main body assembled near the ships. At length, the adverse party, in
about a dozen large canoes, appeared off the S. point of the
cove, where they stopped, and lay drawn up in a line of battle, a
negotiation having commenced. Some people in canoes, in conducting the
treaty, passed between the two parties, and there was some speaking on
both sides. At length, the difference, whatever it was, seemed to be
compromised; but the strangers were not allowed to come alongside the
ships, nor to have any trade or intercourse with us. Probably we were
the cause of the quarrel; the strangers, perhaps, being desirous to
share in the advantages of a trade with us, and our first friends, the
inhabitants of the Sound, being determined to engross us entirely to
themselves. We had proofs of this on several other occasions, nay, it
appeared, that even those who lived in the Sound were not united in
the same cause; for the weaker were frequently obliged to give way to
the stronger party, and plundered of every thing, without attempting
to make the least resistance.

We resumed our work in the afternoon, and the next day rigged the
fore-mast; the head of which being rather too small for the cap, the
carpenter went to work, to fix a piece on one side, to fill up the
vacant space. In cutting into the mast-head for this purpose, and
examining the state of it, both cheeks were found to be so rotten,
that there was no possibility of repairing them, and it became
necessary to get the mast out, and to fix new ones upon it. It was
evident, that one of the cheeks had been defective at the first, and
that the unsound part had been cut out, and a piece put in, which had
not only weakened the mast-head, but had, in a great measure, been
the occasion of rotting every other part of both cheeks. Thus, when we
were almost ready to put to sea, we had all our work to do over again;
and, what was still more provoking, an additional repair was to be
undertaken, which would require some time to be completed. But, as
there was no remedy, we immediately set about it. It was fortunate
for the voyage, that these defects were discovered, when we were in a
place, where the materials requisite were to be procured. For, amongst
the drift-wood, in the cove where the ships lay, were some small
seasoned trees very fit for our purpose. One of these was pitched
upon, and the carpenters began, without loss of time, to make out of
it two new cheeks.

In the morning of the 7