May 25>, cont. ^oard Nile str. 
June 1, 1955 
down the river, I*d like to follow thm through to their ultimate 
destination, I >.was told that a large mat or roll, 6 x 10 feet ♦ 
sells for 15 piasters {hS cents) here at river side. Ttwsre is a lot 
of noisy bidding and bargaining, and in the 3 hours that we were 
here sane 100, perhaps 200 mats were picked up by the ''traders.*' A 
number of hold-outs did not want to accept the low prices offered, but 
most of l^ese caved in vdien the steamer wiiistled its impending 
departure, (Is 30 a.m.). I feel sorry for these up river natives, the 
buyers have the upper hand the steamer conlyoanes once in two weeks, 
and if you do not come to 'the trader's terms, your mat, which represents 
hours of work is left in your harjds and the dealer tiaa bought your 
neighbors' mats instead of yours. At home we have a number of palm 
(luala) mats from the South Pacific, costing Shipping hone perhaps a 
couple of dollars each. They measure from 2-1/2 * 6 or 7 feet to 
It X 8 or so. In Bullsch's Pasadena store the price was 50 cents a 
square foot for the identical things or was in 19^8 vhm I was last 
in California (not counting a hurried two weeks last Febniary). 
The steamer has oneSmall search light that illuminated but a 
/ 
very small part of the dirt bank that fomried the landing stage. How 
the purchaser could see^^at he was getting was beyond me, but mats were 
unrolled, rolled up atain and brought aboard. It was a fantastic sight, 
each native with one or more rolled up mats standing six, eight, and I 
want to say 10 feet up in the air beside him, like a forest of dead 
^diite tree trunks minus their branches, in the half illiiminated, half 
Stygian darkness. The hubbub and the sound was that of the tower of 
Babel twice compounded. I was almost moved to buy several but there 
