236 ATTACK UPON THE SURVEYING BOATS. 



the branches dispersed the party^ but afterwards 

 they moved two of the canoes out of sight. The 

 remaining one was brought out after breakfast by 

 the galley under cover of the pinnace, and was 

 towed off to some distance. The paddles having 

 been taken out and the spears broken and left in her, 

 she was let go to drift down towards a village 

 whence the attacking party were supposed to have 

 come. Some blood in this canoe, although not the 

 one most aimed at, shewed that the firing had not 

 been ineffective. 



This act of deliberate treachery was perpetrated 



by persons who had always been well-treated by us, 



for several of the natives present were recognised as 



having been alongside the ship in Coral Haven. 



This, their first act of positive hostihty, affords, I 



think, conclusive evidence of the savage disposition 



of the natives of this part of the Louisiade when 



excited by the hope of plunder, and shews that no 



confidence should ever be reposed in them unless, 



perhaps, in the presence of a numerically superior 



force, or the close vicinity of the ship. At the same 



time the boldness of these savages in attacking, with 



thirty men in three canoes, two boats known to con- 



taia at least twenty persons — even in hopes of taking 



them by surprise — and in not being at once driven 



off upon feeling the novel and deadly effects of 



musketry, indicates no little amoimt of bravery. In 



the course of the same day, when Lieut. Dayman 



was close in-shore with the galley laying down the 



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