This was just the beginning of the German occupation. During the bombardment the first shot fired from the German warship had wrecked the German Consulate on the beach instead of hitting the hills beyond, where Mataaffa’s men were supposed to be concealed; and this, with other things, seemed to have produced a bad impression in the minds of the natives.
At any rate, after the second whistle had gone, when the band played “God Save the Queen” and the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the Samoans sang their versions of the words for all their lungs were worth, but when, in deference to the presence of the German Consul on board, an attempt was made at “Die Wacht am Rhein,” there was first a deadly silence and then a deep-voice “hoo-o-o,” which I interpreted as being the Samoan for “come out of it,” or words to that effect.
This, by the way, is a humble, but by no means unmeaning “footnote to history.”