The individual is a member of two divisions of society throughout life. The first and more definite grouping is the kindred, a vertical division of society, based either on recognized lineal descent from a common ancestor or adoption. Descent is reckoned primarily through the patrilineal line, though the matrilineal line determines many social relations and activities. The second grouping is the generations, a horizontal division based on age, cutting across kindred. Five generations may live during the lifetime of the individual, but only three function actively in the life of society—the children, the adolescents and young married people who make the body of the community, and the older people who direct the welfare of society.

Each individual living a full span of life passes through these three periods and in each his position in the family and community changes. In childhood, he has few responsibilities. Through adolescence, he is a junior member of his family group and of society, a worker providing food, doing most of the menial labor, and caring for his elders. During this period marriage usually takes place and the individual establishes his own family. In the last period, the individual no longer does the manual labor but becomes head of his household and shares in the direction of the kindred and community affairs. The passage from one period to the next is marked by rites or initiatory preparations which allow the individual to pass safely into the following phase of life.

The physiological processes of conception and the part of fatherhood in the production of children were fully appreciated here as elsewhere in Polynesia. The offspring was known to be descended from both the father's and the mother's lines.

The time of birth was calculated from the cessation of menstruation, which was recognized as the symptom of pregnancy. In former times delivery was expected after nine moons had passed. The projection of the umbilicus from the distended abdomen of the woman was considered also as a sign of the month of the delivery. At the end of her pregnancy the woman was massaged every day and taken on walks which were thought to bring on an easy delivery. No food tapus were placed upon her. The only restriction was that she must always be accompanied by other people when she entered the plantations and gardens beyond the village or traveled to other islets. At night a man always accompanied her to protect her from the attacks of spirits.

A child stayed with his mother, or with a wet-nurse living outside the home, until he was weaned—a period which often lasted two years. Adoption was common, and a child frequently left home when he was one or two years old. No strong feeling of solidarity existed within the family proper and children were freely exchanged. Collateral relatives of the parents who were childless often brought up a child. When a child was old enough to assist in the work of the household and had several young brothers and sisters, he was sent to help his grandparents, if they were not living in the home of his parents, or to an aunt or uncle who needed extra help. Children frequently left home of their own accord. In the simple village life, where the children roamed in and out of every house, the separation from parents was not absolute. A child always knew who his true parents were and understood his relationship to his foster parents.

An eldest girl grew up in the house of her mother and remained there. The eldest son usually was taken before he was weaned and was nursed by his adoptive mother, the father's eldest sister, or another aunt in her house, who took especial care of him as the heir in her kindred by direct lineal descent in the male line. She was his matua sa (sacred mother) and he was her tama sa (sacred child). His cousins, the true children of his adoptive mother or aunt, who were living in the household, became his brothers and sisters. The close relationship of these cousins is shown in the extension to them of the same kinship terms used for actual brothers and sisters.

While the children were young they were unclothed and intermingled without regard to sex or relationship, but as soon as brothers and sisters approached puberty they observed strict rules of avoidance, carried on throughout life between all relatives of the same generation who were termed brother or sister by one of the opposite sex. This usually included all cousins to the fourth degree. All communication between a brother and sister was passed through the intermediary of their mother. A boy must not utter any indecent or obscene language before his sister or conduct himself incorrectly; he must not sit on a mat with her or enter a house where she was. A sister left the presence of a brother unless he was much younger. This avoidance was more rigorous between true brothers and sisters and first cousins than between more distant relatives, but the freedom that existed between unrelated girls and boys was never permitted.

As soon as a child could run about he played outdoors in the village or on the beach under the guardianship of an older brother or sister. His play was much of his education, for in it he imitated the practices of older people, and learned much of reef fishing, plaiting, and the preparing and cooking of food. As soon as he was old enough he was put to work by his elders.

At the first signs of puberty young boys put on a plaited leaf breechcloth (malo); young girls wore the thick pandanus leaf skirt (titi). The boys left their homes where their sisters and female cousins slept and lived in the men's houses (fale pa).

In former times the village contained several men's houses. All the unmarried male members of a family belonged to one house, which was used as a clubhouse as well as for sleeping quarters. Here men spent their leisure time talking or performing the lighter crafts, such as making fishhooks or twisting fiber into cord and rope.

While living in the men's houses the education of the boys was completed. They went as crew in the canoes on fishing excursions or across the lagoon to the plantations of coconut and pandanus on the windward islets to gather food. They prepared ovens and built fires and did much of the cooking and serving for the men in the house. They learned to make all the implements used in fishing, and the sons or nephews of a carpenter (tofunga) often learned from him to build houses or canoes. After work the boys sat about and listened to the tales of the older men.

