CLOTHING.
In our last chapter we alluded to the food of the Samoans, and now
proceed to a description of their clothing, the materials of which it
is made, their modes of ornament, etc.
During the day a covering of _ti_ leaves _(Dracæna terminalis_) was
all that either sex thought necessary. "They sewed" _ti_ "leaves
together, and made themselves aprons." The men had a small one about a
foot square, the women had theirs made of longer _ti_ leaves, reaching
from the waist down below the knee, and made wide, so as to form a
girdle covering all round. They had no regular covering for any other
part of the body. Occasionally, during rain, they would tie a banana
leaf round the head for a cap, or hold one over them as an umbrella.
They made shades for the eyes of a little piece of plaited cocoa-nut
leaflet; and sometimes they made sandals of the plaited bark of the
_Hibiscus tiliaceus_, to protect the feet while fishing among the
prickly coral about the reef.
_Native Cloth._--At night they slept on a mat, using as a covering a
mat or a sheet of native cloth, and inclosed all round by a curtain of
the same material to keep out musquitoes. In sickness, also, they
wrapped themselves up in native cloth. Their native cloth was made of
the inner bark of the paper mulberry (_Morus papyrifera_) beaten out
on a board, and joined together with arrow-root, so as to form any
width or length of cloth required.
The juice of the raspings of the bark of trees, together with red
clay, turmeric, and the soot of burnt candle-nut, furnished them with
colouring matter and varnish, with which they daubed their native
cloth in the form of squares, stripes, triangles, etc., but, with a
few exceptions, perhaps, devoid of taste or regularity.
Tutunga is the native name of the paper mulberry. A fabulous story is
told of it and a stinging tree called Salato. As the tale goes, they
were two brothers, and had each his plot of ground and a distinct
boundary. One morning Tutunga stretched over his boundary and crossed
to Salato. Salato was displeased and complained to Tutunga, but he was
sullen and made no reply. The affair was referred to the parents; who
decided that the two should separate, and that Salato should go
further inland, and be sacred and respected; and so it is, no one
dares to touch it. On the other hand, Tutunga was severely punished
for having proudly crossed his boundary. He was to be cut, and
skinned, and beaten, and painted, and made to cover the bodies of men.
Then to rot, and then to be burned. And so it is--thus ends Tutunga
the proud.
_Fine Mats._--Their fine mats were, and are still, considered their
most valuable clothing. These mats are made of the leaves of a species
of pandanus scraped clean and thin as writing-paper, and slit into
strips about the sixteenth part of an inch wide. They are made by the
women; and, when completed, are from two to three yards square. They
are of a straw and cream colour, are fringed, and, in some instances,
ornamented with small scarlet feathers inserted here and there. These
mats are thin, and almost as flexible as a piece of calico. Few of the
women can make them, and many months--yea, years, are sometimes spent
over the making of a single mat. These fine mats are considered their
most valuable property, and form a sort of currency which they give
and receive in exchange. They value them at from two to forty
shillings each. They are preserved with great care; some of them pass
through several generations, and as their age and historic interest
increase, they are all the more valued.
Another kind of fine mats for clothing they weave out of the bark of a
plant of the nettle tribe, which is extensively spread over these
islands without any cultivation. They are shaggy on the one side, and,
when bleached white, resemble a prepared fleecy sheep-skin. These
they sometimes dye with red clay found in the mountains. From the
strength and whiteness of the fibre manufactured from this plant, it
is capable of being turned to great use.
_Cleanliness._--As the native cloth cannot be washed without
destroying it, it is generally filthy in the extreme before it is laid
aside. This has induced a habit of carelessness in washing cotton and
other garments, which is very offensive and difficult to eradicate.
They are cleanly, however, in other habits beyond most of the natives
of Polynesia. Their floor and sleeping mats are kept clean and tidy.
They generally use the juice of the wild orange in cleansing, and
bathe regularly every day. It is worth remarking, too, that, while
bathing, they have a girdle of leaves or some other covering round the
waist. In this delicate sense of propriety it would be well for some
more civilised parts of the world to learn a lesson from the Samoans.
_Special Occasions._--At marriages and on other gala days, the women,
and many of the men, laid aside the leaves and girded themselves with
fine mats. Gay young men and women decorated themselves with garlands
of flowers or shells. The nautilus shell, broken into small pieces,
and strung together, was a favourite head-dress. They oiled themselves
from head to foot with scented oil, and sometimes mixed turmeric with
the oil to give their skin a tinge of yellow.
Both sexes kept uncovered the upper part of the body, and wore
shells, beads, or other trinkets round the neck. They prided
themselves also in dressing their children in a similar style. The
women wore the hair short, and, on occasions, sometimes had it raised
and stiffened with a mixture of scented oil and the gum of the
bread-fruit tree. It was fashionable, also, for young women to have a
small twisted lock of hair, with a curl at the end of it, hanging from
the left temple. The men wore their hair long and gathered up in a
knot on the crown of the head, a little to the right side. In company,
however, and when attending religious services, they were careful to
untie the string, and let their hair flow behind, as a mark of
respect. Gay young men occasionally cut their hair short, leaving a
small twisted lock hanging down towards the breast from either temple.
Their hair is naturally black; but they were fond of dyeing it a light
brown colour, by the application of lime, which they made by burning
the coral. To dye hair, and also to rub and blind the eyes of pigs
which trespassed into neighbouring plantations, were the only uses to
which they applied lime in the time of heathenism.
The beard they shaved with the teeth of the shark. Armlets of small
white shells were worn by the men above the elbow-joint. Some pierced
their ears with a thorn, and wore a small flower for an earring; but
this was not very common. A long comb, made from the stem of the
cocoa-nut leaflet, was a common ornament of the women, and worn in the
hair behind the ear. For a looking-glass, they sometimes used a tub of
water; but in arranging the head-dress, they were more frequently
guided by the eyes and taste of others. The tattooing, which we
described in a previous chapter, was also considered one of their
principal ornaments.
There is a story told of a Fijian chief called Fulualela,
_Feathers-of-the-Sun_, who came with his daughter to visit Samoa. He
had heard of the beauty of the islands and their handsome inhabitants,
and thought he might find here a husband chief for his daughter. He
was greatly surprised, however, to discover that while the islands
were lovely, and the people attractive, they had no mats in their
houses, but slept on dried grass like the pigs. He could not think of
leaving his daughter; but when he returned to Fiji he made up a
present of fine mats, native cloth, and scented oil, as if it were his
daughter's dowry, and went back to Samoa with the generous gift,
adding also pandanus and paper mulberry plants with which to stock
Samoa with material for making such household comforts as mats and
native cloth. And hence it is said that ever since the gift of
Feathers-of-the-Sun from Fiji, Samoa has had the luxuries of mats to
sleep on, and sheets of native cloth to cover them.