Mataafa of Samoa.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 18, 1 November 1911, Page 37

Mataafa of Samoa.

notable warrior nearing HIS END. The days of the valorous old Mataafa, exiting of Samoa, are, so states a private letter received iu Sydney quite recently from Apia drawing to an end, for the fighting chieftain has been ill for some time, and an early mail from Samoa will bring the news of his death. And with his passing so passes the last lingering ami vain hopes of his people ever -to regain their former independence. Yet, who can tell what things may lie in the future, even for poor little Samoa, should the nations of Europe come into conflict and the great Power whose flag now floats over .the Samoan Group (save one island) be worsted? The name of Mataafa-apart from his being a noted warrior who thrice repulsed landing parties from the German ships of war in the troublous times of the “eighties” —will always be remembered in connection with the memorable disaster to the American ami German fleets in Apia Harbour on March 16, 1889, writes Louis Becke in the Sydney ••Telegraph.” He rendered signal service in saving many lives of German and American bluejackets, and won -the respect and admiration of his former foes for his magnanimity, chivalry, and courage. To him the Americans were friends —at least, he had no enmity against them, and they none against him —but the Germans had been, and were then, his foes. But to him there could be no distinction made at a time of common disaster —the life of a drowning German sailor was as sacred to him and his people as that of an American or British bluejacket. It will be as well, perhaps, to recall some of the incidents connected with what is still called the “Calliope” gale. Germany and the United States had strong commercial interests in Samoa, Great Britain had practically relinquished hers, but nevertheless when the American and German squadrons entered Apia harbour — each mistrusting the intentions of the other regarding the annexation of iSamoa — the Calliope followed to play watch-dog over the interests of the British subjects in the groiip. Anchored in a confined area, the three German and three American warships were ready to open fire upon each other the moment that a landing party from either side hoisted the flag of its country. The German ships were small, but modern and up to date, the American were old and obsolete,' and had hostilities ensued the American squadron would have fared badly.

The American flagship was the Trenton, a hulking, weak-engined, and poorly-armed ship, her biggest guns being muzzle-loading Dahlgrens, and the Admiral, Lewis Kimberley, himself admitted to the writer that, big as she was, she would stand no chance with even the smallest of the German ships. His other ships were the Nipsic and the Vandalia, both, like the flagship, built of wood and ineffective for fighting. The German ships were the Olga, .Eber, and Adler, all small but powerful vessels, manned by well-disciplined crews, as against the motley crowd of all nations under Kimberley’s command. When the hurricane was at its highest, the wind blowing at nearly 70 miles an hour. Captain (now Admiral) Kane, of the Calliope, seeing that the Trenton was drifting down upon him, slipped his cables, and in the face of a terrific, mountainous 1 sea made for the passage. So close had she to pass to the Trenton that at one moment their yards almost interlocked. (Kane says that the escape of the Calliope was due, not to him, but to chief-engineer Burke and his staff of firemen and Stokers.) One after the other the American and German warship? struck in driving rain and semi-darkness, together with four schooners and a large German barque, and the scene that followed was truly appalling.

Over 140 Jives were lost. The little harbour was a maelstrom. It was then that Mataafa came to the rescue with 200 of his flghtlng men, who, by their heroism, saved the majority of the German and American sailors, risking their own lives in the most daring and chivalrous manner. Mataafa, now a pensioner of the Imperial German Government, well deserves the allowance made to him of 2000 marks per annum. He was well aware of the fact that a week before that fateful 10th of March, the Germans and Americans were prepared to enter into a struggle for supremacy in Samoa, and he found it hard to restrain his warriors from attacking such small parties of German sailors who came on shore. And his personality was so strong that 'they yielded. One evening, as Mataafa sat, surrounded by his chiefs, in a native house in the village of Lelepa, back from Matautu Point, the northern horn of Apia Harbour, there came to him a messenger, who 'told him of certain things that had been said by 'the American Admiral to his officers at a council of war on board the flagship Trenton. Hie old chief smiled grimly, but said nothing ito those about him. What he was told was ‘this:—The admiral had told his officers frankly that Hhey would have no chance with the Germans. “Our chance is to run our ships alongside theirs before they’ sink us, and carry them by 'boarding in the good, old-fashioned style of a hundred years ago.” Mataafa knew that if he communicated this to his adherentg there would be no holding them back. Five hundred men would have boarded 'the American ships in the hope of being allowed to join the boarding parties. This would have been the signal for war, and, for a time, he was strongly tempted. But he knew the old, innate savagery of the Samoan in time of victory’ would again reassert itself, and the defeat of the German naval forces would mean that every German resident throughout the group would, in all probability, be slaughtered. And so he held his hand, and when the elements intervened the problem was solved. Personally, Mataafa is a striking old man —deep-set, stern eyes, square chin, and with a calm and reposeful manner. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although the ma-

jorlty of his adherents are Protestants. That they are all devoted to him goes without saying. Early in the "eighties'' the present writer visited him on the little island of Jlanono —the home of the chiefly families of Samoa—and situated between I'polu ami Savall, and among other topics of conversation over the kava .bowl was the subject of the Samoan practice of decapitating a fallen enemy. “It is bad, very bad,” said the old man. “but it is fa'a Samoa ,the custom of the country). Next to being tattooed, the young Samoan's chief glory in life is to take a head in battle. It gives him a great mana, and he can pick and choose a wife, ami establish his reputation. And what, after all. does It matter to the dead man? He cannot miss his head.”