412 ATTEMPT TO ENTICE NATIVES ON BOARD. 



land in a large bird — such being their strange 

 idea of a ship, the sails forming the wings — no 

 doubt materially influenced him ; but the eloquence 

 of his relatives prevailed over all ; and this interesting 

 interview terminated by our leaving the shore with- 

 out our sable friend, who, however, promised to visit 

 the ship in an old bark canoe, about 20 feet long, 

 that was lying on the beach near at hand. This 

 promise was faithfully kept, for the same evening 

 a canoe was seen paddling off, containing two 

 young natives in addition to the old man. They 

 stopped at some distance from the ship, moving 

 round to view her on all sides. Fearing at last 

 that their courage had failed, and that they would 

 not come on board, the dingy, our smallest boat, 

 was sent towards them, there being only a boy 

 besides myself in it. 



I had hoped that thus they would not be fright- 

 ened, but they instantly began to move towards the 

 shore, and it required some manoeuvring to get 

 near them ; succeeding at length, however, I found 

 my acquaintance of the morning anxious to go to 

 the ship, a measure the other two did not at all 

 approve of, as they kept edging away towards the 

 land, whilst I gave the old man the presents I had 

 brought him. At one time the dingy got between 

 the canoe and the shore, when instantly a gleam 

 of terror flashed across the faces of the vouno- men. 

 One of them was a large square-headed fellow of 

 ferocious aspect, whose countenance was lit up by 



