now they were dead, murdered by the band of savages I saw around me, apparently thirsting for more blood. Of all my sufferings in the wilderness, there was nothing equal to the agony I now endured. My feelings made me desperate, so that when a tall powerful fellow came to the hut some time after, to demand my friend's spears, I refused, in fierce language, to surrender them, so that he desisted; ordering me however away, with a quantity of fish, and his rug, to where his wife and family were, telling me to wait there until his arrival; at the same time, assuring me of his good-will and future friendship. These I did not choose to rely upon, and so, after having arrived at a convenient distance from the scene of these savage murders, I resolved on making my escape. With this view, I tied my spears together, and put myself in light marching order, rolled up my rug as tightly as possible, crossed the river, and made for the bush; going in another direction to that which I thought it likely the savages would follow in pursuit.
After what I have stated as to their cold-blooded murders, I may surely call them savages, although, as we have seen, there are many kind-hearted creatures amongst them.
When I got about four miles, I unexpectedly fell in with a tribe I knew, to whom, my hurry and fright was a source of great anxiety. I told them all that had happened, on hearing which, they immediately prepared for vengeance on the murderers, for the young man was amongst them to whom my old friend's son had given
