he found they had taken away the sails of
the boats, the men's blankets, and every thing that they had with them.
He then threatened to kill them if they did not instantly inform him, and
presented his musket at them. This they laughed at, and said, that if he
did not go away, and leave them a small two-oared boat which he had
brought with him, and the whale boat, they would destroy every white man
there, and poised their spears in a threatening manner. He again levelled
his piece at them, and snapped it without priming, in the hope of
alarming them; but they were not so easily frightened, and became most
noisy and violent. Finding that an attack was almost certain, he charged
his gun with buck shot, and ordered them to leave the place; but, their
clamour increasing, he fired, and four of them fell, one of whom got up
again and ran off, the other three remaining upon the ground, probably
mortally wounded. The whole body disappeared, and no more was seen of
them, leaving Hacking to fill his boat and effect his retreat unmolested.

Our people having frequently visited this river for coals, and always
treating with kindness and civility the natives whom they met, this
behaviour was not to be accounted for, except by its being allowed that
all savages are under the dominion of a sudden impulse; which renders it
impossible to know when to trust them.

As the men belonging to the boat were not heard of for a considerable
time, it was feared they had been murdered by the natives; but they
fortunately reached the settlement safe.

On the morning of the 24th, the _Nautilus_ returned from Norfolk
Island, and with her came in a Spanish ship, a prize to two whalers,
which they had captured off Cape Blanco on the coast of Peru. She was
bound from Lima to Guiaquill.

A court of vice-admiralty having been assembled, she was condemned as a
legal prize, and part of her cargo* was in a few days sold by public
auction.

[* This consisted of sugar, flour, and an ardent spirit similar
to the _aqua ardente_ of the Brazils. The governor would not allow
this article to be sold by auction.]

This was a new circumstance in the annals of the settlement, and wore the
appearance of rendering it of more consequence than it had hitherto been.
Did it not go to prove, that at some future period, in the event of a
Dutch or Spanish war, it might become a place of much importance, by
offering a reception to the prizes of our cruisers, a court wherea