judged with mercy; the problem is sometimes
so insidiously presented that even a moderate and able man is betrayed
beyond his own intention; and the missionary in such a land as Samoa is
something else besides a minister of mere religion; he represents
civilisation, he is condemned to be an organ of reform, he could scarce
evade (even if he desired) a certain influence in political affairs. And
it is believed, besides, by those who fancy they know, that the effective
force of division between Mataafa and Laupepa came from the natives
rather than from whites. Before the end of 1890, at least, it began to
be rumoured that there was dispeace between the two Malietoas; and
doubtless this had an unsettling influence throughout the islands. But
there was another ingredient of anxiety. The Berlin convention had long
closed its sittings; the text of the Act had been long in our hands;
commissioners were announced to right the wrongs of the land question,
and two high officials, a chief justice and a president, to guide policy
and administer law in Samoa. Their coming was expected with an
impatience, with a childishness of trust, that can hardly be exaggerated.
Months passed, these angel-deliverers still delayed to arrive, and the
impatience of the natives became changed to an ominous irritation. They
have had much experience of being deceived, and they began to think they
were deceived again. A sudden crop of superstitious stories buzzed about
the islands. Rivers had come down red; unknown fishes had been taken on
the reef and found to be marked with menacing runes; a headless lizard
crawled among chiefs in council; the gods of Upolu and Savaii made war by
night, they swam the straits to battle, and, defaced by dreadful wounds,
they had besieged the house of a medical missionary. Readers will
remember the portents in mediaeval chronicles, or those in _Julius Caesar_
when

"Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds
In ranks and squadrons."

And doubtless such fabrications are, in simple societies, a natural
expression of discontent; and those who forge, and even those who spread
them, work towards a conscious purpose.

Early in January 1891 this period of expectancy was brought to an end by
the arrival of Conrad Cedarcrantz, chief justice of Samoa. The event was
hailed with acclamation, and there was much about the new official to
increase the hopes already entertained. He was seen to be a man of
culture