The Opelousas courier., 1906-01-06
BY
ORDER
OF THE KING.

4 N @SAA 101SV~~ a
When the late King Malietoa, of Sa-
moa, was experiencing his first trouble
with Germany, and the agents Of that
2ower were stirring his subjects to re-
)~ellion, he was extremely anxious to
arm thoroughly his forces and cop9
With the rebels, who, is was
known, were being secretly
with arms and ammunition py a Ham,
,urs house whose Headquarters were
N Ania. This[was in direct violation
If the agreement entered into by the
consular representatives Of England,
Germany, United States and France
dat no subjects of those nationalities
residing in Samoa should sell arms
or ammunition to Malietoa and his fol-
lowers, or to the febel party.
The latter was daily increasing in
strength, and boosted that before long
they would capture and loot Apia and
kill all Europeans who favored Male
toa. Matters were in a very critical
state when there ana day sailed into
Apia harbor a b%arkentine Of 500 tons,
named the Venus, and in less than an
hour the news spread like wildfre that
she had on board some thousands of
Snider rifles and some hundreds of
Winchesters, together with an ample
supply of ammunition, and ere long
the vessel was surrounded by canoes
literally packed together, and her decks
filled with many hundreds of excited
natives, all eager to buy fana talala
manava (breachloading rifes.)
But the consuls had been before
them, and had warned the master and
super-cargo of the Venus that if a
single rifle was sold they would sieze
the vessel and detain her-she being
a British ship-until the arrival of an
English ship of war.
The supercago, who was a nice,
pleasant-spoken young man, frankly
admitted that it was a great and unex-
pected disappointment to him not to
be able to dispose of the arms, as he
would now have to carry them all over
the Pacific for another three or four
months, as the ship was bound on a
long trading voyage throughout the
Gilbert, Marshall and Caroline groups.
and then finally take them back to.
Sydney.
"And then | shall get into hot water
with the owners" he said ruefully, "as
l don't suppose / shall be able to sell
more than a hundred or SO of the guns
in the Gilbert and Marshalls." Then
he asked the consuls If they would be
S good as to clear the ship of the ma
tives. "If you won't let me sell my
guns, gentlemen, you can at least save
me the annoyance of having the ves-
sells deck filed with natives. Besides
that, it is Sunday, and I'm going
ashore to church."
The consuls stared, for the young
gentleman had formerly resided for
some years in Samoa, and had by no
means achieved distinction for his re-
ligious tendencies, which were abso-
lutely nil.
81 think" said the German Consul,
who was a very willy and astute per-
sonage, that the best thing would be
for a guard of the municipal police to
remain On board until you sail"
Just the very. thing, Herr Weber,"
said Mr.. S~upercargo, effusively; and
orders were sen on shore for the po-
lice boat to come off, and the German
Consul felt STANDARDIZATION would
get no arms from the Venus, at any
rate. q must mention that the Eng
lish and American resident merchants
were strongly in favor of King Malie-
toa, and, had they dared, would >as
supplied him with all the arms lie
wanted.)
This matter arranged, the consu1s
inquired what other cargo the Venus
had under matches, and were all de-
lighted to learn that the bulk of it was
provisions, for the town was very short
of European food, and the white men
and their families had been without
such necessary articles as flour. sugar,
beer and whisky for two months. This
was owing to a large German ship
named the Anna, which was loaded
with stores, having been lost on the
voyage from Sidney to Apia. They all
at once begged the supercargo to quote
his prices. He shook his head and
smiled-almost sadly.
mo, no, gentlemen. You must give
me a chance with my provisions, If you
wont with the guns. l must first find
out tomorrow how prices are going on
shore, and then we can talk business.
But not today. I've made a rule of
late not to do business Of any kind on
Sundays"
The consuls retired, feeling some
what annoyed; still, they could not
blame the pleasant-mannered young
gentleman for looking after his own
interests. However, he was thoughtful
enough to give them couple of cases
Of beer, a a S of whisky. and some
delicacies from the cabin stores to
take ashore with them. Then, after
they had gone, he sat down and wrote
3 unfn IN Samoan tn his Naincfv Kino