All male members of society were circumcised, sometimes at puberty, but usually five or six years later. When the village council decided that there were enough uncircumcised boys for a group operation, the operator (to-funga), Te Nifo (the Tooth, because he operated with a shark's tooth), was ordered to confine them in a single house for the operation. The operation, which was, strictly speaking, superincision, was performed by pulling the foreskin forward and raising it on to a small, flat stick. A longitudinal slit was then made with a shark's tooth. Nothing was applied to aid the healing or to cover the incision.

The boys were forced to remain in the house until they were well healed. It was tapu to leave even for food. The sons of their father's sisters (ilamutu) accompanied the operator each day to bring food which consisted solely of coconuts in the niumata stage. Fish was tapu.

When the healing was completed the families of the boys gave a feast of announcement (te kainga o te katala faele). At this time the boys repaid their cousins with gifts for the supply of food which they had brought.

A woman considered an uncircumcised man unfit to marry.

The tapu placed on men and women of blood relationship was the only restriction on unmarried people in sexual matters. Both boys and girls entered upon a series of love affairs and experiences, which received the tacit consent of their parents as long as they did not become scandalous.

Marriage took place when the children were 16 or 18 years old and was usually the result of parental planning. The family council, which decided the matter of a boy's marriage, was composed chiefly of members of the paternal side of the family from whom the boy would receive the greater part of his inheritance.

In making formal suit, the boy called upon the parents of the girl and presented them with a gift of food (kainiu) which they accepted. After the formal and evasive remarks which always preface the conversation of Polynesians soliciting for one another, the boy made the most indirect and brief allusion to the object of his visit and departed. The girl's family made inquiries about the boy's character and ability to fish and work. The immediate kin of the girl met to discuss the proposed alliance and then informed the boy of their decision. He carried the news to his own family.

Frequently a match was initiated by the boy's father in order to unite two prominent families or to secure a girl of wealth and prestige. The girl's father usually desired an industrious youth, able to work the land and heir to large holdings in his own line. The preliminary arrangements were made by the fathers of the couple.

When the boy decided the question of marriage himself he usually sent an intermediary, some boy friend, who carried to the young girl a flower or a head wreath made by the suitor and announced to her who had sent it. The girl showed her interest by accepting the gift, and if she was willing to marry the young man she wore it in public where he would be sure to see her. If there had been much intimacy between the two, the boy might make his proposal directly at some secret meeting on the beach or in the plantations beyond the village.

If love matches were disapproved by the parents as being socially unsuitable, the couple took a canoe and paddled across the lagoon, living perhaps in some little hut used by food gatherers. In a few days they returned and the families reluctantly submitted to the inevitable and allowed the two to set up their own household in the village or to reside with the girl's parents as a married couple of the community.

The relatives on both sides helped in preparing for the marriage. The boy's eldest paternal aunt (matua sa), as female head of the father's line, decided how many mats were to be made as gifts to the couple, and divided the work among the women of her kindred. She also took charge of the preparation of the food for the wedding. Her daughters, the boy's female cousins (ilamutu) also prepared mats for him. The boy's maternal relatives prepared mats as gifts for the wedding, but the marriage was less important to them.

The girl's mother and her eldest maternal aunt, who controlled the female side of the mother's kindred, took charge of the girl's affairs. The mother's eldest brother had more authority at this time and more interest than the father, gathering the food for the wedding feast and directing the work of the kindred. The wedding feast consisted of a few large fish, perhaps a turtle, a pile of coconuts, and dishes of cooked coconut meat and pandanus fruit, for the island produced no garden fruits or fowls.

A group of the villagers marched among the houses singing and shouting the formal announcement to all the community: “Kaitaoso, Kaitaoso, Kaikati, te mafua, ngutu” (Jump like a fish, jump like a fish, eat by biting the small fish bait in your mouth). This was sung to the bridegroom who secured his bride (literally, the bait) in the wedding. The wedding ceremony consisted only of the presentation of gifts and feasting. All relatives of the couple came to the wedding feast (kainganiunga) bearing the gift mats which they placed before the bride and groom. The bride received the mats of the groom's family, divided them, and presented them to the members of her family who had brought mats. The groom took the mats of the bride's family and distributed them among his relatives. All who aided in preparing for the wedding or contributed to the family display of wealth by the presentation of mats were repaid from gifts brought by relatives of the son-in-law or daughter-in-law. The couple received little of the wealth which passed through their hands. When the distribution was completed, the couple sat together for most of the day, eating with the guests who had come to pay their respects. No symbolic joining of the two, other than their remaining together on a mat throughout the day, signified their marriage. The groom remained at his wife's house and was allowed to sleep with her on the first night. The consummation was called moemuli. Virginity was not held at great premium, and no tests or formal proof were made to the family of the groom.

Because of fear of incest all cousins within four degrees of kinship on either side of the family were barred from marriage. However, many marriages between third and fourth cousins are found in the genealogy of the first settler of Atafu, and it is probable that on atolls where the populations were never large the extreme limits of the tapu have been disregarded through necessity.

