Handbook to the ethnographical collections . Fig. clubs. 1, 3, G, 7. Tonga. 2, 4, 5. Samoa. POLYNESIANS AND MICRONESIANS 155 Society was marked by class divisions almost as sharp as thoseof caste. The people were grouped in three great classes : chiefs,freemen, and slaves. Political power was almost entirely in thehands of the higher classes. In the larger island-groups, wherea permanent monarchy had been established, the inferior chiefsformed a kind of court. Though the actual king was oftenconsidered to be of divine descent, sometimes, as in Tonga, therewere two supreme chiefs. O
Handbook to the ethnographical collections . Fig. clubs. 1, 3, G, 7. Tonga. 2, 4, 5. Samoa. POLYNESIANS AND MICRONESIANS 155 Society was marked by class divisions almost as sharp as thoseof caste. The people were grouped in three great classes : chiefs,freemen, and slaves. Political power was almost entirely in thehands of the higher classes. In the larger island-groups, wherea permanent monarchy had been established, the inferior chiefsformed a kind of court. Though the actual king was oftenconsidered to be of divine descent, sometimes, as in Tonga, therewere two supreme chiefs. Of these one was a sacred person, whotook little part in the administration of the country ; the other
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjoycetho, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1910
