personal acquaintance with them. They accordingly lay off in their boat, and, hailing the Indians in Spanish, asked them if they had eggs, fowls, and beef. They replied, in broken Spanish, that they had plenty at their huts—thus evidencing, at least, that they had been accustomed to hold intercourse with Europeans. The sailors then told them to produce their stores, promising them plenty of biscuit in exchange, and, after some parley, the boat at length touched the shore. Bourne stood at the stern, gun in hand, endeavouring to keep the natives from stealing, and warned the men not to leave the boat, but they jumped ashore, promising not to stray from the spot. The Indians meanwhile offered skins for sale, which they paid for in bread. While the mate's attention was diverted from them by this barter, the Indians were coaxing his men away. He looked about, and found only one man near him, whom he immediately dispatched in pursuit of the others, and directed him to bring them without delay. The tide, at this point, rose and fell forty-two feet. It was now ebb tide, the boat was fast grounding, and, it being large and heavily loaded, he was unable to get off. The old chief and several other Indians now crowded into it, and once in could not be got out. Persuasion was useless, and they were too many to be driven away. In short, he was in their hands, and became immediately conscious of the difficulty and peril of his situation; his men gone he knew not where, the boat fast aground and crowded with savages, while nearly a thousand of the tribe congregated upon the beach.
What was before him, at the worst, he conjectured from the report. After a time, one of his men came back and
