This greenwood citadel, which proved impregnable by Samoan arms, may be regarded as his front; the sea covered his right; and his rear extended along the coast as far as Saluafata, and thus commanded and drew upon a rich country, including the plain of Falefa.
He was left in peace from 11th October till November 6th.

But his adversary is not wholly to be blamed for this delay, which depended upon island etiquette.

His Savaii contingent had not yet come in, and to have moved again without waiting for them would have been surely to offend, perhaps to lose them.

With the month of November they began to arrive: on the 2nd twenty boats, on the 3rd twenty-nine, on the 5th seventeen.

On the 6th the position Mataafa had so long occupied on the skirts of Apia was deserted; all that day and night his force kept streaming eastward to Laulii; and on the 7th the siege of Lotoanuu was opened with a brisk skirmish.
Each side built forts, facing across the gorge of a brook.