t did not
answer, we next tried smoking it, but it was very dry, and tasted
strongly of the smoke; still, we hoped that it would last us till we
could get to one of the Dutch settlements. The mate warned me that even
should we get away, we should have many dangers to encounter, from
tempests, and from pirates, which cruise with large fleets in those
seas, and from having no chart or compass, with which to find our way.

"As we had much idle time, I amused myself by collecting birds, of which
there are a great number in the country; birds of paradise, and parrots
of many colours, and among them a big black parrot, a magnificent
fellow, and others, even more beautiful than my pet, Lory, which I got
at that time. Our house was like an aviary, and the mate, though he did
not know how to tame them himself, liked to see me do so.

"At last we found our friends were setting out to make war on another
tribe. They wanted us to go with them, but we told them we were too ill
to march, and so we were, and I do not think we could have walked
half-a-mile.

"They were all very busy in preparing their bows and arrows and spears
and clubs, and allowed us to do as we liked. We took the opportunity of
examining our boat, and patching her up. As we knew she would leak, we
brought water from the river and dashed it over her as often as we
could, and then we smoothed the way down the bank, so that we might
launch her, for though when all the crew were alive we had strength to
haul her up, we should never otherwise by ourselves have got her into
the water. We also killed another pig, and smoked the flesh, and
collected a quantity of yams and other roots and fruits in our house.

"Our friends at last set out to fight their enemies, leaving only very
old men and some of the women and children behind.

"We had sewn our mats together to form a sail, and the mate cut a long
spar for a mast.

"The night was fine, and we hoped that we should get out of the river
without danger from the breakers. We waited till everybody in the
village was asleep, and then stole down to the boat, carrying our sail
and spar and provisions. We had to make several trips, but at last we
had collected everything, and as silently as we could we got the boat
into the water. The last time I brought down my Lory and three other
birds. I was afraid, however, that they would scream out, but still I
could not bring myself to leave them all behind.

"We shoved o