midnight
Exhausted , famine-stricken , and utterly disheartened by their continuous reverses , the unfortunate A'ana people were easily overcome , and the fighting survivors surrendered , appealing to their enemies to at least spare the lives of their women and children . But no mercy was shown . As night began to fall , the Manonoans began to dig a huge pit at a village named Maotâ , a mile from the scene of the battle , and as some dug , others carried an enormous quantity of dead logs of timber to the spot . By midnight the dreadful funeral pyre was completed . In case that it might be thought by my readers that I am exaggerating the horrors of `` The Pit of Maotâ , '' I will not here relate what I , personally , was told by people who were present at the awful deed , but repeat the words of Mr. Stair , an English missionary of the London Missionary Society , whose book , entitled Old Samoa , tells the story in quiet , yet dramatic language , and although in regard to some minor details he was misinformed , his account on the whole is correct , and is the same as was told to me by men who had actually participated in the tragedy . The awful preparations were completed , and then the victors , seizing those of their captives who were bound on account of their strength and had a few hours previously surrendered , hurried them to the fatal pit , in which the huge pile of timber had been lit . And as the flames roared and ascended , and the darkness of the surrounding forest was made as light as day , the first ten victims of four hundred and sixty-two were cast in to burn , amid the howls and yells of their savage captors .