Nov. 4.—Some native chiefs were much delighted with sitting in our chairs; but, when the Captain presented them with a few knives, small looking-glasses, and other trinkets, their delight was raised to rapture, expressed by clapping their hands and singing certain short sentences in a high tone of voice, at the same time bowing their heads, as if to indicate their readiness to admit our superiority. We were afterwards informed, that these songs were in our praise, and implied the following meaning:—"Truly you are come to do us good." We entertained them with palm-wine, Madeira, biscuit, fish, and yams; we found, however, on this, as on all other occasions, that these unsophisticated people preferred their native viands to our European delicacies. They appeared much interested with the three European females we had on board; but, whether they had sufficient taste to prefer them to their native beauties, I shall not pretend to determine. After remaining two hours on board, they took their leave, and returned to the shore.
Monday, November 5.—Anderson, who had been absent two days, returned this morning in a large canoe of seventeen paddles, accompanied by the same party of chiefs who had visited us yesterday, with, however, an addition of the king's son. Before coming alongside, they pulled round the ship, singing most loudly and merrily. Though Captain Owen was on shore, they were taken into the cabin, and entertained until his return, after which he gave a present to each of them. Notwithstanding this liberality, the principal chief fixed his covetous eye upon an axe, and expressed a most eager desire to become possessed of it. Captain Owen, however, notwithstanding his wish to conciliate the natives as much as possible, did not think proper to gratify his cupidity; but he promised, that it should be presented to the King at the next interview with him. In the afternoon, a tornado arose and drove most of the canoes away; the chiefs, however, remained on board until it was over, and then left us under an arrangement that the Captain should pay a visit to the King on the following Wednesday.
Tuesday, Nov. 6.—We had a wet morning, succeeded by a fine day. Many canoes, full of natives, came alongside. About noon, a native was discovered, by the master-at-arms, to have stolen an axe, which he had secreted in a piece of canvas that he had picked up and tied round his waist in the manner of an apron. On taking it from him, he made a desperate attempt to escape, by running down the ship's side into a canoe, from whence he made his way over several others, with a view of reaching his own, but he was arrested in his progress. A warm discussion now arose among the chiefs present, as to the punishment he ought to be subjected to, having been taken flagrante delicto, under their own eyes. Captain Owen, to evidence his high displeasure at the transaction, cut the matter short, by ordering them all out of the ship. This gave rise to another commotion and discussion, the result of which was, that the culprit was assailed on all sides by his countrymen with their paddles; even a boy in the same canoe inflicted several blows, and he was finally severely injured about the head and body, when, with the blood streaming from various parts, he was compelled to leap into the sea, in order to wash it away, before they would allow him to re-enter his own boat. His punishment, however, did not terminate with the above discipline; for as he assisted in paddling his canoe ashore, his countrymen followed him with every denunciation of vengeance. On landing in the neighbourhood of our market, he was seized, conducted a short distance from the beach, and surrounded by an immense crowd of the natives. Mr. Jeffery, who happened to be near the spot, penetrated into the midst of them, with a view of ascertaining the nature of the affair, when, to his surprise, he was immediately laid hold of, and tied hand to hand with the bleeding prisoner. It may be imagined that this proceeding excited considerable alarm in Mr. Jeffery, who was led to infer that the wounds of the prisoner had been inflicted by our people, and that the natives were about to retaliate upon himself. A soldier, who was passing at the moment, lost no time in giving an alarm at the camp, when Capt. Harrison came with a party of soldiers to the assistance of our comrade; but Mr. Jeffery had, by this time, contrived to disengage his hand; and, our people appearing, the natives desisted from farther attempts upon him. It turned out that their object in offering this apparent violence, was merely to secure an evidence on our side of the final punishment of their countryman, which they now proceeded to carry into effect in the following extraordinary manner:—the poor wretch was, in the first place, tied hand and foot with his back to a tree, after which a discussion took place, between the chiefs and a man, whom we conceived to be a priest. This being finished, one of the chiefs, who, in consequence of the prominent part he played in this dramatic scene, was ever after known among us by the honourable name of Cut-throat, very coolly stepped up to the prisoner, the whole of the natives at the same time falling on their knees, and was proceeding with great deliberation to cut his throat, when Captain Harrison and Mr. Jeffery hastened forward, and prevented the perpetration of the act by holding back his arm, and making signs that our chief was coming. Fortunately, Capt. Owen was actually coming on shore at this juncture, and, having passed to the centre of the assembly, by means of signs succeeded in explaining that it was not his wish to have the man so severely punished. He then took him by the hand, led him through the crowd, and thus liberated him from the sanguinary vengeance of his own countrymen. During the whole of this trying occasion, the prisoner neither shrunk from the numerous and severe blows inflicted upon him in the earlier part of it; nor, in the latter part, did he indicate the slightest symptom of fear. This is one of the many traits we met with of either the great fortitude or little sensibility of these islanders.
CUT THROAT
We were much surprised at finding a Demi-John in the woods at the back of our encampment; it certainly indicates that we are not the first Europeans who have visited this spot.
