48 THE SUBANU. 
Thus we see that there is something more than mere extraction 
from a dictionary and the application of rules of grammar. ‘The essence 
of translation is the portage from one mind to another of a certain defi- 
nite idea; the form of words is but the least of the agency to be employed. 
The schoolboy construes Cesar venit in Galliam summa diligentia beau- 
tifully, as coming to France on top of a diligence, and is sure that he has 
rendered unto Ceesar as by law required. So long as mere words out- 
rank sense we may all do much the same thing; if only the words be 
sufficiently sonorous we call it oratory. 
With pains, with the skill which comes from use, we may succeed in 
expressing our thoughts in alien speech with certainty, provided we have 
the same sort of thought as that which our hearer possesses. It is the 
portage of the thought which alone can be called translation. But sup- 
pose the hearer has no such thought as ours; suppose his mind is wholly 
incapable of such thought. Suppose he be one of our own rude folk or 
one of afolk allrude. In that case what does translation become? 
On the path toward the lower culture planes with which we shall be 
engaged in these studies I may cite an instance in which defective trans- 
lation led to war with its train of death. After years of distress in 
Samoa, three great nations undertook to bring the blessings of peace, 
and the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, of the United States, and of 
Germany met in Berlin. After long deliberation, indeed after many 
really generous sacrifices of national ambitions which each nation con- 
tributed in the hope of peace, there was formulated a constituent treaty 
known as the Berlin General Act. In this document it was provided 
that Malietoa Laupepa should be king of Samoa. ‘The plenipotentiaries 
understood the word, king, k“nzg; there could be no manner of doubt, 
even the American member had some recollection of George III, quite 
sufficient to fix and define the idea to his comprehension. Then came 
the translation whereby this great document should be made effective 
for the waiting Samoans. In this one point the plenipotentiaries had 
not compared their faculties; they had not thought to examine whether 
they had the faculty of translation. To put the accepted text into 
Samoan words was not difficult ; the English masters of the island tongue 
declared that English king is Samoan tupu; the Germans who had equal 
facility with that tongue agreed that German konzg is Samoan tupu. 
Thus, then, it came into Samoan; peace was to rule at the behest of 
the great powers of the earth and Malietoa Laupepa was to be Samoa’s 
tupu. ‘The word had been translated, the thought had failed of portage. 
The brown islander under his palms had no memory of Georgius Tertius 
to help him to comprehension. At times I was almost moved to salute 
that quiet and lovable man Laupepa in the phrase ‘“O king, live for- 
ever,” for I knew the trouble which had been provided for the succes- 
sion. But his own tupu trouble came to harass his days while yet he 
sat upon the throne. For the Samoan tupu is he who rules over all 