Polygyny (taunonofo) was practiced, but cases of it are few in the records of early observers on the islands. Pio, one of the first men from Fakaofu to settle on Atafu, had two wives and two separate establishments. The children of his two wives are reckoned separately in the genealogies of his line. The difficulty of supplying food for two households was the chief restraint in the practice of taking more than one wife.

Men had recognized mistresses whom they visited in the women's houses and who were called wives (avanga) of the man but were free to marry other men in the village. Women who easily granted their favors to men of the village were called fafine taka, and a man who was known to cohabit regularly with one woman was termed moe fale pa. (This latter term suggests that the woman went to the men's house (fale pa) to sleep (moe) with her lover.) This license doubtlessly existed mainly among the unmarried group, for adultery was regarded as one of the most serious crimes against society. If a woman was found to be unfaithful to her husband, she suffered siki te fua (lifting the jealousy or avenging the husband). The family of the husband destroyed the woman's house, canoe, and property which was owned by her close blood relations, who dared not resist. The public shame and guilt were shared by all members of the family as well as by the iniquitous woman. This act freed the husband from any ties to his wife or obligations to her family. A mutual agreement of separation was common between husbands and wives who found life together unpleasant or incompatible. This constituted divorce if the separation continued over a long period of time.

No modern substitute has been found for the punishment of adultery and the separation of incompatibles. Without the fear of the old law, abolished by government and church, much promiscuity exists.

After marriage, the husband lived in the house of his wife's family and worked and fished with her kindred, but his social group remained primarily that of his father. He took part in the activities of his own kindred and received a share of the fruits of his father's land when they were needed. His father or the head of his kindred still exercised authority over him in all interests of their kindred.

The girl remained a daughter of her family's house and continued her daily work of caring for the small brothers and sisters, and assisting her mother and the older women of the house in all their work. With the news of her pregnancy, her position became more honored. The news was heralded with great rejoicing by both families and a feast of the first pregnancy was immediately planned. The cherished hope of both families for an heir was now promised and the marriage was considered a success.

When the young couple had children, they still remained in the home of the wife's parents if she was the eldest daughter of the family; but if she was a younger daughter, they frequently set up their own home on the land of the kindred of either side. There is still much variation in this final settlement, depending upon the number of children in the family of either the wife or the husband, and upon the wealth in land of the respective kindreds. If the husband was the eldest son in his family, he set up his household on his father's land. Before building a house, the consent of the assembled kindred was necessary to occupy the land and take building materials from the plantation.

When a man had established a household of his own and had become skilled in man's crafts, he assumed an authoritative position within his kindred and retired from active participation in the work for the household, now done by his sons and sons-in-law. He became a member of the village council, a position corresponding to that of the matai of Samoa, who is elected head of his kindred ('ainga) and inherits the family title. If a man was a skilled bonito fisherman, he was given a second position of importance, that of fishing captain (tautai) in the family canoe.

A man never gave up his fishing until he had become too infirm to paddle his canoe. If he lived to be 65 or 70 years old he joined the chief council group of the village who, with the high chief, governed the community. He and his wife moved to a small house and were cared for by two or three of their elder grandchildren who brought them food from the family oven.

After death, the body of a man was prepared for burial by his father's sister, the body of a woman by her mother's sister. With the aid of other women she washed and oiled the body and dressed it in a new garment of coconut or hibiscus leaf, decorating it with flowers and a wreath on the head. It was finally wrapped in new mats before burial which took place on the day of death. With it were put the mats and pearl shell ornaments (lei) which friends and family had presented.

The death of a member of the family was an important event to all relatives, who immediately came to express their grief over the body. As soon as the freshly dressed corpse was laid on mats in the center of the house, the family gathered about it and commenced wailing (tangi) and calling the name of the deceased. Each new arrival wailed vociferously for several minutes but, quickly exhausting himself, his cries subsided to the occasional moaning of the others who had already spent themselves and sat rocking their bodies back and forth, gazing at the corpse before them. In modern times this is the only sign of grief except on the part of the wife, who visits the grave of her husband to wail and call upon him to come back. In the past, close relatives shaved off their hair, burned their skin with small burning points of wood, and displayed their grief with much suffering. Relatives performed dances and songs of the dead outside the house of mourning. The dances (taualofa, tangi) were performed with arm motions while the performers were seated (14).

The immediate family was confined within their own house under a tapu for a period of 10 days (falemanu) to placate the gods and particularly the spirit of the deceased. Wall screens were dropped and the family sat quietly inside, forbidden to disturb anything or to leave the house for any social observance, even though it were a call to the deathbed of another relative. Anyone who broke the tapu would be killed by a god. A screen of mats was arranged from the house to the sea in order that the inmates might pass to the sea unobserved to perform their toilet. During this time no cooking could be done by the family. All food was brought by neighbors or distant relatives, who left promptly. No other visitors were permitted.

