A PANIC. 299 
which the whole group is named, and where I 
hoped to meet with Rarik,) I was compelled, as 
it grew dark, to cast anchor before the island of 
Ormed, in a depth of thirty-two fathoms, on a 
bottom of fine coral sand. Till the ship enter- 
ed this natural harbour, the courage of the 
islanders did not quite forsake them, as they 
supposed the entrance to be unknown to us, and 
the exterior coast they trusted to the protection 
of the surf; but when we had penetrated into 
the basin, the panic became universal. We 
observed a constant running backwards and 
forwards on the shore; canoes hastily laden 
and rowed away, some to the right and some to 
the left, but none coming near us. The whole 
island of Ormed seemed, on our arrival, to have 
fairly given up the ghost. It was not till after 
dark that we could perceive any trace of life 
upon it; large fires were then kindled in two 
places at some distance from each other, while 
many smaller ones were flickering between them. 
We could also hear a sort of shrieking song, 
accompanied by the drum, which I knew to be 
their manner of calling on the gods for help, and 
which proved the extent of the alarm we had 
