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The Samoan Islands and Their People
| Article
# : |
11253 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1986 |
7,397 Words |
| Author
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Lowell and Ellen Holmes
Lowell Holmes is professor of anthropology at Wichita State
University, and Ellen Holmes (also an anthropologist) is
assistant professor of health, administration, and gerontology
at the same school |
The Samoan archipelago lies midway between Hawaii and the islands of New Zealand, fourteen degrees below the equator. It consists of a volcanic island chain swathed in green and trimmed with white sandy beaches and fringing reefs of coral. The islands stretch over 300 miles, from 168 to 173 degrees west longitude. Of relatively recent origin (late Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene), the island terrain rises gently from the sea up past farming lands to mountain peaks which reach 6,000 feet on the largest island of Savai'i and 2,100 feet on the island of Tutuila.
These are tropical isles. Warm and abundant rainfall, and gentle but steady trade winds, nurture a dense, fragrant vegetation. Bushes, ferns, grasses and vines carpet the mountain slopes beneath stands of hardwood timber such as ifi lele, tavai, and asi. Mountain tops are clothed in mosses, lichens, and sprawling shrubs, but few trees.
Animals, other than the chickens, pigs, dogs, horses, and cattle maintained by man, are sparse. Nature sustains a few wild pigs, two varieties of non-poisonous snakes, a dozen species of small lizards, land crabs, and "flying foxes" (actually large fruit bats). The Polynesian rat, scarcely larger than a mouse, is found throughout Samoa, and probably arrived with the original settlers, but the large wharf rat found in port towns is of recent introduction.
There are over thirty varieties of land birds, including game fowl such as ducks, the golden plover, and pigeons. The bird of greatest importance culturally is the sega, or "chief's bird." This small green parakeet has red feathers which are used to decorate the highly prized Samoan finemat. An
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