Burials are made today with the bodies extended, but Lister (14, p. 55) says of former customs:

The body was placed in the grave, lying on the back, and with the knees bent to the utmost extent, so that the leg was parallel with the thigh. The thigh was extended in line with the body. Two leaflets were laid transversely across the chest. No food or weapons were placed in the grave with it.

The natives say that formerly graves were made without marks of identification, but Lister (14) states:

The grave was about 3 feet deep; a mound of coral shingle was raised over it, with a vertical slab of stone at the head and other slabs laid on the top and sides of the mound.

The grave was made close to the house or in the floor of the house and when the body was lowered into it the eldest sister of the deceased sat at the head of the grave. Since Christianity has been introduced into the islands, separate cemeteries have been made outside the confines of the village, in which the graves are 6 or 7 feet long (pl. 10, A).

Lister (14, p. 55) writes:

For five nights after the burial the relatives came to the grave, and, removing the stone which lay over the region of the head, poured coconut oil into the heap … with a cry of mourning. This anointing the grave with oil is still performed in Tonga.

After two or three days the body was disinterred and brought into the house. The family again washed and oiled it, wrapped fresh mats about it, and buried it again. The new grave was made a fathom deep.

The family consisting of father, mother, and children is considered a biological unit. It is the source of the living group or household, but not a social entity, participating in social life as a self-contained group. In its origin the household corresponds with the family, but new members, not necessarily related by blood, are frequently added.

The determining factor in the arrangement and function of the household is economic. The household is a cooperative domestic unit, in which the members share the land, its produce, and the work. They live together in one house or in nearby sleeping huts and use a common cook shed and fishing canoe. Household affairs are directed by the senior mother and her husband.

Kinship is extended to persons connected by lineal descent and collateral relationship in both the mother's and the father's family, but genealogies are reckoned by patrilineal descent. In counting generations or tracing relationship, personal names are used. Kinship terminology is applied to contemporary relations with whom the individual is normally associated. This terminology classifies the two preceding and two succeeding generations in lineal descent and collateral relationship. Table 4 is arranged with the generation of the individual in the middle of the horizontal divisions, the first and second preceding generations above, and the first and second succeeding generations below.

Matua sa or matua tauaitu was given as the general term for the father's sister. Actually this term is applied only to the father's eldest sister, who has a particular relationship to her brothers' children and a magical power to curse her brothers and their children, which is reflected in the term tauaitu. The younger sisters of the father are potential matua sa, for if the eldest sister dies, the sister next in age assumes the position of matua sa and inherits the power to curse. The term ilamutu is given for all children of the father's sisters, but the children of the eldest daughter fulfill most of the ilamutu's obligations.

All ancestors of three generations or more before the individual are termed tupunga, not tupuna, the term for grandparent. All descendants of two generations or more after the individual are termed makupuna.

Uso, which in Samoa means sibling of the same sex as the speaker, is used in the Tokelau dialect with the same meaning, but is also used as a term embracing all one's closer collateral relatives, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Tausonga, which in Samoa means sibling of the opposite sex to the speaker, refers only to the distant relatives of one's kinship group, irrespective of generation. The meaning of “close” and “distant” in the terms uso and tausonga was neither substantiated nor denied by several informants and is perhaps a recent and secondary usage.

The functional social group based on blood relationship is the kindred or persons reckoning descent and inheriting property from a common ancestor. Theoretically kinship is reckoned with all those who can trace descent from the earliest common ancestor, but for the requirements of exogamic marriage, the social obligations of blood relatives, and the practical division of land the kindreds trace their origin from a later ancestor.

The kindred is directed by the eldest living male. When he dies the position passes to his younger brothers, and when they die, to the eldest son of the first head. In this succession system the Tokelau custom of giving the leadership of a group to the eldest man is combined with the usual Polynesian custom of inheriting chieftainship directly from father to eldest son. Formerly the kindred head (matai) received an hereditary title, but due to the modern tendency of society towards a greater independence of the family and household and private ownership of land, this, and the use of the term matai, have been dropped. The kindred head superintends the care and use of kindred lands and directs the affairs and councils of the kindred. However, his residence is in his wife's house, and the land he works is the property of his wife's kindred. Because of his absence from the daily life of his own kindred and his residence away from the land, his eldest sister assumes a position of great importance. She resides on her kindred's property, Table 4. Kinship Terms

Unless otherwise designated, all terms are for either man or woman speaking.

