‘Ae tātou te le’i o’o atu ‘i le aiaiga i luga, ‘e tatau ona ‘ou tu’uina atu sina tal_a e uiga ‘i ulua’i tagata ‘Europa sa i aso ia – pe tusa ‘o le 1800 – sā lātou sā’ili ma maua ni nofoaga i Sāmoa.

‘0 le taufa’ai’ui’uga o le nofoa’iga a I’amafana na taunu’u mai ai ulua’i ali’i papālagi ‘i Sāmoa. ‘0 ni isi o latou ‘o ni tagata-fōlau sa sōsola ‘ese, ma ‘o le to’atele ‘o tagata nofosala sa sōsola mai nofoaga- falepuipui o Peretānia i Ausetalia ma le motu ‘o Norfolk. ‘0 lātou ‘uma lava ‘o ni tagata sāuā ma le lemātata’u ‘i le Atua po ‘o tagata, ma ‘o le fasioti-tagata ‘o se meafua i ā ‘ilātou. Peita’i, ‘o lo lātou le- popoi ma le totoa i faiga-o-taua na taualoaina e ni ali’i o Sāmoa sā fevāa’i, ma sa vave ona maua ai ni o lātou nofoaga ma ni suluta’iga.

‘0 ni isi o nei tagata-sā-nofo-sala na o’o atu ‘i se tūlaga mamalu ma le mālosi i tagatānu’u, ma sa tausia ai ‘ilātou pei ‘o ni ali’ i maualuluga ma^olaai i le suamalie o le atunu’u. ‘E itiiti lātou-mai-fafo sā nonofo fTfTlemū ma taumafai ‘ina ‘ia lātou aogā mo le atunu’u, ma sā taliaina fo’i ‘ilātou e tagata Sāmoa i o latou ‘āiga. Peita’i, ‘o le to’atele o lātou na fa’ai’uina a lātou āmioga leaga ‘i ni oti mata’utia. ‘0 ni isi o lātou na fasiotia ‘1 uatogi a tagata o le atunu’u sā“ pagātia i ā lātou āmioga lemāfaufau.

‘O le tagata sa tau’aveina le igoa o Young, sa na fasiotia ana uo a to’alua i se tasi o ia inuga’ava, sā na fasiotia ana uō fadn? I lo tnnP laninn? a,^V?- Ma 1 1 ea uiga’ sā lamatia ai ia ma faslotia 1 e togavao_e le Tu’iu’amea” (Blacksmith) ‘e lauiloa fo’i i le igoa ‘o “Toma le Tevolo” (Tom the Devil). ‘0 lenei Toma sā ‘avea ma se ta ita 1-sauā o se vāega o tagata, sā ui ai ‘ina ‘o lātou ‘o ni tagata pagatla, ^ae sa latou fefefe 1 le “Tevolo”, ma na tonu ai i ni isi o ‘ilātou e_tu ua Samoa i se avanoa muamua lava lātou te maua. ‘0 se avanoa muamua sa maua’ina ‘ua ulufale se va’a-fāgota tafolā ‘i le taulaga i Apia.

‘0 le to’allma o nei tagata-1Staupulea sā fa’ailoa ‘ilātou lava fa’apea ‘o ni seila o se va’a sa lafoia, ma na talia ma sainia ai e le kapetani mo le taimi o faigāfalva. Peita’i, ina ‘ua malaga le va’a-fagōta i le vasa- loloa, sā fa’amālosia le kapeteni e nei seila pepelo ‘i ni fana-utu-ono
‘ina ‘1a ‘avelna sa’o ‘ilātou ‘i Valparaiso.

‘lna ‘ua sōsola lana vāega, sā alu loa lenei tagata ‘Aealani_sāuā ‘o Toma le Tevolo ‘ua nofo i Manono, ma sā ia fa’apipi’i atu ai ‘1 ā Tuālauipopotunu, le tama-matua o ‘Alipia Taumata. Sā tūsla e Konesula Pritchard e uiga ‘1 ā te ia e fa’apea: “‘O Toma ‘Aealani sā ‘umi ona nofo taumālua 1 Manono, ma sā ia fa’ailoa ai ia lava fa’atasi ma se ali’i sili malosl; ma 1 n1 taua, sā mata’utia lona tūlaga i le va’ai a le fili.”

‘0 le to’atele o ana āvā, – so ‘o se teine e_na te fiafia ‘1 ai, ‘e tu’ulna atu loa mo ia, ma ona ‘o le tele o lona mālosi, na mata’utia ai 1a e Ifi gata 1 ona fili ‘a e fa’apea fo’i i ana uōmamae, ma sa latou nofo sāunl e fa’ataunu’u lona mana’o, ma sā lātou ‘aveina la i o latou tau au mai lea nu’u ‘1 le isi nu’u, ma na i’u ai lava ma le fa afetauia ia e o’o lava ‘1 le ali’i sā 1a nofo ai.

