The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-10-02
THE SAMOA 5 ODD CREW
CHRISTIAN AND MOHAMNEDAN
ON A TRANSPORT
Strange Ceremonies and Customs which
NIehomet's Followers Keep Up Even
In the Forecastle of Vessel.

SAN FRANCISCO, September o.
one of the queerest crews that ever
went down to the sea in a ship is now
on the Pacific on board the steamer
Samoa which is carrying nearly a thou
sand horses to China for the German
troops.
Every one of the sixty-six men Of the
Samoa's crew is a native of India. In
the galley and the saloon are seven
other East Indians who in appearance
are exactly like the men in the fo'castle,
with the exception that the men be-
fore the mast invariably wear little
round caps, a dingy red in color, while
the seven others are mostly barren of
head covering. All are the same hue,
as far as complexion is concerned, :he
prevailing shade being a deep coffee
color.
The sixty-siX men before the mast are
MOhammedans: the seven i'm the gdllN
and saloon are Roman Catholics.
Every morning as the sun apnears on
horizon the siXty-siX face the orb of
day and then throw themselves prone
on the deck while one of their number
cries Allah il allah!" God is Cod, and
repeats passages from the Koran. Five
times during the day this ceremony is
gone through with. In addition there
are other and more extended prayers
twice a day. the "Serang," or head man
oil the crew, leaulnS III the ueNOllbllS.
The seven and the siXty-siX hold no
intercourse that is not absolutely neces-
sary. They have nothing in common
| save the dangers of the ocean. Their
| food is not the same, and they do not
eat together The siXty-siX MOhamme-
dams will eat no meat but mutton, and
this they must kill and prepare them
selves. The Samoa carries large num-
| Der of live sheep out of Difference to the
! vol Of giXtV-giX A
| Mohammedan would much prefer to be
! hanged than forced to eat the flesh of
an animal that had been killed by IAN
| unbeliever."
The Mohammedans are docile and
make good sailors.
| They are very seldom insubOrdinate,
and when one of them is guilty of an
infraction of discipline his punishment
| is swift and severe. The Serang ties the
culprit's hands and then lashes the
malefactor with a ropes end until tired
of the amusement
Among the sixty-siX of the Samoa's
| Mohammedan crew is a boy of 10. AL
| though hampered with the appellation
| of Mahomet Said Ziderbarr this boy
has attained a degree of worldly Wis
dom that is startling. He can quote
YOU off hand the gaming rules and Gus
| toms in vogue in half the ports of the
| world He has decided views as to the
! duty that wives owe their husbands
though he says little of the husbands
responsibility to the wife. On marital
matters this boy should be something
of an authority, considering the tact
that he was married to his first wife
about nine years ago The wife lives
| in a little village east of Bombay where
Mahomet hopes to join her some day,
when he has saved enough money to
permit of his doing so. Ad Mohemet re-
ceives ten rupees, about 50, month FOR
his services. He figures that it will be
! several years before he can afford the
| luXuries of housekeeping.
Every one of the siXty-siX black men
| in the fo'castle is married. Nearly all
of them send the money they earn to
their wives in India, retaining only
rupee or two to squander on them
| selves.
The greatest advantage in having a
crew of Mohammedans, say the officers
of the Samoa, is the fact that the men
never become intoxicated Their reli-
gion forbids them to drink strong Ii
quors, and this obligation is rarely VIC
lated.