[LARGE PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM OF SEVERAL PACIFIC ISLANDS]

Book Description

[Various places, but including, Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, & Fiji. ca. 1910].. Seventy-one photographs of primarily two sizes (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches or 9 x 4 inches), mounted on fifteen album cards; sixteen blank cards follow. Oblong folio. Contemporary three quarter maroon morocco and pebbled cloth, rebacked, original backstrip laid down. Locations generally provided in manuscript in upper margin. Minor repair on corners, slightly rubbed. Images and cards with minor foxing, occasional moderate fading. Overall very good. A fine album containing wide views of Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, and Fiji, including a photograph of a blueprint battle plan for the submission of a Samoan revolt in 1899. Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, various native revolts made incursions attempted by the German, British, and Americans, respectively, increasingly difficult. Ten years earlier, the Germans were engaged in a fierce but brief conflict with natives, immortalized in Robert Louis Stevenson's WAR IN SAMOA, a collection of dispatches he composed while residing on the island during the conflict. While the German conflict petered out into mere occasional flare-ups, tensions rose to a new high in 1899 when the native leader, Mata'afa, sought to repel foreign influence (which now included the Americans and British) forever. Armed with Mauser machine guns (given as "gifts" from the Germans, to appease their former enemies), they began harassing Western civilians. British and American gunboats took position off the Samoan coast and started shelling the rebels. When this proved ineffectual, they launched an ill- fated expedition under Lieut. Angel Hope Freeman of the Royal Navy. On April 1, 1899, Freeman and his men were ambushed, and most were brutally slaughtered near Apia, on the same site where Samoan natives massacred a German patrol in 1888. In response, the Anglo-American fleet in the harbor doubled their previous shelling, forcing Mata'afa and his followers to surrender. Germany, Great Britain, and the United States promptly divided the island between them. The present battle plan shows rebel positions, weapons locations, terrain, and routes of advance and retreat, as well as nearby villages. The plan is dated April 2, the day the British and the Americans began bombardment of the Mata'afa and his men. It is quite likely this photograph is the only surviving record of the Anglo-American plan of attack. The remainder of the album shows various dramatic landscape views of the islands, with beaches, lush mountains, rock formations, and waterfalls all represented. Natives are shown engaging with whites in a variety of ways (including the opening and closing ceremonies for the Tonga Parliament), but they are also shown bathing, spear fishing, and climbing trees. Western influence is also clearly documented, as the views of the Tonga Royal Palace (an ornate structure with definitive Victorian influences) and panoramic shots of Honolulu attest. A wonderful album, with profound historical and cultural significance.

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