Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-08-17
THE
Giant Clam.
A Story Of the Philippines.
BY A. F. HOLT.

giant clam, also known Oy various
other names-an enormous bivalve,
often weighing twenty pounds, and
living in Pair of shells that fire.
quently measure four feet in length,
and weigh four or five hundred
pounds. It's succulent flesh would
provide chowder for good-sized
boarding house, and no genealogical
collection is considered complete with
out at least pair of those gigantic
valves, which are also useful as beni-
tiers, baptismal fonts, fountain basins,
and even infants bath-tubs.
This clam is found only in warm
eastern seas; and particularly in the
Philippines, where it is known as the
taclobo, and eagerly sought by the
native fishermen.
My second character is Sancho, a
sturdy Yisayan fisher youth, bright of
eye and 1.-the of limb, who can swim
or dive like fish, and in his primitive
pirogue, rudely fashioned from log,
can easily outpaddle or outsail any
man in the fleet There is no better
fisherman in the Philippines, with line,
net, or with the sharp pronged trident
spear.
Malay boys in general are about as
fond OF work as other boys, but San
cho was naturally industrious and
ambitious; he knew not the taste
OF the Supplying buyo leaf, and cared
nothing for cocktighting, the favorite
Malayan amusement. Moreover, he
was a prodigy of learning, for besides
reading and writing little, and
mum5ling pattern osters, he could count
to thirty without an error.
My third character is an American
professor who will be found in very
disagreeable position when introduced
later and more definitely.
Heavy responsibilities had rested
on Sancho, since, at the age of 16, he
found himself the principal support of
his invalid father and his six little
motherless brothers and sisters. Every
day, in fair weather, he sailed alone in
his pirogue with it's bamboo out
sail, eager to take fish. Simply clad
in shirt and trousers, with huge
bowl-shaped salacot or hat to shield
him from the tropical sun, he toiled
from dawn to dusk, visiting his weirs
and traps, capturing small fry with the
cumbrous casting-net, or spearing
monster turtles as they basked lazily
on the surface. The coral reefs yielded
abundance of crabs, mollusks and
edible seaweed, and he carefully
searched the cliffs for the nests of the
esculent swallow. Little that could
be eaten or sold escaped the sharp
eyes of Sancho.
One fine day, just at sunset, not
long before Dewey smote Spain in
Manila Bay, Sancho was returning
from most successful trip. his little
boat laden with fish, and running be-
fore a strong breeze. Ordinary this
would have been an occasion for great
rejoicing, but today there was sorrow
in the heart of Sancho, for misfortune
and disgrace had suddenly descended
upon his household. His beloved
father was criminal. Not robber-
not murderer; no, thousand times
worse, in the eyes of the Spanish
authorities he was delinquent tax
payer
The family had been suffering lately
from run of bad luck. First, rice
birds and weevils wrought havoc in
the paddy field, while hordes of flying
foxes feasted nightly on the fruit of
the garden. Then came terrific
hurricane, unrooting the little nipa
hut, stripping the banana plants, and
levelling every stalk of sugar cane.
Fish was so abundant as to be almost
unstable in the market. To cap the
climax cunning thief had entered
the hut at dead at night, and stolen the
bamboo joint containing the boarded
silver-the tribute saved for the in
exorable, the taxcolector.
Last week the cabeZa, or collector
merciless because he himself was held
responsible by the Spanish authorities
for the taxes on some sixty fami les
with squad of cuadrilleros, or bailiffs,
prison. On the morrow the sick man
would be terribly fogged in the public
square. Then his property would
be confiscated and he would be
deported to Zamboanga, there
to work out his debt in the miserable
chain-gang, or more likely to die of
fever in the pestilential iungles.
From his bitter reflections Sancho
was suddenly aroused by the wild cry
of human being in distress. AS he
listened, the sound was repeated again
and again, coming family from the
distance, but Enthusiastically a frantic
appeal for help; and now the youth
could discern, far shoreward, dark,
moving object on the surface of the
sea. Toward this he promptly steered.
1t proved to be a man, standing
erect upon submerged reef, wildly
waving his arms and bawling for help.
Drawing nearer, Sancho recognized in
that white-faced, wild-eyed man the
American naturalist who had arrived
on the last steamer from Manila TIE