upon the shore, and more canoes coming from every quarter:  The firing, however, soon drove away the canoes that were about the ship, and put a stop to the coming off of others.  As soon as I saw some of them retreating, and the rest quiet, I ordered the firing to cease, hoping that they were sufficiently convinced of our superiority, not to renew the contest.  In this, however, I was unhappily mistaken:  A great number of the canoes that had been dispersed, soon drew together again, and lay some time on their paddles, looking at the ship from the distance of about a quarter of a mile, and then suddenly hoisting white streamers, pulled towards the ship’s stern, and began again to throw stones, with great force and dexterity, by the help of slings, from a considerable distance:  Each of these stones weighed about two pounds, and many of them wounded the people on board, who would have suffered much more, if an awning had not been spread over the whole deck to keep out the sun, and the hammocks placed in the nettings.  At the same time several canoes, well manned, were making towards the ship’s bow, having probably taken notice that no shot had been fired from this part:  I therefore ordered some guns forward, to be well pointed and fired at these canoes; at the same time running out two guns abaft, and pointing them well at the canoes that were making the attack.  Among the canoes that were coming toward the bow, there was one which appeared to have some chief on board, as it was by signals made from her that the others had been called together:  It happened that a shot, fired from the guns forward, hit this canoe so full as to cut it asunder.  As soon as this was observed by the rest, they dispersed with such haste that in half an hour there was not a single canoe to be seen; the people also who had crowded the shore, immediately fled over the hills with the utmost precipitation.

Having now no reason to fear any further interruption, we warped the ship up the harbour, and by noon, we were not more than half a mile from the upper part of the bay, within less than two cables’ length of a fine river, and about two and a half of the reef.  We had here nine fathom water, and close to the shore there were five.  We moored the ship, and carried out the stream-anchor, with the two shroud-hawsers, for a spring, to keep the ship’s broadside abreast of the river; we also got up and mounted the eight guns which had been put into the hold.  As soon as this was done, the boats were employed in sounding all around the bay, and in examining the shore where any of the inhabitants appeared, in order to discover, whether it was probable that they would give us any further disturbance.  All the afternoon, and part of the next morning, was spent in this service; and about noon, the master returned, with a tolerable survey of the place, and reported, that there were no canoes in sight; that there was good landing on every part of the beach; that there was nothing in the bay from which danger could be apprehended, except the reef, and some rocks at the upper end, which appeared above water; and that the river, though it emptied itself on the other side of the point, was fresh water.