Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1899-10-07
sHAcKLEs OF CIVILIZATION.
Which the Samoan Belle
Refuse. 90 Wear.

In spite of the simplicity of national
attife-liae single Iaisa iava-Iaya. or
ioin Cloth, worn by all both sexes
siIke--ti.e Sanaoans spend great deal
OF their tine eestutII ing themselves
The body is creased win cocoarIlat ell
and the hair is often Pisstered with
white lime and reached up lsonpac our
style, giving IL wnen dry the effect
OF the Judicial Wig worn by English
barristers- The nne is washed on
at night and renewed from day TO
day. ise +. slit IS (. e. adult chang e in
the color OF the hair, Which, in under
gong the bleaching process, passes
rom q coarse. caaI black. through
arick red to a light yellow. he ei-
.ect OF this brilliant contrast with
their shiny copper skins is gTotesque
N the extreme, hut in their dark eyes
suri assinsIy beautiful.
Neither sex is oyerburGened with
clothes The common dress lor both
men AID women is the already mem
toned iava-iaya, a kind of kilt or
piece of drapery wound about the
waist in a manner whose adjustment
seems to foreigners nothing short of
miraculous. L he adults, however,
seem to have no difficulty in keeping
the lava-lava in place, but the child
rem are less expert and careful of
theirs, and often lose the scant scrap
of cotton stuff that serves as an out
of-door costume. Children of all ages,
indoors, and babies in arms every
where, wear no clothing at all This
kind of garment-or drapery. per-
haps, would be better word for it
is, in slightly varied form, common
to most South Sea islanders, as well |
as inhabitants of the Indian archi-
pelago and the southern countries of |
Asia. 1t is called by the Malays |
sarong, and its name differs in diff
erent groups of Polynesia The |
Kings of Singapore, Ceylon, and the |
Malaysian peninsula wear it loose or |
straight, while the Burmese and Siam
csc tuck it up something after tho |
the manner of the well known infau- |
tile accessory.
The fnery and gimcrack adorn-
ments of civilization are now gaining |
a foothold in Samoa, as elsewhere in |
the track of commerce, particularly |
with the feminine heart, and it is not |
unusual to see a Samoan lady gor-
geously arrayed in a fine mat lava
lava combined with ball gown waist |
or velvet basque cut Wrecked, or
with her hair done up empire style |
and wearing, to complete her toilet, a
string of ferns around her waist and |
a necklace of sharks teeth around
her dusky throat-bust arms and
limbs bare-promenading with all the
refreshing grace and conscious airs of /
Bridget on her Sunday outing, the
observed of all observers. But there
is one shackle of civilization thew
positively refuse to accept-shoes end
stockings Perhaps, however, this is
because they can find no covering
large enough for the aboriginal ''tril-
bies." Nevertheless, in one of the
fights in which our native allies par
ticipated 1 observed one warrior
proudly wearing a pair of sixteen
button black silk stockings extending
a bove the knees, with his huge black
feet protruding beyond the soles,
which were worn through. He had
doubtless looted them from some
European house, whose owner fled
when hostilities began.-San Francis
co Chronicle