THE S A MOAN ISLANDS 425 



the Berlin act and the commanders of such war ships as ma}' happen 

 to be in port — form an upper circle of officials, below which are the 

 missionaries, traders, and beach-combers. 



The missionaries represent three ver}" different religious faiths. 

 Those of the London Missionar}- Society (Congregational) have been 

 longest in the field and claim some 27,000 converts. The Catholics, 

 under the direction of French Mariest priests, number 6,000 or 7,000, 

 and support the German interests. The missionaries from the United 

 States are Mormons from Utah, and though but latel}' arrived have 

 a fair number of followers. Those Avliom we met were God-fearing 

 men, living with but one wife, and neither preaching nor practicing 

 the objectionable features of their belief. It is to be regretted, how- 

 ever, that as man_y as three sects should prosel3'te in the islands. A 

 simple-minded j^eople like the Samoans are not able to comprehend 

 intricacies of doctrine, and, failing to appreciate theological subtleties, 

 see in the efforts made to convert them to a given faith mereh' the 

 selfsame principle of jealous rivahy whicli ))rompts a merchant to 

 make his wares more attractive and less dear than those of his fellow- 

 merchant across the street. 



The beach-comber has been •ci[)i\y described l)_y Robert Louis Steven- 

 son in " The Ebb-Tide " and other tales of the South Sea. The char- 

 acters he depicts are strictl}'^ true to life. Making good in Yankee 

 '■ smartness " what he lacks in moral force, he has usually fallen into 

 disgrace in England or the United States, emigrated to the Colonies, 

 broken the law there, and extricated himself by means which have 

 enabled him to escape jail, but have driven him into exile, out of 

 range of extradition laws. He lives as a petty lawyer or trader, on 

 the credulity of the native, whose ])ropert3^ he endeavors to secure. 

 ^Var and disorder are provender to his cupboard. One Apia beach- 

 comber confessed — a man more naive but not less cunning than his 

 mates — " we want a condition of anarchy, for anarch}' brings men- 

 of-war. \\'ar ships carry sailors and marines, wlio )>uy our goods 

 and liquor and spend money freely. J^^very shi])-of-war that lies in 

 ))ort for a month leaves in my shop a thousand dollars. What is 

 the advantage of ]>eace?" It is fellows of this class that incite the 

 natives to revolution, and over whom, rather tiian over the Samoan, 

 a firm hand is necessary. They have been at the bottom of many 

 of the tt()ul)]es which have arisen since white men first landed, and 

 the late <lisastrous war can be traced more directly to their luacii- 

 inations than to anv other source. 



