24 
ina lump, the head of the crew giving a receipt or making 
his mark. The division of the money among the indivi- 
dual divers is often protracted and somewhat heated as 
they are men who are obstinate as mules and do not 
understand a give and take policy when applied to money 
matters. Each man wants his full pound of flesh or rather 
his uttermost pie. On one occasion the money received, 
after division was made, left a single pie over and how this 
was to be shared among seven men was a puzzle that 
caused protracted argument. Eventually a_ brilliant 
solution was evolved and they went off and bought a 
cheroot in the bazaar which was solemnly divided into 
seven equal-sized fragments and shared out—a most 
happy consummation whereby no man could grieve that 
his neighbour had had more than his fair share. 
This childish fear of one being favoured more than 
another is a well-marked characteristic of these men. On 
several occasions after getting our first motor launch, she 
proved unable to tow the whole fleet to sea at any reason- 
able speed in the tceth of a strong wind owing to the 
weight of the canoes. In consequence the boats got to the 
fishing ground very late and catches were small. To 
remedy this as far as possible, I ordered the launch to tow 
half the fleet only and so secure to these boats a good 
day’s work ; to equalize matters I instructed the tindal to 
take the other half of the fleet out the second day and so on 
alternately, returning each day for the second half of the 
fleet after taking the first lot to the banks. To my sur- 
prise the men point blank refused. ‘‘ Take us all or none” 
they said; ‘‘ by your arrangement some boats will get a 
good day’s fishing and the ‘others nothing ; rather ‘than 
this should happen we would prefer not be towed at all !” 
Again, a system for awarding substantial money prizes to 
the canoes which fished most regularly through a season 
was refused—the men told me they would be very glad ifa 
present were divided equally among them, but they would 
have nothing to do with a scheme under which some 
boats would gain prizes and others none. Suspicion of 
each other's honesty explains largely, 1 believe, this dog- 
in-the-manger attitude. 
From their shells the divers usually set aside each 
day one shell per man as a contribution to the church, 
