One of these belts, in my collection, is two feet nine inches in length, so that when fastened round the waist it leaves a considerable portion of the right side exposed. It is made by taking a number of plaited cords, and passing them over two sticks, so that all the cords are parallel to each other. They are then bound firmly together by strings of twisted fibre, which pass under and over each alternately, and make a very strong armor, through which the dreaded sharks’ teeth cannot make their way.
Sometimes the Samoan warrior seems to have been mistrustful of the efficacy of the belt, and to have feared the effects of the shark’s teeth on his naked arms and legs. There is in the collection of the United Service Museum a complete suit of armor, most ingeniously made out of fibre, and so formed as to cover the greater part of the body and limbs. It is in two portions, the upper being put on as a coat, and the lower as trousers. By the sides of the armor, on p. 1018, are [two small sketches], showing on an enlarged scale the patterns of the plaiting.
There is no definite army among the Samoans, each man being considered as a soldier, and having his weapons always at hand. He is liable at any time to be called out by his chief, and, as a rule, he troubles himself very little about the cause of the war, only concerning himself to fight in the train of his chief. The Samoans are a brave race, and, if properly led and taught the veriest rudiments of discipline, would make good soldiers. As it is, however, no Samoan warrior fights with the knowledge that his movements are directed in accordance with a definite plan, or that he will be supported by others. He does not feel himself a simple unit among many, but has to look out for himself, to select his own adversary, to advance when he thinks he can do so with advantage, to run away when he feels himself getting into undue peril.
Whenever a few Samoans have put themselves under the guidance of a white man, they have always repelled their foes. In one such case, twenty men drove off a body of five hundred enemies, flushed with success and bloodshed. Both parties were armed with muskets, but the regular though insignificant volleys of the twenty men so completely disorganized the five hundred undisciplined foes, that the latter dared not attack the little stone wall, five feet high and twenty-five yards long, behind which the defenders were lying.
Had the latter been left to their own devices, they would have fired all their pieces at once, and been left with unloaded muskets at the mercy of their foes. But being taught always to keep half their muskets loaded, they had always a volley ready for their enemies, who were utterly discomfited at their reception, and at last were only too glad to escape as they best could, with the loss of many men.
The position of a neutral is not at all a pleasant one in Samoa, as, in case either side should appear to be likely to win the day, those of the losing side who happen to be friendly with the unfortunate neutral make a point of stripping him of all his property, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. Those Europeans who know the native customs always erect barricades whenever war parties come near them, knowing that they stand in equal danger from friends or foes.
When a chief decides on going to war, he calls out all the warriors in his district. Though there is no real discipline of the soldiers, there is at all events some semblance of order in their arrangement. Each town has its definite place, and the inhabitants would resent any attempt on the part of another town to take the place which they consider as their own. The most honorable post is in front, and, though it is a post of danger, it is so honorable that if a man belonging to any town privileged to lead the war were placed in the rear, he would probably desert to the enemy. In fact, a vast amount of desertion does take place, and by means of the deserters and the women, both parties know tolerably well the designs of their antagonists. The idea of conceiving, maturing a plan, keeping it secret, and then suddenly acting on it, seems never to have entered the mind of the Samoan chiefs.
Though the vanguard is the post of danger as well as of honor, it is greatly coveted, for it is also the post of profit both in peace and war. The inhabitants of the privileged towns claim the largest share at the feasts, and generally rule the district in which they live. As all the Samoans dress much alike and speak the same language, they are obliged to wear a sort of uniform, by which they shall know friends from foes. In the case of warriors, the hair is dressed in some strange way, or a white shell is hung round the neck, or a strip of cloth tied round the arm, these symbols being changed every three or four days, in order to prevent the enemy from imitating them.
When canoes unite under one leader, they hang out symbols of a similar character, such as bunches of leaves, strips of matting, or even a sort of flag made of native matting, and having painted on it the rude figure of some animal, such as a pig, a dog, or a bird. True to the independent nature of Samoan warriors, the two men who respectively command the land and the sea forces never think of consulting together, and acting in concert together, but each does what he thinks best on the spur of the moment. In the case already mentioned, where twenty Aâna men repulsed five hundred of the Savaiis, the latter might have been cut off to a man. While they were kept in check by the twenty disciplined warriors, a fleet of Aâna canoes appeared off the shore; and, if the commander had only landed his men, a most thorough example would have been made of the invaders. But he had nothing to do with the land force, and so allowed the enemy to escape without even attempting to stop them.
The student of anthropology always finds that human nature is much the same in different parts of the earth, and that manners and customs wonderfully resemble each other in principle, though they may be modified in detail by the accident of time and place. It has already been mentioned that many of the Samoan laws are identical with those given by Moses, though there is no possibility that any geographical connection could ever have taken place between Polynesia and Sinai.