s he climbed a hill so that a great stretch of
country, with little villages nestling among the tall trees, was spread
out before him like the kingdom of the world, and he would sit there
for an hour in an ecstasy of delight. But he had no words to express
his feelings and to relieve them would utter an obscene jest; it was as
though his emotion was so violent that he needed vulgarity to break the
tension.

Mackintosh observed this sentiment with an icy disdain. Walker had
always been a heavy drinker, he was proud of his capacity to see men
half his age under the table when he spent a night in Apia, and he had
the sentimentality of the toper. He could cry over the stories he read
in his magazines and yet would refuse a loan to some trader in
difficulties whom he had known for twenty years. He was close with his
money. Once Mackintosh said to him:

"No one could accuse you of giving money away."

He took it as a compliment. His enthusiasm for nature was but the
drivelling sensibility of the drunkard. Nor had Mackintosh any sympathy
for his chief's feelings towards the natives. He loved them because they
were in his power, as a selfish man loves his dog, and his mentality was
on a level with theirs. Their humour was obscene and he was never at a
loss for the lewd remark. He understood them and they understood him. He
was proud of his influence over them. He looked upon them as his
children and he mixed himself in all their affairs. But he was very
jealous of his authority; if he ruled them with a rod of iron, brooking
no contradiction, he would not suffer any of the white men on the island
to take advantage of them. He watched the missionaries suspiciously
and, if they did anything of which he disapproved, was able to make life
so unendurable to them that if he could not get them removed they were
glad to go of their own accord. His power over the natives was so great
that on his word they would refuse labour and food to their pastor. On
the other hand he showed the traders no favour. He took care that they
should not cheat the natives; he saw that they got a fair reward for
their work and their copra and that the traders made no extravagant
profit on the wares they sold them. He was merciless to a bargain that
he thought unfair. Sometimes the traders would complain at Apia that
they did not get fair opportunities. They suffered for it. Walker then
hesitated at no calumny, at no outrageous lie, to get even with them,
a