Mana’omia. ‘o fa’asaga – . x ip vā o ni pou se lua, ‘o fa’as I le tasl afiafi sa ia nofo ai i le va o ni pou se lua, ‘o fasaga tonu atu ona mata ‘i le moli e sele ai lana ‘ava. ‘E to’atolu ni teine sa tutu i luma tonu’o ia e faia ana fe’au ma fa’ataunu’u ona mana’o, ma sā tutū i luma tonu’o ofa’a’oli’oli ai le toa o lo latou aiga.

‘A ‘o feagai Toma ma lea galuega,_’e to’afā ni tama talavou mālolosi, ma ni uatogi lapopo’a, sa tōlotolo lemū_atu ‘i ona tua, ‘e to’alua mai le
itūtaumatau ma le isi to’alua mai le itūtauagavale. ‘Ua i’u ‘ina o’o mai lona itūlā, ‘auā e fā (4) ni uatogi na pā’u’ū fa’atasi ‘i lona ulu –
ma na ta^atia ifo ai Toma ‘Aealani le Tevolo ‘ua tālioti. ‘A ‘o ‘upu e fā (4) s”a memu mai ai ona laugutu, “La’u uatogi, la’u uatogi,” ma fa’amuta ai loa lana mānava.

Before going on with the above narrative, I must give a short account of the first Europeans who at this time, about 1800, sought and found refuge in Samoa.

It was towards the end of I’amafana’s reign that the first white men (papalagi, cloud-bursters) arrived in Samoa. Some of them were run-away sailors, but most of them were escaped convicts from the British penal settlements in Australia and Norfolk Island. All of them were ruffians of the worst sort who feared neither God nor man, and by whom murder of friend or foe was committed without compunction. But as their intrepidity and prowess in warfare was appreciated by rival chiefs, they readily found shelter and sustenance.

Some of these ex-convicts, attained by degrees, such influence and power among the natives that they were treated like high chiefs and lived on the fat of the country. A few of these foreigners settled down peacefully and tried to be useful to the natives who had received them into their families. Most of them, however, ended their evil careers by violent deaths. Some of them were slain during their frequent quarrels with their own comrades, others were killed with the clubs of the islanders to whom they had made themselves intolerable by their overbearing recklessness.

As these ex-convicts mistrusted each other, they attached themselves to chiefs living in different districts. Occasionally, however, they met and drank their liquor made from pineapples and bananas until they were intoxicated. It was then, of course, that the trouble started. One man who passed under the name of Young, killed two of his comrades in one of these brawls. In his turn he was waylaid and killed in the bush by the “Blacksmith” who was thereupon dispatched by “Tom the Devil.” This Tom was the bully of a gang whose members, though desperate fellows, were so afraid of the “Devil” that they resolved to leave Samoa at the first available opportunity. Such a chance offered itself when a whaler entered the harbour of Apia. Five of the ruffians represented themselves as shipwrecked sailors and were signed by the captain for the duration of the fishing seasons. However, as soon as the whaler was at large, these pseudo-sailors with pistol in hand, forced the captain to take them directly to Valparaiso.

Having lost his gang, the wild Irishman Tom the Devil, took himself to Manono where he attached himself to Tualau-i-popotunu, the great-grandfather of the present Alipia (Taumata). Consul Pritchard writes of him:

With numerous wives, any girl he fancied was at once given to him with absolute power. Dreaded alike by foe and friend, with ready attendants to do his bidding, and borne on the shoulders of the companions from place to place, he at last became intolerable even to the chief with whom he lived.

To strike down with a blow of his club, or to lodge a bullet in the man who dared to ruffle him, was but a trifling matter with Tom the devil. One after another fell under his strong arm, until at last his nearest friends felt unsafe in his presence. To meet any Samoan on the malae (village green) with a club or spear, was his greatest delight, and as he always was the victor in these contests. His notoriety increased to such an extent that he was feared far and wide. This was his most coveted reward.

One evening he sat between two posts, with his face towards the light, to shave himself. Three girls stood before him ready to run at his bidding, yet playfully admiring the man who was the hero of their clan.

While Tom was thus engaged, four stalwart young fellows, with strong arms and heavy clubs silently stole upon him from behind, two from the right and two from the left. His hour had come at last, for four heavy clubs fell at that moment on his head. And Irish Tom the Devil, lay stretched out and dying on his own threshold. But four words escaped his lips, “My club! My club!” and he ceased to breathe.