Evening star., 1901-04-16


wears a silk handkerchief of many colors
tightly twisted in the form OF a turban on
mis- head and he carries an elegant crfs
stuck in silk sash or ;girdle which he
Catug took his accustomed place on the
forward deck with the rest of the officers
but Ben. the corporal, was very properly
sent aft with the majors orderly: Ben was
guard-tight trousers, 1oose blouse of scar
let red cap trimmed with gold lace on
his head and corpoFafs chevrons on his
sleeve; Ben is one ct the best-hearted Mo-
a native. but he has the true military in
stinct. and when on dutytis a model SOL
der. spyinging to attention. right hand at
the saldte, sober respectful, ready without
question to perform. any duty, no matter
how perilous 1t may be. Such are some
of Ben's good qualities, and the same may
be affirmed OF the Moros In general when
in military service. but. like ali the natives
Ben, and Catug, too, are passionately fond
of gambling and dearly love good main
at the cock pit. ~,
About two miles above cottabato. on the
opposite bank Of the river. the Moros hold
market on Tuesdays and THURSDAYS 1t
being market day. we passed many yintas
and other native boats on the way, all
laden with produce or wares of some sort
for trade or sale. River craft seldom have
outriggers, and it is wonderful how much
they carry without upsetting Bancos fifty
feet long, dug out OF the trunk of single
with all their marketing. shoot swiftly by
the smaller vintas under the steady dip and
strong impulse Of short paddles in the
hands of the powerful rowers Sometimes
the vintas have a single oarsman aft with
paddle in hand and lookout forward to
ward off floating logs that might strike the
boat. 1t is remarkable how swiftly the ma
tives can travel against the stream, but
they paddle close in shore and know lust
where to avoid the strongest currents They
use the paddle with the greatest skill and
seem to find a passage without the least
effort. Where the water Is shallow they
sometimes prefer to pole, or jump into the
water and push the boat. They do not mind
the ducking for, indeed, they wear but lit
tie clothing and half their life is spent in
the water. I have seen mere babes wading
about on the very edge of dangerous cur
rents, a most tempting morsel for the ali
gators that lurk in the depths of the
treacherouS stream. Very frequently the
native boats have nipa roof amidships
as shelter for the women and children
The oarsmen usually wear fat conical hats
that shade the whole body like an umbrella
When we arrived at the market we found
perhaps five hundred native boats already
drawn up on the river bank or lnoored In
the shallow water. We made landing at
a place where the deep, swift currents had
cut away the shore The market is held in
the open air in the shade of a grove of
mango trees. l estimated the number of
natives assembled at about two thousand.
They were come from up and down the
river for many miles. It Is needless to say
very few came from any other direction
with Its many tributaries forms the great
highway of this part of the country.
Always Interesting.
The native markets are always interest
ing. Men and women squat about on the
ground near piles Of EeorgeousIy colored
fish and baskets Of fruit or vegetables
There are rice. corn. yams. cocoanuts, ba-
nanas, pumpkins and even watermelons
There are fine large mangos that look like
pawpaWs. but are an entirely different
fruit, being aciduous and very delicious to
the taste. There are small oranges and
large green oranges big as a bucket, and
lemons. and lines, and citrons, less plen-
tiful; but there are shadd6cks, jack fruits
bread fruits, custardy APPLES, Lannon's, tam
srinds. laichees, and don't know what all.
There Is the viie-smellins durian. which
believe is good to eat, hut lack the courage
o. my convictions to taste; and the great
nanca. larger than apumpkin. that grows
directly from the tree trunk like the cacao,
from which chocolate is made Many kinds
Of "dulce." or sweets. nre offered for sale.
That pile of fruit that looks for all the
world like ripe juicy peaches is santols.
sour fruit that makes the daintiest sort of
preserves The camia is sort Of plum
that makes excellent preserves: and the
sapote Is very curious fruit that makes
I fine "dulce" also. 1t IS larger than a pear,
with thin green rfnd. and a meat soft as
butter and black AS pitch. II might go on
and tell an abount the glorious dates and
chicos and n1aHgostans. that king of all
tropical fruits. and even then the cata-
lcgue would not be complete. But there
are many other interesting things to be
seen in the market. Some OF the native
women offer beautiful fabrics, woven by
hand on primitive looms and dyed in the
most gorgeous manner. Often these are
made entirely of raw silk have seen
thin
and silky, with certain amount of stiff
ness due to the pineapple fiber. from which
the cloth Is made.
Most interesting OF all was the motley
crowd assembled. Enterprisng Chinese
merchants were there buying up the native
produce and offering their own imported
wares for sale. Here and there was
datto, with his endless train of followers
carrying crises, buyo boxes and other curl
Gus objects. The major got several good
snapshots of the most picturesque groups
with his camera. One of these included
the dark skinned Arabian Hail. who is vis-
iting Datto Utto here and who knew Lord
Kitchener in Egypt. was much attract
ed by the display of Moro weapons, and
bought cunning little dagger, with ser
pentlne blade. a polished hardwood handle,
an ornate silver hilt and a wooden sheath.
richly carved. But The finest knife l saw
was the one owned by Catug. 1t was Of
the serpentine variety. OF the finest steel.
double-edged, and sharp as razor. The
blade was skillfully fnlaid with delicate
tracery of gold and silver ornamentation.
The hilt was the pride of the weapon, how
ever being richly decorated with mother
of pearl and precious stones, in a setting
Of gold and silver. most elaborately en-
graved. Along the blade was etched an
Arabic inscription from the Koran. The
weapon was In fact treasure and repre-
sented many months of skilled native Ia
Dor. Many of the knives owned by dattos
are very valuable. and wars have been
fought between tribes for the possession Of
q single blade.
TAGS ON GOLDFISH.
The United States Fish COmmt lions
Means of Identification.