Short Stories
ring and more civilized islands have themselves become too
civilized to work on plantations.
Mauki's ears were pierced, not in one place, nor two plac-
es, but in a couple of dozen places. In one of the smaller holes
he carried a clay pipe. The larger holes were too large for such
use. The bowl of the pipe would have fallen through. In fact,
in the largest hole in each ear he habitually wore round wood-
en plugs that were an even four inches in diameter. Roughly
speaking, the circumference of said holes was twelve and one-
half inches. Mauki was catholic in his tastes. In the various
smaller holes he carried such things as empty rifle cartridges,
horseshoe nails, copper screws, pieces of string, braids of sen-
nit, strips of green leaf, and, in the cool of the day, scarlet hi-
biscus flowers. From which it will be seen that pockets were
not necessary to his well-being. Besides, pockets were impossi-
ble, for his only wearing apparel consisted of a piece of calico
several inches wide. A pocket knife he wore in his hair, the
blade snapped down on a kinky lock. His most prized posses-
sion was the handle of a china cup, which he suspended from
a ring of turtle-shell, which, in turn, was passed through the
partition-cartilage of his nose.
But in spite of embellishments, Mauki had a nice face. It was
really a pretty face, viewed by any standard, and for a Melanesi-
an it was a remarkably good-looking face. Its one fault was its
lack of strength. It was softly effeminate, almost girlish. The fea-
tures were small, regular, and delicate. The chin was weak, and
the mouth was weak. There was no strength nor character in the
jaws, forehead, and nose. In the eyes only could be caught any
hint of the unknown quantities that were so large a part of his
make-up and that other persons could not understand. These
71