Collateral—Male SideLinealCollateral—Female SideMaleFemaleMaleFemaleMaleFemalegrandunclegrandauntgrandfathergrandmothergrandunclegrandaunttupunatupunatupunatupunatupunatupunafather's brotherfather's sisterfathermothermother's brothermother's sistertamanamatua sa, matua tauaitu or matuatamanamatuatuatinamatuafather's brother'sfather's sister'sbrotherselfsistermother's brother'smother's sister'ssondaughterson and daughtertaina m. s.tuafafine m. s.son and daughtersondaughtertaina m. s.tuafafine m. s.ilamutu or fakatau tuatinatuangane w. s.taina w. s.tuatinataina m. s.tuafafine m. s.oldestoldesttuangane w. s.taina w. s.kimua or fakamuakimuayoungestyoungestkimulikimulifather's brother's children'sfather's sister's children'sbrother's sondaughter's sonsondaughtersister's sondaughter's sonmother's brother'smother's sister'ssondaughterson and daughtertama m. s.tama fafine m. s.tama or atalikitama fafine or afafineilamutu m. s. or fakatauilamutu m. s. or fakatauchildren'schildren'stamatama fafineilamututamasa w. s.tama sa w. s.son and daughtersondaughterfakatau tuatinatuatinatamatama fafinetuatinatuatinatama w. s.tama fafine w. s.grandnephewgrandniecegrandsongranddaughtergrandnephewgrandniecemakupunumakupunumakupunamakupunamakupunamakupuna and the men of her household and her sisters' husbands use the kindred plantations which she controls. Because of her residence in the chief household of the kindred, she is termed the fatupaepae (rock of the house foundation). She is the head of the female side of the kindred and directs particularly the work of the women. Due to matrilocal marriage, she also adopts the eldest son of the male head of the kindred, to rear him within the chief household of his own kindred, of which he is representative of the male line and heir to the headship.

The kindred is not a stable institution but increases with each generation. When it becomes too large to function as a unit, it gradually regroups itself into new kindreds. The common ownership of land is, however, the determining factor in the formation of the kindred, for when the land of a kindred is divided, new groups form in the succeeding generations, each based on the ownership and inheritance of one of the new land divisions.

The development of kindred groups from the division of lands at Atafu during its short history of five generations illustrates the formation and organization of the Tokelau kindred. The Atafu community, established by Tonuia and his family with a few followers from Fakaofu, was originally composed of his five married sons, Pio, Malokie, Laufati, Vaovela, and Taua; his two daughters, Fekei and Levao; Fekei's husband, Faunga, and Levao's husband, Nofoloa; and five others, Folosanga and his two sons, Fuati and Folosanga; and Pepe and Fakavanga, brothers of Laufali's wife. Tonuia was chief and priest of the community by appointment of the high chief at Fakaofu, but he was also head authority by right, as the eldest man of the kinship group, which, except for three members, comprised the entire community.

Before Tonuia's death he divided the land among his sons and daughters. Each of them had an individual household whose membership was increased by the marriage of children with people brought from Nukunono and Fakaofu. With increasing size and separate land rights, each household became more self-sufficient and occupied with its own existence, although still belonging in the kindred.

Tonuia's children redivided among their children the shares of land they had received in the original division. Some of Tonuia's grandchildren lived in the original households, and others established new homes. Except in one line, where the land division was inherited in the second generation by one person who redivided it again, the complete subdivision of the land among individual owners ended with the generation of Tonuia's grandchildren. Since then the descendants of each grandchild have inherited and owned these divisions in common, the individual receiving the right to use his kindred's land.

Within each village were several large houses (fale pa) where the men gathered in leisure hours and the unmarried men and older boys slept. Membership in these houses was probably originally based on kinship. In Fakaofu the seven fale pa were named: Tolunga fale (the council house), Safiti, Saletama, Sakimoa, Sakoaa, Polokaa, and Satuiatafu; the three at Atafu were: Tepokulu (the council house), Afekei, and Alato; the five at Nukunono were: Fale fono (the council house), Satau, Tenofoaliki, Salei, and Teakafitau. Seven of these names begin with the prefix sa. In Samoa sa means “family of” (all the descendants of a first ancestor); in Tonga the corresponding haa means “lineage” or “tribe”. My informant in Tokelau stated that the membership of the fale pa was based on neighborhood and that sa (ha) meant “all the people of one district of the village”. But if sa originally meant a family, it would come to mean the people of a village district who lived together as a group through kinship and inheritance of a piece of land from the original family. With the increase in numbers of each kindred and the subdividing of kindred lands, the original kindred as a kau-kainga was redivided through the generations, but a wider common kinship was preserved in the fale pa. The sa was probably the largest kinship grouping within the village, whose existence is inferred through the fale pa.

At Atafu the fale pa, whose organization was brought from Fakaofu but not based on the sa, existed only during the first three generations. Afekei was the fale pa of the people of the north end of the village which is still called by the same name. Alato was the fale pa of Asanga, the southern part of the village.

