under father's bed and steal just one piece of gold—plenty for her to ea't rice three times every day for a whole year!"
Abu
Bakr, in spite of the scantiness of his dress and his bare feet, looked
the typical Arab patriarch. He had a most benevolent manner, and by
his constant reference to Allah, gave me the impression that not only
was he in the inner councils of his deity, but that, indeed, a little
word from Abu Bakr would go a long way towards securing the favorable
reception of a prayer.
He
was a pearl-boat owner too. How he came by his boat no one knew. He
didn't buy her, and he didn't build her. Some said he found her
derelict off Basilan Island when out in a vinta with some of his men
and that he had adopted her sans merci. If such was the case,
he must have graced the act by quoting an appropriate slice of holy
writ, for he was familiar with every Surat in the Koran and quoted
Scripture in and out of season.
I
frequently called upon Abu Bakr, particularly when his boat had just
come off the pearling grounds, which was twice monthly during the
neaps. But I could never buy pearl-shell or pearls from him. He fancied
he could do better with the Chinos and I couldn't talk him out of it.
He
was greatly astonished that I had read the Koran, and in fact told me
that it was the only thing worth while I had ever done. He was full of
pearl lore picked up from the Moros or possibly at Bahrein in the
Persian Gulf, or at the Red Sea pearling stations. I loved to listen to
these tales. It was from Abu Bakr that I first heard of the Malay
belief that if you placed some rice and a good-sized pearl into a box
with a well-fitting lid, on the second night after the new moon, and
left it for so many moons, the grains of rice would change into pearls.
He vouched for the truth of this, and, what was more, brought me many
Moros who said they knew some other Moro whose friend's friends had had
the interesting experience.
I remember speaking long after about this native superstition to several American university professors in Manila,
