The Portland daily press., 1899-04-26
SAMOAN FIGHTING TACTICS.
The Natives Fearless of Death hut
Easily DIspirited by Wound.

OF tne recent Ugnb III cAinOh makes IL
more than little difficult to grasp the
circumstances from the scanty details.
II by am bush is meant what that word
has always meant In Indian warfare
then it does not apply, for the Samoan
does not fight that way. His tactics In
war are very simple. Az the beginning
he establishes himself In some shelter
which will protect his own skin. This
may be convenient stouewall, or IL may
be Samoan fort. The forts are usually
bulkheads of tree trunks thrown across
some stesp valley which has natural pro-
lection against being turned or taken in
reverse. The wooden wall Is backed by
earth, and at convenient intervals are
places where u good marksman might
command the line of hostile approach.
But when the combat has passed the early
stage Of resisting an attack the Samoans
seek to carry the field by force of num-
bers and the impetuosity OF their rush.
In this there is little of the real iiea Of
an ambush, and few Samoans coul1 re-
strain themselves long enough to admit
of a successful ambuscade. The probable
meaning is that to the marines aud
sailors all bush fighting with savages
seems ambuscade. In the only other
instance in which the Samoans have ven
tured to oppose the regular forces OF white
people, the slaughter OF the German sail
ors In 1888 ON the beach at FanGalii, the
result was due to the faulty of the for.
eigners. who coasted al ng within pistol
shot of the beach, making themselves
conspicuous, by their white uniforms and
showing ihemi elves so distinctly that
the darkness of the night was no veil over
their secret expedition. When people fight
sayages In that way almost any skirmish
appears rs an ambush.
There are two German plantations on
the outskirts of Apia, each the property
of the great Germany trading company
known locally as the German Firm. One
is the plantation OF Vailele, adjoining the
nun icipality ON the east, and the other Is
the Vaitele plantation, which Is just be-
yond the western boundary of the inunici-
pality. The present accounts do not
make IL clear which plantation was the
scene of the conflict Yet as the two
plantations are in high state OF Guilt
walton and intersected in every direction
ny tue Obt1 ROOQ IOhho III i7OiAShst WIZ
conditions under which the battle was
given should have been altogether In
favor of the naval forces and rs far as
possible removed from the conditions
which Eamoans would select for their
fighting. There appears TO be some ike
lihood that the combat was on the Nailele
plantation, to the east of the town, for
that whole line of coast seems to have
joined itself to the Mataafa side. The
fact that the overseer of the plantation
has been arrested on the charge OF aiding
the savages Is still more of an argument
for the same opinion. The Vailele plan
tation Is managed by Capt. Hufnagel,
who had much to do with the former
troubles Of eleven years ago The Vailele
plantation is under the administration OF
Herr Tiedemann, u man of another type
and far less likely to lay himself open TO
suspicion. Iiedemann was promoted from
a little clerkship to his present place, ana
carries with him the somewhat mild
manners of the German commercial man.
The manager of the Vailele plantation
was sea captain and served his time in
command of the slave ships or labor trad
ers with which the German plan tations
fill their barracks with black laporers
OF the two men the former labor trader
is much more likely to be found urging
the savages onward In the attack on
white men.
The rushing tactics of the Samoans are
plainly disclosed in the brief story of the
light. They illustrate a popularity of the
Samoan nature which has it's bearing on
their behavior in the face of AN ensmy.
The Samoan is an.arrant coward in some
ways He avoids any encounter unless
the odds are all IN his favor and the ad-
vantage of position Is with him, and he
hates to leave cover and to come out into
the open. Yet there are circumstances
.ha I'd xuill finht with all
the ferocity of an Apache and be just as
cruel and savage. 1t seems to be due to
the fact that the islanders have an in
verified fashion of estimating the value of
the incidents of war. No Samoan has any
fear of death. All face 1t fearlessly in
bnttle and in disease; they seek 1t by
their own violent hands on trivial pretexts
of annoyance, and in sheer tedium of life
they have it inftheir power to think them
selves tainlessly out Eof life. The risk
of a fatal ending In battle cannot, there
fore, restrain such people from the.attack.
Yet at the same time that these savages
are SO reckless of their own lives they go
about in deadly fear of wounds. They do
not mind being killed, but they dislike
to be hurt. very slight scratch of "a
wound Will serve to put the boldest fight
er of the party out Of action, and the
wounded can never be counted on as
part of the effective force until long after
all outward signs of the hurt have passed
away.
Holding such ideas as to fighting, cow
ards when 1t comes to enduring mere pain
and absolutely careless wher 1t comes to
meeting death, the Samoans must always
prove surprising to the white men who
become involved in their quarrels. This
will account for the stand made by the
Samoan tribesmen which left them in
possession of the field. They had killed
the leaders, they had taken the heads of
two of them, and acooring TO Samoan
ethics the fight was won, and the sailors
should have Withdrawn. But when the
sailors renewed the attack the fighting
rage was ON the islanders, together with
the encouragement of victory, and they
made q stout stand to hold their position.
Yet when the white forces withdrew to
their ships it is safe to say that the saw
ages no longer cared TO hold the place
they had been SO fiercely defending. In
their own custom they would break up
into small parties and scatter to various
points where they might get pigs and
taro for feast
The Androscoqgin grand jury found