88 SPORTING ADVENTUKES 



gun, to attract the notice of any inhabitants who 

 might be on the island, and who would guide 

 us to the settlement which we understood 

 existed in the interior. 



At daybreak our party, consisting of the 



doctor, E , and myself, accompanied 



by the sergeant of marines, my coxswain, and two 

 bluejackets, started on our expedition. We were 

 all armed with guns or rifles, and well provided 

 with provisions and water. Striking the trail 

 we had discovered the previous evening, we 

 followed it in single file, and had not gone 

 far when we met two men, one of them on 

 horseback, with a pack of dogs, coming to 

 meet us ; they had seen the ship coming 

 in the day before, and had also heard our 

 gun. 



The principal man introduced himself in 

 broken English as the commandant of the 

 island, Colonel M. Zerda by name ; he was 

 poorly dressed, and seemed in bad health, but 

 was evidently delighted to see us, as a visitor 

 in this out-of-the-way place was a rarity. He 



