reception at New York and Boston.

Having thus briefly related the story of our captivity and sufferings,
it only remains to give an account of our escape from this barbarous
people. We continued to survive the horrible sufferings to which we were
constantly subjected, and to serve our tyrannical masters, in despite of
our agonies of body and mind, till the beginning of the autumn of 1834;
at which time we had become so emaciated, feeble, and sickly, that we
found it impossible any longer even to attempt to labor. By this time we
had acquired a sufficient knowledge of their tongue to converse fluently
with the natives, and we informed our masters, that our feeble condition
rendered it impossible for us to attempt to do any thing more. We also
reasoned the matter with them, telling them that death was our
inevitable doom, unless we were allowed to relax our labor; that if we
died we could be of no service to them, but if allowed a respite, and we
lived, and could be put on board a vessel, they should be liberally
rewarded.

With much difficulty we at length persuaded our masters to allow us to
quit labor, and obtained from them a promise to be put on board the
first vessel that should come to the island. But, at the same time, they
informed us, that if we ceased to work, they should cease to furnish the
miserable allowance of cocoa-nut on which we had before subsisted, and
that we must either labor or starve. We deemed death as welcome in one
shape as in another, and relinquished our labors and our pittance of
food together.

We were thus literally turned out to die! We crawled from place to
place, subsisting upon leaves, and now and then begging of the natives a
morsel of cocoa-nut. In this way we contrived to live for about two
months, when the joyful intelligence was brought to us that a vessel was
in sight, and was coming near the island! Hope once more revisited our
despairing hearts, and seemed to inspire us with renewed strength and
animation.

[Illustration: ESCAPE TO THE BRITANNIA.]

After taxing our exhausted powers to the utmost, we persuaded the
natives to prepare for visiting the vessel; and throwing our emaciated
bodies into their canoes, we made for the ship with all possible
despatch. The vessel proved to be the British barque Britannia, captain
Short, bound to Canton. Our reception on board is faithfully described
in the following certificate given by captain Short, the original of
which i