272 MALOLO. 
on shore to select a place, and dig a common grave for both the victims 
About nine o’clock they came off, and reported to me that all was 
ready. The bodies were now placed in my gig, side by side, wrapped 
in their country’s flag, and I pulled on shore, followed by Mr. Sinclair 
and the officers in the tender’s boat. 
Only twenty sailors, (all dressed in white,) with myself and officers, 
landed to pay this last mark of affection and respect to those who had 
gone through so many toils, and shared so many dangers with us, 
and of whom we had been so suddenly bereaved. The quiet of the 
scene, the solemnity of the occasion, and the smallness of the number 
who assisted, were all calculated to produce an unbroken silence. 
The bodies were quietly taken up and borne along to the centre of the 
island, where stood a grove of ficus trees, whose limbs were entwined 
in all directions by running vines. It was a lonely and suitable spot 
that had been chosen, in a shade so dense that scarce a ray of the sun 
could penetrate it. | 
The grave was dug deep in the pure white sand, and sufficiently 
wide for the two corpses. Mr. Agate read the funeral service so 
calmly and yet with such feeling, that none who were present will for- 
get the impression of that sad half hour. After the bodies had been 
closed in, three volleys were fired over the grave. We then used every 
