take their proper place behind us. To give the trade
more eclat, I took a good quantity of small copper
coins and distributed them freely among the small
children as I passed along. The result of this manoeuvre
was most magical; everybody was anxious to
make my acquaintance and sell me shells. Even the
good Mohammedan priest laid aside his feelings of
indifference toward the Christian stranger, and invited
me under his roof. He also intimated that he
could favor me with a few species, but, as his prices
were five times as high as those of the common
people, I neglected to make a selection from his
treasures.
Each evening that I was in this village the rajah
insisted on my passing hour after hour on his veranda,
describing to him the foreign countries he could
name. Like many other natives who would like to
be free from all European rule, it afforded him great
comfort to hear that Tana Ollanda (Holland) was
much smaller in area than Erance or England. When
I came to tell him that Tana America was a still
greater country, he listened politely, but a half-incredulous
smile revealed his belief that I only spoke
of it in such an enthusiastic manner because I was an
American; yet when I added, that however much
other nations might wish to possess these beautiful
islands, America would never have such a desire, his
knowledge of geography seemed to have become complete
at once, and he explained to all who were listening
that Tana America was admitted by all to be
the largest and the most powerful of all nations. He
also had an almost endless series of questions to ask
about the sovereigns of the lands I had described,
and, like a good Mohammedan, expressed his confidence
that I should speak well of the Sultan of Turkey,
whom he appeared to regard as the next m authority
to the Prophet himself.
The next day I went westward to Waai, where I
obtained many specimens of the great Trochus mar-
moratus, which lives in abundance a little farther
toward the northwestern end of the island, but can
only be procured alive during the opposite monsoon.
Its beautifully marbled, sea-green surface, and bright,
pearly interior have always made it a favorite ornament
for the parlor in every land. Many, wishing to
improve on Nature, remove the green outer layers
either by hydrochloric or nitric acid, so as to give
the exterior also a bright nacreous iridescence. Hundreds
of the heavy opercula of these animals are
found on the neighboring shores, for Nature has provided
each with this thick door, which, after it has
withdrawn itself into the shell, it can close behind it,
and thus be free from all harm.
On my return I found my house besieged with more
than two hundred of both sexes and of every age, from
infancy to second childhood. Each had a lot of shells
to sell, and therefore the prices were very low; but
I was careful to pay them more than they could earn
in any other way in the same time. The women and
children on all these islands are accustomed to gather
mollusks at every low tide for food, and whenever
any particularly rare or beautiful shell is found, it is
always saved; and it was for this reason that I was
always confident that I could obtain some valuable