When one of their parties had sallied out, there were two men walking along the beach, carrying a canoe; a shot that was fired to drive the sallying party back, struck so near these men, that it threw the sand and gravel all over them. They laid the canoe down and looked round them for a few moments, when they took it up again and walked along, as they would have done under the most ordinary circumstances. When the captain became impatient of his confined situation on the beach, besieged and harrassed as he constantly was by the natives, he made bold to risk an excursion back upon the island, to show the natives his disregard for them, and, at the same time, satisfy himself as to the existence of water. They did not any where oppose him or appear in numbers; a few persons were seen behind the trees, or stealing along through the thickets without any demonstration of hostility. His discoveries were few and unimportant; the only place where he found water, was in an old well, where it was stagnant and unfit for use. In the huts that he entered, were stores of dry cocoa-nuts, and a preparation of dried fish and sea-moss. We were filled with solicitude for our party when beyond the reach of our assistance, knowing that they had no other means of safety than the opinion which might exist among the natives of their invincibility, and we were highly gratified, after an hour's watching, to see them returning to their old place of blockade--the coral bank. It was now sundown, and the surf had increased so much that we did not believe it possible for a boat to reach the shore and return in safety; and to send men there without a prospect of their being enabled to return, would be but a useless sacrifice of lives; but here was our people on shore; the natives had followed them on their return to the beach; and their remaining after dark would probably be attended with the most serious consequences. Two men, who were good swimmers, came forward and volunteered their services to take on shore a light boat that we had, and although I might have felt unwilling to exercise authority in the performance of so hazardous a service, I was happy to accept the generous offer. They landed in safety, and the boat being deeply laden with the captain and his party, they clung with one hand to her quarter, swimming with the other, until after a severe and most doubtful struggle, she emerged from the surf, almost filled with water, and was soon afterwards alongside. It was thought that if there had been one more breaker to pass, all would have perished.