1 2 7 2 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



formed. Malietoa was for some time acknowledged as king, with Tamasese as vice-king, 

 but in 1887 Malietoa was forcibly deposed by the Germans and taken away as a prisoner 

 to the Cameroons, and afterwards to Germany. Tamasese was supported by Germany 

 as king, but did not succeed in establishing a strong government, and in 1888 Mataafa, 

 a high chief of Atua, joined with those who formed the Malietoa party, and was 

 formally recognized as king in opposition to Tamasese. During the hostilities which 

 followed, a large armed party from the German ships of war, which , was landed near 

 Yailele to support the Tamasese party, came into collision with the Mataafa men, and 

 a severe engagement took place. The Germans were greatly out-numbered, but 

 fought their way to Yailele Station, and held it until relieved by their gun-boats, which 

 shelled the native villages. Two German officers and thirty-eight of the men were 

 killed in this affair. 



On Saturday, the i6th of March, 1889, a most disastrous hurricane was experienced 

 in Samoa. The force of the cyclone was not unusually great, but, owing to the 

 unsettled state of the country, there was the unusually large number of seven war-ships 

 in the port of Apia, which is notoriously unsafe during the hurricane months. For some 

 unexplained reason the warnings of the barometer, which fell below twenty-nine degrees, 

 were unheeded, and none of the ships left the port for the open sea. The sad conse- 

 quence was that the German war-ships Ebcr, Adlcr and Olga, and the American ships 

 Trenton (Admiral Kimberley), I'andalia and Nipsic were all driven on shore, and about 

 one hundred and fifty officers and men drowned in the heavy surf within a stone's 

 throw of the land.- The British war-ship Calliope steamed out to sea against the full 

 force of the wind and sea, a feat which bore good testimony to the ceurage and skill 

 of Captain Kane and his officers and crew, and to the great steam-power and weatherly 

 qualities of the ship. As the Calliope was slowly forcing her way seaward, she very 

 narrowly escaped a collision with the American Admiral's ship Trenton, which would 

 probably have been fatal to both ships. The officers and crew of the Trenton cheered 

 most heartily as the Calliope passed, in admiration of the splendid manner in which the 

 ship was handled, and to encourage the brave men in their fierce struggle with wind 

 and sea. This spontaneous compliment was highly appreciated by Captain Kane and his 

 crew, and affords another instance of the kindly feeling with which men, who are them- 

 selves brave, regard acts of bravery and determination in others. One of the most 

 interesting incidents in the events of that memorable day was the noble conduct of the 

 Samoans. About five hundred of them, under the leadership of their chiefs, rendered 

 great service in saving life, and though they were then at war with the Germans, they 

 made no distinction whatever as regards nationality, but were as ready to rescue their 

 drowning foes as they were to succour the Americans, to whose friendship they were so 

 much indebted. The unsatisfactory state of the Group still continuing, a conference was 

 held at Berlin between the three Great Powers interested, and a Treaty was formally 

 signed on the 28th of June, 1889, under which the Government is at present carried 

 on. This Treaty declares the Samoan Islands neutral territory, where the subjects of 

 the three Signatory Powers (Great Britain, the United States and Germany) have equal 

 rights; it recognizes the independence of the Samoan Government .and the free rights 

 of the natives to choose their own king or chief, according to their own laws and 



