Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-10-20
GOLD WORTHLESS.
Chief To-Kinkin and His Portable
Treasury.
The piutocrat Of the Bismarck Islands in
the Pacific.

There is an island chieftain out in the
Pacific who will have neither gold nor sii-
yer nor will any OF the NWWu peopie
over whom he holds sway. 20
You can visit the island possessions ~ =,
the barbaric king and scatter your s ~,
around at will, but you cannot air.li Il IF If
natives with it. They will not nave II.
a man was starving there and q meg ss y :
yictuals depended on the purchasing ~ ~
with the yellow metal, or with W. VIII, y, !,
either. he would become 1000 LOT 'Ne
yenS. .,~;,,a trader
Lieut.. Peter Kobe. an extensive, u a aeIls
and planter Of the Bismarck islahuss.. h be.a
the strange story Of the ,, i,na there he uses
the shell money. and he says II - '"e
only kind that is ANY account. &c inst
'''The question of sound m q heye said
ie mp%Hr obe !a and shell money is the
YOU can't do anything ,attve of $40
..If I was offered the alternative " 9io'
ooo IN gola there or $4,000 in shells 81,
would bake the shells every time, ne
eold would be worthless unless l s,nppe ~
4 oa and xr TO do or 5n What I t IS called the
s,nitu ,f Not exactly the exchange
eitber For no native will consent TO na ,IS
anything to do with gold. Tieea m m1ais
arn simply dross there and OF no NOR NOR
@aIue than the glittering pyrites whleh
one sees in the mountain pathway. of
,,,hich chief To Kinkin has SO much ina.
whicn Lanome the Croesus of the islands,
as well as the ruler. has been money pa s.
before the time to when ,ne ii II nav he
that II has been money there Tor nun
dredS of years. A., or,-r;o
..The money is made from lhe cowl ,d
shells ana the native word TOR II Is ue
,rarra IT is a little ivory-like LOOKING
shell, and is found 200 miles from me l
bismarck group on the shores from lne
bismarck islands. 1t is just scarce enough
enough 10 make IL NdluaDit
MS a medium of exchange; -,
Into each little shell the natives pore
a small hole and then string II on pieces Is
of rattan, the rattan being about the d.
ameter of a stout Irvine string.
six feed of this money Is worth apoul
marks. or 81. and when the possessoi
wants a quarters worth of anything, or
q dime or nickefs worth. he chops OH q
section with his knife and hands ii over
Usually the money. is worn IN a cor
about the The na oes or sm e pieces
which correspond to the change or chick
en- feed of this country. he carries IN ms
hand or in his hair for t the natss arc
Chief To-Kinkin, who may be called
the Vanderbilt of the Bismarck islands,
because of his relatively enormous wealth
il known. the fathom is the unit of value
there and values are reckoned up or down
from it. The thrifty chief has his cash
all locked up in a strong native mouse;
it, for twenty years.
Nobody has ever robbed Chief Toxin
kin. and he has grown more prosperous
as the years rolled on, until he Is
"plutocrat.' indeed. He got the foun-
dalton of his fortune by selling islands to
traders and missionaries some years age
and taking Snider rifles in exchange
These guns he sold by retail to his sub
jectS.
rifles were a great rarity there and
possessed an enormous value. The result
Al. toe had In ~
ing from far and near to him and bring
ing their shell money, which they had ex-
erted themselves in an extra hazardous
way to obtain. He was soon 'on velvet.
as you say in America, and he stayed
there.
He doesn't draw any interest for this
money but stored it away, and as 1t Is
his storehouse has become to all intents
and purposes a bank. If boy there
wants a rifle and goes to Chief To-kinkii
to get the money to buy it the chiei
charges him 10 per cent. for a short loan
In this and other ways he makes his shell
money earn other money for him"