In Samoa after the War.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIII, Issue XV, 7 October 1899, Page 617

In Samoa after the War.

THE IMPItESSIONS OF A TEN DAYS' VISIT.

(Uy

C.L.)

'the description of man, by an ancient philosopher, in the words " animal risible "—an animal which laughs might be taken as an accurate and sufficiently comprehensive character sketch of the Samoan natives as they are to be seen by the casual visitor to the group. Is not laughter the keynote to the Samoan islander's character ? The ethnologist might find in it the ultima thule of his investigations, and a sound basis for a learned disquisition on the relation of laughter to national development, and the value of mirth as a panacea for ills either mental or physical. Combined with the Samoans’ lightheartedness are inbred inability for sustained effort, and a generous trait of almost universal hospitality. Hand in hand with these qualities goes a love for fighting. This somewhat incongruous cap to iiutnerous excellent domestic and social qualities is but fitfully worn. It is usually donned as a result of a serious difference of opinion between the partisans of the leading chiefs, and if things take their natural course is set aside after one or two people have been killed. If both parties are prepared there is every likelihood of a pitched battle. When the forces come in the vicinity of each other, the talking man on one side will courteously request the opposing faction to come into the open and have it out. This suggestion will be replied to with equally chilly civility to the effect that tile proposers should first take to the open. Neither party evincing any willingness to trust the other to the extent of giving up cover first, the talking men get underway a flow of insult and invective, which culminates in an almost simultaneous acknowledgment of the fact by both sides that their opponents are black pies. Now vou may call a Samoan what you please. You may tell him that he is a revolting blot on this fair earth: that his wretched degraded carease should be added to some festering rubbish heap ; that he is an unfit companion for a mangy dog ; or perhaps even that he is a speckled pig. All these and any other refined terms of abuse that may occur to you you are at liberty to call the average Samoan without running any very great risk of provoking a breach of the peace. But. dear friend, in your enthusiasm do not by any chance apply the epithet “ black pig,” for it is the one insult which only blood can wipe out. The contending factions having'arrived at the stage when opprobrious names pretty well block up the space between them, go in for a little promiscuous shooting. The Samoan is far from being a first-class marksman, while the class

of gun he has had for the most part to fire with would, even in the hands of a- Queen's prizeman, be about as dangerous to the person discharging it as to the object fired at. It is confidently affirmed that the recent war

commenced by some Malietoa sentries accidentally shooting each other. If one side is able to press an advantage and dislodge their opponents, no effort will be made to follow up and complete the rout. What the victors want is gruesome evidence of their prowess in the shape oj one or two heads, and having obtained these they wi'.l retire to their village quite contented. In the ease of a surprise on a village the object does not appear to be to kill everyone who comes handy, but just to lay out a few and secure a prized head trophy or two. When the almost certain reprisal conies to be made the same plan is followed. This desultory kind of warfare Samoan tradition shows, has gone on from time immemorial. The missionary effort of a couple of generations does not seem to have had the effect of eradicating it from the system. It is said that when warfare was carried on without firearms, casualties were greater, the head knife being a much more serious weapon in Samoan hands than an ancient rifle. This same knife is a curious weapon. Imagine a long

straight blade, the latter part two feet in length, with a peculiar hook at its extremity curling towards the back of the knife, a handle usually over a foot long in continuation, and you have the Samoan head knife—an uglv

offensive though very moderate defensive weapon, 2 ft. Bin. to 3 ft. overall. In use the hook is for catching hold of the enemy and the edge for slashing. It was the natives' most recent little

incursion into the department of the god of Mars that indirectly led the writer to visit Samoa on the second trip of the New Zealand Government steamer Tutanekai. Hostilities had ceased some time, and affairs, native* and European, were assuming much their normal appearance. As the steamer ran into the open roadstead —it is not the sort of place that should he designated a harbour through the narrow opening of the reef. a casual glance was suflicient to largely answer many doubts we hud as to why the little war had in every respect been such an unsatisfactory sort of affair. The town of Apia extends for three miles in a straggling semi-circular sweep along the foreshore of a bay protected from the open ocean by the surfbeaten coral reef. The main road runs along the edge* of tin* beach for its greater length, and European habitation is. with the exception of a few villa residences some little distance back, confined to tin* houses ami business premises facing this road and the sea. To the left where the bay sweeps with a more abrupt curve the glimpses of white houses showing through the thick ami distinctive tropic vegetation of tree and palm form a pretty picture. Indeed the beauty of the well shaded road in this direction, to the British consulate just round the point, is Apia's one claim to pict iiresqiieness. Away to the* right the foreshore, on account of the* comparatively greater remoteness of the rising ground, looks even more

low lying. The extremity in this direction is tin* famous Mulinuu I’oint, thickly covered with cocoanut and banana palms. The distance from the British consulate to Mulinuu is approximately three* miles. Extending right from tin* rear of the single row of dwellings is a continuous stretch of cocoanut covereel land. 'That part near the centre of the bay and more adjacent to the foreshore* is largely occupied by the neatly built nativedwellings. Some* little* distance* back the* cocoa nuts and scrub give place* to the light class of bush, and all signs of cocoanuts vanish where* tin* high peaks rise* abruptly some two miles inland Looking from the* bay a glimpse may be caught, if the* eyesight of the observer is me eleratrlx keen, of the* red roof of the* house* of 1 he* late* It. L. Stevenson. It is situated at the* base* of the* strep spur e>f 1 he* main hill which forms the* background of Apia. On the* summit of this spur is the* grave* of the* famous novelist. A right unelerstamli ng of this length) and tedious description is necessary if the* reader is to obtain a clear comprehension of why the* Malietoans ami their white* allies had a difficult task in the* recent disturbances. This long foreshore* stretch was held by three* guards posted approximately at equal distances apart. Prom a few hundred yards back of the* foreshore, however, there was admirable* cover for the* enemy, and they could easily approach any part of the* bay. Had th;* Mataafans umlertaken a determineel assault em any of the* three* guards they would have* had an excellent chance* of doing severe damage. for the* position of a small force* protecting a front of three miles and facing good cover must, under any circumstances. be* precarious. r r<» push forward hostilities ami vigorously conduct a campaign in such country would take* a much stronger force* than those who were* conducting operations from Apia had nt their disposal until pretty near tin* end. With onlv a few track-like* roads through the eoeoanuts and bush the*

