shot, the sailors who were on shore, amounting to twenty-five, fired a volley out of the wood, which killed and wounded a great number.  The islanders retreated in confusion, then gave a loud shout and advanced.  Another volley was fired, and they again retreated, bearing off their killed and wounded.  They now held a consultation, which ended in their dividing into two bodies, one of which separated from the other, so that they might attack the party in the wood from two different points.

In the meantime several of the women leaped overboard and swam on shore, and the men in the boats were so busy in preventing the others from following, that they could give no assistance to the party in the wood, although they were within musket-shot.  The conduct of the islanders puzzled our men, and although I had taken no part in this murderous attack, yet as I now considered my life at stake, I thought that I must assist.  I therefore advised them to retreat to the ship, which, if they once gained possession of, they would be enabled to keep the islanders at bay.  My advice was followed, and creeping through the thick underwood, we reached the ship in safety, having climbed up by rope-ladders, which were hanging from her, to enable us to go on board, to fetch any articles we required.  We hauled them up after us, and waited the issue.  In a few minutes, one of the parties of the islanders came up, and seeing the ship with us on board, gave a loud yell, and let fly their spears.  We returned a volley which killed many, but they were very brave, and continued the attack although we fired twenty or thirty rounds with great execution.

The other party now came up, and the conflict continued; they made every attempt to climb the stern and sides of the vessel, but were repulsed; and as the evening closed in, they retired, taking away their killed and wounded, which we estimated at two hundred men.  When they retreated, we fired some of our large guns in that direction, as much to frighten the islanders, as to let our comrades in the canoes know where we were.

We kept a sharp look out till dark, but saw no more of them.  I proposed that we should attempt to communicate with the men in the canoes, and desire them to permit some of them to drift on shore after taking out the women, as the islanders would then in all probability go away.  But as the men very justly remarked, nobody in the first place would venture on such a dangerous service, and in the next, if the islanders obtained some of their canoes, they would attack the others and overpower the sailors that were in them.  This plan was therefore justly overruled.  I then proposed that one man should steal down to the beach, swim off, and desire the fourteen men to take all the women into one canoe, and pull round to the north side of the island during the night, leaving the remainder for the islanders to go away in.  This was considered a good scheme, but no one would volunteer, and, as I had proposed it, I thought that