Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

place, broke the rope with which he was bound, and attempted to escape from the hands of the unmerciful cannibals. He was, however, closely pursued, soon overtaken and brought back; as he passed me, he cast his eyes towards me and fainted; in this situation he was placed erect in one of the holes. The woods now resounded with the heart-piercing cries of my poor children-" spare, O spare my father!" was their cry "have mercy on my poor children!" was the cry of their father; it availed nothing; my dear children were all placed in a situation similar to that of their father; the youngest (only nine years old) broke from them, and ran up to me, crying, " don't mammy, pray don't let them kill me!"

[ocr errors]

Alas, O heavens, what could I do? In vain did I beg of them to let me take my dear child's place! by force it was torn from me, in an hour when I could afford it no protection. "Having placed the poor unfortunate victims in the manner above described, they secured them in a standing position, by replacing the earth, which buried them nearly to their necks!

"The inhuman wretches now began their hideous pow-wows, dancing to and fro around the victims of their torture, which they continued about half an hour, when they communicated fire to the fatal piles! Heaven only knows what my feelings were at this moment! As the flames increased, the shrieks and dying groans of my poor family were heightened! Thank Heaven, their sufferings were of short duration; in less than a quarter of an hour from the time the fire was first communicated, their cries ceased, and they sank into the arms of their kind deliverer.

"The callous-hearted wretches

having sufficiently feasted their eyes with the agonies of the sufferers, retired to regale themselves with what liquor remained; they drank freely, and soon became senseless; with one of their tomahawks I might with ease have dispatched them all, but my only desire was to flee from them as quick as possible. I succeeded with difficulty in liberating myself, by cutting the cord with which I was bound, on which I bent my course for this place. A piece of bear's flesh, which I fortunately found in one of the Indian's packs, served me for food. I travelled only nights, in the day-time concealing myself in the thick swamps, or hollow trees. A party of Indians passed within a few rods of the place of my concealment the second day after my depar ture, but did not discover me; they were undoubtedly of the party from whom I had escaped, in pursuit of me. Two days after, I was met by an Indian of the Shawanese nation; he proved friendly, and conducted me to a white settlement; without his assistance I must have again fallen into the hands of my savage foes."

Singular Adventure of a British Soldier, in a Campaign in North

America.

In the year 1779, when the war with America was conducted with great spirit upon that continent, a division of the British army was encamped on the banks of a river, and in a position so favoured by nature, that it was difficult for any military art to surprise it. War in America was rather a species of hunting than a regular campaign. "If you fight with art," said Washington to his soldiers, "you are sure to be de

feated.

Not a trace was left of the manner in which they had been conveyed away, except that, upon one or two occasions, a few drops of blood had appeared upon the leaves which covered the ground. Many imputed this unaccountable disappearance to treachery, and suggested as an unanswerable argument, that the men thus surprised might at least have fired their muskets, and communicated the alarm to the contiguous posts. Others, who could not be brought to consider it as treachery, were content to receive it as a mystery which time would unravel.

feated. Acquire discipline enough nicating any alarm, or being heard for retreat and the uniformity of of after. combined attack, and your country. will prove the best of engineers." So true was the maxim of the American general, that the English soldiers had to contend with little else. The Americans had incorporated the Indians into their ranks, and had made them useful in a species of war to which their habits of life had peculiarly fitted them. They sallied out of their impenetrable forests and jungles, and, with their arrows and tomahawks, committed daily waste upon the British army,-surprising their centinels, cutting off their stragglers; and even when the alarm was given, and pursuit commenced, they fled with a swiftness that the speed of cavalry could not overtake, into rocks and fastnesses whither it was dangerous to follow them.

In order to limit as far as possible this species of war, in which there was so much loss and so little honour, it was the custom with every regiment to extend its outposts to a great distance beyond the encampments; to station centi nels some miles in the woods, and keep a constant guard round the main body.

A regiment of foot was at this time stationed upon the confines of a boundless savannah. Its particular office was to guard every avenue of approach to the main body; the centinels, whose posts penetrated into the woods, were supplied from the ranks, and the service of this regiment was thus more hazardous than that of any other. Its loss was likewise great. The centinels were perpetually surprised upon their posts by the Indians, and were borne off their stations without commuVOL. XLIX.

