第38章 THE SAMOAN CAMPS(1)

NOVEMBER 1888

WHEN Brandeis and Tamasese fled by night from Mulinuu,they carried their wandering government some six miles to windward,to a position above Lotoanuu.For some three miles to the eastward of Apia,the shores of Upolu are low and the ground rises with a gentle acclivity,much of which waves with German plantations.Abarrier reef encloses a lagoon passable 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-side villages.Beyond the great plantation of Vailele,the character of the coast is changed.

The barrier reef abruptly ceases,the surf beats direct upon the shore;and the mountains and untenanted forest of the interior descend sheer into the sea.The first mountain promontory is Letongo.The bay beyond is called Laulii,and became the headquarters of Mataafa.And on the next projection,on steep,intricate ground,veiled in forest and cut up by gorges and defiles,Tamasese fortified his lines.This greenwood citadel,which proved impregnable by Samoan arms,may be regarded as his front;the sea covered his right;and his rear extended along the coast as far as Saluafata,and thus commanded and drew upon a rich country,including the plain of Falefa.

He was left in peace from 11th October till November 6th.But his adversary is not wholly to be blamed for this delay,which depended upon island etiquette.His Savaii contingent had not yet come in,and to have moved again without waiting for them would have been surely to offend,perhaps to lose them.With the month of November they began to arrive:on the 2nd twenty boats,on the 3rd twenty-nine,on the 5th seventeen.On the 6th the position Mataafa had so long occupied on the skirts of Apia was deserted;all that day and night his force kept streaming eastward to Laulii;and on the 7th the siege of Lotoanuu was opened with a brisk skirmish.

Each side built forts,facing across the gorge of a brook.An endless fusillade and shouting maintained the spirit of the warriors;and at night,even if the firing slackened,the pickets continued to exchange from either side volleys of songs and pungent pleasantries.Nearer hostilities were rendered difficult by the nature of the ground,where men must thread dense bush and clamber on the face of precipices.Apia was near enough;a man,if he had a dollar or two,could walk in before a battle and array himself in silk or velvet.Casualties were not common;there was nothing to cast gloom upon the camps,and no more danger than was required to give a spice to the perpetual firing.For the young warriors it was a period of admirable enjoyment.But the anxiety of Mataafa must have been great and growing.His force was now considerable.

It was scarce likely he should ever have more.That he should be long able to supply them with ammunition seemed incredible;at the rates then or soon after current,hundreds of pounds sterling might be easily blown into the air by the skirmishers in the course of a few days.And in the meanwhile,on the mountain opposite,his outnumbered adversary held his ground unshaken.

By this time the partisanship of the whites was unconcealed.