Our men had not long returned on board; when we saw three of the natives sit down under the trees abreast of the ship. As they continued there gazing at us till the afternoon, as soon as the cutter came in sight, not caring that both the boats should be absent at the same time, I sent my Lieutenant in the longboat, with a few beads, ribbons, and trinkets, to endeavour to establish some kind of intercourse with them, and by their means with the rest of the inhabitants; these men, however, before the boat could reach the shore, quitted their station, and proceeded along the beach. As the trees would soon prevent their being seen by our people who were making towards the land, we kept our eyes fixed upon them from the ship, and very soon perceived that they were met by three others. After some conversation, the first three went on, and those who met them proceeded towards the boat with a hasty pace. Upon this I made the signal to the Lieutenant to be upon his guard, and as soon as he saw the Indians, observing that there were no more than three, he backed the boat in to the shore, and making signs of friendship, held up to them the beads and ribbons which I had given him as presents, our people at the same time carefully concealing their arms. The Indians, however, taking no notice of the beads and ribbons, resolutely advanced within bow-shot, and then suddenly discharged their arrows, which happily went over the boat without doing any mischief; they did not prepare for a second discharge, but instantly ran away into the woods, and our people discharged some musquets after them, but none of them were wounded by the shot. Soon after this happened, the cutter came under the ship' S side, and the first person that I particularly noticed was the Master, with three arrows sticking in his body. No other evidence was necessary to convict him of having acted contrary to my orders, which appeared indeed more fully from his own account of the matter, which it is reasonable to suppose was as favourable to himself as he could make it. He said, that having seen some Indian houses with only five or six of the inhabitants, at a place about fourteen or fifteen miles to the westward of the ship' S station, where he had sounded some bays, he came to a grappling, and veered the boat to the beach, where he landed with four men, armed with musquets and pistols: that the Indians at first were afraid of him, and retired, but that soon after they came down to him, and he gave them some beads and other trifles, with which they seemed to be much pleased: that he then made signs to them for some cocoa-nuts, which they brought him, and with great appearance of friendship and hospitality, gave him a broiled fish and some boiled yams: that he then proceeded with his party to the houses, which, he said, were not more than fifteen or twenty yards from the water side, and soon after saw a great number of canoes coming round the western point of the bay, and many Indians among the trees: that being alarmed at these appearances, he hastily left the house where they had been received, and with the men, made the best of his way towards the boat; but that, before he could get on board, the Indians attacked as well those that were with him as those that were in the boat, both from the canoes and the shore. Their number, he said, was between three and four hundred; their weapons were bows and arrows, the bows were six feet five inches long, and the arrows four feet four, which they discharged in platoons, as regularly as the best disciplined troops in Europe: that it being necessary to defend himself and his people when they were thus attacked, they fired among the Indians to favour their getting into their boat, and did great execution, killing many and wounding more: that they were not however discouraged, but continued to press forward, still discharging their arrows by platoons in almost one continued flight: that the grappling being foul, occasioned a delay in hauling off the boat, during which time he, and half of the boat' S crew, were desperately wounded: that at last they cut the rope, and ran off under their foresail, still keeping up their fire with blunderbusses, each loaded with eight or ten pistol balls, which the Indians returned with their arrows, those on shore wading after them breast high into the sea: when they had got clear of these, the canoes pursued them with great fortitude and vigour, till one of them was sunk, and the numbers on board the rest greatly reduced by the fire, and then they returned to the shore.

Voyaging Accounts