I plunged in and very soon found myself caught in a tideway so violent that resistance to its force, so as either to get on or return, appeared at the moment hopeless.* My left hand, in which I held the pistol, was called into requisition to save my life; for the stream washed the cap from my head and, the cap then filling with water, and being carried down by the strong current, the chin-strap caught round my neck and nearly throttled me as I dragged it after me through the water; whilst the loose folds of my shirt, being washed out to seawards by the tide, kept getting entangled with my arm.  I grew weak and faint but still swam my best, and at last I providentially reached a reef of rocks which projected from the opposite shore, and to which I clung until I had somewhat regained my strength.

(Footnote.  I should state that the rise and fall of tide here is thirty-eight feet.)

Danger from natives.

I then clambered up on the rocks, and from thence made my way to the beach; but no sooner had I gained it than I heard a native call from the top of the cliffs, and the answering cries of his comrades rang through the wood as they followed me along; my pistol was so thoroughly soaked in my passage across the inlet that it was quite useless except as a club.  To attempt to swim back again after the narrow escape I had just had would have been madness; besides which if I had succeeded I should have lost the object for which I had put my life at hazard.  Nothing therefore was left but to walk along shore to the schooner, trusting, in my defenceless state, that I might not fall in with any natives.  It was now dark and the shore was so broken and rocky that I got terribly cut and bruised, and was, moreover, so weak from my exertions in swimming that when I arrived opposite the vessel I could scarcely hail.  Some of those on board however heard me (as I found afterwards) and shouted in reply; but their voices never reached my ears, and I imagined they were too far for I could not now see the vessel.

I made one or two more efforts to hail the Lynher, but the noise I made had now attracted the notice of the natives and I heard their cries in several directions round me; this rendered my situation an unpleasant one for I was worn out, naked, and defenceless:  at first I thought to return and rejoin my party, and even turned back for a short distance with this intention, but I found myself too weak for such an undertaking and changed my plans; resolving to remain nearly opposite to the vessel until the morning, and resting my chance of safety upon being discovered from it before the natives found me.

Taken up by the LYNHER’S boat.