COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS
There is apparently no formal initiation into a _failu_; when very
young the boys wander in and out of it continually; and, if they
please, may even sleep there; thus they gradually glide into an
accepted fellowship, and, when about ten or eleven years old, may join
the men as associates in the adult dances. At about this same age the
young boys are known as _petir_, and may wear but one loin-cloth (or
none at all). The next promotion is two loin-cloths, the second longer
than the first little scrap, and more elaborately interlaced; they are
now known as _pagul_. The adult man is called _pumawn_, and wears,
first, a loin-cloth; then over this a long rope of thin strips of
pandanus leaves and grasses known as _kavurr_; next, to add a touch of
color, a bunch of the same material, stained red, is tucked in at the
side and so looped that it hangs down in front over the loin-cloth.
The badge of a freeman, distinguishing him at once from a slave, is
an ornamental comb in the knot of hair on the top of his head. One
of the _Ulun-pagel_, the aristocratic tribe, assured me in the most
emphatic terms that he would instantly attempt to kill a _Pimlingai_
or “slave” should he meet one wearing such a comb. This comb, albeit
of no great intrinsic value, is, therefore, the essential feature of
male attire. It is made merely of fifteen or twenty narrow strips of
bamboo, about eight inches long, sharpened at one end, with shorter,
slightly wedge-shaped pieces inserted between each strip four or five
inches from the sharpened ends, whereby the teeth of the comb are kept
apart; the upper ends are now bound together with ornamental lashings
of coconut fibre. A simple form, but nevertheless deemed foppishly
elegant, is that wherein the strips of bamboo are fastened together
with a peg run through at about the middle; the strips are then slid
past each other like the ribs of a fan; these broad, unpointed, upper
ends lend themselves admirably to such decoration as the insertion
of bright leaves of croton, tufts of cotton, strips of pandanus, etc.
In one of my first attempts at photographing with a cinematograph
camera, many yards of the narrow film, which, when undeveloped looks
like stiff yellow ribbon, were spoiled; with exasperation, and, I fear,
imprecations, I cut this worthless film ruthlessly from the little
sprocket wheels which carry it through the camera, and tossed it away.
No princely gift could I have devised which would have been received
with more exuberant delight than these worthless strips of film; to Uap
eyes they happened to be just of the most fascinating shade of yellow,
and to the Uap nostril they possessed a peculiar and ravishing perfume;
and as a supreme grace they vibrated like serpents when inserted in
combs and caught by the breeze; in a trice every head was wreathed with
coils like Medusa’s and every face was radiant with smiles.
[Illustration: WAIGONG, A BOY OF SIXTEEN OR SEVENTEEN]
Other male ornaments consist of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and
armlets. Mutilations of nose or of lips are not in fashion; earlobes,
however, being appendages not ornamental and by no means useful, are
always, the world over, responsive to improvement at the behest of
beauty. They are not neglected in Uap. Both boys and girls have the
earlobes pierced and stretched at an early age,--at about the tenth or
twelfth year,--but this mutilation is never stretched to the extent
that it is in the island of Ruk (in the central Carolines), nor as it
is in Borneo, where the lobe is so elongated that it becomes a mere
loop of skin drooping below the shoulders. The Uap men and women are
satisfied with a simple hole through the lobe, about three-fourths
of an inch in diameter, just about large enough for the insertion of
bright leaves or flowers or a tuft of cotton. After an incision is made
with a piece of sharpened coconut shell, a roll of leaves of a plant,
which they call _maluek_,[1] is at once inserted. This leaf, and
this leaf only, must be used; to it is ascribed peculiar properties
both of stretching and healing; it must be first warmed over the
fire, then soaked and softened in coconut oil, rolled up tightly and
pushed through the wound. As soon as this plug becomes loose, it is
renewed, and an additional leaf added until the hole is of sufficient
size and is healed. The boys grin and bear the suffering without any
protection for their poor swollen and inflamed ears, which, after the
fourth or fifth day, certainly look exceedingly painful; but the girls
are allowed to wear protectors made of the halves of a coconut shell,
held in place by strings attached to the upper edges, passing over the
head, and strings from the lower edges, tied under the chin. These
shells are stained a bright yellow with a turmeric, already mentioned,
known as _reng_. Another and a smaller hole, just about large
enough for the stem of a flower is often made in the rim of the ear
a little above the larger hole in the lobe; this is designed for no
particular ornament, but merely supplements the larger one when the
latter is completely filled with earrings and bouquets; a white and
yellow flower of Frangipanni, or the spray of a delicate little orchid,
growing on coconut trees, greatly enhances the charm when waving
above red and green crotons and a pendant of pink shell. Women do not
in general affect manufactured earrings; they cling more to natural
effects of leaves and flowers. The men’s ear ornaments consist of short
loops of small glass beads, whereto is attached a piece of pink or
white shell usually cut in a triangular shape, with each edge about
an inch in length; this is pendant from the loop of beads about three
inches below the ear. The triangular shape is, in general, obligatory,
inasmuch as the shell from which it is cut has this one sole patch of
rosy pink near the umbo. This shell is exceedingly rare on the shores
of Uap; consequently, these pink pendants are highly valued and owned
only by the wealthy families who part with them reluctantly, and only
at an exorbitant price. Other pendants of less value are made from any
fine white shell, or of tortoise-shell; any man may wear these who has
patience enough to scrape the shells to the proper shape. Still another
variety of ear ornament is a piece of thin tortoise-shell, about a
third of an inch wide, bent into the shape of a U; this is hooked in
the lobe of the ear, and from the outer open ends are suspended little
strings of beads. In default of other ornament the men will insert
anything with gay colors; my cinematograph film, whenever I happened to
discard it, was sure to be seen for the next two or three days either
fluttering from combs or passed through loops and coiled about the ears.
