HOW A SOUTH SEA TRADER TRADES

Hokitika Guardian, 5 April 1921, Page 1

HOW A SOUTH SEA TRADER TRADES

BY ONE OF THEM. There is a, glamour and a, romantic touch about the words “South Sea Trader” that appeals to the eternal “boy” in all of us. But how very few people actually know how a white man trades in the South Seas, and what he trades in ! Conditions are pretty much the same probably in all the Pacific Island groups, hut what follows refers more particularly to the British Solomon Islands, which lie to the east of New Guinea, and where cannibalism and head hunting are still rife, though confined now almost entirely to the islands of Malaita and Choisoul. * * * * * Let us presume that our trader has been established for 10 or 12 years, that his cocoanut palms are in full homing, and that the trading station whence lie has derived his only income for the 8 or 9 yeaers during which he has had to await the first yield of copra (dried cocoanut') from his plantation—is in good working order. His trading stock is large and varied. He has continually to renew from Sydney. New South Wales, his supplies of “calicoes” (printed cottons), leather belts, axes, bars of soap, knives small mirrors, eake-tohaeeo. matches, coloured heads, cheap blankets, nails, scented son)), hairoil, mouth organs, whistles, needles, fish hooks, fishing lines, cheap rings, and razors. Ho will have a certain amount of trade with the natives in his employ and with those who come from nearby villages in their canoes, hut the bulk of his business is done by his little trading schooner, lifted with nuxiliai,' petrol motors. This boat is turned into a travelling store, and the trader or his head “hoy” makes frequent trips to outlying native villages and islands, where he anchors and is visited hv the local chief and inhabitants, who come oft in their canoes. When he is trading among ihe more isolated and savage portions of the group, such as Malaita and Choisoul. only a few natives are allowed aboard at one time, and all weapons must, he left in their canoes alongside. White men have been murdered owing to tbo relaxing of these preeau-

Bavinent by the natives is made in copra, though sometimes actual money passes.

Copra is sold in “strings”—2o nuts in halves to the ‘string” and the trade goods are priced in terms of copra. Most natives own cocoanut trees, their property ranging from a complete grove to a. single palm. Ihe trader keeps a ledger in which he credits copra and debits goods against each native. t

“Pearl-shell” is also purchased from them the trochas pearl-shell out ol which our shirt and pyjama buttons are made. Its shape is that of a spiral cone, and ail average shell will stand four inches high and measure about the same across the base.

The pearl foundation is thickly overlaid with a deposit of lime, with slanting bands of red and given, and if you will trouble to look at the back of almost any shirt-button you will see these coloura. Ivory-nuts too, are a source of revenue. The ivoryimt palm yields its fruit only once in its life-time and then promptly dies | This all sounds quite business-like and prosaic, and very far removed from the languorous atmosphere ol flower-decked and dusky maidens and the moonlit lagoons so cleverly and alluringly portrayead by writers of South Sea stories. But that side of life “out there” does also exist and forms a wonderful background for all the rest.