Samoa, a Hundred Years Ago and Long Before

Gods, Traditions and Village Life of the Islands

George Turner

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785501401662
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Forty years among the Samoans distilled by a missionary who wrote down their gods, their war customs, their medicine and their sayings before the missions had finished changing them. Turner published in 1884, and the second half of the book is a village-by-village record of beliefs he collected from old men. He is a partisan, and he is also the fullest source there is for what he describes. Fifty-nine plates of island light and shore, from abandoned boats to the Bay of Fundy, by painters including Thomas Luny and John Sell Cotman, carry the reader across the seas Turner's Samoans knew.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Samoa, a Hundred Years Ago and Long Before
• Chapter I. Position of the Islands—Early Visitors and Traditionary Origin
• Chapter II. Samoa.—Origin of the Name
• Chapter III. A Future State—Religion, Etc
• Chapter IV. Gods Superior—War and General Village Gods. 1. Aitu Langi, or Gods of Heaven
• 2. Alii Tu, or the God Who Stands
• 3. Ave I Le Tala, or Take to the End of the House
• 4. Fonge and Toafa
• 5. Fanonga, Destruction
• 6. Faamalu, Shade
• 7. Faaola, Life-Giver
• 8. O Le Fe’e, the Cuttle-Fish (Octopus)
• 9. Fuai Langi, Beginner of the Heavens
• 10. Ga’e Fefe, Breathless Fear
• 11. La’ala’a—Step Over
• 12. Laa Maomao—The Great Step
• 13. Mao Ma Uli—Mistake and Black
• 14. Matuu—Heron, or “Andrea Sacra.”
• 15. Moso
• 16. Nafanua—Hidden Inland
• 17. Nave
• 18. Nonia
• 19. O Le Nifo Loa—The Long Tooth
• 20. Pava
• 21. Pili Ma Le Maa—The Lizard and the Stone
• 22. Stones
• 23. Le Sa—The Sacred One
• 24. Sili Vaai—Far-seeing
• 25. Sa Fulu Sa—Of the Sacred Feather
• 26. Sama—Yellow
• 27. Salevao—Sacred One of the Bush
• 28. Sepo Malosi—Sepo the Strong
• 29. Siuleo—Tail of the Voice, or Echo
• 30. Taafanua—Walk the Land
• 31. Tangaloa Langi—Tangaloa of the Heavens
• 32. Tapaai—Beckoning
• 33. Taema—Glittering Black
• 34. Taisumalie—Tide Gently Rising
• 35. Tili Tili—Swift
• 36. Titi Usi—Glittering Leaf Girdle
• 37. Tongo—Mangrove
• 38. Tu—Stand
• 39. Tufi—To Pick Up
• 40. Turia—Driven
• 41. Tuifiti—King of Fiji
• 42. Tuna Ma Fata—The Eel and the Litter
• 43. Vave—Swift
• Chapter V. Gods Inferior, or Household Gods. 1. Aloimasina—Child of the Moon
• 2. Apelesa—Sacred fullness
• 3. Asomua—First Day
• 4. Leatualoa—The Long God, or the Centipede
• 5. O Le Aumā—The Red Liver
• 6. Iulautalo—Ends of the Taro Leaf
• 7. O Le Alii O Fiti—The Chief of Fiji
• 8. Limulimuta—Sea-Weed
• 9. Moso’oi
• 10. Fatupuaa Ma Le Fee—The Pig’s Heart and the Octopus
• 11. Pu’a
• 12. Samani
• 13. Satia
• 14. Sengi Vave—Snatch Quickly
• 15. Soesai
• 16. Si’u—Extremity or End
• 17. Sina ‘ai Mata—Sina the Eye-Eater
• 18. Tongo
• 19. Tuialii—King of Chiefs
• 20. Tuipangota—The King of Criminals
• 21. Taumanupepe—Fight Creature Butterfly
• 22. Ulavai—Fresh-Water Prawn, or Crayfishes
• Chapter VI. The People—Infancy and Childhood
• Chapter VII. Adult and Advanced Years
• Chapter VIII. Food—Cooking—Liquors
• Chapter IX. Clothing
• Chapter X. Amusements
• Chapter XI. Mortality, Longevity, Diseases, Etc
• Chapter XII. Death and Burial
• Chapter XIII. Houses
• Chapter XIV. Canoes
• Chapter XV. Articles of Manufacture
• Chapter XVI. Government and Laws
• Chapter XVII. Wars
• Chapter XVIII. The Heavens, and the Heavenly Bodies
• Chapter XIX. The Origin of Fire, and Other Stories
• Chapter XX. Names of the Islands
• Chapter XXI. Political Divisions and Places of Note on Upolu
• Chapter XXII. Political Divisions and Places of Note on Savaii
• About the Author