cessities required that we should take some
survey of the land we were upon, yet being strongly prepossessed that the
savages were retired but some little distance from us, and waited to see us
divided, our parties did not make this day any great excursions from the
hut; but as far as we went, we found it very morassy and unpromising. The
spot which we occupied was a bay formed by hilly promontories; that to the
north so exceeding steep, that in order to ascend it (for there was no
going round, the bottom being washed by the sea) we were at the labour of
cutting steps. This, which we call Mount Misery, was of use to us in taking
some observations afterwards when the weather would permit: the southern
promontory was not so inaccessible. Beyond this, I, with some others,
having reached another bay, found driven ashore some parts of the wreck,
but no kind of provision; nor did we meet with any shell-fish, which we
were chiefly in search of. We therefore returned to the rest, and for that
day made no other repast than what the wild sellery afforded us. The
ensuing night proved exceedingly tempestuous; and, the sea running very
high, threatened those on board with immediate destruction by the parting
of the wreck. They then were as solicitous to get ashore as they were
before obstinate in refusing the assistance we sent them; and when they
found the boat did not come to their relief at the instant they expected
it, without considering how impracticable a thing it was to send it them in
such a sea, they fired one of the quarter-deck guns at the hut, the ball of
which did but just pass over the covering of it, and was plainly heard by
the captain and us who were within. Another attempt, therefore, was made to
bring these madmen to land; which, however, by the violence of the sea and
other impediments, occasioned by the mast that lay alongside, proved
ineffectual. This unavoidable delay made the people on board outrageous;
they fell to beating every thing to pieces that fell in the way; and,
carrying their intemperance to the greatest excess, broke open chests and
cabins for plunder that could be of no use to them; and so earnest were
they in this wantonness of theft, that one man had evidently been murdered
on account of some division of the spoil, or for the sake of the share that
fell to him, having all the marks of a strangled corpse. One thing in this
outrage they seemed particularly attentive to, which was, to provide
themse