Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-10-15
A Day on Shore. No. II.

/
| Tinian is only four miles from Say
| pan. Between these islands the tide
rushes with great sWirls and it is q
/ good boats crew that can make pro-
| gress against the eddying waters
| when they are doing their best Under
| the guidance of the native pilot We had
anchored in the little harbor about
midr / came on deck just as the
sun sent its smile across the topplinG;
white caps of the tradewind seas. |
drew in great breaths OF the pure
| morning air, laden with tropical per
| fumes and tasting of the land. Be
| fore me, the little settlement of per
haps twenty-five native huts-the gov
| ernor's palace" conspicuous from its
| elevation on stilts-not a human being
| in sight along the half mile e-4~beach.
| but away to the starboard, dozen
| eoats ambled out upon a point of rocks,
| and standing heads to the rising sun
drank in the salty air from over the
blue sea; pigs were squealing ON the
! port side: cocks were growing in all di-
rections; hens were cackling and the
| lowing of cattle in the uplands
mingled all together. until it seemed Il
I stittd ldIlli ydtt vi lluSt ulIltti-
| sions but there was no farm house With
its sheds and barns: for cattle. hogs,
goats and fowl were wild and the gov
| eminent claimed to own the lot.
| AS | stepped on shore a few hours
later'I found an almost naked native
3qEatted on his heels, feeding a fire
| win dry occoanut husks and pieces of
| leaIes, over which was a shallow iron
pan. Into this pan he occasionally
cmptied a quart of salt water, from
the half of a cocoanut shell. / found
upon investigation that this was the
.:a1l works of Tinian and that several
pounds of salt. if not more We're the
result of a days labor. This product
was removed from the bottom of the
pan. in thick scales at the end of the
day. carried to the governors store
house, piled up in one corner where it
was kept for sale to those that wouldn't
keep without it. The machete, here as
III Cuba and other Spanish countries,
IS used To cut wood WITH to butcher
hogs or cattle, to dress the meat and
prepare it for drying, to defend them
selves o. attacked, to attack others if
the chances of success are good or to
comiait such a trifiing thing as muir
der in its proper time and place. ]
went with the governors brother and
two natives on a hog hunt. 1t was not
necessary to go far Squealings and
gruntingS en- every side decided a ro-
bust Kanaka to let slip two mongrel
clls rhat he had been holding by the
cars. Iii less than a minute they were
worrying q long nosed porker with
risfJ1 q hla ok a ha 10 az of
spades, and the aforesaid Kanaka
quickly ended the hubbub by running
his machete entirely through his pig
ships body. The dogs were driven off
th., carcass thrown across the natives
shoulders and a dog trot brought us
to the beach in half an hour. A fire
was built, the scattering bristles singed
off the carcass, swashed around in the
salt water, hung up to drain and was
ready fo1 the cook. The meat looked
very much neater than one would ex-
pect anG tasted better than it looked
In a large pen the governor had more
than ffty hoes, all sizes. These We're
for sale tc those that came into the
.,arbor. Two Spanish dollars would
purchase a hog that would dress $50
pounds. They were kept fat on a CO.
cCanut & Gay and were fed by splitting
the rut. husk and all, through the
middle with a machete, the hog doing
the rest. scooping out the meat with
his long, sharp jaw. while he held the
shell between his fore feet as in vice
Tinian. like Saypan is stocked with
white cattle and killing the males, dry
ing the meat and shipping it to Guam
is the principal business. The manu-
tacture of cocoanut oil comes next.
the pay roll amounting to as much as
nineteen or eighteen dollars a month
including the governors salary of nine
dollars. 1t looked as though the ma
tives that performed the labor did it
for the privilege of living. l presume it
was a privilege after a manner, but
where cocoanutS and bananas grew
without care, corn, melons and sweet
potatoes grow for the asking. fish
caught at any hour of the day, scraps
of meat had for the stealing, wild fowl
for the snaring and goats and pigs can
DC Knocked over with club, taken to- /
gether with the fact that two yards of
cloth, half a yard wide is all sufficient |
for q full dress suit for working man, |
while twice as much will fit out his wife
With Sunday clothes, making 1T doubt
full If the privilege were worth a bonus. |
Still they seem happy and are GER
tainly sleek for they anoint their body |
with cocoanut oil they are fat, for they
aar onvthiup and everything and at