Читать книгу Men from Under the Sky - Stanley Brown - Страница 13

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Soldier of Fortune (1808-13)

Lockerby and the men of the sandalwood ships had shown the Fijians the power of the musket and the cannon and their advantages over the primitive weapons of the Fijians. But the seamen had used their ammunition in such a wasteful way that no Fijian chief could think of employing this new arm himself, without a shipful of reserve supplies on which to draw. Furthermore, no Fijian could be persuaded to carry these arms into battle. Lockerby once did persuade Tui Bua to discharge a pistol, but the latter never again attempted this.

Even so, had Lockerby desired the position, he and his friend Tui Bua could have built up a large stock of arms and armament stores from the sandalwood ships, and made themselves masters of the sandalwood coast with the help of beachcombers and deserters, whose numbers were already increasing. But Lockerby, although brave and resourceful enough in battle, was not anxious to stay and be the commander in chief of the forces of Bua; he wanted mostly to return to his home and desired no native lands or title.

Tui Bua, his lands already showing the depredation of the sandalwood cutters, had only a short time left in which to trade before all his assets would be gone. This he did not realize, nor did he heed the lessons he had taught his enemies. He never regained the power that had been his before the attack on Tavea.

But another chief was to learn and utilize the advantages of the new arm of warfare through another sailor, who not only waged war on the chief's behalf but also was able to service and repair the weapons he used.

This chief was Ratu Naulivou Radonodono, or Ra Matenikutu (the lice killer), and chief of Bau, and his gunner was to become famous as Charlie Savage.

Little is known of Savage's early days except that he was Swedish and hailed from Udwala. His real name was Kalle Svenson, the first name becoming easily corrupted to Charlie when he subsequently served on American or British ships. He arrived in Fiji in the American brig Eliza in june, 1808, while Lockerby was at Bua. Savage had joined the ship at Tongatapu a few days previously, having been beachcombing in Tonga, for how long is not known, but at least long enough to acquire a smattering of the language of Tonga and a few words of Fijian. There were at that time a considerable number of whites in Tonga-shipwrecked sailors, deserters and beachcombers. It is not certain from which of these categories Savage was recruited, but he appears to have been a competent seaman as well as an interpreter for the Eliza after the brig was wrecked at Nairai.

It is probably at about this period that he had adopted the name "Savage" which may have been the diminutive of a nickname "Charlie the Savage." His later actions seem to bear out the possession of a roistering, undisciplined character. Anyone earning such a name among the depraved men on the beach would have had to be as fierce and ruthless as Savage was shortly to prove himself to be.

When the Eliza was wrecked the crew was, for a while, marooned at the village of Lawaki on Nairai Island. Soon afterward, the captain persuaded the chief to allow him to take the whaleboat and some of the officers and crew to try to reach Sandalwood Bay about eighty miles away. During this period on the island, Savage lived with the Tui Lawaki away from the remainder of the crew. The men complained bitterly of their treatment at Lawaki, but the red-haired giant Swede as the chief's guest was suffering no such discomforts. He seemed to have had the knack of getting along well with Fijians. When the other crewmen left to go to the island of Batiki, Savage stayed on as the chief's guest, though he had left the island before the captain of the Eliza returned in his attempt to recover the lost dollars.

While Savage was living in splendour at Nairai, an impressive fleet of canoes called there, manned by Levuka people, a clan that formerly resided at Bau but which was now scattered all over the islands. Under their chief, Daulakeba, they were on their way from Lakeba to install the Vunivalu of Bau, Ratu Naulivou, as Tui Levuka.

Daulakeba suggested to Tui Lawaki that he should take the vigorous red-haired young man, who was so attractively coloured, to serve the Vunivalu. So when the fleet sailed from Nairai in the chief's canoe there traveled a young man far from his own home and people, entering an almost unknown world. For Bau was at that time a small chieftaincy surrounded by larger and much more powerful neighbours-Rewa and Verata.

