Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1890-02-06

M Soulu, peslueS Ine Snort rope
which assists them in the ascent. Once
at the top they sling themselves by the
rope, and bore hole with the auper
Just at the root of the long branch like
leaves and hang the gourd SO it will
catch tina sap, much as your northern
farmers tap maple trees. When fresh
this palm juice is delicious and as harm.
less as sweet milk, but when exposed to
the ar one day it ferments, and then Il Is
more rank lntoxicant than any spirits
ever distilled. But that and salt seem
to be the only things the natives obso.
1uteiy have to have, and they according
" demand and receive it as the most
unanswerable token of the traders
esteem. =
You would laugh to see them pick
out goods in payment for the labor and
value represented in their little bun
dies. Bar iron in twelve foot pieces.
blue BAIT or drilling, amber beads. rum.
salt and gunpowder- these are about ali
they want, but they want them badly
and Will pay good prices. For instance.
salt which costs the trader IS hundred
sells readily right at the factory. ;
as they call the trading house.
Tor 50. But the black who can carry
any OF this staple up country can Get
twice that much money for it off the
natives who have not gone to the agency.
An armlet valued at $780, a gun worth
$50, OF wife worth 500 in any market
IN the dark continent will be readily ex-
changed for hundred weight of salt
When it is finally transported to trading
stations III the interior the natives pay
81 bushel of fifty pounds for it, and
gladly go into the warehouses and shovel
up the coarse, unclean stuff which is al.
most as dear to them as life itself. They
nearly always take more than they can
carry home, and you can track them 100
miles by the little heaps they have been
compelled to throw away to Tighten the
load so they can reach their tribe with
the precious condiment.
'But it is only after all the commoner
goods have been weighed in and sold
that the negro produces his richest pro-
duce. When days have been spent in
the barter of his burden, all of which
time he has lived in luxury ON the
agents hospitality, he produces guam
tity OF pure gold. 1t is usually quartz
gold, which is found in rocks so soft
that even theirrude methods can extract
it, and is beaten into wires and twisted
up in the most fantastic shapes. So
rich is this merchandise, and SO easily
IS 1T hidden, that a negro who seemed
worth no more than four cents, goods,
carcass and all, may weigh out $500
worth of the purest gold. For this the
agents pay about 60 cents pennyweight
and turn it into the company, where it
is worth $1.25, while the natives take
goods in payment. But though they
have strange ideas of what human be-
ing ought to want, they have very clear
ideas on weight. They will take q gold
coil IN one hand and a number of shot
in the other, and by series of balanc-
ings will tell to fraction of penny
weight just how much gold they have
and what it ought to bring. They are
sharp, shrewd traders, if one loses sight
of their standards of things desirable,
and | attribute it to the fact that they
have no money, but must barter every
thing 1t gives them better ideas of
comparisons and values. Now, to illus
trate their ideas of value, they will
bring down raw ivory in the tusk-fne
pure white specimens-an exchange it
for blue glass soda-water bottles at the
rate of one pour Of ivory for three
bottles. The ivory would easily sell for
50. They use the glass to melt down
into anklets and bracelets and smaller
ornaments, and so great was the demand
at one time that the traders would i'm
port thousands of dozens of bottles and
empty out the soda water so as to have
the bottles ready for sale. And all this
at time when our orders from Europe
and America were to buy ivory at any
cost. We would even have paid cash
for it, and that almost breaks a traders
heart.
zone of their chief articles Of com.
merce is the ground nut, known as
gruber pea and peanut in America.
They grow wild in Africa, or they
wouldn't grow at all; however, Of late
years small farms of them have been
cultivated along the coast, but they
never rise above the dignity of barter
in commerce, although they sell as olive
oil in every capital in Europe, when
once manufactured. Another and most
important item is fur. Like the Ameri-
lean Indian the African is a natural tam
ner. and they bring down bales OF dry
leopard, tiger cat, and panther skins
that are yearly making fortunes for
shrewder handlers. Late years they
have been killing these animals with
powder and ball, but formerly they
never darrell attack one of the fiercer an
imals, but only caught a few with the
pitfalls and snares they used. Royal
Bengal, or man eating tigers, even yet
arc beyond their range of conquests,
and are never hunted except by army
officers who, when they hear Il man
eater is in the Jungle, organize party
and 90 out after him. The animal is
rather rare, and good specimens do
not often find their way into marketj
but when once obtained tiger skin
like this is worth little fortune, and
tbe expert lifted again the mantle, as
I;obt as elder down and as strong as
STEEL. whose marvolously beautiful
stripings showed one OF the best OF the
species. !.
ssWhen all the trading is done, and It
takes d party from the interior about
three weeks to wind up business after
they ret in their factory the natives
begin to gather up their purchases and
prepare for departure. They have
| ,,,;oht;lv since arriving. and