number of their people came down than usual, but all very friendly
and civil; and they brought several kinds of provisions, for which
we satisfied them with such toys as we had; the women also brought
us milk and roots, and several things very acceptable to us, and
all was quiet; and we made us a little tent or hut of some boughs
or trees, and lay on shore all night. I know not what was the
occasion, but I was not so well satisfied to lie on shore as the
rest; and the boat riding at an anchor at about a stone’s cast from
the land, with two men in her to take care of her, I made one of
them come on shore; and getting some boughs of trees to cover us
also in the boat, I spread the sail on the bottom of the boat, and
lay under the cover of the branches of the trees all night in the
boat.
About two o’clock in the morning we heard one of our men making a
terrible noise on the shore, calling out, for God’s sake, to bring
the boat in and come and help them, for they were all like to be
murdered; and at the same time I heard the fire of five muskets,
which was the number of guns they had, and that three times over;
for it seems the natives here were not so easily frightened with
guns as the savages were in America, where I had to do with them.
All this while, I knew not what was the matter, but rousing
immediately from sleep with the noise, I caused the boat to be
thrust in, and resolved with three fusees we had on board to land
and assist our men. We got the boat soon to the shore, but our men
were in too much haste; for being come to the shore, they plunged
into the water, to get to the boat with all the expedition they
could, being pursued by between three and four hundred men. Our
men were but nine in all, and only five of them had fusees with
them; the rest had pistols and swords, indeed, but they were of
small use to them.
We took up seven of our men, and with difficulty enough too, three
of them being very ill wounded; and that which was still worse was,
that while we stood in the boat to take our men in, we were in as
much danger as they were in on shore; for they poured their arrows
in upon us so thick that we were glad to barricade the side of the
boat up with the benches, and two or three loose boards which, to
our great satisfaction, we had by mere accident in the boat. And
yet, had it been daylight, they are, it seems, such exact marksmen,
that if they could have seen but the least part of any of us, they
would have been sure of us. We had, by the light of the moon, a
little sight of them, as they stood pelting us from the shore with
darts and arrows; and having got ready our firearms, we gave them a
volley that we could hear, by the cries of some of them, had
wounded several; however, they stood thus in battle array on the
shore till break of day, which we supposed was that they might see
the better to take their aim at us.
In this condition we lay, and could not tell how to weigh our
anchor, or set up our sail, because we must needs stand up in the
boat, and they were as sure to hit us as we were to hit a bird in a
tree with small shot. We made signals of distress to the ship, and
though she rode a league off, yet my nephew, the captain, hearing
our firing, and by glasses perceiving the posture we lay in, and
that we fired towards the shore, pretty well understood us; and
weighing anchor with all speed, he stood as near the shore as he
durst with the ship, and then sent another boat with ten hands in