PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 297 



ter; which was never done, and the prisoners es- 

 caped : but the investigation answered our purpose 

 equally well, as the stores afterwards remained tin- ^Ss' 

 touched. The various reports which preceded the 

 trial, the assembling of the chiefs, and other circum- 

 stances, had brought together ar great concourse of 

 people. Pa-why, raising himself above the multi- 

 tude, harangued them in a very energetic and appa- 

 rently elegant manner, much to the satisfaction of 

 the inhabitants, who all dispersed and went quietly 

 to their homes. The consideration which the chiefs 

 gave to the merits of this question, and the pains 

 they took to elicit the truth, reflect much credit 

 upon them. The case was a difficult one, and He- 

 totte, not being able to make up his mind to the 

 guilt of the prisoners, very honestly differed from 

 his colleagues ; and his conduct, while it afforded a 

 gratifying instance of the integrity of the man, 

 showed a proper consideration for the prisoners, 

 which in the darker ages would have been sacrificed 

 to the interested motive of coinciding in opinion 

 with the majority. If we compare the fate which 

 would have befallen the prisoners, supposing them 

 innocent, had they been arraigned under the early 

 form of government, with the transactions of this 

 day, we cannot but congratulate the people on the 

 introduction of the present penal code, and acknow- 

 ledge that it is one of the greatest temporal blessings 

 they have derived from the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity. At the same time it is just to observe, that 

 had a similar depredation been committed under 

 those circumstances, there is every reason to believe 

 from former experience, that the real offender would 

 have been detected, and the property restored. 

 On the 3d April the young king landed at Ota- 



