and higher they get. They seem determined to conquer.
I tremble for the fate of the hapless defenders if they succeed. We
can hear their shouts and cries. Some of the assailants have gone round
on the land side. We observe the multitude inside rushing here and
there. Those scaling the rock on our side have reached the summit;
several fall, but now the rest break through the stockade, and rush with
their clubs and spears against the shrieking crowd. The rest of the
invaders have succeeded in gaining an entrance on the opposite side.
The work of death goes on. All are indiscriminately slaughtered--men,
women, and children. The warriors hold together, and fight
despairingly. One by one they fall before the victors' clubs. A breeze
springs up, and we stand clear of the reefs and once more out to sea.
In the last glimpse we obtain of the fort the fighting is still going
on, and thus it continues till the scene fades in the distance.

"Such is the warfare carried on among these savages," observes Bent.
"Those who are victorious to-day will be attacked by other tribes before
long, and in like manner cut to pieces. In a few years not one of these
numberless tribes will remain. War kills many; but in war, crops are
destroyed, and famine ensues, and kills many more; and disease, with no
sparing hand, destroys numberless others also. A few years hence, those
navigating these seas will find none alive to welcome them."

The carpenters declare the ship in such good condition that the captain
and supercargo resolve to explore the Loyalty and New Hebrides, and
other groups in that direction, before seeking our final port. These
islands are especially rich in sandal-wood, with which it is resolved we
shall fill up. The first land we make is Mare--one of the Loyalty
Islands--a low coral island, about seventy miles in circumference. The
inhabitants are almost black, and a more brutalised savage race we have
not yet seen. There are four tribes constantly at war with each other--
the victors always eating their captives.

Hence we steer north, and bring up in a fine harbour in the island of
Fate, or Sandwich Island. It is a large, mountainous, and fertile
island, with great beauty of scenery. The inhabitants are tall,
fine-looking people, but most debased savages and terrible cannibals.
Here sandal-wood is to be had in abundance, and very fine, so that
Golding is highly delighted, and declares that it is the finest cou