tribe with which we had some commerce
before, who seemed to set no value upon iron, but from some other quarter;
and must have had communication with the Spaniards, from whom they had
learned the value and use of that commodity.

Thieving from strangers is a commendable talent among savages in general,
and bespeaks an address which they much admire; though the strictest
honesty with regard to the property of each other is observed among them.
There is no doubt but they ransacked all our houses, but the men had taken
care before they went off in the long-boat to strip them of their most
valuable furniture, that is, the bales of cloth used for lining, and
converted them into trowsers and watch-coats. Upon farther search, we
found, thrown aside in the bushes at the back of one of the huts, some
pieces of seal in a very putrid condition, which, however, our stomachs
were far from loathing. The next business which the people set about very
seriously, was to proceed to Mount Misery, and bury the corpse of the
murdered person mentioned to have been discovered there some little time
after our being cast away; for to the neglect of this necessary tribute to
that unfortunate person the men assigned all their ill success upon the
late expedition.

That common people in general are addicted to superstitious conceits, is an
observation founded on experience, and the reason is evident; but I cannot
allow that common seamen are more so than others of the lower class. In the
most enlightened ages of antiquity, we find it to have been the popular
opinion, that the spirits of the dead were not at rest till their bodies
were interred; and that they did not cease to haunt and trouble those who
had neglected this duty to the departed. This is still believed by the
vulgar in most countries; and in our men this persuasion was much
heightened by the melancholy condition they were reduced to, and was
farther confirmed by an occurrence which happened some little time before
we went upon our last expedition. One night we were alarmed with a strange
cry, which resembled that of a man drowning. Many of us ran out of our huts
towards the place from whence the noise proceeded, which was not far off
shore, where we could perceive, but not distinctly, (for it was then
moonlight) an appearance like that of a man swimming half out of water. The
noise that this creature uttered was so unlike that of any animal they had
heard before, that it made a great