Rarotonga Records: Being Extracts from the Papers of the Late Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, LL. D (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Rarotonga Records: Being Extracts From the Papers of the Late Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, LL. D

In the Pacific, as elsewhere, sometimes the Offspring Of a slave woman married to a high chief inherits the father's titles and power.

The word mega in Rarotongan also signifies hermit-crab. Some Of the younger natives imagine when using the word unya in the sense Of.' slave, ' that there is a sly allusion to the well-known habits Of the hermit-crab - the slave living in a home belonging to another! But the elder natives were too accurate Observers to overlook the important circumstance that the hermit-crab appropriates the forsaken shell Of another, whereas the slave enjoys the protection of the land owner, or chief, to whom he consequently owes allegiance and service. I regard this explanation as extremely modern, although very ingenious.

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