Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-06-18
DIR. EDWoRDs' LETTER.

04s. LII w OIhOo LII IL i In.
Papeete, Tahiti, July 2O-The great
institution of Papeete is the market,
and the great market day is Sunday.
If you want to see the market at its
best you have to get up very early
in the morning, for in less than an
hour after it opens the best of it is
gone. | got up at half past four and
went down to the big public market.
| was half an hour early, but 1 lost
nothing by this for saw many
strange things that would have mis-
sed, had / waited until the bell rang
which permits the beginning of the
sales. Across the street is the China
mans, and there | got a cup of cof-
fee and a loaf of buttered bread
for half franc, or five cents "goOd
money" and sat watching the people
enjoying themselves in a similar man
ner. There was little talk at this
cary hour for the natives who had
brought their loads of fish, bananas,
oranges, feis, cocoanuts, yams and
other articles, were too tired to care
for gossip.
Promptly at five o'clock the big bell
rang, and then the market place which
occupies an entire square, became a
chattering, chaffering mass of human
ity. Everybody was eager to sell to
those who wanted to buy, and such a
babel of sound is rarely heard. But
the interesting part of the market
was the character of articles for sale
and the price charged for them. A
large part of the market is devoted to
fish, and if one desires to obtain a
perfect idea of the fish life of the
Island waters, he need but to go to
the Papeete market on Sunday morn
ing, and he will see such strange
things as usually come only in dream.
land.
Fish of all sizes, shapes and colOrs
are displayed on the stands and every
now and then man will come staggel
ing in with a load fresh from the sea
Some of the colOrings were beautiful
beyond conception. One that especi
ally attracted my attention had al
', the colors of the rainbow in striped
array along the sides. AT one stanC
: could be found oysters, out of thei
shells and strung on sticks, there be
ing about two dozen on a stick, tn
whole thing sold for ter cents.
: In the other end of the marke
: were the meat and vegetable stalls
and I was surprised to find that tn
: best cuts of fine beef and mutton wer
l to be had at prices which would driv
our butchers to the poor house. o.
! the side of this part of the marke
Il stood a number of men and wome
. offering for sale chickens, ducks an
a small pigs. These fowls and animal
y were tied to the railing by strings at
y tached to their legs, and seemed t
n have become accustomed to constan
= handling, for they made no protes
q when picked up and examined by tn
e prospective buyers. One enterprisin
I chinaman, and by the way, all of tn
meat markets were in charge of Chi
r nese, who seem to take to this part o
: the work. had a delicatessen sta
e where he sold various cooked food:
{ He was not well patroniZed, althoug
t although his food looked appetizin
+ enough.
c Outside the building. all along tn
q sides and out along the walls of
e fountain. were natives who had com
e from the hills with their little load
S of fruit which they offered for sale a
marvelouslv low prices. A ii lea
. basket holding about two dozen of tn
| sweetest oranges | ever tasted, wa
offered for ten cents. A bunch of 81,
cocoanuts for the same amount. Or
, anges and lemons were most in evi
, dence, as this is not the fruit stason
, Along the sides of the market build
, ing were arranged sticks of bamboo
about four feet long. These attracted
my attention, and on investigation,
found them to be filled with a native
poi, made Of bananas, cocoanut anG
yam. 1t is sweet and sticky, but
cannot say that it appealed to my
taste The natives are exceedingly
fond Of it, however, and it found
ready sale at half : franc a stick.
:, The selling was fast and furious
and it looked as if the whole towr
! had turned out to buy its days pro.
visions. l scarcely had time to make
! the rounds of the various stalls be.
fore they began to be cleaned out
and closed up. By 7 o'clock the place
: was deserted except for a few native:
sitting around their breakfast Of fruit
| Some Of these people had walked ter
miles carrying loads of fruit which
they disposed of for less than half q
dollar. They would spend the day il
town and then walk back home agair
|, in the evening, content with enough
| to buy what little they needed for the
coming week. Sunday with them wa:
the day of rest, and they rested by
!, coming to town and making enough
: money to keep them going.