ble. He was, however, able to give the following account
of his life there. The Stedcombe, on leaving Melville Island, had gone to
Timor Laut for live stock and had moored off Louron. Mr. Bastell, the
mate in charge, then proceeded on shore with the crew, leaving on board
the steward, a boy named John Edwards, and himself. As Mr. Bastell and
the crew did not return he (Forbes) looked through the glass and then
beheld their bodies stretched out on the beach--the heads severed from
each. As a canoe was perceived approaching the ship, he proposed to the
steward and to John Edwards that they should arm: but the former paid no
attention to him. He then proposed that he and John Edwards should punch
one of the bolts out of the cable and liberate the ship. They were in the
act of doing this when the natives, among whom was the Orang Kaire whom
Watson had detained, boarded the Stedcombe. The unfortunate steward was
killed on the spot, and the two boys, expecting to share his fate, betook
themselves to the rigging and were only induced to descend upon repeated
promises that they would not be injured. Strange to say, the natives kept
their promises, and after plundering the ship they burnt her. The boys
were kept in the capacity of ordinary slaves until about four years
before the coming of the Essington, when Edwards died, and since that
time Forbes had been unable to move in consequence of the stiffness in
his legs. The scars were caused by the natives when he incurred their
displeasure. One of their common modes of punishment was to take hot
embers from the fire and place them on some part of his body until it was
severely burned. When asked how he was treated generally, he replied
"Trada Bergouse," meaning very badly. Some few natives, he said, were
kind to him, among them the chief who had produced the papers. Speaking
of the chief of Louron, he remarked, "Louron cuts me down to the ground"
which was thought to imply that he flogged him and knocked him down.
Whenever a vessel hove in sight the chief would have him bound hand and
foot and keep him so, as long as the vessel remained at the island. This
explains why Lieutenant Stanley did not see him when he called in H.M.S.
Britomart. Some of the crew of the Charles Eaton had come there and
wished him to leave with them, but permission was refused. Lastly a
Chinese trader had wished to purchase him and had offered several "gown
pieces" as the price, but this offer too was decline