University of Virginia Library

LIES THAT STUN YOU WITH
THEIR IMPERIAL IMPOSSIBILITY

He will sell you a mole hill at the market price of a mountain, and will lie it up to an altitude that will make it cheap at the money. If he is caught, he slips out of it with an easy indifference that has an unmistakable charm about it. (Laughter)

Every one of these Kanakas has at least a dozen mothers—not his own mothers, of course, but adopted ones. They adhere to the ancient custom of calling any woman "mother," without regard to her color or politics (laughter) that they happen to take a particular liking to. It is possible for each of them to have one hundred and fifty mothers—and even that number will allow a liberal stretch. This fact has caused some queer questions among people who didn't know any thing about it.

They are an odd sort of people, too. They can die whenever they want to. (Laughter.) That's a fact. They don't mind dying any more than a jilted Frenchman does.