260 VISITED BY SAVAGES. 
they could not resolve upon; but one of them 
climbed the ship’s side high enough to see over 
the deck, and handed to us a few cocoa-nuts, 
all the provisions they had brought; a piece 
of iron, which we gave him in return, he press- 
ed to his forehead in sign of thankfulness, and 
then bowed his head. He examined the deck 
a long time with prying and suspicious glances, 
without speaking a word ; then suddenly com- 
menced a long pathetic harangue, growing more 
and more animated as he proceeded, and point- 
ing with passionate gestures, alternately to the 
ship and the land. His eloquence was quite 
thrown away on us; but the silence with which 
we listened, might probably lead him to sup- 
pose that we attached some importance to it. 
His confidence gradually increased, and he 
would perhaps have spoken longer, had not his 
attention been arrested by the approach of seve- 
ral canoes. 
We were soon surrounded by the descendants 
of the barbarian murderers; perhaps some of 
the actors in the atrocious deed might even 
themselves be amongst the crowd which now 
assembled around us. This wild troop appear- 
