marquesas Islanders covered their bodies with elaborate and graceful patterns. The process was painful and only a small space was done at one time; the whole work required years.
Polynesian dress differed somewhat with the region. In New Zealand fine, soft, and flexible robes and blankets were woven of the native flax. In Hawaii the king and chiefs had wonderful feather cloaks which hung to the knees or even to the ankles. The little feathers of which these were composed were red and yellow; a garment composed only of yellow feathers could be worn only by the king; when both colors of feathers were used, they were arranged in diamond-shaped or other ornamental forms, with spots and lines of dark purple or black feathers. Besides the cloaks, there were tippets of feathers, which were generally worn by lower chiefs, who had not, or might not have, feather cloaks. In these feather garments the dress was made of a sort of netted foundation, into which these bright feathers were worked. Chiefs also had wonderful helmets of wickerwork which were covered with feathers. The helmet might be simple, just fitting the head, or large, ridged, or crested, and rising high above the head. In some islands the clothing consisted of a fringed girdle hanging from the waist to the knees.
HELMETS AND IDOL-HEADS OF FEATHERS: HAWAII (RATZEL).
But everywhere in Polynesia the common dress was made of tapa. This was a kind of paper or cloth beaten out of the bark of certain trees. The bark was removed from the tree and soaked in water; it was laid upon a large piece of wood and beaten with a sort of club or mallet. This was made of hard wood and was round at one end for being taken in the hand; the remainder was squared, and the four faces were either smooth or ribbed by longitudinal grooves. By this beating the wood was separated into its fibres, and these were mashed together into a sheet of firm paper or cloth. This tapa differs with the tree from the bark of which it is made. Some is thin and dark brown; that from the bark of the breadfruit tree is fawn-colored; that from the paper-mulberry, best and finest of all, is beautifully white. The women were so expert at beating tapa that single strips, four yards wide and two hundred yards long, were beaten. Such cloth might be left plain, or it might be stained with colors, or it might be stamped with patterns. Wooden blocks or strips of bamboo were carved with designs which were smeared with color and stamped on the cloth; sometimes ferns were laid in coloring matter, then the form transferred to the tapa.
The two chief food supplies in Polynesia were breadfruit and cocoanuts; yams (much like sweet potatoes) and bananas were plenty. A favorite food in places is poi, a sort of gruel or pudding made from the root of taro. It was not eaten with a spoon, but the finger was dipped into it and stirred around to get a good load of the sticky stuff on it, when it was stuck into the mouth and sucked clean. Fish were much eaten, though not all kinds nor at all times.