Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/594

246 and the smooth, marble-like surface of his body; he seemed a fit model for a statue of Hercules. When casting my eyes on his face, I felt certain that I had seen it before, and a smile coming over it, I recognized my friend of the tavern. "Ah," he said, "I was waiting to see if you would find me out. I cannot think how you foreigners contrive to live in the clothes you wear; they have nearly killed me by having them on only for a day or two, and I have kept the boy fanning me ever since I have come home, to see and get the heat out of me. But come, I will myself show you the house of him you are inquiring for; I know him well." So saying, he rose, and taking hold of a large oblong square of white native cloth, and arranging it about his person in the form of a Roman toga, or rather perhaps of the Greek pharos, he led me out. Near the door his people were beginning to prepare a native oven. He said: "Perhaps it is worth your while to see the way in which we cook our food, so different from yours:" and accordingly showed me the preparations and explained the whole process. Then he walked on before me to show the path, which led through a grove of the pandanus tree, taking care to point out to me that its long leaves were sharply serrated, and might cut me badly if I rubbed face or hands incautiously against them. While thus employed, I could not help envying the ease and freedom with which he moved, and comparing it with my own sweltering garments confining every motion. On emerging from the pandanus grove he carefully pointed out to me the house I was in search of, and then bade me good day. When he was gone I said to myself, so this is a naked savage of the Pacific islands; why, he is clad far more sensibly, and therefore better, than I am. His garments are made for ease and comfort, allowing the free play of the limbs, and are really graceful.

That you may have a complete idea of what these are, I must describe the maro. It is a strip of cloth some yards long, and six or eight inches wide, passed several times between the thighs, and round the hips and waist with one end hanging down in front for eight or ten inches. It was de rigueur that in the male sex all this should be covered; there was no conception of impropriety in the exposure of other parts. Women, besides this, had the pan, formed of one or more pieces of cloth, so arranged as to jut out all around the waist, and cover about a fourth of the person.

It is evident that this fashion of dress was suited to a tropical climate, and is there convenient and healthful. But when men came to live nearer the poles, they required garments adequate to cover and protect the whole person. Hence there is a natural reason for the