CHAPTER VII
THE SAMOAN CAMPS
_November_ 1888
When Brandeis and Tamasese fled by night from Mulinuu, they carriedtheir wandering government some six miles to windward, to a positionabove Lotoanuu. For some three miles to the eastward of Apia, the shoresof Upolu are low and the ground rises with a gentle acclivity, much ofwhich waves with German plantations. A barrier reef encloses a lagoonpassable for boats: and the traveller skims there, on smooth,many-tinted shallows, between the wall of the breakers on the one hand,and on the other a succession of palm-tree capes and cheerful beach-sidevillages. Beyond the great plantation of Vailele, the character of thecoast is changed. The barrier reef abruptly ceases, the surf beatsdirect upon the shore; and the mountains and untenanted forest of theinterior descend sheer into the sea. The first mountain promontory isLetongo. The bay beyond is called Laulii, and became the headquarters ofMataafa. And on the next projection, on steep, intricate ground, veiledin forest and cut up by gorges and defiles, Tamasese fortified hislines. This greenwood citadel, which proved impregnable by Samoan arms,may be regarded as his front; the sea covered his right; and his rearextended along the coast as far as Saluafata, and thus commanded anddrew upon a rich country, including the plain of Falefa.
He was left in peace from 11th October till November 6th. But hisadversary is not wholly to be blamed for this delay, which dependedupon island etiquette. His Savaii contingent had not yet come in, and tohave moved again without waiting for them would have been surely tooffend, perhaps to lose them. With the month of November they began toarrive: on the 2nd twenty boats, on the 3rd twenty-nine, on the 5thseventeen. On the 6th the position Mataafa had so long occupied on theskirts of Apia was deserted; all that day and night his force keptstreaming eastward to Laulii; and on the 7th the siege of Lotoanuu wasopened with a brisk skirmish.
Each side built forts, facing across the gorge of a brook. An endlessfusillade and shouting maintained the spirit of the warriors; and atnight, even if the firing slackened, the pickets continued to exchangefrom either side volleys of songs and pungent pleasantries. Nearerhostilities were rendered difficult by the nature of the ground, wheremen must thread dense bush and clamber on the face of precipices. Apiawas near enough; a man, if he had a dollar or two, could walk in beforea battle and array himself in silk or velvet. Casualties were notcommon; there was nothing to cast gloom upon the camps, and no moredanger than was required to give a spice to the perpetual firing. Forthe young warriors it was a period of admirable enjoyment. But theanxiety of Mataafa must have been great and growing. His force was nowconsiderable. It was scarce likely he should ever have more. That heshould be long able to supply them with ammunition seemed incredible; atthe rates then or soon after current, hundreds of pounds sterling mightbe easily blown into the air by the skirmishers in the course of a fewdays. And in the meanwhile, on the mountain opposite, his outnumberedadversary held his ground unshaken.
By this time the partisanship of the whites was unconcealed. Americanssupplied Mataafa with ammunition; English and Americans openlysubscribed together and sent boat-loads of provisions to his camp. Onesuch boat started from Apia on a day of rain; it was pulled by sixoars, three being paid by Moors, three by the MacArthurs; Moors himselfand a clerk of the MacArthurs' were in charge; and the load included notonly beef and biscuit, but three or four thousand rounds of ammunition.They came ashore in Laulii, and carried the gift to Mataafa. While theywere yet in his house a bullet passed overhead; and out of his door theycould see the Tamasese pickets on the opposite hill. Thence they madetheir way to the left flank of the Mataafa position next the sea. ATamasese barricade was visible across the stream. It rained, but thewarriors crowded in their shanties, squatted in the mud, and maintainedan excited conversation. Balls flew; either faction, both happy aslords, spotting for the other in chance shots, and missing. One point ischaracteristic of that war; experts in native feeling doubt if it willcharacterise the next. The two white visitors passed without and betweenthe lines to a rocky point upon the beach. The person of Moors was wellknown; the purpose of their coming to Laulii must have been alreadybruited abroad; yet they were not fired upon. From the point they spieda crow's nest, or hanging fortification, higher up; and, judging it wasa good position for a general view, obtained a guide. He led them up asteep side of the mountain, where they must climb by roots and tufts ofgrass; and coming to an open hill-top with some scattered trees, badethem wait, let him draw the fire, and then be swift to follow. Perhaps adozen balls whistled about him ere he had crossed the dangerous passageand dropped on the farther side into the crow's-nest; the white men,briskly following, escaped unhurt. The crow's-nest was built like abartizan on the precipitous front of the position. Across the ravine,perhaps at five hundred yards, heads were to be seen popping up and downin a fort of Tamesese's. On both sides the same enthusiasm withoutcouncil, the same senseless vigilance, reigned. Some took aim; someblazed before them at a venture. Now--when a head showed on the otherside--one would take a crack at it, remarking that it would never do to"miss a chance." Now they would all fire a volley and bob down; a returnvolley rang across the ravine, and was punctually answered: harmless aslawn-tennis. The whites expostulated in vain. The warriors, drunken withnoise, made answer by a fresh general discharge and bade their visitorsrun while it was time. Upon their return to headquarters, men werecovering the front with sheets of coral limestone, two balls havingpassed through the house in the interval. Mataafa sat within, over hiskava bowl, unmoved. The picture is of a piece throughout: excellentcourage, super-excellent folly, a war of school-children; expensive gunsand cartridges used like squibs or catherine-wheels on Guy Fawkes's Day.
