to
hope from that quarter. I then thought of approaching the natives
themselves. But here, too, I met with obstacles not to be overcome in
days or weeks or months. There was in the first place the language
difficulty. But a more formidable handicap was the fact that the Moros
and Samals were frequently connected by marriage ties with the Chinese
traders. The Chinaman when he settles down in a place, even though he
may have one or more wives somewhere in China, invariably takes unto
himself one at least of the daughters of the land he settles in. These
may be, and for the most part are, drawn from among the poorest class,
to whom such plain home comforts as their Chino husbands may afford
them is undreamed-of luxury. The Chinaman is a considerate husband too,
and a good father, and he in turn is amply repaid by the hold he gets
on the trade of the country through his womenfolk.
But
although I was keen on trade, I was not prepared to go to the length of
establishing blood-ties in Moroland. My prospects seemed distinctly
poor. I had a third difficulty in that the natives were much given to
barter. This suited the astute Chinaman, who much preferred bartering
the commodities displayed in his store against the products the
natives brought him. Natives would spend hours in establishing what
they were to receive for their copra, abacca, gum almacica,
gutta-percha, beeswax, beche-de-mer, pearl shell, pearls and what not,
and also what they themselves were to allow for the palay (unhusked rice),
tinned salmon, sardines or the few yards of bleached or unbleached
calico they had selected. The deal was generally concluded by their
springing a surprise on the Chino by demanding so much silver to boot.
The satisfaction was mutual when the Chino handed over some clinking,
old-fashioned pesos of Spanish antecedent. The Moros preferred them to
the American pesos with the American eagle because they were bigger
coins, and the Chino found this preference of advantage to himself
since the intrinsic silver value of the Spanish peso was 20 per cent.
less.
But I, alas, had no shop, no selection of trade goods, no
