CHAPTER XI
SUTOTO AND THE CHIEF'S DAUGHTER
It was plain that Sutoto was not the same being. During the three days they remained at the port, and formed the exploring expeditions into the interior, with the co-operation of the Chief, Sutoto did not take a part.
He begged to be allowed to remain near the ship. That was a sly suggestion which John understood. Even though he might have been blind he would have known the true reason, for the boys were continuously joking Sutoto all of which he took good-naturedly, and John often burst out in fits of laughter, as he witnessed Sutoto's discomfiture.
The Chief's name was Beralsee, and the big-eyed maiden was known as Cinda, the meaning of which was, as explained by Beralsee, the Beautiful Star. The Chief had four other children, one a man of twenty-one, and the others younger than Cinda.
The eldest, Calmo, was tall and lithe, like Sutoto. Like his father he was original in his ways, and to him the Chief entrusted the care of the expeditions which were made at the suggestion of John. The latter explained that they had seen the wonderful products growing on the island, coffee, cocoa, spices, and particularly the various fibres.
The recital of the tales, of how the white man used[p. 138] these things to make the various needed articles, and how the great ships were employed to carry the goods to and fro, and how the different things were exchanged, interested him.
Many of the subjects were not within his comprehension. Why were all these things done? What was the object of having so many products?
John told him that when men had everything they really needed to keep them alive and in comfort, they still wanted something more, and those things were called luxuries; then, after they and their children used these luxuries for a while, they found them to be absolutely essential and they then became necessaries. In that way men learned the use of so many, many things, that the whole world was being searched to find products which would serve to make the needed things.