The island was small, producing but few nut trees, and having but a small number of huts upon it, notwithstanding which, there were several hundreds of people assembled;--a great crowd, considering the thinly populated state of the islands. But as this large assemblage could only have been brought together from some extraordinary cause, I determined to land and search their huts, and look round, before I made so wide a breach with them, as must necessarily result from the seizure of their canoes. I was sorry to see, on our coming near them, that they were sending their women and children towards the huts, which were at a short distance from the assemblage of natives; a movement that indicated a want of confidence in us on their part, or what was still less agreeable to us, a disposition to hostility. There was some surf on the shore where we were about to land near the canoes, and that the boat might be the more readily at our disposal when we should have occasion for her after landing, I dropped an anchor, and was in the act of veering to through the surf, when, to my astonishment, a person dressed and looking like a native, addressed us in our own language. He was standing upon the beach thirty or forty yards distant, and half way between us and the natives, all of whom had seated themselves. The first words that we understood, were, "The Indians are going to kill you: don't come on shore unless you are prepared to fight." The scene now presented to us, inspired an indescribable sensation; for, although we were convinced that this was one of the men we were so anxiously looking for, his sudden and unexpected appearance, his wild attire, and above all, his warning, seemed like an illusion of fancy. His hair was long, combed up, and tied in a knot on the top of his head; round his loins, he wore a large mat, finely wrought, and the use of cocoa-nut oil, and the action of a tropical sun, for nearly two years, had made his skin almost as dark as that of the natives. He earnestly repeated, several times, that we must not land unless we were prepared to fight, and described the plan the natives had concerted with him, which was, to prevail upon us to come on shore and seat ourselves amongst them, when, at a given signal, they would all rise and knock us on the head with stones. This statement was probable enough, but the suspicion that this was one of the mutineers, very naturally occurred to our minds, with the questions, "Why have we not found him before? and, why does he not now fly to us for protection, if he is innocent?"--forgetting that our contemptible numbers precluded all idea of safety to him, if opposed by the numerous assemblage of natives by whom he was surrounded. I asked his name, which he told me was William Lay, and that he was one of the crew of the Globe. His stature and juvenile appearance, answered the description we had of him. I told him to come to the boat, but he