d of bamboos, and hung with strings of bones and screens of native
cloth. I saw arms of various sorts, and an altar with two human skulls
on it, made into drinking cups. I was considering how I could find my
poor companion, when, near the temple, I entered an open space with
several small erections of stone, which I discovered on examination were
ovens. In the centre of the space was what I took at first to be the
figure of a man cut out of wood, and painted over in a curious way with
many colours. I went up to it. Horror almost overcame me--I recognised
the countenance of my lost companion Brian! while some clothes hung up
on poles hard by, and some human bones scattered under them, showed me
what had been the fate of the rest of our boat's crew. I rushed
shrieking from the spot, and for many a day I had no occasion to feign
madness--I really was, I believe, out of my mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES--JACK'S ESCAPE AND RETURN HOME.

Drearily passed the time of my sojourn in that benighted region. Day
after day I sought in vain for the means of escape. Vessels often
touched at the island; but directly they appeared, a strict watch was
kept on me, and if I went towards the shore, I was told to go back and
remain in the chief's house till they had sailed. Under some
circumstances I might have been tolerably happy. The climate was
delightful and healthy; there were provisions in abundance--yams and
bananas and plantains, cocoa-nuts and shaddocks, pumpkins and
pine-apples, guavas and water-melons--indeed, all the tropical fruits
and vegetables, with a good supply of pigs for meat. The chiefs treated
me with kindness and consideration; the people with respect, barbarous
and savage though they were; but the scenes of horror I was constantly
witnessing, and could not prevent, had so powerful an effect on my mind
that time rolled on with me in a dreamy sort of existence. I scarcely
knew how the months passed by--whether, indeed, as it seemed to me,
years had elapsed since I landed on that fatal spot.

I had not believed beings so bloodthirsty and savage existed on the face
of the earth, possessing, at the same time, so much intelligence and
talent. Their houses and temples are very neatly built; the tapa-cloth,
which they make from the paper-mulberry by beating it out, is of a fine
texture, of great length, and often ingeniously ornamented; they
cultivate a large number of the fruits of the