After reading the description which I have copied word for word, it is possible to have a good idea concerning that harbor into which our fleet sailed, all hands knowing full well that here we might remain secure alike from the elements and Britishers, so long as it should please us to stay.
In addition, we were free from any fears regarding what the natives might attempt to do, partly owing to our strength, but chiefly because the first person to greet us was neither more nor less than a member of the American navy.
Fancy meeting a Yankee gentleman in this out-of-the-way place whose inhabitants were credited with being the most ferocious of cannibals, eager to devour anything in the way of human flesh that crossed their path!
The natives came out in boats to meet us exactly as is set down in that which I have copied; but all hands gave way to a canoe in which we saw one of our own countrymen.
He came over the side, spoke a few words with Lieutenant McKnight, who immediately treated him with the greatest consideration, and then introduced the stranger to our captain.
It can well be supposed that every man jack of our crew stood by in open-mouthed astonishment at seeing this white man come aboard as if he felt himself at home in the Marquesas group; but we were forced to remain in ignorance until that evening, when one of the marines unravelled the yarn which at first had seemed too strange to us.
Our visitor was Mr. John Maury, a midshipman of the navy, who, with three sailors, had been left in this harbor by the captain of an American merchantman, himself a lieutenant in the service, to gather sandalwood while the ship was gone to China. Now that he heard of the war for the first time, and believed his captain would not dare come to fetch him away, the midshipman proposed to Captain Porter that he and his companions join our frigate; a proposition which was quickly accepted. A little later that evening the three sailors came on board, and mighty good shipmates did they prove to be.
These last told us of the gun-deck that a fierce war was raging between the Typees over the mountains and the Happars who dwelt along the shore of the bay, and most likely it would be necessary for us to take part in it against the Typees if we counted on being allowed to remain unmolested while the repairs were being made to our ships.
This did not cause us very much uneasiness, however, and Master Hackett but echoed the thought in the minds of all when he said to the newcomers:—