One morning, the centinels having been stationed as usual over night, the guard went at sun-rise to relieve a post which extended a considerable distance into the wood. The centinel was gone! The surprise was great; but the circumstance had occurred before. They left another man, and departed, wishing him better luck, "You need not be afraid," said the man with warmth, "I shall not desert."

The relief company returned to the guard-house.

The centinels were replaced every four hours, and, at the appointed time, the guard again marched to relieve the post. To their inexpressible astonishment the man was gone! They searched round the spot, but no traces could be found of his disappearance. It was necessary that the station, from a stronger motive than ever, should not remain unoccupied; they were compelled to leave another man, and returned to the guard-house. The superstition of the soldiers was awakened, 3 N

and

and the terror ran through the regiment. The colonel, being apprised of the occurrence, signified his intention to accompany the guard when they relieved the centinel they had left. At the appointed time, they all marched together; and * again, to their unutterable wonder, they found the post vacant, and the man gone!

Under these circumstances, the _colonel hesitated whether he should station a whole company on the spot, or whether he should again submit the post to a single centinel. The cause of these repeated disappearances of men, whose courage and honesty were never suspected, must be discovered; and it seemed not likely that this discovery could be obtained by persisting in the old method. Three brave men were now lost to the regiment, and to assign the post to a fourth, seemed nothing less than giving him up to destruction. The poor fellow whose turn it was to take the station, though a man in other respects of incomparable resolution, trembled from head to foot.

"I must do my duty," said he to the officer, "I know that; but I should like to lose my life with more credit."

"I will leave no man," said the colonel, "against his will."

A man immediately stept from the ranks, and desired to take the post. Every mouth commended his resolution. "I will not be taken alive," said he, "and you shall hear of me on the least alarm. At all events I will fire my piece if I hear the least noise. If a crow chatters, or a leaf falls, you shall bear my musket. You may be alarmed when nothing is the matter; but you

must take the chance as the condition of the discovery."

The colonel applauded his courage, and told him he would be right to fire upon the least noise which was ambiguous. His comrades shook hands with him, and left him with a melancholy forboding. The company marched back, and waited the event in the guardhouse.

An hour had elapsed, and every ear was upon the rack for the discharge of the musket, when, upon a sudden, the report was heard. The guard immediately marched, accompanied, as before, by the colonel, and some of the most experienced officers of the regiment. As they approached the post, they saw the man advancing towards them, dragging another man on the ground by the hair of his head. When they came up to him, it appeared to be an Indian whom he had shot. An explanation was immediately required.

"I told your honour," said the man," that I should fire if I heard the least noise. The resolution I had taken has saved my life. I had not been long on my post when I heard a rustling at some short distance; I looked, and saw an American hog, such as are common in the woods, crawling along the ground, and seemingly looking for nuts under the trees and amongst the

leaves. As these animals are so very common, I ceased to consider it for some minutes; but being on the constant alarm and expectation of attack, and scarcely knowing what was to be considered a real cause of apprehension, I kept my eyes vigilantly fixed upon it, and marked its progress among the trees;

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

still there was no need to give the to give them an opportunity to disalarm, and my thoughts were direct- charge their pieces, either stabbed ed to danger from another quarter. or scalped them, and bore their It struck ine, however, as somewhat bodies away, which they concealed singular to see this animal making, at some distance in the leaves. The by a circuitous passage, for a thick Americans gave them rewards for coppice immediately behind my every scalp of an enemy which they post. I therefore kept ny eye brought. Whatever circumstances more constantly fixed upon it, and of wonder may appear in the preas it was now within a few yards of sent relation, there are many vow the coppice, hesitated whether I alive who can attest its authenticity. should not fire. My comrades, thought I, will laugh at me for alarming them by shooting a pig !