In Fakaofu the men of the fale pa of Safiti and Saletama were the guardians and police of the village under the direction of the village council. The name fale pa (wall house) suggests that these houses may have originally been on the sea walls and had a secondary purpose as garrisons for defense. Such garrisons (tausoa) with hereditary membership are reported by Kennedy (13) in Vaitupu in the Ellice Islands:

In the village of Fale, there were seven tausoa, named Avatele, Asau, Suloi, Tuamaeu, Satalia, Naunaua, and Patiku. It is thought that their principal function was originally to divide the population into sections for purposes of defense … of a certain part of the island coastline and approaches to the village… . The high chief and his principal officials belonged to Avatele tausoa; minor officials were included in the membership of the other tausoa.

The ranking men's house in Tokelau was the government seat, to which the eldest men of the other fale pa were elected to act as the village council under the head chief of the village. At Nukunono this council house was called Falefono, the general name of the Samoan meeting house, possibly a modern name. At Fakaofu it was formerly called Tolunga Fale, now Falefono. At Atafu, the council house Pokulu is now supplanted by the Faleloa, which serves as a general rendezvous for the men of the village as well as the meeting place for the komiti or village government.

Each island had a chief and council which governed its society. While Nukunono and Atafu were subject to Fakaofu, the chief of Fakaofu was the supreme authority of all the islands. He was looked upon as king by the first missionaries and referred to by this title in their writings. All chiefs and council members were elders of their community, for advanced age was a requirement, if not the primary qualification, to hold office. The social principle that age and long experience were essential to gaining wisdom and sound judgment pervaded the whole social order. Even the heads of the kindreds were selected on this basis in preference to following the eldest line of patrilineal descent if this would bring a younger man into office. Even among the elders there was gradation of position according to age, which is illustrated in the order of seating at feasts. The high chief sat in the position of first rank, and the eldest men (kailau) sat beside him. Their juniors (kaikava) and the older men of the community sat next to them. The men of the kailau and kaikava were appointed by the high chief. It was tapu for others to sit among them or even for a kaikava to sit among his seniors; such a breach of etiquette or infraction of law would bring death by sickness upon the offender.

The importance of age is perhaps nowhere else in Polynesia so highly developed. Certainly the existence of only one or two hereditary offices is unusual. Nineteenth century visitors to Fakaofu were particularly impressed with the stress laid on age; they felt that age alone was the basis of election to council and high chieftainship. From the evidence Williamson (36) even suggests that the government of Fakaofu was once “purely gerontocratic”, and that a single chieftainship developed later, after which there was an extension of the complimentary title of chief to other members of the actual chief's family. This is pure speculation, and ignores the evidence of Newell (19), on which Williamson chiefly relies, that the chieftainship at one period passed directly from father to son.

The high chief of the Tokelau Islands was a patriarchal head. He had full authority over all the people and established their laws, which he enforced by his power to curse any one to death. He was also at one time priest to the supreme deity, Tui Tokelau, through whom he brought a plentiful supply of food, sufficient rain, and stormless weather to his people.

His title is not clear. At Atafu he was referred to as the tupu, a term for the highest rank a chief can attain in the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savai'i, and Vaitupu in the Ellice Islands (13). The term is translated in the Samoan Bible as “king”, but never used in literature for the chief of the islands. Newell states that the high chief alone bore the title, ariki. The natives of Atafu used the word aliki to Hale (11) in referring to their chief who resided at Fakaofu. I believe that aliki is the original title for the high chief and that tupu refers to his supreme rank and may have been recently adopted. Turner says that the high chief was called Tui Tokelau, a term also used by an Atafu informant in referring to the high chief in his capacity as high priest and as living representative of this god. Newell suggests that Tui Tokelau may have been the first great chief of Fakaofu, who later became deified, and his title given to his successors but its use was tapu. The high chief was sometimes called Kava, the name of the first historical high chief and also of one of the first settlers in Fakaofuan tradition from whom three of the four chiefly lines are descended. Avafatu (the opening of stone), still another title of the high chief, is probably a figurative term referring to the mythological creation of man from the splitting open of a stone.

The succession of the high chief theoretically passed from father to eldest son but in actual practice often varied from this rule, due to the precedence given to age. A younger brother of a deceased high chief was appointed in preference to the eldest son if he were not at least a middle-aged man. The appointment was decided by election in the village council. Four lines were eligible to succession to the chieftainship, according to the most detailed information given by Newell (19):

The ariki is always the oldest male member of the four principal families of Fakaofu, all of whom trace their descent from the two brothers above referred to—namely, Kava and Pi'o. [Kava and Pio came from Samoa and were the first discoverers and owners of the land of Fakaofu, according to one tradition.] Their genealogical tree is thus given:

Membership in the village council, kau kolomatua (the company of old men), was confined to heads of kindreds. These heads were the eldest of the senior generation of their kindreds and at Fakaofu were elected by the fale pa. The approval of the high chief was necessary before they could take office.

The council deliberated on all land disputes, and serious infractions of the law under the advice of or by the consent of the high chief. It also directed community enterprises, decided the times for ceremonial fishing by the village fleet, and the gathering of food from the plantations.

