A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
At night, soon after it was dark, we heard the noise of many drums, with
conchs, and other wind-instruments, and saw a multitude of lights all
along the coast. At six in the morning, seeing none of the natives on
shore, and observing that the pendant was taken away, which probably
they had learnt to despise, as the frogs in the fable did King Log, I
ordered the lieutenant to take a guard on shore, and, if all was well,
to send off, that we might begin watering: In a short time, I had the
satisfaction to find that he had sent off for water-casks, and by eight
o'clock, we had four tons of water on board. While our people were
employed in filling the casks, several of the natives appeared on the
opposite side of the river, with the old man whom the officer had seen
the day before; and soon after he came over, and brought with him a
little fruit, and a few fowls, which were also sent off to the ship. At
this time, having been very ill for near a fortnight, I was so weak that
I could scarcely crawl about; however, I employed my glasses to see what
was doing on shore. At near half an hour after eight o'clock, I
perceived a multitude of the natives coming over a hill at about the
distance of a mile, and at the same time a great number of canoes making
round the western point, and keeping close along the shore. I then
looked at the watering-place, and saw at the back of it, where it was
clear, a very numerous party of the natives creeping along behind the
bushes; I saw also many thousands in the woods, pushing along towards
the watering-place, and canoes coming very fast round the other point of
the bay to the eastward. Being alarmed at these appearances, I
dispatched a boat, to acquaint the officer on shore with what I had
seen, and order him immediately to come on board with his men, and leave
the casks behind him: He had, however, discovered his danger, and
embarked before the boat reached him. Having perceived the Indians that
were creeping towards him under shelter of the wood, he immediately
dispatched the old man to them, making signs that they should keep at a
distance, and that he wanted nothing but water. As soon as they
perceived that they were discovered, they began to shout, and advanced
with greater speed. The officer immediately repaired to the boats with
his people, and the Indians, in the mean time, having crossed the river,
took possession of the water-casks, with great appearance of exultation
and joy. The canoes now pulled along the shore, towards the place, with
the utmost expedition, all the people on land keeping pace with them,
except a multitude of women and children, who seated themselves upon a
hill which overlooked the bay and the beach. The canoes from each point
of the bay, as they drew nearer to that part of it where the ship was at
anchor, put on shore, and took in more men, who had great bags in their
hands, which afterwards appeared to be filled with stones. All the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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