Ratu Naulivou had had several of his canoes aiding the enemies of Tui Bua, and his warriors had brought back reports of the superiority of firearms over the conventional weapons of the Fijians. On arrival at Bau, Savage was quick to realize the ambitions of Ratu Naulivou to enlarge the Bauan territory. Anxious to make a name for himself, Charlie brought up the subject of the "crooked things like a gala (snake) club" that the white men used to such good effect in battle. Before long, at the behest of the chief, Savage returned to Nairai to search for muskets, but everything that had been taken off the Eliza seemed to have disappeared. Obviously some had been taken by various members of the crew when they left, and possibly other articles had been picked up by Lockerby's boat party. Savage and his companions were just about to leave empty-handed when the young seaman noticed a musket that had been placed on the ridgepole of a yam house as a decoration. The musket was taken down and found to be in repairable condition.

Back again at Bau, Savage shut himself up in his house and thoroughly cleaned and checked the weapon before he demonstrated it to the warriors. When he emerged he set a thick canoe deck plank on its edge and, training the musket on it, opened fire. The report both deafened and temporarily stunned the onlookers, whose first reaction was anger that they had been frightened and that Savage had not warned them what to expect. Seizing the initiative, before he was clubbed for his temerity, Savage now drew their attention to the hole in the thick deep plank of the canoe and invited any of the warriors present to try to pierce it with a spear, or to break it up with a club.

Thus the warriors of Bau were made aware of the potentialities of the new weapon, but only Savage knew of its present limitations—the supply of powder, wad-ding and ball. He managed to convince Ratu Naulivou of this limitation before using the new arm in battle, and he was soon off to Lau, again in the care of Daulakeba, to search another wreck from which he returned triumphant, not only with powder, ball and more muskets, but also with a supply of cloth for wadding.

His first employment of the new weapon was a masterpiece of the conservation of ammunition and tactical use of the musket. It was the attack on the fortifications of Nakelo, Rewa.

Nakelo, on the Rewa River delta, was an important place on the water highway between Bau and Rewa. For a long time Bau canoes had been forbidden to pass Nakelo, resulting in a much longer voyage around the byways of the delta. The village was surrounded by a stockade, as were all the delta villages, and was considered to be impregnable, never having been breached.

Instead of pouring musket fire haphazardly through the wickerwork breastwork, Savage had a high platform built which enabled him to see over the stockade. From the platform, and protected from spears by a small shelter with an embrasure where he could sight and fire, he discharged deadly fire on the defenders, picking off the chief and the most important warriors first. All were easily identified by their dress. Terrified, the Nakelo people stampeded out of the fort to be cut down by the waiting Bau warriors. The Bauans suffered no loss; after burning the fort and village, they forced the remaining Nakelo men to dig a ditch through the peninsula. Successive tides widened the canal until it was possible for Bau canoes to pass through. This cutting has endured through the years.

Confident now of their new power, the Bau warriors roved farther afield on their canoe voyages, and it was not long after this that Savage and his companions came across a large party of Verata fishermen. Because of the discrepancy in numbers and the lowly status of Bau, it would normally have been necessary for the Bauans to seek safety in flight. But Savage, with the musket from which he was never parted, routed the fishermen.

MAP 4: Rewa and Bau Regions on Viti Levu

After this fight a full-scale attack was launched on Verata itself, using the technique developed at Nakelo. After the first few well-placed musket shots, the Verata defenders began to pour out of the fortified stockade in full flight. Savage, exulting in the apparent easy victory, rushed forward to tear down a portion of the stockade to afford himself a wider field of fire. Concentrating only on aiming his musket, he received a spear wound in the side from a Verata warrior who had stayed to guard the stockade and had to be carried from the field of battle. His first musket shots had, however, ensured a victory in which the Bauans repaid the insults they had suffered over the years from their powerful neighbours.

On his return to Bau, Charlie was delirious and uttered "strange oaths" that the Fijians had not heard before but which were probably very ordinary swearing words in Swedish. He refused the attention of the various Fijian doctors and would only allow water to be poured over his wound. The treatment was apparently good, as he soon recovered.

Just before the attack on Verata he had sent word to several sailors living there to evacuate the area, and these men now joined him at Bau. They were important as at that time no Fijian could be prevailed upon to fire a musket. The whole firepower of an army was in the hands of the ex-sailors and beachcombers who were living under the protection of various chiefs. With these sailors Charlie formed the nucleus of an army of homeless whites whose ragged volleys were destined to push Bau into an eminence never previously known.

