450 



MASSACRE ISLANDS. 



[1830. 



for safety by plunging beneath its glassy bosom, leaving their canoes to 

 the management of one or two men in each, who happened to be gifted 

 with stronger nerves. As self-defence was our sole object, we of 

 course had no motive for molesting or retarding tf.ieir retreat, but wished 

 them " God-speed," from the heart. 



Our attention was now attracted by a display of the American flag 

 from one of the posts of the citadel, bristling with arrows as thickly 

 planted as they could stick. This symbol of triumph was hailed with 

 three hearty cheers from the Antarctic, which was instantly responded 

 to by our brave lads of the " castle in the air," while their drummer 

 and fifer struck up the cheering national air of Yankee Doodle. After 

 which, in honour of the brave British tars, comprising a respectable 

 portion of our crew, they played " Rule Britannia." 



Our boats were now immediately lowered, and all hands, with the 

 exception of the boatswain, gunner, and the first officer, landed on 

 Wallace's Island. Here, on the beautiful garden-spot we had cleared, 

 instead of tender plants and flowers, springing from the virgin soil, we 

 found horrid vestiges of the recent conflict ; the ground being covered 

 with the crimson clotted blood of these obstinate, infuriated savages. 

 They had dearly atoned for their treachery ; the manes of our massa- 

 cred friends were surely appeased — for their deaths had been fearfully 

 avenged ! But revenge was not our object ; this bloody business was 

 not of our seeking. Two men only were wounded on our part, by 

 arrows which penetrated the ports. Their names were George Burns 

 and William Hughes ; both English seamen. 



We now turned-to, and made up for lost time, in finishing our 

 curing-house, and clearing away the forest still farther back, in rear 

 of the castle. Burns and Hughes were taken on board the Antarctic, 

 where their wounds were dressed ; one of them being wounded in the 

 head and the other in the leg. Neither of their wounds, however, was 

 dangerous, and in a few days they both returned to their duty. 



September 19th. — On Sunday, the 19th of September, at eight, A. M., 

 that archfiend of treachery Henneen, chief of the Massacre Island, 

 came off again to the edge of the reef, as he had done the morning before, 

 previous to the attack ; and with his usual pretensions of friendship, 

 offered us fruit, calling for Shaw to come with the boat and meet him. 

 The small boat was accordingly sent in, well armed (a precaution 

 which we had never taken before), with orders to shoot him if it should 

 appear that he meditated treachery. Our boat pulled in close along- 

 side of this reckless villain's canoe, where was seen his bow lying 

 across her, with a bearded arrow fixed to the string, ready to be dis- 

 charged in a moment. In the next instant he seized it, and was in 

 the act of taking a deadly aim at the cockswain in our boat, when the 

 latter raised his piece, and put a sudden stop to the career of this 

 unprincipled wretch ; by which act he doubtless saved his own life 

 and that of his companions. 



In his hurry and anxiety to pull the trigger before the twanging of 

 the bowstring, the cockswain's aim was not so exact as he intended. 

 The wound was mortal, but not instantly so. Simultaneously with 

 the flash of the musket, a fleet of canoes put off from the Massacre 



