The Indianapolis journal., 1902-11-09
CALICOEs FOR COCOANUTs.
Branch of Trade Where Old-Fash-
iOned Barter Is stir i'm Vogue.
New York Sun.

New YORK sun.
Gaudy calicoes and trinkets of brass,
curtain rings and leaden metals, blankets
and copper kettles are still as potent in
the maintenance and furtherance of a GER
tain branch OF our foreign commerce as
though the entire world were not harnessed
by twenty-one-knot greyhounds, cables and
universal ppreciation-extending even
into the remoteness of the dark continent
of the coin of the realm. In the ceaseless
rush OF trade on dOllarS-and-centS basis
1t is something of a surprise to run across
class of merchants in this city who con-
duct an important bartering trade with the
natives of a nearby country
IT Is the cocoanut trace with the San
Bias Indians in Costa Rica. A fleet of
schooners, brigs and brigantines is con-
stantly engaged in the service and you
nuts at certain East river pier at any
time of the year.
Laden with their gaudy cloths and brazen
gewgaws, they put down the coast ulti-
mately making UP the Magdalena river or
anchorlng just outside the breakers which
cast their flow OF water to the edge of the
cocOanut forests. There they lie and treat
with the natives until hundreds of thou
sands of nuts are slowed away in their
holds and the forests of San Bias brighten
with the flash of brassware and the bril-
I1ant-hued garments for which the Indians
have bartered.
The Costa Rican government recks little
of the San Bias coast and its inhabitants,
and beyond collecting some yearly taxes il
pays no attention to them whatever 1t
would be wasted effort, anyway as they
DO not take kindly to civilization and have
little or no knowledge of or respect for law
as men frame ii for their felloWmen And
so they gather their cocoanuts each month
piling them along the coast and waiting for
the first sign OF an approachin sail which
means diminution of their cocoanuts but
an increase of those f1ashy trifies for which
they risk their necks among the palms
The natives are not exorbitant in their
demands, but it is a question as to whether
or not the captains relatively get an ade-
quate return for their trinkets when it is
remembered that down on the San Bias
coast a glass mirror has more relative
value than diamond pin, and a brass pole
than much precious jewelry.
1t is long, hard trip up the coast and
many of the cocoanut vessels have left
| their bones bleaching high and dry be-
tween Hatteras and the Magdalena river.
Most of them dock at Pier g. East river
and their cargoes find a ready market
among the large candy manufacturers
and makers of the desiccated cocoanut
Several vessels have just arrived, each
| laden with about 10000 cocoanuts. Gangs
of men take them from the hold in baskets
| and then on the pier they are placed in
| bags. Each nut is tested before il is dropped
/ into the bag. The nut tester is an expert
! He takes a nut in each hand. raps them to-
/ gether. and he can instantly judge of their
| quality by the sound. II any nut does not
| ring true, so to speak, it is cast into the
river without any ceremony. Coasting sail
| ors say that they like to ship on these ves-
! sells because the work is pleasant and the
/ fluid in the cocoanuts makes a pleasant re-
| lief from the acrid drinking water con-
tained in the casks. Many San Bias trad
! ing crew has lived OIL cocOanuts for DAYS in
time of stress.