第19章 THE ELEMENTS OF DISCORD:FOREIGN(14)

On board the BISMARCK,the commodore shook hands with him,told him he was to be "taken away from all the chiefs with whom he had been accustomed,"and had him taken to the wardroom under guard.The next day he was sent to sea in the ADLER.There went with him his brother Moli,one Meisake,and one Alualu,half-caste German,to interpret.He was respectfully used;he dined in the stern with the officers,but the boys dined "near where the fire was."They come to a "newly-formed place"in Australia,where the ALBATROSSwas lying,and a British ship,which he knew to be a man-of-war "because the officers were nicely dressed and wore epaulettes."Here he was transhipped,"in a boat with a screen,"which he supposed was to conceal him from the British ship;and on board the ALBATROSS was sent below and told he must stay there till they had sailed.Later,however,he was allowed to come on deck,where he found they had rigged a screen (perhaps an awning)under which he walked,looking at "the newly-formed settlement,"and admiring a big house "where he was sure the governor lived."From Australia,they sailed some time,and reached an anchorage where a consul-general came on board,and where Laupepa was only allowed on deck at night.He could then see the lights of a town with wharves;he supposes Cape Town.Off the Cameroons they anchored or lay-to,far at sea,and sent a boat ashore to see (he supposes)that there was no British man-of-war.It was the next morning before the boat returned,when the ALBATROSS stood in and came to anchor near another German ship.Here Alualu came to him on deck and told him this was the place."That is an astonishing thing,"said he."Ithought I was to go to Germany,I do not know what this means;I do not know what will be the end of it;my heart is troubled."Whereupon Alualu burst into tears.A little after,Laupepa was called below to the captain and the governor.The last addressed him:"This is my own place,a good place,a warm place.My house is not yet finished,but when it is,you shall live in one of my rooms until I can make a house for you."Then he was taken ashore and brought to a tall,iron house."This house is regulated,"said the governor;"there is no fire allowed to burn in it."In one part of this house,weapons of the government were hung up;there was a passage,and on the other side of the passage,fifty criminals were chained together,two and two,by the ankles.The windows were out of reach;and there was only one door,which was opened at six in the morning and shut again at six at night.All day he had his liberty,went to the Baptist Mission,and walked about viewing the negroes,who were "like the sand on the seashore"for number.At six they were called into the house and shut in for the night without beds or lights."Although they gave me no light,"said he,with a smile,"I could see I was in a prison."Good food was given him:biscuits,"tea made with warm water,"beef,etc.;all excellent.Once,in their walks,they spied a breadfruit tree bearing in the garden of an English merchant,ran back to the prison to get a shilling,and came and offered to purchase."I am not going to sell breadfruit to you people,"said the merchant;"come and take what you like."Here Malietoa interrupted himself to say it was the only tree bearing in the Cameroons."The governor had none,or he would have given it to me."On the passage from the Cameroons to Germany,he had great delight to see the cliffs of England.He saw "the rocks shining in the sun,and three hours later was surprised to find them sunk in the heavens."He saw also wharves and immense buildings;perhaps Dover and its castle.In Hamburg,after breakfast,Mr.Weber,who had now finally "ceased from troubling"Samoa,came on board,and carried him ashore "suitably"in a steam launch to "a large house of the government,"where he stayed till noon.At noon Weber told him he was going to "the place where ships are anchored that go to Samoa,"and led him to "a very magnificent house,with carriages inside and a wonderful roof of glass";to wit,the railway station.

They were benighted on the train,and then went in "something with a house,drawn by horses,which had windows and many decks";plainly an omnibus.Here (at Bremen or Bremerhaven,I believe)they stayed some while in "a house of five hundred rooms";then were got on board the NURNBERG (as they understood)for Samoa,anchored in England on a Sunday,were joined EN ROUTE by the famous Dr.Knappe,passed through "a narrow passage where they went very slow and which was just like a river,"and beheld with exhilarated curiosity that Red Sea of which they had learned so much in their Bibles.At last,"at the hour when the fires burn red,"they came to a place where was a German man-of-war.Laupepa was called,with one of the boys,on deck,when he found a German officer awaiting him,and a steam launch alongside,and was told he must now leave his brother and go elsewhere."I cannot go like this,"he cried.

"You must let me see my brother and the other old men"-a term of courtesy.Knappe,who seems always to have been good-natured,revised his orders,and consented not only to an interview,but to allow Moli to continue to accompany the king.So these two were carried to the man-of-war,and sailed many a day,still supposing themselves bound for Samoa;and lo!she came to a country the like of which they had never dreamed of,and cast anchor in the great lagoon of Jaluit;and upon that narrow land the exiles were set on shore.This was the part of his captivity on which he looked back with the most bitterness.It was the last,for one thing,and he was worn down with the long suspense,and terror,and deception.

He could not bear the brackish water;and though "the Germans were still good to him,and gave him beef and biscuit and tea,"he suffered from the lack of vegetable food.

Such is the narrative of this simple exile.I have not sought to correct it by extraneous testimony.It is not so much the facts that are historical,as the man's attitude.No one could hear this tale as he originally told it in my hearing -I think none can read it as here condensed and unadorned -without admiring the fairness and simplicity of the Samoan;and wondering at the want of heart -or want of humour -in so many successive civilised Germans,that they should have continued to surround this infant with the secrecy of state.