carry, it was easy to
blockade: and to be hemmed in on that narrow finger of land were an
inglorious posture for the monarch of Samoa. The peninsula, besides, was
scant of food and destitute of water. Pressed by these considerations,
Brandeis extended his lines till he had occupied the whole foreshore of
Apia bay and the opposite point, Matautu. His men were thus drawn out
along some three nautical miles of irregular beach, everywhere with
their backs to the sea, and without means of communication or mutual
support except by water. The extension led to fresh sorrows. The
Tamasese men quartered themselves in the houses of the absent men of the
Vaimaunga. Disputes arose with English and Americans. Leary interposed
in a loud voice of menace. It was said the firm profited by the
confusion to buttress up imperfect land claims; I am sure the other
whites would not be far behind the firm. Properties were fenced in,
fences and houses were torn down, scuffles ensued. The German example at
Mulinuu was followed with laughable unanimity; wherever an Englishman or
an American conceived himself to have a claim, he set up the emblem of
his country; and the beach twinkled with the flags of nations.

All this, it will be observed, was going forward in that neutral
territory, sanctified by treaty against the presence of armed Samoans.
The insurgents themselves looked on in wonder: on the 4th, trembling to
transgress against the great Powers, they had written for a delimitation
of the _Eleele Sa_; and Becker, in conversation with the British consul,
replied that he recognised none. So long as Tamasese held the ground,
this was expedient. But suppose Tamasese worsted, it might prove awkward
for the stores, mills, and offices of a great German firm, thus bared of
shelter by the act of their own consul.

On the morning of the 9th September, just ten days after the death of
Saifaleupolu, Mataafa, under the name of Malietoa To'oa Mataafa, was
crowned king at Faleula. On the 11th he wrote to the British and
American consuls: "Gentlemen, I write this letter to you two very humbly
and entreatingly, on account of this difficulty that has come before me.
I desire to know from you two gentlemen the truth where the boundaries
of the neutral territory are. You will observe that I am now at Vaimoso
[a step nearer the enemy], and I have stopped here until I knew what you
say regarding the neutral territory. I wish to know where I can go, and
where the