[Illustration: FULL DRESS OF A HIGH-CLASS DAMSEL]
Ordinary necklaces, worn by all the common folk, are made of thin
discs of coconut shell or tortoise-shell, about a quarter of an inch
in diameter, and strung closely and tightly together, interspersed
at intervals with similar discs of white shell, so that they make a
flexible cord which coils like a collar rather tightly about the neck.
One of the most highly prized possessions of the men is, however, a
necklace of beads made of the same rose-coloured shell whereof they
make their ear pendants. In each shell of superior quality there is
of the pink or red portion only enough to make one good bead about an
inch and a half long by half an inch wide and an eighth of an inch
thick; such a bead is usually strung in the middle of the necklace
among others graded off from it in size, on both sides, merging
into oblong pieces about half an inch long, of the same breadth and
thickness as the bead in the centre; then, finally, follow discs about
one sixteenth of an inch thick. One day, a chief, named Inifel, with
a suite of followers from his district of Magachpa, at the northern
end of the island, paid us a visit; for an old man, his features bore
as treacherous and malevolent a stamp as ever I saw; he scowled at
everything and everybody from under his shaggy grizzled eyebrows, with
a piercing gleam at once suspicious and sinister; he was magnificent in
adornment, however, with a _thauei_,--a red-shell necklace,--of
surpassing splendour, composed throughout of exquisite red shell beads
of the very largest size, except where, at intervals of every seven or
eight red beads, there followed one of pure white. So satanic were his
looks that I did not dare even to hint at the purchase of so gorgeous a
prize, lest he should propose my soul, or my shadow, by some devilish
contract, as the price. These strings of shell beads are usually about
three feet long, and hang far down on the chest. Beyond question
they are exceedingly beautiful, especially when set off by the dark,
burnished livery of a tawny skin.
[Illustration: INIFEL, A TURBULENT CHIEF; ON HIS LEFT ARM IS A
LARGE WHITE BRACELET, MADE FROM A CONCH SHELL; ABOUT HIS NECK A
HIGHLY VALUABLE NECKLACE]
A report of these red shell ornaments had reached me by rumour before
I came to Uap, and I had been assured that it was utterly impossible
to buy one; hence it was, naturally of course, the one thing I set my
heart on possessing; wherefore I caused it to be widely known that I
was prepared to pay a good round price for a red necklace, and I begged
old Ronoboi, one of my first acquaintances among the nobility, not
only a Chief, but also a powerful soothsayer, or _mach-mach_, to
strain every nerve to procure one for me. He shook his grave head
dubiously, saying he would try, but had no hope whatever of success.
Later, I saw some _thaueis_ that were truly excellent, but the
owners would not listen to a syllable of sale, and seemed even to doubt
that a white man existed with wealth enough to purchase a perfect one.
After several rebuffs in my attempts to buy these enviable “jewels”
from wearers who looked otherwise impecunious enough, I found out that
these necklaces were actually loaned, at interest, and were not the
disposable property of the wearer, who, for work or services performed,
was privileged to strut about, thus adorned, for a certain number of
days, with that delicious glow around the heart, whether civilised
or savage, which the consciousness of being well-dressed invariably
bestows. In fact, the _thauei_, in Uap, is a medium of exchange,
and is not often parted with outright, but loaned out; the interest on
the loan is to be paid for in labour. After three weeks of eager and
zealous endeavour, I succeeded at last in obtaining a very inferior
string of merely round discs, but I had to pay for it the staggering
sum of thirty marks ($7.50); when the owner delivered it to me, he
exclaimed, “There now, you have the price of a murder; offer that to
a man and tell him whom you want killed, and it’s done!” Not until
the very day I left the island did I get a really fine _thauei_;
after almost tearful pleadings on my part, old Ronoboi, possibly by a
good deal of hook and probably by a good deal more crook, persuaded
one of his subjects and eke believers in the awful mysteries of
_mach-mach_, to part with a prized heirloom, which the dear old
chief and wizard solemnly and secretly brought to me. I gave him a
double handful of silver mark pieces; this seemed to hush effectually
the “still, small voice;” furthermore, can a king do wrong? and the
necklace is mine!
The only other ornaments that the men wear are armlets and bracelets
of shell or of tortoise-shell. These are made simply by cutting a
narrow section from the base of one of the large conical sea-shells
and breaking out all the inner whorls; the ring thus formed is then
slipped over the arm and worn above the elbow or wrist. I noticed none
that was carved or decorated; they were merely smoothed and polished.
The tortoise-shell bracelets are plain, broad bands which, after
softening in hot water, are bent around the wrists, where they fit
tightly, leaving the ends about three fourths of an inch apart, so that
they may be sprung off the arm, and need not be slipped over the hand.
These tortoise-shell ornaments are usually engraved with a few parallel
lines running round them.
One peculiar shell bracelet, much affected by old men, is made of a
large, white conical sea-shell, whereof the base and all the interior
spirals have been cut away; this is worn like a cuff on the wrist
with the big end upward. It seems incredible that they can get their
hands through so small an opening, but in some way they do squeeze
them through. One of my particular friends, Fatumak by name, of whom I
shall speak later, told me that, once upon a time, a man from Goror,
at the southernmost point of the island, tried to go up to the land
of departed spirits,--_Falraman_,--but he never reached his
destination, although he saw many marvelous things, and brought back to
the Chiefs extraordinary novelties; among them, these shell cuffs, and
chickens.