CHAPTER VII. 



DRESS — TATTOOING — SONGS, ETC. 



THE dress worn by the men of these islands is generally of the 

 scantiest description. A narrow band of cloth, worn like a T 

 bandage, often constitutes their only garment. In some islands 

 visited by traders, waist-cloths are worn. Often, however, -and 

 especially amongst the bush tribes, the Solomon Islander presents 

 himself as guiltless of clothing as did our original parents. The 

 dress of the women varies considerably in different islands of the 

 group. The married women of St. Christoval and the adjacent 

 small islands wear the scantiest of frinijes, which cannot be digni- 

 tied by the name of dress : whilst the unmarried girls dispense with 

 clothing altooether. In the Florida Islands, the women are more 

 decorously clad, and wear a longer fringe. In the eastei^n islands, 

 however, the influence of the missionary and the trader have caused 

 a more general employment by the women of the " sulu " (a large 

 coloured handkerchief), which is fastened around the waist, and is 

 very becoming. The women of the islands of Bougainville Straits 

 commonly wear the "sulu;" but they frequently discard it for a 

 time, as when they are wading on the reefs, and then they are con- 

 tent with an improvised apron of long leaves (" bassa "), the stalks 

 of which are passed under a narrow waist-band. On one occasion 

 at Alu, when arriving at the beach after one of my excursions into 

 the interior of the island, I came upon a party of women who were 

 bathing in the sea. They at once came out of the water, and began 

 to interrogate my guides, Jiaving first provided themselves in the 

 most unabashed manner with temporary aprons of fern fronds and 

 the leaves of trees. They then gathered round me to learn where I 

 had been, and what I had been doing ; and after I had satisfied 

 their curiosity, I sent them away, highly pleased with some tobacco 

 and beads. 



