he sovereign
of Tiarrabou, the south-east peninsula, was also with us at this time;
and we received intelligence of the landing of another guest, whose
company was neither expected nor desired: This was no other than the
ingenious gentleman who contrived to steal our quadrant. We were told,
that he intended to try his fortune again in the night; but the Indians
all offered zealously to assist us against him, desiring that; for this
purpose, they might be permitted to lie in the fort. This had so good on
effect, that the thief relinquished his enterprise in despair.

On the 7th, the carpenters were employed in taking down the gates and
pallisadoes of our little fortification, for firewood on board the ship;
and one of the Indians had dexterity enough to steal the staple and hook
upon which the gate turned: He was immediately pursued, and after a
chace of six miles, he appeared to have been passed, having concealed
himself among some rushes in the brook; the rushes were searched, and
though the thief had escaped, a scraper was found which had been stolen
from the ship some time before; and soon after our old friend Tubourai
Tamaide brought us the staple.

On the 8th and 9th, we continued to dismantle our fort, and our friends
still flocked about us; some, I believe, sorry at the approach of our
departure, and others desirous to make as much as they could of us while
we staid.

We were in hopes that we should now leave the island without giving or
receiving any other offence; but it unfortunately happened otherwise.
Two foreign seamen having been out with my permission, one of them was
robbed of his knife, and endeavouring to recover it, probably with
circumstances of great provocation, the Indians attacked him, and
dangerously wounded him with a stone; they wounded his companion also
slightly in the head, and then fled into the mountains. As I should have
been sorry to take any farther notice of the affair, I was not
displeased that the offenders had escaped; but I was immediately
involved in a quarrel which I very much regretted, and which yet it was
not possible to avoid.

In the middle of the night between the 8th and 9th, Clement Webb and
Samuel Gibson, two of the marines, both young men, went privately from
the fort, and in the morning were not to be found. As public notice had
been given, that all hands were to go on board on the next day, and that
the ship would sail on the morrow of that day or the day followi