On the 20th Mataafa changed his attack. Tamasese's front was seeminglyimpregnable. Something must be tried upon his rear. There was hisbread-basket; a small success in that direction would immediatelycurtail his resources; and it might be possible with energy to roll uphis line along the beach and take the citadel in reverse. The scheme wascarried out as might be expected from these childish soldiers. Mataafa,always uneasy about Apia, clung with a portion of his force to Laulii;and thus, had the foe been enterprising, exposed himself to disaster.The expedition fell successfully enough on Saluafata and drove out theTamaseses with a loss of four heads; but so far from improving theadvantage, yielded immediately to the weakness of the Samoan warrior,and ranged farther east through unarmed populations, bursting withshouts and blackened faces into villages terrified or admiring, makingspoil of pigs, burning houses, and destroying gardens. The Tamasese hadat first evacuated several beach towns in succession, and were still inretreat on Lotoanuu; finding themselves unpursued, they reoccupied themone after another, and re-established their lines to the very borders ofSaluafata. Night fell; Mataafa had taken Saluafata, Tamasese had lostit; and that was all. But the day came near to have a different and verysingular issue. The village was not long in the hands of the Mataafas,when a schooner, flying German colours, put into the bay and wasimmediately surrounded by their boats. It chanced that Brandeis was onboard. Word of it had gone abroad, and the boats as they approacheddemanded him with threats. The late premier, alone, entirely unarmed,and a prey to natural and painful feelings, concealed himself below. Thecaptain of the schooner remained on deck, pointed to the German colours,and defied approaching boats. Again the prestige of a great Powertriumphed; the Samoans fell back before the bunting; the schooner workedout of the bay; Brandeis escaped. He himself apprehended the worst if hefell into Samoan hands; it is my diffident impression that his lifewould have been safe.
On the 22nd, a new German war-ship, the _Eber_, of tragic memory, cameto Apia from the Gilberts, where she had been disarming turbulentislands. The rest of that day and all night she loaded stores from thefirm, and on the morrow reached Saluafata bay. Thanks to the misconductof the Mataafas, the most of the foreshore was still in the hands of theTamaseses; and they were thus able to receive from the _Eber_ both thestores and weapons. The weapons had been sold long s
ince to Tarawa,Apaiang, and Pleasant Island; places unheard of by the general reader,where obscure inhabitants paid for these instruments of death in moneyor in labour, misused them as it was known they would be misused, andhad been disarmed by force. The _Eber_ had brought back the guns to aGerman counter, whence many must have been originally sold; and was hereengaged, like a shopboy, in their distribution to fresh purchasers. Suchis the vicious circle of the traffic in weapons of war. Another aid of amore metaphysical nature was ministered by the _Eber_ to Tamasese, inthe shape of uncountable German flags. The full history of this epidemicof bunting falls to be told in the next chapter. But the fact has to bechronicled here, for I believe it was to these flags that we owe thevisit of the _Adams_, and my next and best authentic glance into anative camp. The _Adams_ arrived in Saluafata on the 26th. On the morrowLeary and Moors landed at the village. It was still occupied byMataafas, mostly from Manono and Savaii, few in number, high in spirit.The Tamasese pickets were meanwhile within musket range; there wasmaintained a steady sputtering of shots; and yet a party of Tamasesewomen were here on a visit to the women of Manono, with whom they sattalking and smoking, under the fire of their own relatives. It wasreported that Leary took part in a council of war, and promised to joinwith his broadside in the next attack. It is certain he did nothing ofthe sort: equally certain that, in Tamasese circles, he was firmlycredited with having done so. And this heightens the extraordinarycharacter of what I have now to tell. Prudence and delicacy alike oughtto have forbid the camp of Tamasese to the feet of either Leary orMoors. Moors was the original--there was a time when he had been theonly--opponent of the puppet king. Leary had driven him from the seat ofgovernment; it was but a week or two since he had threatened to bombardhim in his present refuge. Both were in close and daily council with hisadversary, and it was no secret that Moors was supplying the latter withfood. They were partisans; it lacked but a hair that they should becalled belligerents; it were idle to try to deny they were the mostdangerous of spies. And yet these two now sailed across the bay andlanded