Savage had always been a protege of the chief of Bau, but now he was adopted into the clan itself and was no longer regarded as a foreigner.

Despite this he retained his unruly character and often derided the Fijian customs to which he was subject. He was always implacably opposed to cannibalism and on one occasion threatened with a loaded musket warriors who were proposing to eat the body of an enemy. Such was the power of his personality and the regard in which he was held by Ratu Naulivou that he was able to display this objection to rooted Fijian tradition.

Shortly after the battle for Verata, a ceremony to recognize the newly initiated warriors was performed. Charlie Savage was one of the young men so chosen, an honour never previously given to a foreigner. He was painted with black dye and turmeric as was the custom, but he laughed at these efforts to make him appear more fearsome.

The ceremony was to honour the young men who had gained distinction in battle, just as young squires had been awarded their spurs in the old days in England. As the name of each new warrior or koroi was called out he presented gifts to the chief and received his new name, won in battle, and a spear.

Savage appeared last, carrying his musket, and was given the name of Koroi na Vunivalu, the most honourable name of all, meaning "warrior of the commander in chief."

The newly designated koroi were now taken to a house where they were to stay for several days, but Savage broke the tabu and returned to his own house.

From this time onwards he was given more honour and respect than any other except the Vunivalu himself. He not only controlled the Fijian warriors and held absolute sway over them but was also recognized as chief by all the ex-sailors from the sandalwood ships who had joined the forces of Bau.

Two ladies of high rank were given to him as wives, and he set up his own establishment complete with menservants. The other Europeans who recognized his leadership lived separately and were only regarded as commoners and still foreigners. But Savage now sat in the councils of the chiefs of Bau.

Because of the high rank of his wives, any sons born to them would have been vasu or particularly favoured nephews to other chiefs. Such men, from whom no request could be refused, would therefore have much power in the land. Great care was taken to ensure that all Savage's children were stillborn. Only one child survived, a daughter named Maria, born to a Lomaloma woman of high rank.

Bau now enjoyed more power than at any time in the past. In swift succession, Buretu, Kuiva and Tokatoka-towns in the delta-fell before the Bau attack, so that only the powerful centre of Rewa remained un-conquered in this area.

More women were added to Savage's establishment, and he had as much power as any of his contemporaries. He had many women and servants and was feared among the Fijians of Bau as were the highest born chiefs, a lifestyle in great contrast to the cramped forecastles and weevily food he had known for years.

Two men, Lui, a Chinaman and cook, and a seaman named Thomas Dafny, who had been on the Eliza, had been with him for the longest period, but many others had joined his army since that time. Among them were John Graham from Sydney and Mike McCabe and John Atkin, recently discharged from the ship City of Edinburgh. Within a few years his band included a man named Terence Dunn, a German, a Lascar, a Tahitian, a Tongan, an American deserter and a convict from the New South Wales penal settlements whose names have not been recorded.

Foremost in Savage's mind was the need to replace stores of powder and shot, although each man joining his force had been required to bring with him a musket and ammunition. Two other lacks, dear to the heart of a roistering sailor, were the old forecastle standbys-liquor and tobacco.

After five years of guerrilla-type warfare, Savage's men had probably expended less ammunition than the forces in Lockerby's time had used to demolish the fort at Tacilevu. Still, their supplies ran short. It was to replenish these stocks that Savage finally led a party of his adherents to the sandalwood coast to earn from a visiting ship the money to get new supplies.

Sandalwood had by now become scarce, and the ship's boats had to range the whole length of the Macuata coast to obtain supplies. Men who could both fight and act as interpreters were much in demand to assist in obtaining cargoes.

Hearing that the ship Hunter was at Bua, Savage suggested that he and his band of sailors should seek work and take their pay in the supplies needed for further war and their own relaxation. After some argument, the Bau chiefs agreed.

Savage's daughter Maria, who was only four when he left on his journey to Bua, recalled that he took from his seaman's chest several articles, among which was a chain of "something that flashed"-probably a string of those much-sought-after dollars from the Eliza.

