Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/184

142 Her father and her first husband having been Americans, she has a very assured position, not lessened by the fact that she is the owner of Ralum and so much other wealth. She owns, too, quite a fleet of boats. She manages all her affairs herself, queens it with a rod of iron over everybody, and has at least twelve hundred people in her employment. She is now the earliest European resident.

[Miss Pullen-Burry, in her book In a German Colony, says of Queen Emma: “She came to these shores from Samoa in a small trading vessel, with a few followers, and a revolver at her belt, when she began operations by trading with the natives in European goods.” For particulars of how Queen Emma marries and divorces the natives, so settling their grievances, I must refer the reader to Miss Pullen-Burry’s clever and amusing book.]

She is very stout, very dark, was dressed in red and white flounced muslin, very busy at her bureau, and smoking cigarettes when we entered. A glance was sufficient to see that here was a capable, clever woman, of marked power and character, had I not already known it. She offered me a cigarette, and was most gracious and condescending, as a royal lady should be; but I expect she regarded me as a necessary infliction. She told me she had never had the fever—which is an unending topic of conversation here. A young New Zealander in the Forsayth store told me she had had it scores of times. I was interested in seeing this famous and important lady—who will remain a marked figure in the history of this land —as I had heard so much of her, and she quite impressed me. What is it not to have a personality, to os distinct from others! and how such a personality leaves its mark everywhere and influences others! Yet how few have it! Queen Emma