Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-02-03
TRADE WITH CAMlBALS.

q RISKS TAKEN BY WHITE MEN IN TIL
SOLOMON ISLANDS-THE TRADER!
n AREIN CONSTANT DANGER OF BE
ING KILLED AND EATEN-HUMAN
FLESH DELICACY.
The Solomon Islands, says the New
Y ork Sun, lie east of New Guines. The
two northern islands belong to Ger
many and the others to Great Britain.
! Neither country has done anything
to develop them. The interior OF the
Islands is almost unknown. The rea-
son is that the natives are extremely
hostile and exploring parties have new
er dared to venture far from the coasts.
Traders take their lives in their
hands and live on the shores of few
islands. but rarely venture out OF sight
OF the sea. AS ships approach Bougaif1-
vile, the largest island, they see many
miles away the great Kronprinz range.
extending through the center and rising
TO 5000 feet, but though mariners have
Iseen these mountains for centuries no
white man has ever visited the range,
because the region between it and the
sea is densely peopIed by the most war.
like of savages.
| Carl Ribbe, German naturalist, has
had the courage to spend two years at
trading stations along the 2coasts. He
nas just written--a book that bristles
| with information about these islands
and their inhabitants. He sketches
| the island, the people and the vegeta-
ole and animal life, and his book.
"Zwel Jahre unter den Kannibslen der
Solomon Insein," is especially timely |
because so little has been written
about this archipelago.
Ribbe says that there is no more dan
gerous trade in the world than that |
with the Solomon Islanders. The trad |
ers are liable to be attacked at any |
time. Loaded revolvers are always in |
their belts.
If the trade were not extremely pro-
fitable white men could not be induced |
to live there. The natives gather large |
quantities of cocoanuts and are anxi-
Gus to sell them, though their COM
mercial instinct does not keep them |
from killing the white trader if they
catch him off bis guard.
They sell their commodities for a |
sn in vvif
by other Pacific natives who know the |
whites better. The trader in the Solo.
mons buys 100 cocoanuts for piece |
of cloth worth about Is cents.
The natives are at the same ridicul- |
GUS disadvantage In exchanging other |
commodities and so the traders con-
tinue business relations that are so |
profitable to them. They dry the meat
of the cocoanut under the tropical sun,
turning it into copra, which vessels
take away to Europe, where the oil is
expressed for soap making and other
purposes.
1t must be highly exciting to live in |
land where day or night one may be
the target of spear or bullet. The
reckless traders finding that the natives
are almost crazy for firearms sell them |
to everyone who can produce the many
thousands of cocoanuts dem anded.
Now and then they are killed by the
very guns that they have sold. The
same blacks who traffic peacefully with |
the trader in business hours are likely |
to lurk around his house in the dark
nees in the hope of shooting him while |
asleep.
Now and then they are caught spy
ing around the houses to find the exact |
position of the bed in which the white |
man sleeps. 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 it. At |
the especially DANGEROUS stations trad.
ers move their beds every night or else |
pile around them a wall of boxes.
If trader smells smoke during the |
night be is very careful about sticking i
his head out of the door or window. for |
he has learned that it is a favorite |
trick of the blacks to create 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 enemies.
1t is remarkable that the traders take
their wives and children to these is
lands. Not few white families ale
living along these coasts. The women
and children lead no easy lives, for they
are engaged most of the day in spread
ing cocoanut meat for drying or help
ing the men folk in many other ways.
Ribbe says not 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
toe men Now and then they arc con-
fronted with situations which require
quick thought and action. The writer
gives a number of instances of the
courage with which the women and
even little girls meet danger
One day two traders named MacDon-
aid, of Munla Island, started on
! business trip along the coast of Bou-
granville, leaving their wives and
daughters in the newly built cabins
which were not yet provided with
doors or windows. A few nights later
smoke blowing through the house.
She thought the natives were up to
mischief, and picking up her revolver
and awakening her 1O-year old sister
she stole softly to the doorway. Push
ing aside the cloth that hung before it