“It was the tenth year after the Cruel Captain with the three ships had
anchored in Apia,{*} and when we of Aleipata were at war with the people
of Fagaloa. In those days we had no white man in this town and longed
greatly to get one. But they were few in Samoa then; one was there at
Tiavea, who had fled from a man-of-war of England, one at Saluafàta, and
perhaps one or two more at Tutuila or Savaii--that was all.
* Commodore Wilkes, in command of the famous United States
Exploring Expedition, 1836-40. He was a noted martinet, and
was called _Le alii Saua_ (the Cruel Captain).
“My father's name was Lauati. He, with his mother, lived on the far side
of the village, away from the rest of the houses. There were no others
living in the house with them, for my father's mother was very poor, and
all day long she laboured--some-times at making mats, and sometimes at
beating out _siapo_ (tappa) cloth. As the mats were made, and the tappa
was bleached, and figures and patterns drawn upon it, she rolled them up
and put them away overhead on the beams of the house, for she was
eaten up with poverty, and these mats and tappa cloth was she gathering
together so that she might be able to pay for my father's, tattooing.
And as she worked on the shore, so did my father toil on the sea, for
although he was not yet tattooed he was skilled more than any other
youth in _sisu atu_ (bonita catching). Sometimes the chief, who was a
greedy man, would take all his fish and leave him none for himself to
take home to his house. Sometimes he would give him one, and then my
father would cut off a piece for his mother, and take the rest and sell
it for taro and bread-fruit. And all this time he worked, worked with
his mother, so that he would have enough to pay for his tattooing, for
to reach his age and not be tattooed is thought a disgrace.
*****
“Now, in the chief's house was a young girl named Uluvao. She used to
meet my father by stealth, for the chief--who was her uncle--designed to
give her in marriage to a man of Siumu, who was a little chief, and had
asked him for her. So Uluvao, who dreaded her uncle's wrath, would creep
out at night from his house, and going down to the beach swim along
the shore till she came to the lonely place where my father lived. His
mother would await her coming on the beach, and then these three would
sit together in the house and talk. If a footstep sounded, then the
girl would flee, for she knew her uncle's club would soon bite into my
father's brain did he know of these stolen meetings.
*****
“One day it came about that a great _fono_ (meeting) was to be held
at Falealili, and Tuialo, the chief, and many other chiefs, and their
_tulafale_ or talking men, set out to cross the mountains to Falealili.
Six days would they be away, and Uluvao and my father rejoiced, for they
could now meet and speak openly, for the fear of the chiefs face was
not before them, and the people of the village knew my father loved the
girl, so when they saw them together they only smiled, or else turned
their faces another way. That night, in the big council house, there was
a great number of the young men and women gathered together, and they
danced and sang, and much kava was drunk. Presently the sister of the
chief, who was a woman with a bitter tongue, came to the house, and
saw and mocked at my father, and called him a c naked wretch.' (Thou
knowest, Tiaki, if a man be not tattooed we called him naked.)
“'Alas!' said my father, 'I am poor; oh, lady, how can I help it?'
“The old woman's heart softened. 'Get thee out upon the sea and catch a
fat turtle for a gift to my brother, and thou shalt be tattooed when he
returns,' she said.
“The people laughed, for they knew that turtle were not to be caught
at a silly woman's bidding. But my father rose up and went out into
the darkness towards his house. As he walked on the sand his name was
called, and Uluvao ran by his side.
“'Lauati,' she said, 'let me come with thee. Let us hasten and get thy
canoe, and seek a turtle on Nu'ulua and Nu'utele, for the night is dark,
and we may find one.'
“My father took her hand, and they ran and launched the canoe.
*****
“My father paddled, Uluvao sat in the bow of the canoe. The night was
very dark, and she was frightened, for in the waters hereabout are many
_tanifa_ the thick, short shark, that will leap out of the water and
fall on a canoe and crush it, so that those who paddle may be thrown out
and devoured. And as she trembled she looked out at the shore of the two
islands, which were now close to, and said to my father, 'Lo! what is
this? I see a light as of a little fire.'
“Lauati ceased to paddle and looked. And there, between the trunks of
the cocoanuts, he saw the faint gleam of a little fire, and something,
as of a figure, that moved.
“The girl Uluvao had a quick wisdom. 'Ah,' said she, 'perhaps it is the
war canoes (taumualua) from Falifa. Those dogs hath learnt that all our
men are gone away to Falealili to the _fono_ and they have come here to
the islands to eat and rest, so that they may fall upon our town when it
is dawn, and slay us all. Let us back, ere it is too late.'
“But as she spoke she looked into the water, and my father looked too;
and they both trembled. Deep down in the blackness of the sea was it
that they saw--yet it quickly came nearer and nearer, like unto a great
flame of white fire. It was a _tanlfa_. Like flashes of lightning did
my father dash his paddle into the water and urge the canoe to the land,
for he knew that when the _tanifa_ had come to the surface it would look
and then dive, and when it came up again would spring upon and devour
them both.
