On this, turning round, he received a third full in the breast:  with such deadly precision do these savages cast their weapons.  It would appear that the third spear was already on its flight when Capt.  Barker turned, and it is to be hoped, that it was at once mortal.  He fell on his back into the water.  The natives then rushed in, and dragging him out by the legs, seized their spears, and indicted innumerable wounds upon his body; after which, they threw it into deep water, and the sea-tide carried it away.

His character.

Such, we have every reason to believe, was the untimely fate of this amiable and talented man.  It is a melancholy satisfaction to me thus publicly to record his worth; instrumental, as I cannot but in some measure consider my last journey to have been in leading to this fatal catastrophe.  Captain Barker was in disposition, as he was in the close of his life, in many respects similar to Captain Cook.  Mild, affable, and attentive, he had the esteem and regard of every companion, and the respect of every one under him.  Zealous in the discharge of his public duties, honourable and just in private life; a lover and a follower of science; indefatigable and dauntless in his pursuits; a steady friend, an entertaining companion; charitable, kind-hearted, disinterested, and sincere—­the task is equally difficult to find adequate expressions of praise or of regret.  In him the king lost one of his most valuable officers, and his regiment one of its most efficient members.  Beloved as he was, the news of his loss struck his numerous friends with sincere grief, but by none was it more severely felt than by the humble individual who has endeavoured thus feebly to draw his portrait.

From the same source from which the particulars of his death were obtained, it was reported that the natives who perpetrated the deed were influenced by no other motive than curiosity to ascertain if they had power to kill a white man.  But we must be careful in giving credit to this, for it is much more probable that the cruelties exercised by the sealers towards the blacks along the south coast, may have instigated the latter to take vengeance on the innocent as well as on the guilty.  It will be seen, by a reference to the chart, that Captain Barker, by crossing the channel, threw himself into the very hands of that tribe which had evinced such determined hostility to myself and my men.  He got into the rear of their strong hold, and was sacrificed to those feelings of suspicion, and to that desire of revenge, which the savages never lose sight of until they have been gratified.

Features of the country, and capabilities of the coast.