art behind.

"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on
board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown
overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them
were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs,
and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes
came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the
natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew
each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the
sake of the iron hoops.

"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at
last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the
villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The
mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only
twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and
hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs
might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the
beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were
employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and
the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time.

"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad
situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already
killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger,
wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals.

"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the
bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end
of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in
the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together
on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained
standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who
were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The
five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we
were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released
me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs
for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four
chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of
our men, who were made to sit down besi