Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-12-13
by
the Guile
Of the East
Seattle Times.)

(Seattle IlmeS.J
Jap Singleton Pilkins, rubber mer-
chant of Chicago who arrived here
yesterday after a nine months trip
around the world, said that he was
Ipained by the guile he discovered in
the Orientals in the Far and Near
East This was a characteristic, he
said, OF those he encountered from the
time he landed at Yokohama until he
eft the island of Malta in the Medlter-
ranean.
In Japan the American tourist Is
taken in charge by smooth-tongued
guide said Mr.. Pllkins, who receives
from 80 to 100 per cent commission
frcm every store where purchases are
made The goods sold are mostly imi-
taton For instance, the native silk
has a beautiful sheen, but it does not
wear one-eighth as long as that made
by the Chinese. | paid twenty-five
cents for a small silver collar button
in one of the largest stores in the Ben
ton Dorl in Yokohama. discovered
later that II was made of thin layer
of silver filled with clay. In China the
stranger fares better, as the mer-
chants are honest and have one price,
unless the hotel guide goes along to
make the purchase. Then his commits
sion is added to the cost Of the article.
J "The bar of the Shanghai club has
some twenty Chinese bartenders, who
are kept busy serving cocktails for two
hours, from II o'clock in the morning
until l o'clock in the afternoon, when
'tiiIin, as lunch is called in the East,
is served Americans and Englishmen
living in Shanghai are 50 hosptable
that a stranger who is introduced by
one of the members of the cocktail
circle soon losses consciousness of
what is going on about him and never
lrccoyers full possession Of himself un-
til he reviyes in his berth on the
steamer and hears the ships sur
geon eXclaim, He'll do now, steward,
/ think. Give him a little beef tea at
eight bells
"The most guileful of all Orlentals
are the Cingalese who come aboard the
ship at Colombo. They have classic
features and their back hair is tied in
a knot with gaily decorated combs
stuck through it. These men, who sell
wonderful stones of all colors, are soft
of tongue and have llmpid eyes which
well with tears when a traveller sug-
gests that possibly their stones are not
genuine,
"'Take them with you, Sahib, to
New York, and, if the jeweler of your
Ncbleness says they are good, then
send the rupees to your humble slave,
Tippoo Koran" the vendor of precious
stones will say This usually over
comes the hesitation Of the most skep-
teal and the stones are purchased on
the spot.
In India you must employ native
servant and from the tailor who sup
plies your white clothes to the poor
'dobey wallah, the washerman every
one who serves you must pay him trib-
ute. AT Jeypore, the capital of Raipoo-
tara, | had a room in the compound of
the hotel, which was run by native.
lr q wooden cart, close to my room,
was a tiger that had been caught ear
ller in the evening, a few miles away.
His roars and struggles to escape in
the night We're thrilling to those who
we're not kept awake by his protests.
A bamboo door without catch separ-
aied me from the compound where the
tiger was imprisoned but my native
servant Ramajam, assured me that
Rojpoot tigers never ate white meat,
as 1t made their hair come out
AT Delhi where we arrived after
heavy rains, l had room in the big
compound OF the hotel 1t was neces-
sary to ascend stone staircase to get
to It, When went to bed, a native ac-