The peculiarly tender treatment of Mataafa must be explained by his relationship to Tamasese.
Laupepa was of Malietoa blood.

The hereditary retainers of the Tupua would see him exiled even with some complacency.

But Mataafa was Tupua himself; and Tupua men would probably have murmured, and would perhaps have mutinied, had he been harshly dealt with.
The native opposition, I say, was in a sense continuous.

And it kept continuously growing.

The sphere of Brandeis was limited to Mulinuu and the north central quarters of Upolu--practically what is shown upon the map opposite.