Women in Tonga

Women in Tonga are the female inhabitants of Tonga, an island kingdom in Polynesia.

The girls are most accomplished coquettes ~ H. N. Moseley

Quotes about Tongan women

H. N. Moseley, Notes By a Naturalist: An Account of Observations made during The Voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger” Round the World in the Years 1872–1876 (London: John Murray, 1892)

• The women are large, they have fine figures and are, most of them, handsome. They wear a cotton cloth round the loins, reaching down below the knees, or often, and especially on week-days, a “tappa” or native cloth, made from the Paper Mulberry. The missionaries have compelled them to cover their breasts, which is done with a flap of cloth thrown up in front, and a fine is imposed on any woman seen abroad without this additional covering. The women, however, evidently have little idea of shame in the matter; and often the cloth is put on so loosely that it affords no cover at all.
• The hair of the women was formerly cut short, as amongst so many savages where the men keep to themselves the right of cultivating and decorating the hair, but now it is often allowed to grow long and fall down the back. It is oiled and powdered with sandal-wood dust as a perfume. On Sundays a few women appear in complete European dress, wearing muslin gowns, and hats profusely decorated with gaudy artificial flowers. The girls are most accomplished coquettes.
  • Chapter XII, p. 248