country at the* back of Apia offers every advantage* to an enemy. The* first fort of the Mataafaites was within half a mile* of the shore*, and consisted of the* usual Samoan defence of a long breastwork of the* scoria stone's, which occur plentifully ewer th e islands. The* location of this becoming known, th.* shelling from tin* ships made* it rather untenable: ami yet it is um| nest iema bl<* that the* casualties to life from the* shells tireel by the* warships from first to last were* few. in fact the* natives assert that lie* eme* was killed. In this wellcovered ami in parts rough country, an attacking force, unless immeasurably sii|M*rior in every wax. ronlel make* but little* effectual progress. The assertion that the* rebels could ha\e been brought to a condition of si, bjcct ion in two or three weeks. but for the* ultimatum of the* Poxvers prohibiting hostilities xvas not baseel so much em any signal reverse* that Mat aafa ami his followers hael suffered as on knowledge* of the- fart that the* natives we re* heartily sick of the* xx hole* allair. \ predongeei ami decisive* campaign is not within the pah* of Samoan traditional fighting ami Mataafa's xx arriors having hael their till for the* time* bring were nett only ready to desist, but would, if left alone in all

probability have gradually departed to their homes. So when the Tiitanekai dr<»p|>ed anehor in Apia, the pulse of the place was heating normally, ami the presence of five inen-of-war afforded the only ovular evidence that anything untoward had hap|M*ne<l, was happening. or was going to happen. Even ashore there was little to indicate that martial law had only quit* recent I v given way to its in every sense more civil brother. A few bullet holes through the Tivoli Hotel and chips off the mortar face of the Sarno in Church adjoining, were reminiscent of the commencement of the fighting. The natives with their ungraceful walk wore that look of placid good natun l that it is difficult to imagine displaced by the lust of fighting. As with all svini-civi lised people, curiosity is a wadi developed characteristic of the Samoans, and they (duster round the visitor mnabashed. There are various degrees of Samoan dress or undress. In Apia a proportion of both men and w<men appear in cheap cotton European clothing, that of the women consisting of a loose flowing dress; a larger ninniber affect a compromise between the European and Samoan, while tin* 'majority wear nought but the lava lava, the dress of their forefathers. A cloth round the waist

reaching Io about the knees hardly fulfils European ideas of what is strictly decorous, more especially when such scanty clothing adorns the person of a female. At first the visitor. unused to native proprieties, is inclined to look somewhat askance at what he or she may regard as flagrant immodesty, but time, and very little of it to, serves to adjust one’s perspectives. A Samoan with a plentiful show of brown leg and chest beta nies in an incredible short space a sight not only failing* in suggestion of i in propriety, but apparently in unison with the eternal fitness of things. Like the Maories in the more popular tourist resorts, the Samoans in the vicinity of Apia have largely degenerated through contact with Europeans. Their one object in life appears to be to earn something without effort. Should you step ashore with a miniature hand bag sonic native will smilingly request to be allowed the honour of carrying it. He will after walking with it a hundred yards expect a shilling* for his pains. A more honest form of cadging of which the visitor is the victim, is that w here tin* native is desirous of parting with berry necklace. fl\ whisk, shell, fan, or mat, for th<* white man's silver. Inlike the Eastern races, the Samoan having st a te»l his price, but rarely departs from it. His idea of value, however. is somewhat primitive. A shilling is his standard coin, and he is inclined to ask you that modest amount, occasionally varying t he business with a demand for ha I f-a<-dol lar, for articles very disproportionate in value. Gold

lie is disinclined to accept in its true ratio and it is difficult to get a native to part with the silver equivalent of half-a-sovereign even if lie possesses it. The white residents of Apia exhibit that matured development of the qualities of hospitality, which are infrequently met with outside isolated communities. Immediately the party from the Tutanekai, of which the writer was a member, set foot on shore, they were carted off to the house of a well-known resident. The fact that there were two white ladies —white ladies are almost so rare as to be a curiosity—-was no doubt largely responsible, but Samoan hospitality, as the officers of the Australian Squadron have every reason to know, is not affected by the fact that no return can be made in the form of feminine society. The conversation of the white resident was naturally still very largely confined to the subject of the recent hostilities. We were shown the first native stone forts, some halfmile back from the bay, and how a house adjacent had 'been practically wrecked by the shells frt mi the warships. It was in connection with this first fort. I believe, that a native, unconsciously emulating the famous Kellys' of Australian 'bush-ranging notoriety, provided himself with armour. lie hit upon the novel idea of

sheltering himself from the bullets of the other side by crouching - behind an iron grate, which, as he moved it round with him, converted him into a sort of human protected cruiser. It was interesting to notice how, while one house was torn by shells and thickly spattered with the small marks of burning which indicate a burst shell, a. shed some thirty or forty feet away escaped with a few bullet marks, and another residence a couple of hundred feet distant was untouched.