TYE AND SUALIB. 257 



The dinner hour had now arrived, and finding that the tide would 

 not suit for two or three hours, I ordered the boats off to the tender 

 to get dinner, telling the men that we should burn the town before 

 sunset. We accordingly pulled to the tender and took dinner. In 

 the mean time I was occupied detailing the boats with officers and 

 men in divisions, and when the time came, the boats shoved off from 

 the tender, leaving only Dr. Palmer and two men in charge of her. 



We moved on in an imposing array, keeping ourselves well pre- 

 pared for an attack, to which we were necessarily exposed on our 

 approach. A very few men could have done us much mischief, had 

 they been tolerable marksmen and stood their ground. 



To approach the village we had to pass between long lines of man- 

 grove bushes, and I was assured by Whippy, who had been before 

 on a war-party with a formidable force against these natives and been 

 beaten off, that we should have something more than a mere show of 

 resistance to encounter. Under this expectation we proceeded for- 

 wards; but all was silent, and no impediment was offered to our 

 course. 



When near the beach the boats were anchored, and the officers and 

 men jumped overboard, and waded in about two feet water to the 

 shore. Every thing was conducted with the most perfect order ; the 

 three divisions landed ; Captain Hudson, with two, proceeded to burn 

 and destroy the town, and the third remained on the beach as a 

 reserve to protect the boats, for I was apprehensive that an attack 

 might be made on them by those on the other side of the bay, a great 

 many of whom were visible, armed, and apparently ready for a fight. 

 The precaution I had taken to let them know, through Whippy, that 

 I held their chiefs as hostages, and that their safety depended upon 

 the good conduct of the townspeople, I felt was some security, but I 

 had made up my mind not to trust the natives in any way. I there- 

 fore kept a large force under my own charge to repel any attack on 

 the boats, and act as a reserve should it become necessary. 



The town was soon fired, but the anxiety of some of the sailors to 

 make a blaze, induced them to fire one or two of the thick thatched 

 roofs to windward, while the rest of the party had gone to begin the 

 work of destruction to leeward. The whole village was in conse- 

 quence soon wrapped in sheets of flame, and many of the men were 

 exposed to danger on their return, from the intense heat of the burn- 

 ing buildings. So close was the resemblance of the noise made by 

 the bursting of the bamboo canes, (of which material the houses are 



vol. in. 65 