“'It is better to give our heads to the men of Falifa than for us to go
into the belly of the shark,' he said, 'and it may be we can land, and
they see us not.' And so with fear gnawing at their vitals the canoe
flew along, and the streak of fire underneath was close upon them when
they struck the edge of the coral and knew they were safe.
*****
“They dragged the canoe over the reef and then got in again, and paddled
softly along till they passed the light of the fire, and then they
landed on a little beach about a hundred _gafa_ (fathoms) away. Then
again Uluvao, who was a girl of wisdom, spoke.
*****
“'Listen,' she said, 'O man of my heart. Let us creep through the bushes
and look. It may be that these men of Falifâ are tired and weary, and
sleep like hogs. Take thou, then, O Lauati, thy shark club and knife
from the canoe, and perchance we may fall upon one that sleepest away
from the rest, then shalt thou strike, and thou and I drag him away into
the bushes and take his head. Then, ere it is well dawn, we will be back
in the town, and Tuialo will no longer keep me from thee, for the head
of a Falifa man will win his heart better than a fat turtle, and I will
be wife to thee.'
“My father was pleased at her words. So they crept like snakes along the
dewy ground. When they came to a jagged boulder covered with vines, that
was near unto the fire, they looked and saw but one man, and, lo! he was
a _papalagi_--a white man. And then, until it was dawn, my father and
the girl hid behind the jagged rock and watched.
*****
“The white man was sitting on the sand, with his face clasped in his
hands. At his feet lay another man, with his white face turned up to the
sky, and those that watched saw that he was dead. He who sat over the
dead man was tall and thin, and his hands were like the talons of the
great fish eagle, so thin and bony were they. His garments were ragged
and old, and his feet were bare; and as my father looked at him his
heart became pitiful, and he whispered to Uluvao, 'Let us call out. He
is but weak, and I can master him if he springs upon me. Let us speak.'?
“But Uluvao held him back. 'Nay,' she said, 'he may have a gun and
shoot.'
“So they waited till the sun rose.
*****
“The white man stood and looked about. Then he walked down to the beach,
and my father and the girl saw lying on the rocks a little boat. The man
went to the side, and put in his hand and brought out something in his
hand, and came back and sat down again by the face of the dead. He had
gone to the boat for food, and my father saw him place a biscuit to his
mouth and commence to eat. But ere he swallowed any it fell from his
hand upon the sand and he threw himself upon the body of the dead man
and wept, and his tears ran down over the face that was cold and were
drank up by the sand.
“Then Uluvao began to weep, and my father stood up and called out to the
white man _Talofa!_
“He gazed at them and spoke not, but let them come close to him, and
pointing to him who lay on the sand, he covered his face with his hands
and bowed his head. Then Lauati ran and climbed a cocoanut tree and
brought him two young nuts and made him drink, and Uluvao got broad
leaves and covered over the face of the dead from the hot sun. Not
one word of our tongue could he speak, but yet from signs that he made
Lauati and the girl knew that he wished to bury the dead man. So they
two dug a deep grave in the sand, far up on the bank, where it lay soft
and deep and covered with vines. When it was finished they lifted the
dead white man and laid him beside it. And as they looked upon him the
other came and knelt beside it and spoke many words into the ear that
heard not, and Uluvao wept again to see his grief. At last they laid him
in the grave and all three threw in the sand and filled it up.
“Then these two took the strange white man by the hand and led him
away into a little hut that was sometimes used by those who came to the
island to fish. They made him eat and then sleep, and while he slept
they carried up the things out of the boat and put them in the house
beside him.
*****
“When the sun was high in the heavens, the white man awoke, and my
father took his hand and pointed to the boat, and then to the houses
across the sea. He bent his head and followed, and they all got into the
boat, and hoisted the sail. When the boat came close to the passage of
Aleipata, the people ran from out their houses, and stood upon the beach
and wondered. And Lauati and Uluvao laughed and sang, and called out:
'Ho, ho, people! we have brought a great gift--a white man from over
the sea. Send word quickly to Tuialo that he may return and see this our
white man,' and, as the boat touched the sand, the old woman, the sister
of Tuialo, came up, and said to Lauati, 'Well hast thou done, O lucky
one! Better is this gift of a white man than many turtle.'
“Then she took the stranger to her house, and pigs and fowls were
killed, and yams and taro cooked, and a messenger sent to Tuialo to
hasten back quickly, and see this gift from the gods. For they were
quick to see that in the boat were muskets and powder and bullets, and
all the people rejoiced, for they thought that this white man could mend
for them many guns that were broken and useless, and help them to fight
against the men or Falifa.
*****
“In two days Tuialo came back, and he made much of the white man, and
Uluvao he gave to my father for wife. And for the white man were the
softest mats and the best pieces of _siapo_ and he lived for nearly the
space of two years in the chief's house. And all this time he worked
at making boats and mending the broken guns and muskets, and little by
little the words of our tongue came to him, and he learned to tell us
many things. Yet at night-time he would always come to my father's house
and sit with him and talk, and sometimes Uluvao would make kava for him
and my father.
