ness; to Laupepa, with a
smile, as "my poor brother." For himself, he stands upon the treaty, and
expects sooner or later an election in which he shall be raised to the
chief power. In the meanwhile, or for an alternative, he would willingly
embrace a compromise with Laupepa; to which he would probably add one
condition, that the joint government should remain seated at Malie, a
sensible but not inconvenient distance from white intrigues and white
officials. One circumstance in my last interview particularly pleased
me. The king's chief scribe, Esela, is an old employe under Tamasese,
and the talk ran some while upon the character of Brandeis. Loyalty in
this world is after all not thrown away; Brandeis was guilty, in Samoan
eyes, of many irritating errors, but he stood true to Tamasese; in the
course of time a sense of this virtue and of his general uprightness has
obliterated the memory of his mistakes; and it would have done his heart
good if he could have heard his old scribe and his old adversary join in
praising him. "Yes," concluded Mataafa, "I wish we had Planteisa back
again." _A quelque chose malheur est bon_. So strong is the impression
produced by the defects of Cedarcrantz and Baron Senfft, that I believe
Mataafa far from singular in this opinion, and that the return of the
upright Brandeis might be even welcome to many.

I must add a last touch to the picture of Malie and the pretender's life.
About four in the morning, the visitor in his house will be awakened by
the note of a pipe, blown without, very softly and to a soothing melody.
This is Mataafa's private luxury to lead on pleasant dreams. We have a
bird here in Samoa that about the same hour of darkness sings in the
bush. The father of Mataafa, while he lived, was a great friend and
protector to all living creatures, and passed under the by-name of _the
King of Birds_. It may be it was among the woodland clients of the sire
that the son acquired his fancy for this morning music.

* * * * *

I have now sought to render without extenuation the impressions received:
of dignity, plenty, and peace at Malie, of bankruptcy and distraction at
Mulinuu. And I wish I might here bring to an end ungrateful labours. But
I am sensible that there remain two points on which it would be improper
to be silent. I should be blamed if I did not indicate a practical
conclusion; and I should blame myself if I did not do a little justice to
that tried compan