, which was thrown by the tallest
man, wounded Mr. Montgomery in the back; the natives then, without
waiting to throw their second spears, made off, closely pursued by
Bundell, who had armed himself with the broken spear; but they were out
of sight in a moment, and, by the time that the muskets were brought to
our assistance, were doubtless out of gun-shot. A pursuit was, however,
commenced, but our progress was so much impeded by the rugged and rocky
nature of the ground and by the abundance and intricate growth of the
shrubs and trees that we very soon desisted, and returned to the boat, to
which Mr. Montgomery had been in the meantime carried, complaining of
great weakness from loss of blood.

Upon examining Mr. Montgomery's wound, which unfortunately was in such a
part of his body that he could not himself inspect it, it appeared that
the spear had penetrated about three inches; and, from the quantity of
extravasated blood, great fears were entertained that he had received a
very serious internal injury. The wound, from which he was suffering very
great pain, was dressed according to his instructions, but it was several
days before he considered himself out of danger.

August 8.

The next morning at eleven o'clock a native was seen on a float, or
catamaran, paddling round the west point of the strait, and another man,
a woman, and a child, were observed on the rocks, who, in less than a
quarter of an hour, came down to the spot where we met them yesterday,
and began to wave and call to us. An opportunity now offered of punishing
these wretches for their treacherous conduct, and of disappointing them
in their present plans, for they were evidently intent upon some
mischief. Mr. Bedwell was therefore despatched to secure their catamaran,
which was hauled up on a sandy beach near the outer point, whilst another
boat was sent towards the natives: when the latter arrived near the
shore, they were sitting on the rock and inviting us to land; but it was
necessary to convince them that we were not so defenceless as they
imagined, and, as soon as we were sufficiently near, several muskets were
fired over their heads: one of them fell down behind a rock, but the
other made off. The native who had fallen was wounded in the shoulder,
and was recognised to be the man that speared Mr. Montgomery; he made
several attempts to get away, but every time his head appeared above the
rock which concealed him from us, a pistol or a musk