the passage.

Ned endeavored, in vain, to attract the attention of the leaders of
the savages to his gestures; and to explain to them that there was
a vessel, from which he had come, at a short distance off; and
that, if they would accompany him thither, they would obtain large
quantities of the beads and cloth which he showed them. The
natives, however, were too much excited to pay any attention to his
efforts; and with a sigh of despair he sat down by the side of
Reuben, who was in the same boat with him; as the canoes, on
emerging from the bay, turned their heads to the southwest, and
paddled steadily and rapidly away from the island.

"Whither can they be going to take us?" Reuben said.

"They must belong to some other island," Ned answered, "and be a
war party, which has come on plundering purposes here. What a
misfortune! What terribly bad luck! They have clearly never seen
white men before, and regard us as superior beings; and so far as
we are concerned, it is probable that our lives are safe. But what
will the admiral think, when night comes on and we do not return?
What will become of our comrades?"

And at the thought of their messmates, left without help in so
perilous a position, Ned fairly broke down and cried.

For some hours the natives continued their course without
intermission, and gradually an island, which had at first seemed
like a low cloud on the horizon, loomed up nearer and nearer; and
at last, just as night fell, they landed upon its shores. Here in a
bay a village of huts, constructed of the boughs of trees, had been
raised; and the arrival of the war canoes was greeted, with wild
and prolonged cries, by the women and children. All prostrated
themselves in wonder and astonishment when the white men, in their
strange attire, were brought on shore; and Ned saw that his
suspicions were correct, and that they were regarded by their
captors as gods. Further proof was given of this when they were
escorted to a large shed, composed of a roof of thatch supported on
four upright posts, which stood in the center of the village.

Under this were placed some of the hideous effigies which the South
Sea Islanders worship, and which are affixed to the prow of their
boats; and may be seen in the British Museum, and in other places
where collections of Indian curiosities are exhibited. These
effigies were carved in the shape of human beings, with enormous
goggle eyes, splashes of bright paint, and str