The herald., 1896-02-09
A REALM FOR WOMEN

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There is still hope that America may
become as civilized as Minicoy. There
is little pin-head island off the south
ern coast of India where woman rules
the roost and man knuckles under. It
is called Minicoy, and is situated mid
way between the Maldive and Lacca-
dive islands.
While travelling in India not long
since an English tourist came across
an official report of Minicoy, and his
attention was attracted by the follow
ing entry: "Every woman in the isl
and is dressed in silk. The gowns fit
closely around the neck and reach to
the ankles. The upper classes wear
red silk and earrings of peculiar fash
ion. The lower caste women are re-
stricted to the use of dark striped silk
of a coarser quality. Every husband
must provide his wife with one cady
1850 pounds) of rice, two silk gowns and
two suits of underclothes year. He
also presents her on marriage with a
fine betel pouch drought from GALLEY
and silver ornament containing re-
ceptacles for lime and tobacco, and in
struments of strange forms for clean
ing the ears and teeth. The women
appear freely in public, and take the
lead in everything except in naviga-
tion."
The travellers curiosity being
aroused by the above, the tourist took
the first opportunity of visiting this
remarkable little island. He found,
indeed, peculiar yet most hospitable
people. On going ashore their party
was met by bevy Of girls bearing
gifts of fruits. They wore striped silk
gowns, fitting closely enough to the
figure to fairly display their wearers'
charms. These had no sooner de-
parted than another bevy pproached,
also bearing fruit. And so deputation
followed deputation with their gifts,
until it looked as though the visitors
would be positively buried alive under
the abundance Of eggs and garden
stuff. Finally, however, number ten
ended the procession, and then it came
out that each bevy represented one OF
the ten "varangis," or female sections
of the island.
1t appears that the ladies are organ
ized separately from the men, whose
sections, only nine in number, are
termed "attiris." These divisions are
territorial.
Each attiri has also it's meeting
house. Here the men congregate to
do the work of the community; the
carpenter, the boat builder, the barber,
and the carver OF tombstones. Their
tombstones, by the way, are very fanci-
full. They ara about foot high,
rounded on top for females and square
for males. During eight months of
the year most of the men are away on
trading voyages. When all are at
home, however, the female population
still exceeds that Of the male popula-
tion by about 30 per cent. Boys under
are under the jurisdiction of the
head women, but, having passed that
age, they 60 over to the attiris. Each
ettiri has its fire brigade, and at three
blasts from the huge conch shell, which
is their fire alarm, they must gather
hastily for duty.
Meantime the men are engaged in
fishing. On the return OF the boats
the women repair to the shore to secure
their household share of the days
| catch. TheD, returning home, they
give the remainder of the day to their
household duties.
"Fancy," says the bold Briton, with
characteristic surprise and awe at such
state of things, "a society in which
the woman, and not the man. is the
recognized head of the household, and
in doing so you will have taken an i'm =
portant step toward clear apprehen-
sion of the relations between the sexes
in Minicoy The houses belong to the
women and everything in the house
belongs to them. The men work hard
as sailors, fishermen and tree-climbers,
and in picking cocoanuts, but what
ever they can earn goes into the family
stock, and increases the family SUBJ
stance"
Each "varangi" has its head woman,
and each "attiri" has its head man.
These officials convene their sections
whenever the public service requires it..
Each section, moreover, has its own
meeting house. Visiting one of these
the tourist found party of silk-clad
women and girls engaged in spinning
coir into yarn. Getting into converse
tion with the head woman, he learned
something about their daily life. At
$50 in the morning, she told him, the
''varangi" women start for the ccir
beating grounds, which lie back of the
township. The lower class of these
women beat the coir husks, while the
higher caste women superintend the
work. Among the coir soaking pits on
this part of the island are several
tanks of clear water, and here the
women bathe before returning to their
domestic duties. At 8 o'clock, enough
coir being beaten out for the day. 8
work, the women return home to break
fast, after which they proceed to the
meeting house to spin fiber into yarn.
The dwellings of the Minicovites are
large, low buildings, constructed of
stone and mortar. The rooms are few,
and are chiefly used for store rooms,
but deep, shady verandas abound, and
underneath these are hung the sleep
ing cots of the household. Each cot is
provided with a mosquito curtain, for
here the mosquitoes rival in size and
number the far famed product of New
Jersey. The hoL seholder's financial
status is indicated by certain orna-
mental cornices and tastefully carved
pillars, supporting the pillars.
Each house has garden, peculiar
feature of which is the toddy-pot.
which is formed of two cocoanuts fast
ened together hour-glass fashion. These
toddy-pots are suspended from a