THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
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their knees, which gives them the appearance of clothing. One frequently sees a native with his name tattooed on his arm. The tattooing is compulsory, and the operation is said to be very painful, taking from two to three months, during which time the patient remains in the bush or some retired place. No youth is really respected until he is tattooed. The present king, Malietoa Laupepa, was averse to the practice, and passed beyond the prescribed period without having submitted to the painful ordeal, but when selected or raised to power his people refused to anoint him king until he had been tattooed in due form.
The Samoans, as a people, are most courteous and kind, and seem to be naturally endowed with pleasant dispositions and manners. They are particularly clean and in every way a most attractive race. Their houses are suited to the climate. The roofs are of sugar cane, very neatly thatched, supported on posts, and the better class of buildings are made of the breadfruit tree. There are no walls, cocoanut mats are let down at night when it is raining or during severe winds. Their native houses are built to be very strong and comfortable, and without nail, bolt or spike. Every part is tied with sennit, which is made from the fiber of a peculiar kind of cocoanut, braided in three strands. This fiber is not more than a foot in length, so that it has to be constantly spliced. The old men make this sennit when sitting in council. The floors of their houses are made of small stones, four to eight inches deep, and covered with mats. These mats are of native manufacture.
Here they live, sitting and sleeping on the floor, for they have neither chairs nor beds, using in their place mats, and at night resting their heads on a bamboo pillow raised a few inches from the ground.
The natives wear very little clothing, save the lava-lava, which is a straight piece of cloth or tappa , wound about the waist, falling like a skirt to the knees, but they are never without that, men, women or children. Even the smallest baby always has the lava-lava. The lava-lava proper is made from their native cloth, tappa , or for everyday wear, of calico which is of European manufacture, designed especially for this trade. The colors are generally the brightest, and the patterns in many cases of the most wonderful description. One often sees large handkerchiefs of the brightest colors used for lava-lavas on the smaller boys and girls. Older natives use all sorts of leafy coverings made from banana leaves, and from the many vines which grow so plentifully everywhere.
The costume of a high official, or a member of King Malietoa’s Parliament, is a white shirt and a lava-lava of brown tappa. The women, many of them, dress in the same fashion as the men, though they often wear a white chemise over their colored lava-lava. Another article of dress seen on young girls and offered for sale at the shops at Apia, is a low-necked and short-sleeved bodice, rather loosely cut, made of silk, satin and bright colored velvet, and trimmed with lace. On festive occasions they wear similar bodices made entirely of fresh flowers and vines. They also wear a garment that consists of a straight piece of cloth, about one and one-half yards long, with an opening for the head in the center, falling down a little below the waist, both front and back, leaving their arms free and uncovered. This garment is not only made of tappa , their native cloth, but more frequently of calico put together in patch- work style with white muslin, showing their fondness for a variety of colors. The women always wear what we call a “ Mother Hubbard” dress, when they attend church or mingle with foreigners. I could tell you of numberless ludicrous costumes that one sees on the street daily. On an extremely hot day one often sees a native woman attempting to wear a Mother Hubbard with only one arm in its sleeve, and the skirt on the other side brought up over the shoulder with the sleeve hanging, leaving this arm free and bare, as they much prefer their natural freedom to the restriction which European dress imposes. The missionaries insist that the women shall cover themselves when in church, and as a rule they do so, most of them also wearing hats, though one frequently sees them with their hats in their hands or under their arms until they reach the church door, and on leaving the church they remove the hat the moment they are out.