Wednesday, November 7.—Anderson, accompanied by two chiefs, came on board at 9 A.M. to say, that the King was on the beach, waiting for our boat to fetch him off. At eleven, the Captain, accompanied by several of his officers, myself, the band, and a party of marines, with a variety of presents, went in three boats for the purpose of paying our intended visit to his Majesty. We landed at a small cove, three miles to the eastward of the ship, since known by the name of King-Cove, and were conducted by the chiefs to a small open place in the woods, at the distance of about a hundred yards from the rocky shore, where the natives had placed a number of stones in the water in such manner as to leave a channel for only one canoe to land at a time. When the Captain was seated, a small ram, and several calabashes of palm-wine, were brought forward. After waiting an hour, the King arrived, when the Captain, rising to receive him, ordered a red cloak to be thrown over his shoulders, and a velvet cap to be put on his head; as his Majesty wore his native hat, ornamented with a pair of ram's horns on the fore part of it, it became necessary to place the velvet one above it, and secure it in its position by means of a bone skewer, which, piercing both at the same time, fastened them effectually to the tuft of hair on the top of the head. The sight of our presents, but more particularly the quantity of iron, excited so uncontrollably the feelings of the royal party, that the good order previously observed, could now no longer be maintained; we were pressed upon on all sides, and with such an inconceivable clatter and confusion of tongues, that the bellowing of cattle would have been comparatively musical to our ears; however, to do them justice, notwithstanding this horrid din, they did not make the least attempt upon our persons or property. It was noticed that the King himself gave away several small pieces of iron to certain individuals, probably an act of policy, which, by leading others to expect a similar token of royal favour, would restrain them from attempting to help themselves, and thus diminish the quantum of his own presents. During this scene of confusion, we retired to the beach and entered our boats, the crowd following us to the shore, and many even into the water. On this occasion, we calculated that there could not have been less than two thousand natives assembled, including many women, but they were kept apart from the men. Mr. Galler spoke to some of them; but they were excessively timid, although the men endeavoured to encourage familiarity by placing some of the younger women's hands into his. One peculiarity was remarked on the present occasion, that many of the natives had lost one of their hands, and some both, indeed we found this so common in the island, that there was no doubt of the deprivation of this part of the body being resorted to as a punishment. Before returning to the ship, I went with Messrs. Galler and Jeffery to visit the works at Clarence, when we were informed that the men employed in clearing the jungle, had discovered the Indian-rubber tree, and one or two other indigenous plants which had not been previously noticed.
Thursday, November 8th.—The importance of our acquiring a knowledge of the language of the natives of this island, must be obvious. In order to promote this object. Captain Owen selected an active and intelligent young man of the name of Elwood, who volunteered to reside for a week at a village in the interior of the island; and he left the ship this morning in pursuance of the plan. The Captain this day fixed upon a spot for the site of a house intended for his own residence: he also gave the name of Paradise to a portion of ground which had been cleared to form a garden for the use of the colony, and changed the appellation of Glover's Stairs for that of Jacob's Ladder. This consists of a flight of 150 steps, leading from the beach to the acclivity on which Clarence is situated that had been constructed, since our arrival, by Mr. Glover, and his body of English artificers.
Friday, 9.—During the night there had been much thunder and lightning, succeeded, in the morning, by heavy rains, which went off at eleven o'clock, and recommenced at two, accompanied by strong gusts of wind; at four, it cleared up again: scarcely a canoe or native was to be seen throughout the day.
Saturday, 10.—The weather is to-day extremely fine, and yet very few canoes or natives have been seen: and none have approached the ship. We apprehend that something has occurred to displease them—a suspicion afterwards confirmed. In the afternoon, at the time I happened to be on shore, a deputation of seven chiefs came to Mr. Jeffery, at Newmarket, with a complaint that our Kroomen had been cutting down the palm-trees for the leaves to thatch their huts with; and, also, that they were much annoyed by the frequent firing of muskets. In reply to the latter complaint, Mr. Jeffery explained to them, that the firing proceeded only from the attempts of our officers to shoot monkeys; to confirm which statement, the purser very opportunely came up at the instant with a large monkey and a small deer, which he had just shot. They did not, however, appear properly satisfied; for they shook their heads, and intimated that, if we persevered in cutting down the palms, it would not only deprive them of the advantages of that valuable tree, but, by diminishing the quantity of wood, extend the system of firing musketry farther into the interior of the country. At length, with a view of settling all grievances, and convincing them we had no intention of inflicting any injury, we took them a short distance beyond the points our men were occupied in clearing, and, placing a quantity of iron on the ground, gave them, by signs, to understand, that we would give them all that iron for the land contained within that boundary. The nature of this treaty for purchase, they appeared to understand well, and signified their assent by placing sticks, at equal distances from each other, in the line proposed. Mr. Jeffery, at the same time, marking a tree as an evidence of the agreement on our side. The quantity of land of which we had thus made a bonâ fide purchase, was equal to about a square mile in extent. The treaty was afterwards more fully ratified, and the property involved formally taken possession of by a public act, which will be duly noticed. Both parties being now satisfied, we returned to Newmarket, the natives accompanying us, and, sitting down in a row together, farther confirmed the bargain by plentiful libations of palm-wine.