ADDRESS. 47 



a youth by the name of Swain is still alive on one of these islands. 

 This information was derived from an English barque, which 

 touched at that group in 1830. The lad came on board, in com- 

 pany with several chiefs, and represented himself to be the young- 

 est of the Oeno's crew, and the brother of her captain. The 

 English captain made every effort to procure his release, but could 

 not prevail upon the natives to give him up, or allow" him to 

 depart ; while their numbers prevented his recapture by forcible 

 means. The truth of this statement may be relied on ; I received 

 it from a brother of the exile boy. 



There has been a recent and most distressing murder at the 

 Feejee Islands ; the intelligence has been brought by the ship 

 Cyrus, lately arrived at Edgarton. Three of the victims, the 

 captain and two mates, had families at that place. The exact time 

 when the horrid transaction was committed is not known. The 

 ship had arrived at Oahu, in charge of the third mate, the only 

 surviving officer, a young man about eighteen years of age. It 

 appears the "Awaskonks,"* the name of the vessel, while in the 



* Among the survivors of the massacre on board ship Awaskonks, who have at 

 length reached home, is Daniel W. Wood, of this place, a young man scarcely out of 

 his minority, the son of a worthy, afflicted, and infirm widow, whose reliance on his 

 success in life was among her few remaining hopes. His sufferings from the terrible 

 injuries inflicted by the savages at Baring's Island, no language can describe. He 

 bears upon his person the indelible scars of five or six horrible wounds made by whale 

 spades weapons more formidable, and of keener edge, than perhaps were ever before 

 employed by man against his fellows. These instruments, intended only for cutting 

 and slicing the outer portions of the carcasses of whales, are of necessity extremely 

 sharp at the anterior edge ; the blade resembling that of a shingling hatchet, and termi- 

 nating in an iron shaft and socket, into which is inserted a long and stout wooden 

 handle. With such weapons, the reader may imagine, even if unacquainted with their 

 structure, what mischief and atrocities may be perpetrated, when in the strong hands 

 of lawless, perfidious, and incensed barbarians. 



The principal wound of the sufferer is not yet healed. It is across his back, eleven 

 inches in length, and three in breadth, extending to the left scapula, a part of which 

 was cut off by the spade, and has since fallen out. The arm, on that side, is partially 

 deprived of its functions. This wound, which compelled him to lie on his face nearly 

 three months before his arrival at Oahu, exhibited unequivocal symptoms of mortifica 