The offer of assistance was accepted immediately by Captain James Robson of the ship Hunter, and all of Savage's ragged men were engaged in working boats of the ship in the search for that now rare commodity-sandalwood. It appeared that the best opportunity to obtain a cargo would be from the people of Wailea, as there were no remaining trees on the shores of Sandal-wood Bay itself.

But the Waileans were at war with their neighbours and were unable to cut wood. It was usual to send shore working parties from the ship in case they were attacked by the enemies of Wail ea. The chief suggested that if Captain Robson would assist him in defeating his enemies he would guarantee to fill the ship's hold within two months. This new activity appealed not only to Charlie Savage, who was not enamoured of the mundane work of cutting sandalwood and pulling an oar, but to the ship's second mate, an Irishman named Peter Dillon.

The alliance was accordingly made, and the combined forces of Hunter's seamen, Savage's foreign legion, and Wailea's warriors laid siege to the fortress of Nabakavu. The fortress soon fell under this combined attack. The defenders were driven from the area, both fort and village being razed by fire.

The captain of the Hunter had kept his part of the bargain, but after four further months of effort the ship still lacked a full cargo. What the sailors did not realize was that the depredations over the last few years had all but exhausted the supplies of sandalwood. The goose that for so long had laid the golden egg had now lost most of its feathers and would soon expire. The Fijians could not appreciate the fact that this wood, so much desired by the sailors, and for which they had acquired so many desirable trade items, now no longer existed in their forests.

Only a year later, when a ship failed completely to get a load of sandalwood, did the realization come that commercially, as an exporter of sandalwood, Fiji was dead. But this was not comprehended by Robson, who thought that his allies were going back on their bargain, and he decided to punish them for their perfidy.

The Wailea people, after ten years' experience of the trade, had no illusions about the intentions of sandal-wood ship crews, and would not come near the ship because of the danger of being seized and held as hostages. However, they kept a sharp lookout, and when Robson's punitive expedition prepared to land the fact was soon known along the coast.

Just before the men from the Hunter left the ship a fleet of canoes arrived from Bau. They had come at the behest of Ratu Naulivou to escort back the white gunners who had been absent from Bau for the greater part of the year. The Bau warriors were soon induced to take part in the forthcoming fight and a hundred of them landed with the crew of the Hunter and Savage's musketeers.

There was no opposition to the landing and only a few men appeared in the distance as the war party neared the first village. Thinking that they had gained an easy victory and that the defenders had fled into the hills, the warriors fired the first village. The next moment they were all startled by a vakacaucau, the war cry of the Wailea folk, indicating that they had killed an enemy. The cry came from behind the attackers and between their present position and the boats. They were cut off from their boats and out of range of the ship's guns.

The vakacaucau launched an attack on all sides, and confused fighting broke out. Dillon saw the mate Norman, in charge of the expedition, speared through the chest and one of Savage's men, Graham, killed. He then took command and tried to fight his way out of the trap. He succeeded in getting into open ground but at a terrible cost, most of his men being cut down. With only five other survivors, one of whom was Savage, he gained the top of a rock pinnacle that gave an all-round field of fire. There the six men held the Waileans at bay.

At the base of the rock the Wailea warriors were yelling and milling around, while a little further away, but still in full view of Dillon and Savage, the bodies of their friends were being prepared for the ovens.

After the excitement had died down the Fijians realized that the men on the rock could not escape. Savage began talking to the enraged warriors below, reminding them that eight prisoners had been taken by the ship in earlier fighting and were still held on board, among them a brother of the bete, ot priest. Savage warned that if they were killed the prisoners would immediately be put to death. The warriors shouted back their derison at this, but the bete pushed his way forward, obviously anxious about the fate of his brother. An offer was made to exchange one man at a time and all turned to the seaman named Dafny to suggest that he should be the one to test the verity of the Fijians' offer. He was injured and unarmed, having lost his musket in the scramble up the rock.

Dafny, after some understandable argument on his part, made his way down the rock and, closely escorted by the bete, who had to push aside several of the yelling and threatening warriors, stumbled to the shore. From their position high on the rock the others were able to see his head moving among the densely packed crowd below. Then Dafny himself was visible as he came to the beach and was helped into a canoe. They also saw the canoe reach the side of the ship swinging at anchor a mile offshore, and watched the injured seaman being helped over the rail.