ork
upon, raged like the most awful pestilence. Through all ranks of the
people it spread like wild-fire; many died, none could be induced to take
the most ordinary precautions. The natives became, as it were, mad under
the torments of fever and the burning heat of the unaccustomed malady;
they rushed about, quite unclad, for the sake of the deceptive coolness,
and hundreds of them cast themselves into the sea and into the river.

It was my sad lot to see my dear Doto die--the first of the sufferers in
the palace to succumb to the disease. Meanwhile, the bishop and myself
being entirely absorbed in attendance on the sick, the crew of the
William Wilberforce, I deeply regret to say, escaped from all restraint,
and forgot what was due to themselves and their profession. They
revelled with the most abandoned of the natives, and disease and drink
ravaged the once peaceful island. Every sign of government and order
vanished. The old priest built a huge pile of firewood, and laying
himself there with the images of the gods, set fire to the whole, and
perished with his own false religion.

After this event, the island ceased to be a safe residence for ourselves.
Among the mountains, as I learned, where the pestilence had not yet
penetrated, the shepherds and the wilder tribes were gathering in arms.
One night we stole on board the William Wilberforce, leaving the city
desolate, filled with the smoke of funeral pyres, and the wailing of men
and women. There was a dreadful sultry stillness in the air, and all day
long wild beasts had been dashing madly into the sea, and the sky had
been obscured by flights of birds. On all the crests of the circle of
surrounding hills we saw, in the growing darkness, the beacons and camp
fires of the insurgents from the interior. Just before the dawn the
William Wilberforce was attacked by the whole mass of the natives in
boats and rafts. But we had not been unprepared for this movement, nor
were the resources of science unequal to the occasion. We had surrounded
the William Wilberforce with a belt, or cordon, of torpedoes, and as each
of the assaulting boats touched the boom, a terrible explosion shook the
water into fountains of foam, and the waves were strewn with scalded,
wounded, and mutilated men. Meanwhile, we bombarded the city and the
harbour, and the night passed amid the most awful sounds and sights--fire,
smoke, yells of anger and pain, cries of the native leaders encoura