this latter place I lived most of
the time during my stay on the island.

We were enabled to save a considerable amount of stores from the wreck,
as well as some arms and ammunition. There were also a bull and two
cows, which formed the remainder of a herd of cattle that Hayes had
running on the island of Ponape; the rest--some forty head or so--had
been stolen from there by his one-time bosom friend and colleague, the
notorious Captain Ben Peese.

The natives of Strong's Island were but few in number--about four
hundred all told--and although a very handsome race and possessed of
the very greatest intelligence, were dying out rapidly. In 1825, when
Duperrey, the French navigator, visited the island he estimated the
population at eleven thousand, and Don Felipe Tompson, an Englishman in
the Spanish Navy, who was there long before Duperrey, relates that
the houses of the people formed an almost continuous line around the
southern and western coasts. The introduction of European diseases made
terrible ravages among them in 1828, and then about the year 1856, when
the whole of the population were converted by American missionaries and
adopted European clothing, pulmonary disease made its appearance and
swept them away literally in hundreds.

Within a week after the loss of the brig Hayes and our passengers came
to an agreement to build a town on the south shore of Utwe. They were to
give Hayes the services of their native followers and help him to build
dwelling-houses and store-houses for the manufacture of coco-nut oil.
Hayes had accused--and with perfect truth--the Strong's Islanders of
stealing a number of articles from the wreck, and demanded compensation
from the King, who agreed to pay him an indemnity of a million
coco-nuts. These were to be collected by our crew and the Ocean and
Pleasant Islanders belonging to the traders. It was Hayes's intention to
remain on the island till a passing sperm-whaler called there, and then
charter her to take the ship's company and all the rest of the traders
and natives to either Providence Island or Samoa.

In a month quite a town had been built, and a great sea wall of coral
stones built to keep the sea from encroaching on the northern side.
Standing apart from the rest of the houses was Captain Hayes's
dwelling-house--an enormous structure, a hundred and fifty feet long and
fifty wide. Here he ruled in state, and from his door watched his boats,
manned by their savage crews