CIVIL STRIFE. 245 



Industry languished ; the arts of peace were neglected ; instead 

 of, as usual, the fall in single combat of a few supernumerary 

 scions of royalty, the most useful members of society were 

 swept off by hundreds in general engagements ; until at length, 

 tired of contention, the parties agreed to a compromise, and 

 one of the princesses, chosen by lot, was placed upon the long 

 vacant throne, the others being amiably contented to officiate 

 as her maids of honour. 



Hitherto it had been the custom of the sovereigns of Apia, 

 either left to nature, or made up after her original receipt, to 

 take little part in the affairs of government, being quite satisfied 

 with permission to gratify their ruling passions of love and 

 jealousy. Not long, however, had the new modelled queen been 

 seated on the throne, before her softened disposition began 

 farther to unfold itself in her frequently proposed schemes for 

 the imagined welfare of her subjects ; but the latter, ardently 

 attached to their ancient institutions, considered her benevolent 

 innovations in the light of anything rather than a boon. The 

 old mesmeric queen-maker and her superannuated companions, 

 together with the luxurious nobles, were not disappointed 

 indeed of the personal benefit for which they had been con- 

 federate. The former were permitted to spin out to its extreme 

 length the attenuated thread of their existence, the reformed 

 queen having acquired an organ of " Philoprogenitiveness" 

 greatly too large to allow of the destruction even of the most 

 useless of her subjects. The lives of the nobles were, of course, 