inside the Tamasese lines at Salelesi. On the very beach they hadanother glimpse of the artlessness of Samoan war. Hitherto the Tamasesefleet, being hardy and unencumbered, had made a fool of the hugefloating forts upon the other side; and here they were toiling, not toproduce another boat on their own pattern in which they had alwaysenjoyed the advantage, but to make a new one the type of their enemies',of which they had now proved the uselessness for months. It came on torain as the Americans landed; and though none offered to oppose theircoming ashore, none invited them to take shelter. They were nowiseabashed, entered a house unbidden, and were made welcome with obviousreserve. The rain clearing off, they set forth westward, deeper into theheart of the enemies' position. Three or four young men ran some waybefore them, doubtless to give warning; and Leary, with his indomitabletaste for mischief, kept inquiring as he went after "the high chief"Tamasese. The line of the beach was one continuous breastwork; somethirty odd iron cannon of all sizes and patterns stood mounted inembrasures; plenty grape and canister lay ready; and at every hundredyards or so the German flag was flying. The numbers of the guns andflags I give as I received them, though they test my faith. At the houseof Brandeis--a little, weatherboard house, crammed at the time withnatives, men, women, and squalling children--Leary and Moors again askedfor "the high chief," and were again assured that he was farther on. Alittle beyond, the road ran in one place somewhat inland, the twoAmericans had gone down to the line of the beach to continue theirinspection of the breastwork, when Brandeis himself, in hisshirt-sleeves and accompanied by several German officers, passed them bythe line of the road. The two parties saluted in silence. Beyond EvaPoint there was an observable change for the worse in the reception ofthe Americans; some whom they met began to mutter at Moors; and theadventurers, with tardy but commendable prudence, desisted from theirsearch after the high chief, and began to retrace their steps. On thereturn, Suatele and some chiefs were drinking kava in a "big house," andcalled them in to join--their only invitation. But the night wasclosing, the rain had begun again: they stayed but for civility, andreturned on board the _Adams_, wet and hungry, and I believe delightedwith their expedition. It was perhaps the last as it was certainly oneof the most extreme examples of that divinity which once hedged thewhite in Samoa. The feeling was already different in the camp ofMataafa, where the safety of a German loiterer had been a matter ofextreme concern. Ten days later, three commissioners, an Englishman, anAmerican, and a German, approached a post of Mataafas, were challengedby an old man with a gun, and mentioned in answer what they were. "_IfeaSiamani?_ Which is the German?" cried the old gentleman, dancing, andwith his finger on the trigger; and the commissioners stood somewhile ina very anxious posture, till they were released by the opportune arrivalof a chief. It was November the 27th when Leary and Moors completedtheir absurd excursion; in about three weeks an event was to befallwhich changed at once, and probably for ever, the relations of thenatives and the whites.
By the 28th Tamasese had collected seventeen hundred men in the trenchesbefore Saluafata, thinking to attack next day. But the Mataafasevacuated the place in the night. At half-past five on the morning ofthe 29th a signal-gun was fired in the trenches at Laulii, and theTamasese citadel was assaulted and defended with a fury new amongSamoans. When the battle ended on the following day, one or moreoutworks remained in the possession of Mataafa. Another had been takenand lost as many as four times. Carried originally by a mixed force fromSavaii and Tuamasanga, the victors, instead of completing fresh defencesor pursuing their advantage, fell to eat and smoke and celebrate theirvictory with impromptu songs. In this humour a rally of the Tamasesessmote them, drove them out pell-mell, and tumbled them into the ravine,where many broke their heads and legs. Again the work was taken, againlost. Ammunition failed the belligerents; and they fought hand to handin the contested fort with axes, clubs, and clubbed rifles. Thesustained ardour of the engagement surprised even those who wereengaged; and the butcher's bill was counted extraordinary by Samoans. OnDecember 1st the women of either side collected the headless bodies ofthe dead, each easily identified by the name tattooed on his forearm.Mataafa is thought to have lost sixty killed; and the de Coetlogons'hospital received three women and forty men. The casualties on theTamasese side cannot be accepted, but they were presumably much less.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17 Page 8