sustained ardour of the engagement surprised even those who were engaged;
and the butcher's bill was counted extraordinary by Samoans. On December
1st the women of either side collected the headless bodies of the dead,
each easily identified by the name tattooed on his forearm. Mataafa is
thought to have lost sixty killed; and the de Coetlogons' hospital
received three women and forty men. The casualties on the Tamasese side
cannot be accepted, but they were presumably much less.




CHAPTER VIII--AFFAIRS OF LAULII AND FANGALII


_November-December_ 1888

For Becker I have not been able to conceal my distaste, for he seems to
me both false and foolish. But of his successor, the unfortunately
famous Dr. Knappe, we may think as of a good enough fellow driven
distraught. Fond of Samoa and the Samoans, he thought to bring peace and
enjoy popularity among the islanders; of a genial, amiable, and sanguine
temper, he made no doubt but he could repair the breach with the English
consul. Hope told a flattering tale. He awoke to find himself
exchanging defiances with de Coetlogon, beaten in the field by Mataafa,
surrounded on the spot by general exasperation, and disowned from home by
his own government. The history of his administration leaves on the mind
of the student a sentiment of pity scarcely mingled.

On Blacklock he did not call, and, in view of Leary's attitude, may be
excused. But the English consul was in a different category. England,