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The people of this island are of ordinary stature. They have amongst them people white and red, some in color like those of the Indies, others woolly-headed, blacks and mulattoes. Slavery is in use amongst them. Their food is yams, fish, cocoanuts, and they have pigs and fowls. The name of the chief is Tomai.
All others are volunteers excepting one or two regiments of cavalry and artillery, so we are likely to get the brunt of all the battles. We had a little scrimmage yesterday, but it did not amount to much. Now I will try to tell you a little about the island before I run out of paper. Cocoanuts grow in abundance here, with all other kinds of tropical fruit.
We found that Soper and Coal had in the meantime collected some more cocoanuts; and that Brown, with the rest of the men, had obtained some large clams and other shell-fish from the rocks. They were now lighting a fire to cook them, while Jim had brought a kettle of water from the lake. We had thus materials for a hearty meal, of which we all partook with good appetites.
Their earthly possessions usually consisted of a small bundle carried on the head of the women or a wornout basket loaded with mangoes or cocoanuts. The color of the skin of the passing crowd presented many tints from white to jet black. The women were noted for their ugliness, the men for their eagerness to get beyond the reach of guns.
But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang appeared at my side! "Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?" "I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy.
The females were beautiful, with agreeable features and long black hair; they wore dresses of fine matting. When the Spaniards landed, they were met by men and women in procession, with tambourines and festal songs. These islands abounded in cocoanuts and other vegetable productions. From the Good Gardens Islands they set out again towards New Spain.
As a currency, teeth are far less clumsy than cocoanuts; which, among certain remote barbarians, circulate for coin; one nut being equivalent, perhaps, to a penny.
By the time the job was finished we were all pretty hot. Several of the boys made vain attempts to climb for nuts, but without success. We had brought them with us from the interior, where cocoanuts do not grow; and they did not understand the method. They could swarm up the tall slim stems all right, but could not manage to get through the downward-pointing spikes of the dead leaves.
"Now, speaking as one gentleman to another, do you happen to know where we can get a hand-out?" "'And-out?" inquired the puzzled negro. "Yes; a lunch. Can't you lead me to a banana vine or a breadfruit bakery? I'm starving. They grow the finest cocoanuts in the world right here worth five cents apiece; they require no care, have no worms, no bugs. You sit still and they drop in your lap.
In three years he had married as many couples, helped to baptize a half-caste baby, held an inquest on a dead sailor, bullied a Samoan army off his front grass, and had settled a disputed inheritance involving five acres of cocoanuts. This, of course, left him with some spare time on his hands, which, on the whole, he managed to get through with very tolerable enjoyment.
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