with
the joss-house; for old Ong was an enlightened Confucian Chinese and
did not hold with their superstitious practices. He knew every
celestial wile, was an expert on the grading of all native products,
could write as good a letter in English as in Chinese, and was as
honest as the sun. He came to me for thirty pesos a month—fifteen
dollars in American money—and thought himself passing rich, for his
wants were small.
Ong
soon taught me the difference between gold and silver-lipped shell and
shell of the smoky beard, how much to deduct for mud on the bivalves,
why wormy backs were not worth as much as sound, what Trocas shells and
window shells were, what they should bring and the best market for
them, a useful smattering of the pearl-fishing laws, and a great deal
more besides. He also knew the grades of Manila hemp, how to sort, dry
and bale abacca, and everything there was to know about the tricks of
the natives and Chinos with beeswax, copra, beche-de-mer, gutta-percha
and rice. He was a whole encyclopaedia bound in a pair of black
grass-cloth pants and a blue Nanking vest. There was nothing to him in
the way of flesh and bone; just a Chinese skin in which dwelt an honest
Chinese soul.
If
Ong wanted to recruit labor, every coolie in the place was ready to
leave his boss, and any Moro tao would take five copper centavos less
per day to work for Ong. He knew my greatest need and spoke to a Jap
who was in some Chino's clutches. That Jap had a go-down in the finest
spot I could wish for—in the plaza facing the customs house where the
flame trees bloomed. Ong brought me this man at seven in the morning,
and at eight his grasping Chino creditor was paid in full. In the
afternoon I sat in my office on the plaza, facing the gorgeous flame
trees, and Ong was my chief-of-staff. He was already sweeping the large
room behind for a go-down, pleased with himself, with his new boss and
with the whole world.
Now Ong and I began to buy pearl-shell to beat the band, and thus I, too, got first offer of the pearlers' gems. Every
