444 



MASSACRE ISLANDS. 



[1830 



though unlettered wits, I seldom suffered on the score of disappoint- 

 ment. Far different, indeed, were the sufferings I really endured. 



" When I had got through the manufacture of the knives, as if de- 

 termined to have none of my time misspent, arrangements were made 

 for me to visit the principal chief of the whole group of islands. His 

 residence was at an island about five miles distant ; and I was com- 

 pelled to perform the pilgrimage on foot, along the coral reef which 

 connects all the islands ; barefooted, over rocks and shells, and my 

 whole body completely exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. It 

 is in vain for me to attempt to give even a faint idea of the anguish I 

 suffered upon that burning day. 



" Every step I made left the imprint of my foot in blood upon the 

 rocks and shells, and I seldom made a step upon that cruel strand that 

 did not open a new channel for the purple current to flow from my 

 lacerated feet. How I survived that awful day I cannot tell. Amid 

 the dreadful terrors with which it visited me, I gave up all my thoughts 

 to God, and cried aloud, 4 OA, why hast thou forsaken me /' But he had 

 not forsaken me, for he lovelh whom he chasteneth ; and I was, with 

 almost superhuman strength, enabled to bear up through my suffer- 

 ings, and at the latter part of my journey my feelings had become so 

 callous, that I had forgotten all sense of pain, and the whole of my 

 thoughts had flowed into one current — and that current directing my 

 soul in its purest fervency of prayer to Heaven. 



" The king came out and met us on the beach, and I was made to 

 humble myself before him, and kiss his hands and feet. After some 

 other trifling ceremonies, which I pass over, those who had me in 

 custody received certain orders, and were then directed to take me 

 back the same night. A chill of horror ran through my veins, and cold 

 drops of sweat started like electricity upon my fevered flesh, as the 

 import of this order was manifested to my bewildered senses. Now I 

 prayed to God for death — any death — to save me from the shocking 

 pain of retracing that rugged path I had trodden, and which was marked 

 at every step, from one end to the other, with clotted blood from my 

 feet ; and my feet themselves were so wo fully butchered that I had 

 given up all hopes of using them again for ever ! 



"With feelings like these to combat, it required a stouter heart than 

 mine to resist despair, and I involuntarily surrendered myself up to that 

 unhappy influence. Thus I remained until evening came ; when the 

 savages, seeing the utter impossibility of my returning any other way, 

 graciously took me back in a canoe ! 



" The next day my poor body presented a spectacle too appalling 

 for the contemplation of any human heart or eye not used to dwell un- 

 moved on scenes of the severest suffering — of the most heart-rending 

 distress. I was covered from head to foot with smarting blisters, the 

 effect of exposure to the sun in my dreadful journey of yesterday. 



" In addition to all this, and as if my cup of woes was not full to 

 overflowing, the younger devils — if I may be excused for calling them 

 so — commenced an attack upon my beard and whiskers, pulling out 

 the latter in large bunches ; nor would they desist from their hellish 

 sport, until I had, in the extreme agony of my soul, implored of them— 



