This pair of mittens originated from Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and were worn to protect the hands in fist fights. The mittens are knotted from coconut string and the inside padded with coconut bast. String loops allow for the fingers to be stretched out. The mittens can be bound tight with the use of a twisted coconut string. Banaba is Nauru's neighbouring island. Nauru was not only just colonised by Germany, but also by Britain. Importantly, both islands contained large amounts of naturally-occurring phosphate, a resource exploited by the colonial powers - the price being the destruction of vast areas of the islands. How the mittens arrived in the Brandeis collection is not known. It is possible that they were a gift or alternatively, a contribution from the German district commissioner, Ludwig Kaiser. According to the collector, they were already very rare at the time they were acquired.