Sept.] SHAW'S SUFFERINGS. 443 



" I had not been there long before an Indian came upon me, recog- 

 nised me, fled, and gave an alarm. I followed him to the beach, intend- 

 ing to give myself up and supplicate for mercy. On the beach I met 

 a party of the natives, who had collected at the shout of my discoverer. 

 I fell down on my knees before them, and with tears of anguish stream- 

 ing from my eyes, entreated them to spare my life. The chief of the 

 party approached, and the others, seeing that I made no resistance, 

 dropped their bows. I did think, for a moment, that mercy was not 

 entirely unknown among them ; but the precious thought had hardly 

 passed, when^one of the stoutest chieftains gave me a blow on the back 

 of the head with a war-club, and I knew no more ! 



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" In the afternoon, six or seven hours, as near as I could judge, after 

 the wound was inflicted, my scattered senses began to return. I raised 

 my hand to the back of my head, and found my scull was broken to 

 the extent of two or three inches each way. I was faint from loss of 

 blood — disconnected images floated before my imagination — and the 

 most exquisite pains darted through all my limbs. Turning and rais- 

 ing myself a little, I uttered an imprecation upon the barbarians, and 

 prayed to God for deliverance in death ; and as my sight returned, my 

 vacant eye rested upon a chieftain before unobserved. On my knees, 

 with uplifted hands, I implored his friendship, and begged him to inter- 

 cede for mercy in my behalf. I gave him to understand, as well as I 

 could, that I would live with him and serve him as a slave for ever, if he 

 would save me from the vengeance of his clan. He gave some 

 slight signs of assent, and bade me follow him. Rousing all my en- 

 ergies, I stood upon my feet once more and obeyed. After I had been 

 at his house a short time, he filled my wound with warm water, and 

 compelled me to keep my head in a position to prevent its running out, 

 until it had cooled, when the same operation was repeated ; and after 

 this was poured out, the wound was filled with sand, and I was placed 

 in a hut by myself, and mercifully suffered to remain undisturbed until 

 the next morning. 



" At early dawn I was called up, stripped of all my apparel, and set 

 to work. All the iron and tools plundered from the workshop were 

 produced, and I commenced the manufacture of knives. Being better 

 acquainted with the duties of a son of Neptune than of Vulcan, my 

 progress was slow, and my productions not remarkably well finished ; 

 but I did the best I could. I followed this occupation five or six days, 

 and was delighted even in such a relief from their barbarities ; so much 

 so, indeed, that I almost forgot my wound, to which no applications 

 had been administered but those I have mentioned. The younger 

 natives, however, gave me a call occasionally, to pass away the time in 

 tormenting me with their gibes and jeers, and irritating and worrying 

 my patience in every imaginable way. But fiendlike as appeared these 

 amusing freaks of the younger savages, they were indeed of service to 

 me, inasmuch as they served to strengthen my nerves and enable me to 

 resist with greater firmness the additional torments which were in store 

 for me. High as my expectations were raised by the raillery of these keen 



