NAURU, THE RICHEST ISLAND IN THE SOUTH SEAS 



583 



The native dress for both sexes is 

 tasteful and becoming and suited to the 

 climate. It is a full skirt made of nar- 

 row strips of pandanus reaching to the 

 knees. A wreath of fresh flowers and a 

 necklace of flowers or beads complete the 

 costume. Sometimes the necklace is 

 strung with shark's teeth and finished 

 with a pair of frigate - bird feathers, 

 which hang down the back. 



The men often wear a belt, in which 

 is thrust a huge, wicked-looking coconut 

 knife. 



Although these people are almost nude, 

 they do not appear naked ; the brown 

 pigment clothes them, and they are as 

 unconscious and poised as we in our 

 clothing. They have well set-up figures 

 and walk with the ease and grace of per- 

 sons who have never worn corsets or 

 shoes. They have fine teeth and straight, 

 black hair, that of the men cut short, 

 while the women wear theirs streaming 

 down the back or hanging in braids. 



Owing to the influence of civilization, 

 they sometimes substitute for the exqui- 

 site wreaths of natural flowers the pink 

 celluloid combs sold by the trade stores, 

 and the men wear extraordinary ear- 

 rings, such as safety-pins and matches. 



In the "good old days" — every country 

 has its "good old days," and in the South 

 Sea islands these were the days before 

 civilization impinged upon native cus- 

 toms — the natives anointed themselves 

 frequently with coconut oil. After com- 

 ing in from the fishing canoes, after vio- 

 lent exercise, and always before sleeping, 

 they applied the oil freely. This safe- 

 guarded them from colds. 



When they began to wear clothing they 

 found that the oil stained their clothes, 

 so they abandoned its use in great part. 



All through the Pacific the native races 

 are dying out, owing to their contact with 

 the white races, whose diseases have 

 proved extraordinarily fatal to them. So 

 simple a disease as measles has almost 

 destroyed the population of many islands. 

 Tuberculosis is prevalent and Spanish 

 influenza wrought great havoc. 



Not the least cause of this is the wear- 

 ing of clothing. The natives wear their 

 clothes day and night. If they are wet 

 by rain or by wading in the sea — I have 

 seen them immersed to their shoulders 



while casting nets on the reef — they do 

 not change, for in that climate they feel 

 no sensation of cold, and even sleep in 

 wet clothing, instead of oiling their 

 bodies as formerly. 



Many thoughtful observers hold that 

 the influence of dress, especially the dress 

 of women, has worked harm, for while 

 the natives have learned to wear clothes, 

 they have not learned how to wear them. 

 Robert Louis Stevenson, who has much 

 to say in praise of missionaries, says this 

 about clothing: 



"The mind of the female missionary 

 tends to be continually busied about 

 dress. She can be taught with extreme 

 difficulty to think any costume decent but 

 that to which she grew accustomed on 

 Clapham Common, and to gratify this 

 prejudice the native is put to useless ex- 

 pense, his mind is tainted with the mor- 

 bidities of Europe, and his health is set 

 in danger." 



the: "mother hubbard" is especially 



UNSIGHTLY IN NAURU 



The "Mother Hubbard" dress, the uni- 

 versal attire for women, is ugly, espe- 

 cially as worn in Nauru, reaching from 

 throat to heels ; in the Gilberts it is modi- 

 fied by being cut square in the neck and 

 shortened to the knees. Fortunately, the 

 missionaries stopped before they put hats 

 and shoes on their converts. 



A native woman does not feel herself 

 modestly attired without the ridi; she 

 often wears it under her dress, where you 

 can see it bulge and hear it rustle. The 

 missionaries devised a much more suitable 

 dress for the men. The lava-lava, two 

 yards of cotton cloth wound around the 

 loins, tucked in at the waist and falling 

 to or below the knees, and a white 

 "singlet," a short-sleeved gauze under- 

 shirt, is simple and becoming. The ridi 

 is frequently worn beneath the lava-lava 

 for modesty's sake. 



A large proportion of the Nauruans 

 dress in purely native costume; others 

 wear clothes to church or in the homes, 

 where they are employed as servants, and 

 change for ridis when they return to their 

 homes ; and yet others wear clothes with- 

 out change till they fall into rags, or, as 

 they say, "broken clothes." 



The natives keep pigs, which run at 

 large. "Captain Cook's pigs" they are 