The high chief was supreme head over the council, but the active leadership was carried on by a head of council who was also the executive officer of the high chief. He directed most civil matters, voiced the high chief's desires to the council, and acted as intermediary for the council and the people to the high chief. He was called the faipule by Atafu informants, but this is a term for the modern head of council, which was borrowed from Samoa and which was probably not used formerly. The term puseve for head of council is given by Thomson (31). Bird (2) considers the “speaker” (head of council) the real ruler.

Lister (14) states that in the government organization there was a judge (palapalau) who settled disputes not taken to council, but pronounced his decisions only after consultation with the high chief and priests. The priests were consulted by the high chief in all civil actions.

Land is the chief wealth and the dominant interest of the Tokelau native, and the main source of his subsistence and building materials. Rights to land are based on relationship to kindreds which forces everyone to know his genealogy accurately. Without land one can not exist in the community. This vital necessity for land is shown in the refusal of the Fakaofu natives to accept a Rarotongan teacher brought by the missionaries (p. 33). The natives inquired “Where is he to live? There is no food for him and he will die of starvation.” All the land of Fakaofu had been divided among the people, and there was none to be given to a stranger.

An individual's holding or subdivision consists of one large piece or several small pieces planted with coconuts, pieces of wooded land, and land in the village for houses or cook sheds. The boundaries of plantation land extend into the water to the edge of the reef and along the lagoon shore for a short distance. Fishing rights in the water covering this land belong to the land holders, but the privilege of fishing is not withheld from others at the present time.

The land of every atoll has been completely divided. At Fakaofu the land was divided by the first historical high chief, Kava Vasefanua, among the heads of families then living on the island, except for two islets kept for the use of the high chief and his family, and parts of other islets retained as communal lands to grow a reserve food supply. The land that was given to the heads of families became the common property of the kindreds descended from them. Each member of the kindred received the right to use a section of the land. These sections have been redivided by succeeding generations until at present, with the increased population, there are several families who have no land within the village on which to build their homes.

Part of Nukunono was once owned by Fakaofu. When the islands were included in the British Colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, this land was returned to Nukunono and paid for by copra. All the land is now divided among the kindreds of the island. Land is still plentiful, for the area is large and the population has remained small since the depletion suffered from slave raiders.

At Atafu two pieces of land were set aside by Tonuia as communal land. The coconuts and pandanus fruit on this land are harvested by the village only in times of necessity, and timber, coconut, and fala pandanus leaves are reserved for communal enterprises.

The islet on which the village of Atafu is located was used jointly by the kindred during Tonuia's lifetime. After his death his children divided the land north of the village, which extends from the village to the well in the northwestern corner of the islet. The remaining northeastern end of the islet was divided later among his grandchildren and the men then living on Atafu. A piece of land near the northeastern tip was given to two missionaries, a Rarotongan and a Samoan. When they left, the land was divided again.

During a hurricane in 1914, the sea currents deposited sand and loose coral at the end of the village, filling in the canoe passage and adding a few acres of new land. The present new canoe passage was made by the water flowing from the lagoon. The new land was divided by the village council between the church and all the adult men of the village. Fourteen strips were marked out, each strip being 30 feet wide and extending from the old shore line to the new one. Each strip was given to two men who held the land as their personal property exclusive of their kindred holdings. The second section was made communal land for the pastor's house and school.

The first settlement was made at the site of the present village at the southern end of Atafu Islet, where there was a canoe passage from the lagoon to the open sea (fig. 5). The houses were erected along the lagoon shore 8 or 9 feet above water level to receive the cooling trade winds which blow across the atoll. They were protected from devastation by high tides and storm waves by breakwaters built in front of parts of the village and backed by a fill of coral rubble.

The first houses were those of the five sons of Tonuia: Vaovela, Pio, Malokie, Laua, and Laufali; his two daughters, Lovao and Fekei; and Ngaluava and Tuati, the sons of Folasanga who accompanied Tonuia. Their homes were built surrounding the house of Tonuia which served for a time as the god house of the community. Later Laua built two more houses; his son, Tongia, built a house for himself and his wife; Pio built a second house for his second wife; and five men, who had brought their families to Atafu after Tonuia, built houses at each end of the village. Of these five men, Kafa, Kiso, and Lou built close to the shore at the north end; Kaufala and Tepasu built their houses beside that of Laufali. There were three men's houses—Pokulu, Afekai, and Alato—built along the eastern shore and a god house at the northern end of the malae away from the houses. Several canoe sheds were built along the lagoon beach north of the southern breakwater and pier. The cook houses were all across the lagoon passage away from the trade wind. There was no systematic arrangement of the village; houses were built close together and connected by narrow paths through uncleared scrub and trees; and pigs were allowed to wander about the village.

