Faster and faster the reinforcements of canoes gather, and the Babel of guttural shouts and yells exceeds all descriptive powers. Each canoe contains at least one representative of the gentler sex; some of them two or three; but the women, contrary to all rules among civilized communities, have but little to say. Crash! I run to the other side of the deck to see what has happened; an unfortunate canoe has filled and swamped alongside, torn her thwart out by the strain upon the warp, and the apparent wreck is drifting into our wake, the crew swimming off with her, for the women are as amphibious as the men, their yells rise louder than ever, while screams of derisive laughter greet them on every side from their unsympathizing consorts. As Manoel the Portuguese expressively says, it is "every man for myself" in this crowd. Anxious to know how they will conduct under these circumstances, I jump up on the shearpole and follow them with my eye. As soon as they wind their way out of the thickest crowd of the pursuing canoes, they seize their own by the head and stern, and shooting her violently fore and aft a few times, she slops about half the water out over the two ends; a man then jumps lightly into her, and commences baling; soon she will bear another man; and it is not many minutes ere she takes her place in the fleet, though now occupying a rear position, a bit of seizing stuff completes her repairs, and they are after us again, joining in the general laugh, and eager as ever. "Haul the mainsail up! and square the main yard!" cries the old man with a desperate effort to make himself heard above the clamor and din. The orders are repeated by the mates, and the ship is soon hove to, the canoes closing up around us. Everything of a portable nature has been picked up about the decks, and stowed away out of reach, for all savages are known to be adepts at thieving; indeed their exploits in this way would do honor to the most expert "professionals" in England or America. Some caution against treachery is also necessary at all times in dealing with these people, though, as a general rule, where they come without arms, and accompanied by women and children, no danger is to be apprehended.