with swift action into the boat. When engaged in the
serious business of fishing, the Salón spears a large
fish, like a skate, which lies upon its back in the water,
paddling with wide fins. When the agitation reaches
the surface and is caught in the straining vision of the
fisher, his boat flies forward, and the harpoon-man, poised
on its prow, plunges swiftly, on seeing the white stomach
of the fish, and drives home his weapon with the weight
of his body. This done, he loosens the spear-head
from the shaft, and climbs back into his boat, now
speeding over the water in the wake of the maddened
fish. Gradually its strength fails it, its speed slackens,
and it can go no farther. Then it is hauled on board,
cut into strips and dried in the sun.
The Salón dive also for pearls, but only in shallow
water, now rifled for the most part by the regular
pearler.
“ But Lord ! there was a time,” as the old sea
captains say, “ when good pearls could be had for a
pouch of tobacco.” That was when the Salón had his
island seas to himself, and knew nothing of the value
of his pearls. But the coming of the pearler has brought
enlightenment, and with it scarcity, and the Salón,
when he does find a pearl, can invariably sell it to“
advantage. The bêche-de-mer is caught by him in
baskets of rattan, trailed slowly over the muddy
shallows. It is dried in the sun, and looks unappetising
enough ; but when it is soaked in water it becomes
like a clean white jelly, and makes a soup. that is
esteemed good and delicate by the Chinese gourmet.
556
When you think of the Saldn’s place on the ladder
of human life, of his limitations, his approaching extinction,
you pity him ; but he has his compensations.
His toil is to his liking. He is ever plunging in the
warm transparent water ; or chasing the wild hog with
his dogs. Save that he must live, he is burdened
TH E HARPOONER COMES UP
with few cares; and he lives withal a free, wild/ and
unfettered existence. That must be dearer to hjip
than the sordid drudgery of his brother, learning here
and there the slow lesson of the primitive tiller of
the soil. As to schools and so forth, who on earth
would willingly exchange the sunlit water, the white
sands, and the^ wandering life, for the finest school
in existence ?