Unbekannt

The photograph shows a group of Sāmoan men and women with customary weaponry, such as the uatogi and nifo’oti, surrounded by palm trees. The inscription on the glass negative reads “talolo”, or “script” in English. Therefore, the photograph may illustrate the gathering of people for battle, likely the first civil war that occurred between 1886 and 1894. It may have been taken by either Thomas Andrew and Alfred James Tattersall who documented scenes of political unrest in colonial Sāmoa.

Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa