Back again at Bau, Savage shut himself up in his house and thoroughly cleaned and checked the weapon before he demonstrated it to the warriors. When he emerged he set a thick canoe deck plank on its edge and, training the musket on it, opened fire. The report both deafened and temporarily stunned the onlookers, whose first reaction was anger that they had been frightened and that Savage had not warned them what to expect. Seizing the initiative, before he was clubbed for his temerity, Savage now drew their attention to the hole in the thick deep plank of the canoe and invited any of the warriors present to try to pierce it with a spear, or to break it up with a club.
Thus the warriors of Bau were made aware of the potentialities of the new weapon, but only Savage knew of its present limitations—the supply of powder, wad-ding and ball. He managed to convince Ratu Naulivou of this limitation before using the new arm in battle, and he was soon off to Lau, again in the care of Daulakeba, to search another wreck from which he returned triumphant, not only with powder, ball and more muskets, but also with a supply of cloth for wadding.
His first employment of the new weapon was a masterpiece of the conservation of ammunition and tactical use of the musket. It was the attack on the fortifications of Nakelo, Rewa.
Nakelo, on the Rewa River delta, was an important place on the water highway between Bau and Rewa. For a long time Bau canoes had been forbidden to pass Nakelo, resulting in a much longer voyage around the byways of the delta. The village was surrounded by a stockade, as were all the delta villages, and was considered to be impregnable, never having been breached.
Instead of pouring musket fire haphazardly through the wickerwork breastwork, Savage had a high platform built which enabled him to see over the stockade. From the platform, and protected from spears by a small shelter with an embrasure where he could sight and fire, he discharged deadly fire on the defenders, picking off the chief and the most important warriors first. All were easily identified by their dress. Terrified, the Nakelo people stampeded out of the fort to be cut down by the waiting Bau warriors. The Bauans suffered no loss; after burning the fort and village, they forced the remaining Nakelo men to dig a ditch through the peninsula. Successive tides widened the canal until it was possible for Bau canoes to pass through. This cutting has endured through the years.
Confident now of their new power, the Bau warriors roved farther afield on their canoe voyages, and it was not long after this that Savage and his companions came across a large party of Verata fishermen. Because of the discrepancy in numbers and the lowly status of Bau, it would normally have been necessary for the Bauans to seek safety in flight. But Savage, with the musket from which he was never parted, routed the fishermen.
MAP 4: Rewa and Bau Regions on Viti Levu
After this fight a full-scale attack was launched on Verata itself, using the technique developed at Nakelo. After the first few well-placed musket shots, the Verata defenders began to pour out of the fortified stockade in full flight. Savage, exulting in the apparent easy victory, rushed forward to tear down a portion of the stockade to afford himself a wider field of fire. Concentrating only on aiming his musket, he received a spear wound in the side from a Verata warrior who had stayed to guard the stockade and had to be carried from the field of battle. His first musket shots had, however, ensured a victory in which the Bauans repaid the insults they had suffered over the years from their powerful neighbours.
On his return to Bau, Charlie was delirious and uttered "strange oaths" that the Fijians had not heard before but which were probably very ordinary swearing words in Swedish. He refused the attention of the various Fijian doctors and would only allow water to be poured over his wound. The treatment was apparently good, as he soon recovered.
Just before the attack on Verata he had sent word to several sailors living there to evacuate the area, and these men now joined him at Bau. They were important as at that time no Fijian could be prevailed upon to fire a musket. The whole firepower of an army was in the hands of the ex-sailors and beachcombers who were living under the protection of various chiefs. With these sailors Charlie formed the nucleus of an army of homeless whites whose ragged volleys were destined to push Bau into an eminence never previously known.
Savage had always been a protege of the chief of Bau, but now he was adopted into the clan itself and was no longer regarded as a foreigner.
Despite this he retained his unruly character and often derided the Fijian customs to which he was subject. He was always implacably opposed to cannibalism and on one occasion threatened with a loaded musket warriors who were proposing to eat the body of an enemy. Such was the power of his personality and the regard in which he was held by Ratu Naulivou that he was able to display this objection to rooted Fijian tradition.
Shortly after the battle for Verata, a ceremony to recognize the newly initiated warriors was performed. Charlie Savage was one of the young men so chosen, an honour never previously given to a foreigner. He was painted with black dye and turmeric as was the custom, but he laughed at these efforts to make him appear more fearsome.
The ceremony was to honour the young men who had gained distinction in battle, just as young squires had been awarded their spurs in the old days in England. As the name of each new warrior or koroi was called out he presented gifts to the chief and received his new name, won in battle, and a spear.
Savage appeared last, carrying his musket, and was given the name of Koroi na Vunivalu, the most honourable name of all, meaning "warrior of the commander in chief."
The newly designated koroi were now taken to a house where they were to stay for several days, but Savage broke the tabu and returned to his own house.
From this time onwards he was given more honour and respect than any other except the Vunivalu himself. He not only controlled the Fijian warriors and held absolute sway over them but was also recognized as chief by all the ex-sailors from the sandalwood ships who had joined the forces of Bau.
Two ladies of high rank were given to him as wives, and he set up his own establishment complete with menservants. The other Europeans who recognized his leadership lived separately and were only regarded as commoners and still foreigners. But Savage now sat in the councils of the chiefs of Bau.
Because of the high rank of his wives, any sons born to them would have been vasu or particularly favoured nephews to other chiefs. Such men, from whom no request could be refused, would therefore have much power in the land. Great care was taken to ensure that all Savage's children were stillborn. Only one child survived, a daughter named Maria, born to a Lomaloma woman of high rank.
Bau now enjoyed more power than at any time in the past. In swift succession, Buretu, Kuiva and Tokatoka-towns in the delta-fell before the Bau attack, so that only the powerful centre of Rewa remained un-conquered in this area.
More women were added to Savage's establishment, and he had as much power as any of his contemporaries. He had many women and servants and was feared among the Fijians of Bau as were the highest born chiefs, a lifestyle in great contrast to the cramped forecastles and weevily food he had known for years.
Two men, Lui, a Chinaman and cook, and a seaman named Thomas Dafny, who had been on the Eliza, had been with him for the longest period, but many others had joined his army since that time. Among them were John Graham from Sydney and Mike McCabe and John Atkin, recently discharged from the ship City of Edinburgh. Within a few years his band included a man named Terence Dunn, a German, a Lascar, a Tahitian, a Tongan, an