of Lord North’s Island. 221 
circumstances, they were able to obtain, though with great diffi- 
culty, a mariner’s compass, which had been left on the island by 
Captain Henry Wilson, who was shipwrecked there in the nte- 
lope, fifty years before, and whose voyage is the subject of Mr. 
Keate’s work. With this, their only nautical instrument, — much 
impaired, too, by time and improper use,—and after a promise 
that they would, upon reaching America, send to the islanders 
two hundred muskets, ten casks of gunpowder, and a correspond- 
ing quantity of balls and flints, with articles of ornament, such as 
beads, belts, combs, and trinkets of various kinds, — they took 
leave of the island, hoping to fall in with some of the European 
settlements in the Indian Archipelago. 
It was agreed, however, that three of the Americans should re- 
main behind as hostages; and, on the other hand, that three of 
the natives (two chiefs and one of the common people) should 
accompany the American crew, to see that the agreement was 
faithfully executed.* Upon putting to sea, however, it was found 
that the boat was too leaky to proceed, and they were obliged to 
return to the island again; when, after another month’s delay in 
repairing her, they again took a final leave of the island, and not 
without emotions of regret, after the kindness and hospitality they 
had experienced among the rude but friendly natives; who, in- 
deed, as we are told, looked upon their European visiters as be- 
ings of a higher order than themselves, and who had won their 
confidence. 
After being at sea but a short time, in their crazy and ill-fur- 
nished boat, accompanied with a canoe to carry their supplies, they 
* Of these three American hostages left at the Pelew Islands, one, it is 
said, has since been released, or has made his escape ; but nothing, it is be- 
lieved, has yet been heard of the other two. 
AO 
