was at the further end of the beach with his fowling piece, with two of
his boat's crew picking up shells: when suddenly they were surprised by
hearing a loud shout, and seeing several spears strike the rocks about
them: upon looking round, Mr. Harrison found that a party of natives were
advancing upon him with their spears poised; upon which he presented his
gun at the foremost, but, from his having waded about in the water, the
powder had got damp and would not go off. Immediately that I heard the
shout of the natives, and saw Mr. Harrison retreating from the Indians,
who were in close pursuit, I hastened to his assistance, and came up in
time to prevent them from doing any mischief; and, by occasionally
levelling my gun, kept them at bay whilst we retreated towards the wreck,
from which we were about half a mile distant. By this time Mr. Roe, who
had also heard the noise, joined; but, as he had not a gun, the only
assistance he brought was an addition to our number. Among the four
foremost of the natives was a mischievous boy, who, being emboldened by
our not firing, and showing an anxiety to get away from them, fixed his
spear and aimed it at me; upon which I fired my gun, but, as it was only
loaded with small shot, it had no effect at the distance he was from me;
the noise, however, arrested their pursuit for a moment; and by the time
they recovered their surprise, I had reloaded with ball, but to my great
mortification, upon presenting the gun to deter the boy from throwing his
spear again, it missed fire: the weapon, which at first was aimed at me,
was then thrown at one of the Dick's men, and, piercing his hat, which he
was carrying at his breast, fortunately, full of shells, only slightly
wounded one of his fingers. The man, who to all appearance was
dangerously wounded, for the spear stuck in the hat and hung suspended in
the air, drew it out, and, throwing it on the ground with the greatest
composure, continued to retreat. The natives then finding we were not
intimidated or hurt by the spears, began to make friendly gestures, which
we, of course, returned, but still continued to walk away with our faces