was not pregnant; on which she was
executed the Monday following, acknowledging at that fatal moment which
generally gives birth and utterance to truth, that she was about to
suffer justly, and that an attempt which she made, when put on her
defence, to criminate another person (a woman whose character was so
notorious that she hoped to establish her own credit and innocence upon
her infamy), as well as her plea of pregnancy, were advanced merely for
the purpose of saving her life. She died generally reviled and unpitied
by the people of her own description.
The summer was observed to be the chief season of fish. A fishing-boat
belonging to the colony had so many fish in the seine, that had it not
burst at the moment of landing, it was imagined that a sufficiency would
have been taken to have served the settlement for a day; as it was, a
very considerable quantity was brought in; and not long after a boat
belonging to the _Sirius_ caught forty-seven of the large fish which
obtained among us the appellation of Light Horse Men, from the peculiar
conformation of the bone of the head, which gave the fish the appearance
of having on a light-horse man's helmet.
The governor, after the death of the native who was carried off by the
smallpox in May last, never had lost sight of a determination to procure
another the first favourable opportunity. A boat had several times gone
down the harbour for that purpose; but without succeeding, until the 25th
of this month, when the first lieutenant of the _Sirius_, accompanied by
the master, fortunately secured two natives, both men, and brought them
up to the settlement without any accident. Being well known to the
children, through their means every assurance was given them of their
perfect safety in our possession. They were taken up to the governor's,
the place intended for their future residence, where such restraint was
laid upon their persons as was judged requisite for their security.
The assurances of safety which were given them, and the steps which were
taken to keep them in a state of security, were not perfectly
satisfactory to the elder of the two; and he secretly determined to take
the first opportunity which offered of giving his attendants no further
trouble upon his account. The negligence of his keeper very soon gave him
the opportunity he desired; and he made his escape, taking with him into
the woods the fetter which had been rivetted to his ankle, and which
ever
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