After this bold theft, several boats were prepared to land in search of water, and, if possible, recover the stolen property. The captain took the lead, and landed on the coral bank, with his arms and ammunition wet and useless, whilst the boat, in returning through the surf, was thrown upon the rocks, bilged, and before she finally got off, almost every timber in her broke. This fatality having attended his landing, he forbade the other boats to attempt it, choosing rather to remain in his defenceless situation, surrounded by hostile natives, to the more serious consequence of losing the remainder of his boats.
By signals concerted previous to his departure from the vessel, he directed a fire at intervals from our cannon, in the direction of a large hut that we supposed belonged to the chief. A small group of natives approached him, one of whom, a man advanced in years, came up with a green branch in his hand; the captain demanded of him by signs the return of the musket, in reply to which, he addressed some one near him, who ran off, and in about an hour, brought it without either lock or bayonet; these were also required, and our demand repeated occasionally by a discharge of cannon in the direction of the chiefs hut. It was not long before the lock was brought, but no threats could compel them to relinquish the bayonet. The situation of the captain and his party was becoming more and more critical with every moment's delay. They were on a bank of coral a hundred yards wide, and small parties of natives, of whom great numbers were assembled in the bushes, would frequently sally out and throw stones at them. They had no other means of protection or defence than what was afforded by our guns, which were fired whenever the hostile parties made their appearance. The hustle of our shot over their heads, and the fall of cocoa-nut trees, proved to them the superiority of our arms over theirs, and in a measure, had the desired effect of keeping them back. One circumstance, however, convinced us that they were not yet fully sensible of this superiority, or if so, that they were intrepid to a degree that might well alarm us for the safety of our people.
When one of their parties had sallied out, there were two men walking along the beach, carrying a canoe; a shot that was fired to drive the sallying party back, struck so near these men, that it threw the sand and gravel all over them. They laid the canoe down and looked round them for a few moments, when they took it up again and walked along, as they would have done under the most ordinary circumstances.
When the captain became impatient of his confined situation on the beach, besieged and harrassed as he constantly was by the natives, he made bold to risk an excursion back upon the island, to show the natives his disregard for them, and, at the same time, satisfy himself as to the existence of water. They did not any where oppose him or appear in numbers; a few persons were seen behind the trees, or stealing along through the thickets without any demonstration of hostility. His discoveries were few and unimportant; the only place where he found water, was in an old well, where it was stagnant and unfit for use. In the huts that he entered, were stores of dry cocoa-nuts, and a preparation of dried fish and sea-moss.
We were filled with solicitude for our party when beyond the reach of our assistance, knowing that they had no other means of safety than the opinion which might exist among the natives of their invincibility, and we were highly gratified, after an hour's watching, to see them returning to their old place of blockade—the coral bank.
It was now sundown, and the surf had increased so much that we did not believe it possible for a boat to reach the shore and return in safety; and to send men there without a prospect of their being enabled to return, would be but a useless sacrifice of lives; but here was our people on shore; the natives had followed them on their return to the beach; and their remaining after dark would probably be attended with the most serious consequences. Two men, who were good swimmers, came forward and volunteered their services to take on shore a light boat that we had, and although I might have felt unwilling to exercise authority in the performance of so hazardous a service, I was happy to accept the generous offer. They landed in safety, and the boat being deeply laden with the captain and his party, they clung with one hand to her quarter, swimming with the other, until after a severe and most doubtful struggle, she emerged from the surf, almost filled with water, and was soon afterwards alongside. It was thought that if there had been one more breaker to pass, all would have perished.
The men of Byron's Island are stout, active, and well made. They were all naked, and covered with scars. Some of them wore skull-caps, of grass, and wreaths of dry cocoa-nuts. Their ornaments were rude, and worn by but very few. They consisted of shells and beads, made of something that resembled whalebone, worn in long strings,—by some round the waist, and by others round the neck. Their hair was long and matted, and their complexion very dark. Their beard was thin, and curled upon the chin, like that of the negroes. A few women came round us in canoes, who looked coarse, and almost as robust as the men. They wore round their loins a small mat about a foot wide, with a fringe at the bottom. But few of the men were tattooed, and they very slightly. Their canoes were ingeniously wrought, of a great many pieces of light wood, which were laced together by twine, made from the husk of the cocoa-nut; but they were so leaky as to keep one man baling constantly. They were very narrow, sharp at both ends, and had a small platform of light wood, on one side, to keep them upright. They resembled the canoes of the Duke of York and Clarence islands, but were rather narrower, and made with better workmanship. The canoe sails, of all these islands, are mats of straw or grass.
