e
marines, the other fetched a compass by the swamp, so that we could not
see them: When they perceived that we had formed into one body, they
slackened their pace, but still followed us in a gentle walk: That they
slackened their pace, was for us, as well as for them, a fortunate
circumstance; for when we came to the side of the river, where we
expected to find the boats that were to carry us over to the wooders, we
found the pinnace at least a mile from her station, having been sent to
pick up a bird which had been shot by the officer on shore, and the
little boat was obliged to make three trips before we could all get over
to the rest of the party. As soon as we were drawn up on the other side,
the Indians came down, not in a body as we expected, but by two or three
at a time, all armed, and in a short time their number increased to
about two hundred: As we now despaired of making peace with them, seeing
that the dread of our small arms did not keep them at a distance, and
that the ship was too far off to reach the place with a shot, we
resolved to re-embark, lest our stay should embroil us in another
quarrel, and cost more of the Indians their lives. We therefore advanced
towards the pinnace which was now returning, when one of the boys
suddenly cried out, that his uncle was among the people who had marched
down to us, and desired us to stay and talk with them: We complied, and
a parley immediately commenced between them and Tupia; during which the
boys held up every thing we had given them as tokens of our kindness and
liberality; but neither would either of the boys swim over to them, or
any of them to the boys. The body of the man who had been killed the day
before, still lay exposed upon the beach; the boys seeing it lie very
near us, went up to it, and covered it with some of the clothes that we
had given them; and soon after a single man, unarmed, who proved to be
the uncle of Maragovete, the youngest of the boys, swam over to us,
bringing in his hand a green branch, which we supposed, as well here as
at Otaheite, to be an emblem of peace. We received his branch by the
hands of Tupia, to whom he gave it, and made him many presents; we also
invited him to go on board the ship, but he declined it; we therefore
left him, and expected that his nephew, and the two other young Indians,
would have staid with him, but to our great surprise, they chose rather
to go with us. As soon as we had retired, he went and gathered