The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-22
TRADE WITH CANNIBALS
RISKS TAKEN BY WHITE MEN IN
 THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Profit nnd Risk Both Great-The Trad CTS are In Constant Danger of Be- ing Killed and Eaten-Human
 Flesh q Dehcacy.

The Solomon Islands, says the New York Sun, lie east of New Guinea. The two northern islands belonging to Ger many and the others to Great Britian.
 Neither country has done anything to develop them. The interior of the islands is almost unknown. The reas- on is that the natives are extremely hostile and exploring parties have new CT dared to venture far from the coasts.
 Traders take their lives in their hands and live on the shores of g few islands, but rarely venture out of sight of the sea. As ships approach Boug- ainville, the largest island, they see many miles away the great KronprinZ range, extending through the center and rising 5000 feet, but though mari ners have seen these mountains for centuries no wlsite man has ever visited the range, because the region between it and the sea is densely peopled by the most warlike of savages.
 Carl Ribbe, a German naturalist, has had the courage to spend two years at trading stations along the coasts. He has just written book that bristles with information about these islands and their inha bitants. He sketches the land, the people and the vegetable and animal life, his book, "Zwei Jahre un- ter den Kannibalen der Solomon-In- seln," is especially timely because so little has been written about this ar- chipelago.
 Ribbe says there is no more danger ous trade in the world than that with the Solomon Islanders. Loaded revol- vers are always in their belts. E.
 If the trade were not extremely profitable white men could not be in- duced to live there. The natives gath CT large quantities of cocoanuts and are anxious to sell them, though their com mercial instinct does not keep them from killing the white trader if they catch him off his guard,
 They sell their commodities for a. song in comparison with prices asked by other Pacific natives who know the whites better. The trader in the Solo, mons buys 100 cocoanuts for a piece of cloth worth about IS cents.
 The natives are at the same ridicu- lous disadvantage in exchanging other commodities and so the traders con tinue business relations that are so profitable to them. They draw the meat of the cocoanut under the tropi- cal sun, turning it into copra, which vessels take, away to Europe, where the oil is expressed for soap making and other purposes.
 
 a land where day or night one may be the target for a spear or bullet. The reckless traders finding that the na- ttves are almost crazy for firearms sell them to everyone who can produce the many thousands of cocoanuts demand ed
 Now and then they are killed by the very guns that they have sold. The same blacks who traffic peaceably with the traders in business hours are likely to Turk around his house in the darkness in the hope of shooting him while asleep.
 Now and then they are caught spy ing around the houses to find the ex- act position of the bed in which the white man sleepse They are likely to mark the outside of the wall near which the bed stands for the purpose of killing the trader by shooting through 1t. At the especially danger ous stations traders move thefr beds every night or else pile around them g. wall of boxes.
 If trader smells smoke during the night he Is very careful about stick ing his head out of the door or win dow. for he has learned that 1t is g. favorite trick of the blacks to crea te a smudge. so. that the whites may be tempted out of doors to see what is burning On such occasions they are likely to be killed by their unseen ene- mics.
 It is remarkable that the traders take their wives and children to these islands. Not a few white families are living along these coasts. The women and children lead no easy lives. for they are engaged most of the day in spreading cocoanut meat for drying or helping the men folk in many other ways. Ribbe says not q white woman there Is surpassed by the men in pluck and courage.
 Every woman carries revolver, for the women are in as much danger as the men. Now and then they are con- fronted with situations which require quick thought and action. The writer gives number of instances of the