Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1899 — Costumes of the Friendly Islanders. [ARTICLE]

Costumes of the Friendly Islanders.

Native drees consists of a vala, or a kilt, composed of tapa, a piece of native cloth, worp alike by both sexes, men covering their bodies with a shirt, while a kofu (or short Mother Hubbard) to the knees complete® the women’s attire. On grand occasions the latter Is of satin or velvet, which are always worn in the presence of a chief. Man and wife never partake of food together, the male portion of the family eating in one part of the lawn and the females in another. Their meals generally consist of yams, plantains, pork, fish, and delicious puddings made of manoc and coeoanut. When infants reach the age of one year, their heads are shaved quite smoothly by a sharp piece of glass—a bottle usually being broken for that purpose. Upon the death of a great ohief, women and maidens who possess luxuriant tresses sometimes cut all off save one lock to show their grief.—Harper’s Weekly.