ISLAND RACES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 118, 12 February 1919, Page 4

ISLAND RACES

JYHY 'I'IIEY ABB DYING OFF. Many of the native people in Hie P.ici- ' fio nve dying oil', Bomo more'rupidly than others, mid various reasons arc given i'or this melancholy i'nut. In tho opinion of Mr. K. S. Newton, ' a Government ".official from, the Gilbert ■ Islands, who has been in Sydney on fur- ". lough, nothing lias contributed moi'o to the general decay than the introduction •• of European clothing. In most of tho "islands cotton smoclcs for woman and cotton trousers and shirts for men.havo como to be regarded in the native mind ■ as indispensable to professed Christianity. Mr. Newton considers that the ria« . ti'vo kit is graceful and sufficient, and the ho'althicst costume, and.that to encour- \ ago them to dress in mir clothes is an outrago on all hygiene and artistic coneoptions. It is.impossible, he declares, to overestimate, the mischief that has been done to tho.general physique and health of the natives of the Gilbert Is- , lands by European clothing. The old method "of" lubricating-the body (bare, save for the "riri," or kilt) with coco-, nut oil was.the host possible precaution , against chill in these regions of sudden ' rains.. Clothes reduced, the onduranco of the skin, and rendered it moro ceptible to. the chills which-wot clothing engendered. The result was colds, pneumonia, and ovenhmlly tuberculosis, •■ I whicb-.was-, decimating..the; natives in I many, parts. " Apart from this aspect, ■• j natives did not' understand the prin- .•"- ciples of hysriene, and 'thus .skin -diseases were spread, for-tho natives were fond '■ of exohangimr and borrowing each othca-*B olothing. ■ Durincr the recent drought in the Southern Gilbert Islands the natives had been unable to' buy new clothing, with the result that tho old ■ un- . washed clothes woro worn week after week and month after month, •in many cases never beinp , removed from the body. The stamina and hardiness of the old men, who had. not been tauj>ht )y good : intentioncd mission teachers .to wear clothing, as compared- with the present' generation strongly undor mission influence, was very striking. ' These hardy, old ."men would sit fishing m . their canoes miles out at sea, with no covering of. the upper part of their body, impervious, to the heat or cqM. Tho younger native? when fishins covered themselves, with any thick clothing obtainable, '.and' readily fell victims to phthisis,.- ... : .' ~.' . - , Until a Government regulation -was brought" into force prohibiting the wear- . ing of .European clothes by tho natives little could- 'be done to alleviate the in- . disease among:them, Mr..Newton says.. As things were at present tho Government officials ,iven(; to much trouibloto lecture to the natives on the usolessness, expense, and dangers of the practice; and on the following Sunday tho mission teaoher would preach a whole sermon on the evil of appearing in publio with any part of the body exposed. It'was impressed on tho women tha prying eyes must not catch a glimpse of their forms. "Strango" to . say," observed Mr. Newton, "those who go abon with the least dress are-the most moral . of the inhabitants.-a fact which tainly tends to prove that morality, is not dependent upon dress." Mr. Newton- does-, .not disparage ' the work of the missionaries generally.-■ On the other hand, ho speaks of it in.'high ■ terms: They have throughout the Pacific, he says, done wonderful'things for the welfare of the natives. But he is, firm in his opinion that they are making ft very grievous mistake in insisting upon the wearing of clothes in the remote islands, and also in prohibiting the native dances . without first substituting.-other forms of amusement and. exercise. Somo of the : old dances, had a- tendency towards obscenity, and with .the tabooing of these he is in full accord'. But he thinks that rigorous prohibition of all , forms- of dancing has done much "more harm' thau good; for in the long hot nights,-■ when the oid people, love.to sit yarning under the eaves of the paiidanus thatch,' the young folk are idle, and, having iio reading Uiatter or picture shows,, pr,.other ways of healthy entertainment,. Satan finds rnoro mischief for them than; would 'otherwise be the case. • -.'.' ■