The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-13

gathered her little flock about her she was
asked why she did not take steps TO Sc
cure her marriage with their father she
scornfully rejected the suggestion Better
vorce will cost too much money" This
shows the Samoan aptitude for finance.
Some time ago. in the lull between this
revolution and the one before it, certain
fisherman came over from Tonga with the
idea OF going into business In Apia. He had
brought all his nets and gear as o We'll as
planned to conduct his business in Samoa
as he had done in Tonga-that is. TO get
do the hard work of getting the fish for
him to peddle. and for this service they
were to be paid in kind with share of the
with one-eighth OF the catch. But the
Samoans were far more grasping. They
made a demand for dollar day with
because the Samoans would not recede from
their demand. At last the negotiations fell
at Matautu. who had lost his own Identity
In marriage with the native widow OF a
white man and had become known as
tor agreed to undertake the work on the
sharing basis, but he insisted that the ma
tlves should pay one-third OF the eaten as
should sell all they could. The fisherman
saw that no such percentage as one in sight
could be worked in Samoa; he then proposed
to give the natives a quarter of the catch
| and for a long slime the negotiations LING
on that issue Finally the best terms that
the fisherman could make were TO divide
| the catch equally and for the natives 10 re-
| frain from selling their share TO the resi-
| dents of Apia. On that basis work began.
| After a few days Mary Hamilton's hus-
| band came TO the fisherman and told him
that there was nothing in the fishing for the
natives except exercise II they were pre-
| vented from selling their share. and some
| thing would have to be done Would the
fisherman undertake to sell their fish also
and settle with them on the basis OF what
| he gOtv The fisherman would do that. but
| he would charge for his cart and horse and
skill as salesman just one-half Of the fish
| that they thus consigned 10 him.
That proposal struck the Samoans as so
| reasonable that they made no protest. They
| talents; it was only right that the white
man should make his charge the same
scale The fisherman made hasty compu-
| tation In his mind that he had reduced the
| transaction to his original proposition of
| giving his native assistants quarter.
| Thereat he took the white mans great and
| pious satisfaction at having got the best of
| the guileless savage. But it is always best
| to take this great satisfaction as early
| in the game as possible, for the guileless
savage has way Of turning up when least
| There were reasons why the vender of
| fish should do a land office business during
| that first month. For sone thing, fish had
hitherto been very hard to get; with mil
lions of excellent fish in the lagoon IT had
| always been nard to get so much as single
| mullet or painful of rainbow-hued cobbler
fish, Then there was another reason. Apia
| had traded around so steadily, ana the
varying shades of its impecuniosity were so
we'll known, that the coming Of a new bust
ness man was godsend. Eat fish? Why,
chance to run up hopeless bills with a man
who knew not the local condition. Mr..
Fishman had no difficulty in drumming up
ularly with fish. Up in Tiff there was one
resident who was so hard UP that he had
almost lost the knoWledge Of what even
listed to have fish every day and he pro-
posed that there should be two deliveries
eyery ia. day and and he would patroni7.e both;
clearly In sight: Therefore there was no OBJ
lection to making small advances to Mary
Hamllto n husband; anyway. the boys had
settlement of their commission account.
When the first of the month came Mr..
the officiais he I got ready cash Without delay.
That is the main reason why they are in
Samoa, according to the Apia understanding
OF 1t. From the stOrekeeperS he expected
little, for he had generally traded out his
bill in supplies of various sorts. 1t was when
ne tried the resioentlal quarter OF the Sa-
moan METROPOLIS that he began to appre-
ciate what might be called the stringency
in the money market. but which is really
velopment, the fisherman presented a re-
ceipted bill to one of the local lawyers and
asked for his advice This disinterested
gether the wiser plan to drop all thought
of making any collections, fold up his gear
and take the next steamer while yet he had
the price of his passage, for if he remained
he would become even the other citizens
of Apia, a person forever stranded. The
advice was so manifestly good that it was
acted upon.
Now there is one person who set his wits
to work TO get the better of a Samoan in q
transaction, and proably he thinks of how
| easy 1T was to work the natives around 10
his proposition TO give them a quarter and
their insistence on half, and then their will
lingness to have that half. But in his native
and lazy way Mary Hamiton's husband
has something to say about the transaction
| as a whole, and what he has 10 say is
| couched in the single word "kailo," which
| is the Apia vernacular for We'll, i don'i
know"