New Discoveries. I had almost, resolved to let it alone, when, just as it approached the The royal hydrographical office thicket, I thought I observed it give of Madrid, has published, by comau unusual spring. I no longer he- mand of the Prince of the Peace, in sitated : I took my aim; discharged the Gazette of that city, the followmy piece; and the animal was in- ing notice, relative to a discovery stantly stretched before me with a recently made in the South Sea : groan which I conceived to be that The frigate La Pala, belonging of a human creature. I went up to to the Philippine Company, and it, and judge my astonishment, when commanded by Don Jolan Baptiste I found that I had killed an Indian! Monteverde, her

voyage

from He had enveloped himself with the Manilla to Lima, discovered on the skin of one of these wild hogs so 18th of February, 1806, a group. artfully and completely; his hands islands, the southernmost of which and feet were so entirely concealed is situated in 3 deg. 29 min. Northa in it, and his gait and appearance latitude, and 162 deg. 5 min. East were so exactly correspondent to longitude, from Cadiz. that of the animal's, that, imper- These islands, 29 in number, ocfectly as they were always seen cupy a space of 10 leagues from through the trees and jungles, the NE. to SW. and are separated by disguise could not be penetrated at channels, one or two leagues in a distance, and scarcely discovered breadth. They are low, woody, upon the nearest aspect. He was and intersected with rivers. Their armed with a dagger and toma- inhabitants are of the most pacific hawk.”

disposition. They first approached Such was the substance of this the frigate to the number of 21, in man's, relation. The cause of the two canoes. disappearance of the other centinels. When they had come within was now apparent. The Indians, musket shot, they ceased rowing, sheltered in this disguise, secreted and held some cocoa-nuts towards themselves in the coppice; watched the Spaniards, shouting and making the moment when they could throw signs. The frigate clewed her sails, it off; burst upon the centinels with- and hoisted the Spanish colours. out previous aların, and, too quick This maneuvre having apparently

3 N 2

excited

on

of

[ocr errors]

excited some apprehensions in the Islanders, the Spanish colours were struck, and a white flag was hoisted, the crew, at the same time, calling and making signs to the canoes to approach. They accordingly, came alongside, and gave the Spaniards some cocoa-nuts, without demanding any thing in return, but none of them could be persuaded to come on board. The crew of the frigate then distributed among them some old knives, iron-rings, and pieces of red cloth; and this liberality excited such joy and gratitude in these good people, that they immediately stripped their canoes to make presents to the Spaniards; their nets, their fish-hooks, their cocoa-nut shells, which served them for cups, their enormous hats, made of the leaves of the palm-tree, were all, in a moment, removed on board of the frigate; and they, at length, proceeded to strip themselves of their only garment, fastened round their waist, in order to testify their gratitude to their benefactors. Still they were not content with themselves, and gave the Spaniards to understand, that they would return to their island to fetch other presents, and requesting that the frigate would wait for them.

These Indians are tall, well made, robust, and active. They are of an olive colour, have flat noses, black curled hair, but of considerable length. In each canoe was a venerable old man, naked like the others, and who appeared to be their chief. One very remarkable circumstance is, that these two old men were white, and had acquiline noses. They had rather the air of Spaniards than of savages. Captain Monteverde adds, that these islands, and their aged chiefs, wore a consider

able resemblance, in their features and conduct, to the Indians of the islands of St. Bartholemew, and those of Cala and Ibictar, where he landed in 1800, with the frigate La Philippine, commanded by Don Juan Abarguitia.

Description of St. David's Islands, in the Passage to China. By Captain Barclay. Published for general Information.

To John Shore, Esq. Sec. to Hon. Company's Marine Board, Calcutta.

Sir,

Induced from having touched at St. David's Islands, in the North Pacific Ocean, in our way to China, in the Mangles, and not knowing of any correct account yet being obtained of their danger, natives, &c. I beg permission to present you with a short description, and a small chart of them.

The best account yet given of them, is by capt. Williams, when, commanding the hon. company's ship Thames, he saw them on his passage home from China, coming the eastern route. He places them from latitude 1° S. to 0° 55m S. their longitude from 134. 17 E. to 134. 25 E.; which, at the distance he passed them, must be considered as very accurate. By a good observation, at noon; when close in with them, we made the centre of the reef to be, on 0o 54 S. and by one of Margett's chronometers, No. 209, whose rate had been regular for upwards of two years, 134 20 E. The full extent of the reef and islands is about fourteen miles north and south; and their breadth east to west five miles.

Captain Williams not passing close enough to perceive the danger of the

reef

« ForrigeFortsett »