“At about the end of the second year, there came a whaleship, and
Tuialo, and the white man, whom we called _Tui-fana,_ 'the gun-mender,'
went out to her, and took with them many pigs and yams to exchange for
guns and powder. When the buying and selling was over, the captain of
the ship gave Tui-fana a gun with two barrels--bright was it and new,
and Tuialo, the chief, was eaten up with envy, and begged his white man
for the gun, but he said: 'Nay, not now; when we are in the house we
will talk.'
*****
“Like as a swarm of flies, the people gathered round the council-house
to see the guns and the powder and the swords that had been brought from
the ship. And in the middle of the house sat Tui-fana with the gun with
two barrels in his hand.
“When all the chiefs had come in and sat down Tuialo came. His face was
smiles, but his heart was full of bitterness towards Tui-fana, and as he
spoke to the people and told them of the words that had been spoken
by the captain of the ship, he said, 'And see this white man, this
Tui-fana, who hath grown rich among us, is as greedy as a Tongan, and
keepeth for himself a new gun with two barrels.'
“The white stood up and spoke: 'Nay, not greedy am I. Take, O chief, all
I have; my house, my mats, my land, and the wife thou gavest me, but yet
would I say, “Let me keep this gun with the two barrels.”'
“Tuialo was eaten up with greed, yet was his mind set on the gun, so he
answered, 'Nay, that were to make thee as poor as when thou comest to
us. Give me the gun, 'tis all I ask.'
“'It is not mine to give,' he answered. Then he rose and spoke to the
people. 'See,' said he, 'Tuialo, the chief, desires this gun, and I say
it is not mine to give, for to Lauati did I promise such a gun a year
gone by. This, then, will I do. Unto Tuialo will I give my land, my
house, and all that is mine, but to Lauati I give the gun, for so I
promised.'
*****
“Then fierce looks passed between the chief and the white man, and the
people surged together to and fro, for they were divided, some for the
fear of the chief, and some for the love of the white man. But most
were for that Lauati should keep the gun. And so Tuialo, seeing that the
people's hearts were against him, put on a smooth face, and came to the
white man and said--
“'Thou art as a son to me. Lauati shall keep the gun, and thou shalt
keep thy house and lands. I will take nothing from thee. Let us be for
ever friends.'
“Then the white said to the chief, 'O chief, gladly will I give thee all
I have, but this man, Lauati, is as my brother, and I promised------'
“But Tuialo put his hand on the white man's mouth, and said, 'Say no
more, my son; I was but angered.'
*****
“Yet see now his wickedness. For that night, when my father and Uluvao,
my mother, were sitting with the white man and his wife, and drinking
kava, there suddenly sprang in upon them ten men, who stood over them
with clubs poised. They were the body-men of Tuialo.
“'Drink thy kava,' said one to the white man, 'and then come out to
die.'
*****
“Ah, he was a man! He took the cup of kava from the hands of his wife's
sister, and said--
“'It is well. All men must die. But yet would I see Tuialo before the
club fells.'
“The chief but waited outside, and he came.
“'Must I die?' said the white man.
“'Ay,' said Tuialo. 'Two such as thee and I cannot live at the same
time. Thou art almost as great a man as I.'
“The white man bent his head. Then he put out his hand to my father and
said, 'Farewell, O my friend.'
“Lauati, my father, fell at the chief's feet. 'Take thou the gun, O
chief, but spare his life.'
“Tuialo laughed. 'The gun will I take, Lauati, but his life I must have
also.'
“'My life for his,' said my father.
“'And mine,' said Uluvao, my mother.
“'And mine also,' said Manini, the white man's wife; and both she and
Taulaga, her sister, bent their knees to the chief.
“The white man tried to spring up, but four strong men held him.
“Then Tuialo looked at the pair who knelt before him. He stroked his
club, and spoke to his body-men.
“'Bring them all outside.' They went together to the beach. 'Brave
talkers ye be,' said he; 'who now will say “I die for the white man”?'
“'Nay, heed them not, Tuialo,' said the white man. 'On me alone let the
club fell.'
“But the chief gave him no answer, looking only at my father and the
three women.”
*****
“'My life,' said Taulaga, the girl; and she knelt on the sand.
“The club swung round and struck her on the side of her head, and it
beat it in. She fell, and died quickly.
“'Oho,' mocked Tuialo, 'is there but one life offered for so great a man
as Tiufana?'
“Lauati fell before him. 'Spare me not, O chief, if my life but saves
his.'
“And again the club swung, and Lauati, my Either, died too, and as he
fell his blood mixed with that of Taulaga.
“And then Uluvao and Manini, placing some little faith in his mocking
words, knelt, and their blood too poured out on the ground, and the
three women and my father lay in a heap together.
“Now I, Felipe, was but a child, and when my mother had gone to kneel
under the club she had placed me under a _fetan_ tree near by. The
chiefs eye fell on me, and a man took me up and carried me to him.
“Then the white man said, 'Hurt not the child, O chief, or I curse thee
before I die, and thou wastest away.'
“So Tuialo spared me.
“Then the chief came to the white man, and the two who held his hands
pulled them well apart, and Tuialo once more swung his blood-dyed club.
It fell, and the white man's head fell upon his breast.”