down, in hopes of finding a remedy for our hunger in sleep; but we had not long composed ourselves before one of our company was disturbed by the blowing of some animal at his face, and upon opening his eyes was not a little astonished to see by the glimmering of the fire, a large beast standing over him.  He had presence of mind enough to snatch a brand from the fire, which was now very low, and thrust it at the nose of the animal, who thereupon made off:  This done, the man awoke us, and related, with horror in his countenance, the narrow escape he had of being devoured.  But though we were under no small apprehensions of another visit from this animal, yet our fatigue and heaviness was greater than our fears, and we once more composed ourselves to rest, and slept the remainder of the night without any further disturbance.  In the morning, we were not a little anxious to know how our companions had fared; and this anxiety was increased upon tracing the footsteps of the beast in the sand in a direction towards the bell-tent.  The impression was deep and plain, of a large round foot well furnished with claws.  Upon our acquainting the people in the tent with the circumstances of our story, we found that they too had been visited by the same unwelcome guest, which they had driven away by much the same expedient.

We now returned from this cruise, with a strong gale, to Wager’s Island, having found it impracticable to make farther discoveries in the barge on so dangerous a coast, and in such heavy seas.  Here we soon discovered, by the quarters of dogs hanging up, that the Indians had brought a fresh supply to our market.  Upon enquiry, we found that there had been six canoes of them, who, among other methods of taking fish, had taught their dogs to drive the fish into a corner of some pond or lake, from whence they were easily taken out by the skill and address of these savages.  The old cabal, during our absence, had been frequently revived; the debates of which generally ended in riot and drunkenness.  This cabal was chiefly held in a large tent, which the people belonging to it had taken some pains to make snug and convenient, and lined with bales of broad cloth driven from the wreck.  Eighteen of the stoutest fellows of the ship’s company had possession of this tent, from whence were dispatched committees to the captain, with the resolutions they had taken with regard to their departure, but oftener for liquor.  Their determination was to go in the long-boat to the southward by the Straits of Magellan; and the point they were labouring, was to prevail upon the captain to accompany them.  But though he had fixed upon a quite different plan, which was to go to the northward, yet he thought it politic at present seemingly to acquiesce with them, in order to keep them quiet.  When they began to stipulate with him, that he should be under some restrictions in point of command, and should do nothing without consulting his officers, he insisted upon the full exercise of his authority as before.  This broke all measures between them, and they were from this time determined he should go with them whether he would or no.  A better pretence they could not have for effecting this design, than the unfortunate affair of Mr Cozens, which they therefore made use of for seizing his person, and putting him under confinement, in order to bring him to his trial in England.