The age-herald., 1899-03-26

itor to Apla will still find them fishing and surf-riding, careless, happy, supersti- tious lot of people who would be more apt to return to their fetich worship and head hunting if left to their own devices for any length of time.
 In the process of civilization, however, the Samoan has imbibed the American idea ot freedom and he seriously objects to any thing that seems to trespass upon these Ilghts. He demands that he be permitted to exercise the privilege of selecting his own King, and when other nations recently attempted to declare the election of the sovereign the natives insisted that they were being deprived of their constitutional rlsnts. The treaty they had made was nothing to them.
 They would have their rights or they would fight! Of course. it was opera-bouffe, put such pathetic little farce withal that one cannot laugh at it.
 Tn these days when there are monarchs who' like the Shah, enjoy incomes ap- preaching $50. 600 year, it is almost lu- d1crous to think of the efforts of a king to maintain his royal dignity on $1O a week, or less than the Shah receives every ten minutes of his life
 Malietoa Lauppepa was such a king how ever, and yet there were few happier rulers thah he. His palace was humble and his
 
 and clothed like all Samoans in white shlrt and flowing waistband he received rlch and poor alike, ushering them into tho audlenee chamber with all the dignity that he had learned from the Europeans
 But this s1O week monarch insisted up- on being treated with all the difference due ms rank When a cruiser entered the har- Dor the Samoan flag that foated above his cottage was saluted by twenty-five guns ms barefooted majesty gravely returning the salute. In spite of all this. however thls King was satisfied with this humble llre' With his queen, fat and ill-favored Raratonga woman who followed the pro- fesslon of laundress before the king had raised her to seat beside him on his throne. But German greed soon stepped in ana poor Malietoa was hurried into exile Tamasese being proclaimed ruler by the influence of the German business houses.
 Trouble soon followed. however and 1t was not long before a revolt against Tama- sese was well under way. It Is not in1- probable that the statement that this re- Voie was instigated by English and Ameri- can merchants, as against the Germans was true. At any rate the opposing fac- tons had no trouble in obtaining instru- ments of warfare, pewter swords, gas pipe muskets and sanded powder being at the disposal of either leader.
 TamaseSe was supported by the Germans the most powerful foreign element on the island but in spite of that he was defeated on evry hand and Mataafa would have ruled the nation if Germany had not come with her warships to put an end to the affair As the result Mataafa was sent into exile as a rebel and old Malietoa Laupepa brought back to rule again.
 The old king died about a year ago the later years of his rule being disturbed by only few uprsings, but as soon as his death was announced the hurricane broke fT1 who had tac of md who longed for deeper draughts was heart fly in favor of his own reinstatement, while Maletoa's son. Tanu, claimed the right of succession. The third canddate for impe- rial honors was once more Mataafa. the old man having learned to kiss the hand that struck him, for he was now brought back from exile by the Germans, the very men who had been instrumental in banishing him years ago.
 Tamasese had but a scant following, and Maletoa's chief supporters were the mis- sionar'es who had taught him from child hood and could trust him to institute the much needed reforms. The only really pop ular candidate, therefore was Mataafa. and he was about to be declared king when the American chief justice took advantage of his power under the treaty and refused to approve the election, declaring the son of the old king ruler of the nation. This, then, is the latest act in the opera-bouffe that has been played in Samoa for so many years Today the islands are aroused to a high pitch of indignation at what they term this violation of their constitutional rights
 The stories that have been told of life In the Samoan Islands read more like fairy tales than actuaities, but there can be no doubt that in many respects 1t is an ideal spot. Robert Louis Stevenson found 1t so, and there have been others who were just as enthusiastic in their admiration for the Ae to tho a SD- moan is a fine spec men of robust manhood, tall and of fine muscular development The women are beautifully formed and all have wavy black hair that is worn hanging down their back
 While the men are not always prepossess- ing. as the case of the bushuen. the women usually have pretty faces, beautiful teeth and dark brilliant eyes, shaded by long lashes. Their facial expression Is habitu- ally pleasant, in old age as well as in youth.
 As race the Samoans scarcely know what it Is to work. Nature has been kind to them While they are fishing, or lolling about under the trees, she is busy in pro- ducing the material with which they may satisfy their needs. Bread-fruit, tano, man. goes bananas, yams, pigeons, chickens, sucking pigs. and fish of all kinds are al- ways at hand For milk there is the cocoa- nut. for an oven there are the not stones. If Samoan is too lazy to get these things bv his own effort, he has only to ask and others will provide them for him.
 If is this ideal country. created by nature for the habitation of just such chlldllke people that is now in an uproar simply pc cause the hunger of the great nation Tor oonro has insnired them to come with their guns and their powder to add to the weight mon the shoulders of an unsophistlcated race of brown men who wish to bear no burden
 Hard Worker