ジョン・ミリングトン・シング著姉崎正見訳「アラン島」第四部 （１８）

　私は此の群島の人達をよく知つてゐるつもりではあるが、彼等の生活の何か新しい原始的な特色に出逢はない日とては一日もない。
　昨日、或る家に行つたが、其處の内儀さんは働いてゐて、だらしない身裝（みなり）をしてゐた。その女は私が亭主と話をするやうになるまで、暫く待つてゐて、それから片隅へそつと行き、さつぱりしたペティコートを着、派手な襟卷を卷いて、また出て來て爐の傍に坐つた。
　今夜は他の家へ行き、その家の人達と夜遲くまで話してゐた。幼い男の子――その家の獨り子――が眠くなると、お婆さんはその子を膝に載せて歌ひだした。その子がうとうとしてくると、次第にその着物を脱ぎ取つて、その子の身體中をそつと爪で掻いてやつた。それから壺の水を少し取つて足を洗ひ、寢床に寢かせた。
　家へ歸つて行く途中、風で砂が顏に吹きつけ、行く手が殆んどわからなかつた。私は帽子で口と鼻を塞ぎ、片手を目に當てて、砂の穴や岩を足で探りながら歩かなければならなかつた。

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Well as I seem to know these people of the islands, there is hardly a day that I do not come upon some new primitive feature of their life.
Yesterday I went into a cottage where the woman was at work and very carelessly dressed. She waited for a while till I got into conversation with her husband, and then she slipped into the corner and put on a clean petticoat and a bright shawl round her neck. Then she came back and took her place at the fire.
This evening I was in another cottage till very late talking to the people. When the little boy--the only child of the house--got sleepy, the old grandmother took him on her lap and began singing to him. As soon as he was drowsy she worked his clothes off him by degrees, scratching him softly with her nails as she did so all over his body. Then she washed his feet with a little water out of a pot and put him into his bed.
When I was going home the wind was driving the sand into my face so that I could hardly find my way. I had to hold my hat over my mouth and nose, and my hand over my eyes while I groped along, with my feet feeling for rocks and holes in the sand.

［やぶちゃん注：原文では、次に行空きがなく繋がっているが、分けた。］