elf caught in a tideway so violent
that resistance to its force, so as either to get on or return, appeared
at the moment hopeless.* My left hand, in which I held the pistol, was
called into requisition to save my life; for the stream washed the cap
from my head and, the cap then filling with water, and being carried down
by the strong current, the chin-strap caught round my neck and nearly
throttled me as I dragged it after me through the water; whilst the loose
folds of my shirt, being washed out to seawards by the tide, kept getting
entangled with my arm. I grew weak and faint but still swam my best, and
at last I providentially reached a reef of rocks which projected from the
opposite shore, and to which I clung until I had somewhat regained my
strength.

(*Footnote. I should state that the rise and fall of tide here is
thirty-eight feet.)

DANGER FROM NATIVES.

I then clambered up on the rocks, and from thence made my way to the
beach; but no sooner had I gained it than I heard a native call from the
top of the cliffs, and the answering cries of his comrades rang through
the wood as they followed me along; my pistol was so thoroughly soaked in
my passage across the inlet that it was quite useless except as a club.
To attempt to swim back again after the narrow escape I had just had
would have been madness; besides which if I had succeeded I should have
lost the object for which I had put my life at hazard. Nothing therefore
was left but to walk along shore to the schooner, trusting, in my
defenceless state, that I might not fall in with any natives. It was now
dark and the shore was so broken and rocky that I got terribly cut and
bruised, and was, moreover, so weak from my exertions in swimming that
when I arrived opposite the vessel I could scarcely hail. Some of those
on board however heard me (as I found afterwards) and shouted in reply;
but their voices never reached my ears, and I imagined they were too far
for I could not now see the vessel.

I made one or two more efforts to hail the Lynher, but the noise I made
had now attracted the notice of the natives and I heard their cries in
several directions round me; this rendered my situation an unpleasant one
for I was worn out, naked, and defenceless: at first I thought to return
and rejoin my party, and even turned back for a short distance with this
intention, but I found myself too weak for such an undertaking and
changed my plans; resolving to remain nea