HOW THEY VALUE BRASS BUTTONS. 
271 
met a countryman with a wickcr-basket containing ten or 
a dozen fine plump partridges; and, as they were eating 
which we had not enjoyed for many months, he hauled 
out several silver dollars on the spur of the moment and 
offered to ^^buy the lot.” The man refused, however, 
and was walking off, when some one exclaimed, “Try 
him with the buttons !” at which the doctor hauled out a 
handful of them and made signs that he would barter. 
The fellow now halted, and, after examining them, inti- 
mated that he would give a partridge for a button, and, to 
the delight of the party, handed over the entire basket for 
a dozen or so of buttons. The next day they were eaten 
with great gusto, and, just as we got up from the table, a 
high officer came on board with the interpreter, and com- 
plained that “ some Amei'icans had been many miles 
back in the country and bought some poor people’s 
household gods, and that another party had forced a poor 
man to sell them all of his singing-hirds at the end of 
which he hauled out every hution that we had traded, re- 
turning them to the captain, and requested that the 
“household gods” and “singing-birds” be returned. 
Now, here is a beautiful specimen of the cunning of 
those people. There was an abundance of partridges 
on the island of Jesso ; and, had that officer come on 
board and demanded the return of a poor man’s birds^ 
we should have said, “Why do not you officers provide 
us birds to eat?” and he could have answered nothing: 
whereas, when we now asked the question, he shrugged 
his shoulders, and said singing-birds wore never eaten. 
Fortunately it was too late to return them; but, the 
captain having asked Hartman and myself seriously in 
