The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-06-25
THE FEJEE3
The Habits Of . Remarkable People.

The Habits Of Remarkable People.
A correspondent of the San Francis
20 Chronicle, writing about the South
Sea- Islands, says:
It is ! 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 indolent and far from being
savage, and their relations with the
whites are easy.going and simple.
There is little romance and less advent
ure in exploring these Southern archi.
pelagoes. The. islands are all of volcan-
ic origin, and in the lowest strata
show no evidence of ores or minerals.
The vegetation is tropical and luxuriant,
and the forest abound in every variety of
birds. 1t is common suppositior that
the islanders are physically dwarfs and
the woman shriveled and hag- like in
appearance, resembling the Indian
squaw. The truth is, however, that no
finer race exists in the world as regards
physical structure. The men are tall
and we'll formed. The women have
magnificent proportions, pleasing faces.
are neither, tiabby 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 Che European. Their houses are
built Of framework of saplings, put
together without any nails, fastened by
sennit made from the cocoanut fibre and
thatchod with long grass to tile thick
ness of several feet The sides end
ends are filled with latAssce work of
reeds that admit the air. The floors
are covered with soft grasses to che
depth of several feet, over which are
spread mats. One end of the floor is
raised about one foot above the rest,
and is used as bed, upon which is laid
from 80 to 100 of the softest mats.
One corner is reserved as small fire.
place, consisting OF bare ground and a
few stones, where are always
kept smouldering a few cocoanut
husks. used for the purpose.of making
tho suluke, or native cigarette. The
tobacco which they smoke is simply the
raw leaf dried in the sum- They hold
the leaf over the fire until it is crisp
and then roll it in dried banana leaf to
sharp point ut 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, vans. 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. II it is dug up
and steamed in a large pot When I'M
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-
lille. Another Polynesian delicacy is a
raw fish about the SIZE Of sardine.
which the natives scoop out of the
water and bolt while the fish is stin
wriggling. They taste like sardines.
The natives are very polite in their in
tercourse with each other. When ono
sneezes his companion says, "Sabula: F."
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 in poetry. with
out a rhyme, and mainly of the trochce
metre, as the accents of the words usu-
ally fall on the penult. They celebrate
love, material deeds, feats Of strength
and drinking feats in verses, which are
handed down by oral tradition.