Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-06-26

,r &c Has4.. 20 !. J: al..,n.rk.b1s Psopl.

! The Habits Of q 8snaarksb1e People
"a correspondent Of the San Francis
| 20 Chronicle, writing about the South
| Sen Islands, says q
It is i common impression that the
South Sea Islanders are all cannibals
and that the islands are. filled with Wild
| beasts. Such is not the case. The
natives are INDECENT and far from beisx
savage, and their relations with the
whites are easy going and simple
There is little romance and less advent
ure in exploring these Southern arcjl'-tt !.
pelagoes The. islands are all Of volcano
&c origin, and in the lowest strata
show no eyidenceof ores or minerals.
The vegetation is tropical and lrrxuriant,
and the forest abound In every variety of
! birds. 1t is 3 common supposition that
The islanders are physically dwarfs and
the woman shriveled and hag-like in
appearance resem bling the Indian
squaw. The truth is, however, that no
finer race exists in the world as regards
| physical structure. The mon are tall
and we'll formed. The women have
magnificent proportions, pleasing faces,
are neither, fiabby nor fat, and the con-
tours Of their bodies are harmonious
and voluptuous. /
They have well-developed busts,
which show beauty in their natural
form, as they wear nothing above the
waist. BY actual measurement they
approach the Venus Of Milo nearer
than The European. Their houses are
built Of framework Of saplings, put
together without any nails, fastened by
sennit made from the cocoanut fibre and
matched with long grass to the thick
ness Of several feet. The sides and
ends are filled with lattice work Of
reeds that admit the air. The floors
are covered with soft grasses to the
depth of several feet, over which are
spread mats. One end of the floor ia
raised about one foot above the rest,
and is used as a bed, upon which is laid
from so to,1O0 of the softest mats
One corner is reserved as q small fire.
place, consisting Of bare ground and
| few stones, where are always
kept smouldering few cocoanut
husks used: for the purpose of making
| the suluke, or native cigarette. The
tobacco which they smoke is simply the
raw leaf dried in the sun. They hold.
the leaf over the fire until it is crisp,
and then roll it in dried banana leaf to
sharp point at one end and broad at
the other. One cigar usually does for
several persons, each taking few
whif1s and passing it to the next: The
food staple of the natives is fruit, but
they have more sumptuous edibles,
prepared by their own ingenuity.
The chief. of these. is the madral,
made from any fruit, yans, taro,. or
bananas, pounded into thick paste and
buried. on the shore between high and
low water mark. Then it is left to
decompose for year, when it is dug up
and steamed in large pot: When un-
rolled from the dried banana leaves the
odor is that of bad sourkrout sliced
with Limburger cheese. The natives
relish this condiment as a masterpiece
of their art and eat it without
even; holding their nose It. is sweet
to the, taste and easily digesti-
ible. Another Polynesian delicacy is~a
raw fish about the SIZE of q sardine,
which the natives scoop out OF: the
water and bolt while the fish is still
wriggling. They taste like sardines.
The natives are very polite in their in
tercourse with each other. When one
sneezes his companion says, "Sabula, I"
your health; the person sneezing reply
ing, "Moli" thank you: They never
meet in the morning without saying,
"Sa yandre," it is awake, and in depart
ing say, asa la'ki moce," go to sleep.
The language abounds i'll poetry, with
out arhyme, and mainly Of tue trochee
metre, as the accents OF the words usu-
ally fall Oh the penult, They celebrate
! love, material deeds, jeats of strength
and drinking feats in verses, which are
handed down by oral tradition.