The first breakwater was constructed by three men who came to Atafu shortly after Tonuia and built their houses at the northern end of the village. Later another section was built near the southern end of the islet. Between these two sea walls three stone piers were built into the lagoon from the village shore. They were 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 2 or 3 feet above sea level. At the end of each was a small house for a toilet that rested partly on the end of the pier and partly on piles in the water (pl. 16, A).

The modern village was laid out when the island was under the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (fig. 6). The paths, the arrangement of the modern, cooler types of houses, the segregation of the pigs from the village, and the clearance of all undergrowth were planned and accomplished under governmental supervision. However, the ownership of plots of land within the village and the two early divisions of the village, Afekei and Asanga, were not disturbed. Their division is marked by the crosspath running from the council house and is indicated on the map (fig. 6) by a broken line. The land that was built up in the hurricane of 1914 is now part of Asanga division. The two sections which were given to the men of the village and the church are divided by the end of the main walk which runs through the village. The present missionary has had built on the church or communal land a round-ended Samoan house for himself and family and two large Tokelau houses for his school. The older boys of the school sleep in one, which has supplanted to a degree the old men's house. Beyond the schoolhouse is a basketball ground. The upper portion of the new land is used mainly for cook houses.

Afekei, the northern district, includes the newer part of the village. Lomaloma is the hospital group at the extreme northern end of the village. The name has been adopted from the name of a town, Lomaloma, in the Fiji group by the present native medical practitioner, Longolongo.

The old malae in the center of the village is unoccupied and has only a few shade trees. The church and reservoir have been built in the middle of it. The lower end is used for cricket matches and drying copra; the northern end has been turned into a communal garden, planted with an introduced taro (taamu), bananas, and papayas.

The entire village, from Lomaloma to the end of the eastern shore, is now protected by a breakwater, except for the intervals left for canoe beaches. At several points in the wall steps have been made to allow the people to descend to the water to bathe. The height of the breakwater above the water varies in different sections constructed at different times; the newer parts have an average height of 5 feet; the older walls are slightly lower. The last parts of the breakwater to be completed were the end sections. The Lomaloma end at the edge of the hospital grounds district was built under the direction of the present native medical practitioner; the southern end, which turns and runs inland 10 or 15 feet to a higher level, was built under the direction of the present missionary.

The outlet of the lagoon, which serves as a canoe passage, has changed its position three times during human habitation on the island. In the period of the early or pre-Fakaofu settlement the passage ran from the present mouth across the modern village parallel to the crosswalk ending at the council house. When the first settlement was made from Fakaofu, the outlet had moved to the boundary of the new land; in 1914 it changed to its present position.

The holder of a subdivision of kindred land may pass on his tenancy to his children in any manner he chooses. Normally the control and direction goes to the eldest son, who divides the holding among his brothers and sisters. Brothers who have sufficient land for their use in their wives' prop- ertyproperty often do not receive an actual division of land but only a share in the food that is gathered from it. In present times they also receive a share of the money made by selling copra produced on the kindred plantations. Many landholders have left the complete control of the land to the eldest daughter of the family, and the sons have only a share in the products. In some families the children all inherit alike; in others the eldest son and daughter receive larger shares than the younger children. The wife or husband does not inherit any share of the land of the other. Only by the consent of every claimant to the land can any part of it be given or sold to any person who has no right to it by heritage.

When a person dies without children, the land reverts to his kindred. The reallotment is completely discussed by a council of the kindred and by the council of village elders, who hear all claims that any of the villagers may make. When the right to inheritance is disputed, the village councillors decide who among the members of the kindred shall receive the land. The use of the land is usually given to younger married relatives of the deceased.

The Report of the Administrator of Samoa (24) states:

When a young man marries they [the village council members] sit in council and allocate a piece of land to him… . The old men of the village are looked upon as Matais or chiefs, who each have their own area of land and assume the power to divide up the land as they think fit.

The village council is composed mostly of kindred heads who own the lands, but not by virtue of their membership in the council; they have no power to divide arbitrarily or give away lands which are kindred property. They control absolutely the use of the communal lands. They can forbid by tapu the trespassing and taking of coconuts from areas of the kindred plantations. Plantation lands are still set aside in rotation for the production of copra under the old system of tapuing land (lafu). Formerly the council of Fakaofu and the high priest placed a tapu on visiting all plantations of the atoll. Every few days the tapu was removed and all the people visited their plantations at the same time to gather food. This custom prevented the theft of coconuts and pandanus and kept a check on the food supply. If anyone broke the tapu, he died of a wasting sickness brought on by the curse of the high chief.

The landholder has the right to take coconuts, pandanus fruit, leaves and wood, except kanava, from his plantation. The division of these among members of the kindred outside the household is made by the kindred head or his eldest sister. A strict law forbids the cutting of any kanava trees without the consent of the kindred head. Thus the law controls the supply of kanava wood, used in making many articles, and ensures to each household material for a canoe. In pre-Christian times kanava trees were tapued by consecrating them to a god. (See p. 61.)