As soon as the captain returned on board, we got underway, and bade adieu to Byron's Island, and its inhabitants, whose acquaintance had been productive of nothing but anxiety and perplexity. We run off W. by S., and in three or four hours made Drummond's Island, ahead, distant three or four leagues.
At daylight, we passed a reef of considerable extent upon the N.E. end of the island, and ran down upon the west side of it. When we had approached the shore, within the distance of a league, canoes made their appearance in every direction, sailing off to us. We stood in, and found anchorage within two cables' length of the bank of coral, that stretched one or two miles from the shore, and which, at low water, was almost every where dry. Here we hove to, having in sight, along the shore, twenty or thirty large villages, besides other habitations, that were thickly interspersed amongst the trees beyond it. The island, indeed, was swarming with inhabitants, and, from its extent and forest of cocoa-nut trees, seemed well adapted to sustain a large population. It was low, and being quite level, promised but a poor prospect of affording a supply of water. We had not been long hove to, before we were surrounded by from one to two hundred canoes, having in each of them, with few exceptions, two men and a woman, the latter of whom was kept constantly employed baling the water out. They betrayed a greater degree of timidity than the natives of any island we had seen before, keeping in their canoes, at a distance from us, or approaching, with caution and distrust. At length some of them got on board, and others hung upon the sides of the vessel, talking and exchanging their cocoa-nuts, and flying-fish, for old nails, or pieces of tin. One of them, an interesting looking youth, was noticed by one of the seamen, who made him several presents, and in other respects, treated him very kindly. The youth appeared to be sensible of the favour shown him, and expressed his gratitude by smiles, and by repeatedly patting the sailor on the shoulder; but, after this dumb show had been going on for some time, and when his patron's face was turned from him, he snatched his hat from his head, and jumped overboard with it, making his way as expeditiously as possible to the nearest canoe. The canoe took him in, and pulled off dead to windward of us, until they were out of our reach, although we threw several shot over their heads, to convince them of the danger they encountered in such bold adventures. From our first stopping place, we ran down a few miles, followed by all the canoes, which were joined by many more. Some of the natives again came on board, and one man, to whom the captain had made presents, seized upon a fixture of the waist-boat, and abruptly took his leave. He was as suddenly saluted with a charge of bird-shot, from a pistol, but manfully clung to his prize, and bore it off in triumph to his canoe. Aided by his companion, he was playing us the same trick, as the fellow who stole the sailor's hat. But a few shot over their heads brought them to, when they lay down in the bottom of the canoe, until we lowered a boat, and sent it to them. When they saw the boat approaching, they took to their paddles, and made an effort to escape; but, finding that impossible, jumped overboard, and continued diving from one side of the canoe to the other, until they were taken. They trembled excessively, expressing a great deal of alarm, upon being brought on board, and made several attempts to escape. The captain inflicted upon the thief, a punishment, that he thought might be a useful admonition to the natives, in their future intercourse with white men, when, with his companion, he jumped overboard, apparently delighted, in having escaped so well. The number and enterprising character of the people, changed our purpose of attempting to obtain a supply of water, by digging wells. And, besides the above objection, it was to be expected that, in the performance of our duty, at the Mulgrave Islands, it would be necessary for us to explore the whole group, where, within so great a compass, our wants could scarcely fail to be supplied. Accordingly, in the evening, we made sail, and, after clearing the island, hauled up to the northward and westward. The inhabitants of Drummond's and Byron's Islands, were, in all respects, similar to each other, even to their canoes and sails, the latter of which was a coarse matting of grass.
During our passage from Drummond's Island to the Mulgraves, which was of nine days' duration we had squally weather, and were constantly affected by violent currents, for which, as they were irregular, no allowance could be made. On the second day after our departure from Drummond's Island, our safety was considerably endangered from this cause. Being near a chain of small islands belonging to the Kingsmill Group, the weather thick and squally, we stretched off, calculating that, at meridian, on the following day, we should be thirty miles to the northward of them; but, to our surprise, when at meridian the weather cleared, and we got our observations, instead of being thirty miles to the northward, we were as much to the south, having been carried through them by a current at night. We were two or three days in the vicinity of the Mulgraves', laying to at night, and drifting with the current nearly as much as we advanced through the day, with light and baffling winds.