Show SEA SA ISLAND WOM rS DUS I I New York May ay 16 It is considered con I most improper tor for a native woman in inthe inthe the South Sea islands to expose her I ankles said Miss Theodora Crosby the theauthor theauthor I author of With the South Sea Island Islanders ers em who spent several years as a mis missionary missionary in that that field They are re not particular about cloth clothing clothIng clothing ing their bodies indeed seldom wear i any covering above the waist unless I you dignify string upon string g of beads i buttons and shells as such to show the I I ankles however how er is most immodest The I children both boys and girls run tun about I absolutely nude or at most with wit a fringe about their waists but when once a girl Is put on the marriageable list her mat skirt must reach so low that her ankles will not be exposed to view Status S atus of the Women HI It is also als improper for a woman to togo togo togo go fishing with any man other than tan her husband She may my go in bathing with wih members of the opposite sex as often as she pleases she may sleep in the same me room but she must not go fishing with them I remember how we of the mis mission mission sion slon shocked their sense nf of propriety We went fishing with the men and thought nothing noting about abut it but we re refused refused I fused used to go bathing with them We wore short skirts and high necked and long sleeved waists I am sure they thought sleeve us as immodest as a we thought them The character and status of the wo being an accurate accurate indication of the degree dree ee of civilization which a people have q attained would not put the South SouthSea Sea Seo Islanders very high hh up in the scale And yet the descent decent of rank through the female line lne gives the women a apace place of importance which it i is hard hardat hardat at pace to understand realizing the in inescapable escapable t social cial degradation of the sex As a queen or regent she may have almost unlimited power but she can cannot cn cannot not eat even with wih the humblest man manA man manA manA A woman oman must not eat cat of the food prepared in the same oven as a mans nor of many viands superstitiously re reserved reserved reserved served for the male sex sex At birth she shei is i more unwelcome than her brother and more liable to be thrust alive alve into the grave grae grave As A a child she he must eat no food that has las chanced to touch her fathers dish As a wife she se is subject to her husbands will i and a d Is cast off when no longer pleasing Curiously enough however the men cook the food while on many of the islands the women accompany their husbands to battle batte I Marital 1 ri 11 engagements ng gee ts are made by I or friends generally on the arent side Bide of the he woman omar but hut quite quie often by byboth byboth byboth both parties M among the 1 and some other people there thee is no wed wedding wedding wedding ding ceremony though th gh the groom gom sometimes throWs thrown ws a piece of kapa about the bride b ide and d a 3 nuptial feast Is spread Marriage tenure ten Ie is ls very un uncertain uncertain uncertain certain depending so far ar as S I have learned on the will of the husband But learne while such a relation lasts lats so s far as I know there th re is no DO such thing as infidelity infidelity delity on o either e side Strange Religious Customs tom Their religion if iI it may be called caled such is in is They have nave no idols no temples no priests They do obeis obeisance ance nc to certain trees tees rocks or slabs of coral t into c which they suppose spirits spiris have entered enter d These ghosts or spirit i stones are generally from one to three feet high Small Smal stones are laid around in a ao circle r le about two feet from the larger and inside of this the ground n i is ov uth white pebbles go The hare aro r placed c 4 near and nd sometimes ThY Inside the tI house They have a special dialect l hi is used d In speaking of or orto orI 0 to t their err rulers uTe rs or 0 r chiefs chIe S and ad in their worship So different is this from the I language lan used by the th common people that it is easy to ascertain who the I chiefs chief c are are even among strangers They have hP hii V e a custom of wish u Ish I change names It is their great greatest I est token taken of friendship fri and confidence t I i But what ahat What would an American woman t i I 1 Ido do to with a South Sut See Sea Set Island Island womans her name not nse use it as ps own The women of Gilbert Gibert island islan dress dres their hair hair to stand straight out as a a protection against the sun The Mar Marshall Marshal Marshall shall Islanders tie te their locks lock In knots knot on the tops of their ther head and orna ornament ornament ornament ment them with wih feathers and flowers fower The Mortlock men nee We their hair hr in rolls rols on the back of their necks while the women let It fall fpU In ringlets on either side of their face fac In most mot of the islands the curious custom of slitting the lobe of the ear prevails among both men and women This hole Is IB some sometimes sometimes times tim s enormously stretched and ad a awoden wooden woden cylinder or tortoise shell shel is placed in it In this cylinder or shell shel ornaments or valuables valuable are carried sometimes of two or three tree pounds weight In each ear You can cn readily imagine it does not In our eyes eye add to the beauty of the women though tough it does doe in theirs Girls uris are often praised pris because buse these thes holes hole are ae f f unusual size siz LAFAYETTE AL WS |