exhausted by hunger, as to be
unable to walk, or even to rise from the ground. He continued, however,
to crawl from place to place, until all his remaining strength was
nearly gone, when the inhuman monsters placed him in an old canoe, and
sent him adrift on the ocean! Gladly would his unhappy shipmates have
extended to him the last sad offices of friendship; that poor
consolation was denied both him and us! My heart bleeds at the
recollection of our separation and his melancholy fate--when we saw him
anxiously turn his languid eyes towards those who were doomed still to
linger on the borders of the grave! Our sighs were breathed almost in
silence, and our tears were shed in vain!

It may be observed here, that it is not their custom to deposit the
bodies of any of their dead in the earth, except very young children.
The bodies of grown people, after death, are laid in a canoe and
committed to the ocean.

It was soon our lot to part with another of our companions, Peter
Andrews. He was accused by the natives of some trifling offence, and put
to death. The savages knocked him down with their clubs, and then
despatched him in the most cruel and most shocking manner. I was at this
time at a distance from the place where he was killed. My master was
absent; and upon my hearing a noise in the direction of the place where
the foul business was transacted, and suspecting that all was not right,
I started to see what was going on. I was near the beach when I saw a
number of the savages coming towards the spot where I stood, dragging
along the lifeless and mangled body of our comrade! One of them
approached me behind, and knocked me down with his club. The body of
Andrews was thrown into the sea, and it seemed to be their determination
to destroy the whole of us. I warded off the blows aimed at me as well
as I could, and recovering myself, ran towards the hut of my master. He
had not yet returned; but, fortunately, an old man, who had previously
shown some regard for me, and who was the particular friend of my
master, happened at that moment to be passing; and seizing the man who
had pursued me, held him fast. I escaped and ran into the hut, and
crawled up through an aperture in the floor into the chamber under the
roof. I seized an old box and covered up the hole through which I had
ascended; but this was not sufficient to detain, for any great length of
time, the wretches who were thirsting for my blood. They soon succeeded