r. It is impossible to doubt
the beneficence of that stern rule. A curious politeness, a soft and
gracious manner, something effeminate and courtly, distinguishes the
islanders of Apemama; it is talked of by all the traders, it was felt
even by residents so little beloved as ourselves, and noticeable even in
the cook, and even in that scoundrel's hours of insolence. The king,
with his manly and plain bearing, stood out alone; you might say he was
the only Gilbert Islander in Apemama. Violence, so common in Butaritari,
seems unknown. So are theft and drunkenness. I am assured the experiment
has been made of leaving sovereigns on the beach before the village:
they lay there untouched. In all our time on the island I was but once
asked for drink. This was by a mighty plausible fellow, wearing European
clothes and speaking excellent English--Tamaiti his name, or, as the
whites have now corrupted it, "Tom White": one of the king's
supercargoes at three pounds a month and a percentage, a medical man
besides, and in his private hours a wizard. He found me one day in the
outskirts of the village, in a secluded place, hot and private, where
the taro-pits are deep and the plants high. Here he buttonholed me, and,
looking about him like a conspirator, inquired if I had gin.

I told him I had. He remarked that gin was forbidden, lauded the
prohibition a while, and then went on to explain that he was a doctor,
or "dogstar" as he pronounced the word, that gin was necessary to him
for his medical infusions, that he was quite out of it, and that he
would be obliged to me for some in a bottle. I told him I had passed the
king my word on landing; but since his case was so exceptional, I would
go down to the palace at once, and had no doubt that Tembinok' would set
me free. Tom White was immediately overwhelmed with embarrassment and
terror, besought me in the most moving terms not to betray him, and fled
my neighbourhood. He had none of the cook's valour; it was weeks before
he dared to meet my eye; and then only by the order of the king and on
particular business.

The more I viewed and admired this triumph of firm rule, the more I was
haunted and troubled by a problem, the problem (perhaps) of to-morrow
for ourselves. Here was a people protected from all serious misfortune,
relieved of all serious anxieties, and deprived of what we call our
liberty. Did they like it? and what was their sentiment towards the
ruler? The first question I