between 1786 and 1850, in my grandfather's diaries and
letters. I HAD to take a rest; no use talking; so I put in a
month over my LIVES OF THE STEVENSONS with great pleasure and
profit and some advance; one chapter and a part drafted. The
whole promises well Chapter I. Domestic Annals. Chapter II.
The Northern Lights. Chapter III. The Bell Rock. Chapter
IV. A Family of Boys. Chap. V. The Grandfather. VI. Alan
Stevenson. VII. Thomas Stevenson. My materials for my
great-grandfather are almost null; for my grandfather copious
and excellent. Name, a puzzle. A SCOTTISH FAMILY, A FAMILY
OF ENGINEERS, NORTHERN LIGHTS, THE ENGINEERS OF THE NORTHERN
LIGHTS: A FAMILY HISTORY. Advise; but it will take long.
Now, imagine if I have been homesick for Barrahead and Island
Glass, and Kirkwall, and Cape Wrath, and the Wells of the
Pentland Firth; I could have wept.

Now for politics. I am much less alarmed; I believe the MALO
(=RAJ, government) will collapse and cease like an overlain
infant, without a shot fired. They have now been months here
on their big salaries - and Cedarcrantz, whom I specially
like as a man, has done nearly nothing, and the Baron, who is
well-meaning, has done worse. They have these large
salaries, and they have all the taxes; they have made scarce
a foot of road; they have not given a single native a
position - all to white men; they have scarce laid out a
penny on Apia, and scarce a penny on the King; they have
forgot they were in Samoa, or that such a thing as Samoans
existed, and had eyes and some intelligence. The Chief
Justice has refused to pay his customs! The President
proposed to have an expensive house built for himself, while