ning gardens, but far away in the unreclaimed
forests of the interior. The title, which passed by inheritance,
generally vested in the family; but the family was represented by the
head, who often claimed the right to dispose of it by sale or otherwise.
Yet he dared not do anything without consulting all concerned; were he
to persist in thwarting the wishes of the rest, they would take his
title from him and give it to another. Sometimes, however, the title to
landed property vested in individual owners. The legitimate heir was the
oldest surviving brother, but occasionally he waived his right in favour
of one of the sons. Women might hold land when the male side of a family
was extinct. The boundaries of land were well defined, being marked by
pathways, natural limits, such as a river, or by trenches and stones
half buried in the ground. Every inch of ground had its owner, even to
the tops of the mountains. Trespass by a neighbouring village would be
resisted, if necessary, by force of arms.[43]

[43] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 176 _sq._; J. B. Stair,
_Old Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and
Polynesians_, pp. 287 _sq._, 314, 339.

In regard to personal property it may be said that, like landed
property, it belonged rather to the family than to the individual; for
no Samoan could refuse to give, without an equivalent, anything which
any member of his family asked for. In this way boats, tools, garments,
and so forth passed freely from hand to hand. Nay, a man could enter the
plantation of a relative and help himself to the fruit without asking
the owner's leave; such an appropriation was not considered to be
stealing. Under this communistic system, as it has been called,
accumulation of property was scarcely possible, and industry was
discouraged. Why should a diligent man toil when he knew that the fruit
of his labour might all be consumed by lazy kinsfolk? He might lay out a
plantation of bananas, and when they were full-grown, bunch after bunch
might be plucked and eaten by his less industrious relations, until,
exasperated beyond endurance, the unfortunate owner would cut down all
the remaining trees. No matter how hard a man worked, he could not keep
his earnings; they all soon passed out of his hands into the common
stock of the clan. The system, we are told, ate like a canker-worm at
the roots of individual and national progress.[44]

[44] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 160 _sq._; G. Brown,