52 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
matron of the party, and the three other married women. Mr. 
Saunderson undertook the task of arranging for the servants, 
deciding on the proper wage and acting as paymaster. 
The housekeeper was the woman who had previously served 
the board of health in the same capacity. She was capable and 
a good business woman, possibly too good. She had her own 
servant and dealt with her as she pleased; and we often sus- 
pected that this involved corporal punishment, if the outeries 
from the kitchen were correctly interpreted. Then there was a 
maid to wait on the table, a washerwoman, a boy to help in the 
laboratory during the day, and ostensibly act as watchman 
at night. His duties seemed to consist largely in keeping a 
lantern lighted at night to frighten the thieves who were sup- 
posed to inhabit the opposite shore. He was, however, quite will- 
ing and faithful according to his lights. The boatman who ran 
the ferry to the mainland had an assistant who was necessary at 
times when the surf was running high, and who really did most 
of the work. 
We were thus supposed to have seven servants in our employ, 
but soon found that the custom of the country was to ‘‘ring in”’ 
as many additional ones as possible under various pretexts, and 
there were usually ten or a dozen around the kitchen at meal 
times. It thus came about that when the time came to pay the 
first ten days’ bill we were staggered at the amount of provis- 
ions that had been consumed. For instance, we were con- 
fronted with a bill for seventy-five pounds of granulated sugar 
at eighteen cents per pound; and other items in proportion, 
although at relatively less cost. 
It became evident that our northern ideas did not jibe with 
those of the natives, who have been for generations in the habit 
of working a sort of customary graft on their employers when- 
ever possible. It was hard to blame them over much, as their 
wages were pitiably small, according to our standards; and yet 
we did want to know how many people we were supposed to 
be feeding and thus be able to estimate the necessary supplies 
and bring the cost of living down to a reasonable figure. Mr. 
Sanderson, however, took a hand in the matter, and being 
accustomed to such dealings, promptly ordered the super- 
numeraries off of the island; and things worked more smoothly. 
