The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-09-13
UNDER THE EQUATOR.
Robert Louis SteyenSOn's Notes
From the South Seas.
LIFE IN GILBERT ISLANDS.
How Mr.. Corpse Murdered an Enemy
Traders of MISUNDERSTANDING
Cathedral of Palm Trees.


/ lame IN body and feeble Of character, that
| the storm burst. The rule of the high
/ chiefs and notables seems to have ALWAYS
underlaln and perhaps alternated with
/ monarchy. The Old Men (as they were
| calied) have right TO sit with the king in
the Speak House and debate, and the
kings chief superiority is form of closure
| The speaking is over" After the long
monocracy of Nakaeia and the changes
| of Nanteitei the Old Men were doubtless
| grown impatient of obscurity, and they
were beyond question jealous of the in
| tuence of Maka. Calumny. or rather
| carlcature was called in Use; a spoken
cartoon ran round society; Maka was re-
| ported to have said in church that the
King was the first man in the island and
himself the second: and, stung by the
| supposed atiront, the chiefs broke into re-
bellion and armed gatherings. In the
| space of one forenoon the throne of Ma
kale was humbied in the dust The king
sat In the moniap before the palace gate,
| expecting his recruits. Maka by his side,
| both anxious men, and meanwhile in the
| door OF a house at the north entry of the
town, chief had taken post and diverted
the succors as they came. They came
singty or in groups, each with his gun or
! pistol slung about his neck. ''Where are
| you going?" asked the chief "The king
called US" they would reply. "Here is
/ your place; sit down" returned the chief.
| With incredible disloyalty all obeyed;
| and sufficient force being thus got together
/ from both sides, Nabakatokia was sum
moned and surrendered. About this
| period, in almost every part of the group
/ the kings were murdered; and on Tapi-
hssS L-ala nf &. 81
| day in the chief Speak House of the isle, a
menace to ambition. Nabakatokia was
| more fortunate; his life and the royal
| style were spared TO him, but he was
stripped Of power. The Old Men enjoyed
a festival OF public speaking; the laws
were continually changed, but never en-
forced; the commons had an opportunity
to regret the merits of Nakaeia, and the
king, denied the resource of rich marriages
and the service of troop of wives, fell not
only in Reconsideration, but in debt
He died some months before my arrival
in the islands, and no one regretted him;
rather, all looked hopefully to his success
or. This was by repute the hero of the
| family. Alone of the four brothers he had
| issue, grown son, Natiata, and daughter
| years old. 1t was to him, in the hour of
| the revolution, that Nabakatokia turned
/ too late for help. and in earlier DAYS he
| had been the right hand of the vigorous
| Nakaeia. Nantemat, Dir. Corpse, was his
| appalling nickname, and he had earned il
well. Again and again, at the command
! of Nakaeia. he had surrounded houses in
| the dead of night, cut down the mosquito
! bars; and butchered families. Here was
| the hand of iron; here was Nakaeia ref,tr.
/ He came, summoned from the tributary
! rule of Little Maxim; he was installed; he
| proved puppet and trembier, the un-
wieldy shuttlecock of orators, and the
reader has seen the remains Of him in his
summer parlor under the name of Tebu-
reimoa.
The change in the mans character was
| much commented on in the island and
variously explained by opium and Chris
tianity. To nay eyes there seemed no
change at all, rather an extreme con-
sistency. Mr.. Corpse was afraid Of his
| brother. King Tebureimoa Is afraid of the
! Old Men. Terror of the first nerved him
/ for deeds of desperation; fear of the sec
/ o1id disables him for the least act of gov
eminent. lie played his part of bravo in
| the past, following the line Of least resist
! ence, butchering others in his own de-
/ Tense; today, grown elderly and heavy, q
/ convert, q reader Of the Bible, perhaps a
/ penitent, conscious at least of accumulated
/ hatreds, and his memory charged with
! images of violence and blood, he capitu-
! lates to the Old Men, fUddles himself with
opium, and sits among his guards in
/ dreadful expectation. The same coward
ice that put into his hand the knife Of the
/ assassin deprIves him of the scepter of
/ king.
A tale that was told, a tritiing incident
l,s,
/ his two capacities. A chief in Little
! Maxim asked, in an hour of lightness:
( Who is kaeia?" 4 bird carried the say
ing, and Nakaeia placed the matter in the
/ hands of 4 committee OF three. Mr.. Corpse
/ was chairman: the second commissioner
died before my arrival; the third was yet
! alive and green and presented 50 yener-
/ able an appearance that We gave him the
I name of AbOu Ben Adhem. Mr.. Corpse
I was troubled with scruple; the man
! from Little Maxim was his adopted brother;
/ in such q case IL was not very delicate TO
( appear at all, to strike the blow (which
/ IL seems was otherwise expected of
/ him) would be worse than awkward.
II will strike the blow" said the
venerable Abou; and Mr.. Corpse (surely
/ with a sigh) accepted the compromise.
/ The quarry was decoyed into the bush; he
| was set to carrying a log, and while his
! arms were raised Abou ripped mp his belly
! al a blow. Justice being thus done, the
| commission, in a childish horror turned 10
! flee But their victim recalled them To his
1 side. You need not run away now" he
/ said. '.You have done this thing TO me-
/ STAY" He was some twenty minutes
! diving, and his murderers sat with him the
/ while-a scene for Shakespeare. All the
/ stages of violent death, the blood the
/ failing voice, the decomposing features,
/ the changed hue, are thus present In the
! memory of Mr.. Corpse and since he studied
/ them in the brother he betrayed. he mas
/ some reason to reflect on the possibilities
| Of treachery. l was never more sure of
| anything than the tragic quality OF the
/ kings thoughts: and vet / had but the
! one sight Of him at unawares.
| [ had an errand for his ear. twas once
| more the hour Of the siesta; but there
! were loiterers abroad, and these directed
/ Us 70 closed house on the bank Of the
| canal where Tebureimoa lay unguarded.
! We entered without ceremony, being in
\ some haste. He lay on the floor upon a
/ bed OF mats, reading in his Gilgort island
I Bible with conjunction. On our sudden
/ entrance the unwieldv man reared himself
/ half sitting, 80 that the Bible rolled on tie
/ floor stared on US q moment with blank
/ eyes, and. having recognized his visitors,
! sank again upon the mats. 80 Egion
/ looked on Ehud.
/ The Justice Of facts is strange, and
| strangely jast. Nakaeia, the author OF
/ these deeds, died at peace discOurslng on
/ the craft OF kings; ms tool suffers daiIy
| death for his enforced completely. Not the
/ nature. bar the Concruity OF man deeds
! and circuTnstancps damn and save them.
/ and Tebureiraoa from the hrst has been
| ineongraousiy placed. II home. in quiet
. = ..~.a, - n vsEfaya the man mad been a