Tavita was the only person who ever reigned for several years as the acknowledged King of all Samoa. He died in 1840. Moli, the last Malietoa, was a true son of Tavita; and Laupepa, the present King, is a true son of Moli, and grandson of Tavita.

Since Tavita's time the principal titles have never been given to one person; and at the present time the King has only got one of the five titles of Savaii and Upolu. The title he has is the Malietoa, the title of Savaii. The four titles of Upolu, Tui Atua, Tui Aana, Natoai tele, and Tamasoali, have not been given to anyone.

The representatives of the Malietoa family at the present time are Laupepa, a man about thirty-six years of age, well-beloved and well-educated, although very retiring; and his uncle Pea or Talavou.

The principal chiefs after the Tuis are called Alii, and next to these come the heads of certain families in each village called the Faipule, who comprise a very considerable section of the community, and in many instances have exercised even greater influence than the chiefs themselves. The same local self-government as I have described in Fiji also obtains in Samoa. Everything affecting the interests of the village or township is debated in proper council assembled, and where the inferior caste (as is sometimes the case in the House of Commons) do most of the talking. The decision of the council becomes law for the whole village. Politics have always entered largely into the life of the average Samoan. Samoan. He has He has very little to do, so he spends a great deal of his time regulating the most trifling details. They are very fond of laying

down laws as to what shall be charged for food sold to Europeans, and what shall be paid by Europeans to the natives they employ as boat crews. The arbitrary decisions of these councils have in many cases forced foreign residents to abstain from dealing with the natives who endeavour to enforce these somewhat antiquated edicts. Such, at any rate, was the Samoan Government (and in minor matters of local interest home-rule still prevails, as in Fiji) till about the year 1873.

In 1869, the natives on the islands of Upolu and Manono fell out as to which party should have the right to nominate a chief to the title of Malietoa, which is an hereditary title of the highest rank, but which need not descend from father to son. The Apia chief nominated the eldest son of the deceased Malietoa, the Manono people set up his brother; and jealous perhaps of the foreign settlement at Apia, raised the war-cry of Samoa ua tasi-Samoa is one. The two parties have been fighting on and off ever since the outbreak of civil war, and the political history of Samoa since about 1872 has been one of constant native feuds, fanned for purposes of selfinterest by the white inhabitants. It will be my object in the following pages to give my readers, in as few words as possible, what I hope will be a clear account of these proceedings in Samoa, which, though as in the case of the Barracouta, they caused British blood to flow and British lives to be sacrificed, are, I am convinced, unknown to the majority of my countrymen at home. However they are of Imperial

interest.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW MR. STEWART REACHED SAMOA.

RIGHTLY or wrongly, I connect the aggravation by white men of the native troubles in Samoa, and the unhappy state of that country which has followed with Tahiti. I give the facts as I know them, and leave others to draw their own conclusions.

In the first place I extract the following from Spry's admirable 'Cruise of the Challenger,' in regard to certain plantations at Atiamano, on the island of Tahiti:

'The history of the plantation at Atiamano is singular and suggestive. Their originator, an ex-cavalry officer, Stewart by name (who, coming from Australia, turned up at Tahiti), for some years held an autocratic authority over more than a thousand people, and has inseparably woven his name into the history of Tahiti, between the years 1860-70.

After some time, Stewart managed to obtain a written authority from the French Governor to acquire property on the island with a view to the development of its resources. Armed with this

document, he succeeded in England in forming a Polynesian Land Company and returning to Tahiti with the money so raised, found that the acquisition of land under the French authority was contrary to the terms of the Protectorate, although no obstacle was put in his way in endeavouring to purchase land from the natives. A large tract of land, under the title of the Terra Eugénie, was then brought under his control at Atiamano, and a nominal transfer of shares took place to the Tahiti Cotton and Coffee Plantation Company (Limited). Of this company Stewart was appointed manager. That he was clever and born to command men there can be no doubt, and that his views were large and extended there is also evidence. Fine residences, a country house, hotels, hospitals, capital roads, and a host of improvements arose like magic at Atiamano, and the hospitality and bonhomie of the manager of the plantation became household words. Sending to China for coolies was a comparatively slight operation, and in 1867 there were no less than 916 Chinese and 323 Polynesian labourers, including 108 women employed at Terra Eugénie. It was very easy to spend capital, and in this instance it was royally done-until the day of reckoning came. The title-deeds of the estate not being forthcoming, the shareholders of the company became alarmed, and the manager, from chagrin, sickness, and the effects of free living, passed away in 1874, the whole affair collapsing shortly afterwards.'

The Christian name of the ex-cavalry officer was William, and for some time he was assisted in his mani

pulation and management of the Terra Eugénie by his brother, Mr. James B. M. Stewart, who in many respects was even a more remarkable man than William. Like his brother, James came down to the islands from Sydney, under what circumstances I do not know. This is certain, that the brothers on Tahiti quarrelled, and James B. M. Stewart quitted Tahiti rather hurriedly. Shortly after his departure, Mr. W. H. Webb started his line of steamships from San Francisco to Sydney, and Mr. James Stewart was indirectly connected with its administration, having in the meantime started business at San Francisco as a merchant, in company with another gentleman. The following account given by Mr. Stewart, as President of the Central Polynesian Land Company, to the Trustees, which I have slightly abridged, is interesting enough to be reproduced here. It was made in August, 1872:

"The Central Polynesian Land and Commercial Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of California for "the purchase and acquisition of lands on the Navigators Islands, and the cultivation, sale, lease, or otherwise disposing of the same; the formation of a coaling-station for the United States, New Zealand, and Australian Mail Steamship line ; and the establishment of a Central Polynesian Depot to be connected with the various groups of islands in the South Pacific," with a capital of $100,000 in one thousand shares of $100 each.

'After the necessary organisation of the Company, its first action was the purchase of all the lands. selected and acquired on the Navigators' Islands, to