Oct.] HENNEEN SLAIN— HOLMES'S ESCAPE. 451 



Island, which was not more than two hundred yards' distance, to pro- 

 tect their chief. In the confusion of this critical moment, the men in our 

 small boat lost one of their oars, which occasioned them so much em- 

 barrassment as induced us to send in the two large boats, armed with 

 swivels and musketry, to protect the yawl. A smart engagement 

 ensued, which lasted about a quarter of an hour, when the savages 

 were driven back to their island, but not without the body of Henneen, 

 who breathed out his treacherous soul before they reached the beach. 



The death of their chief spread such terror and dismay among the 

 savages of the Massacre Island, that the inhabitants all precipitately 

 fled from the place ; so that by two, P. M., not a man, woman, or 

 child was to be found upon it, but all had sought refuge on some others 

 of the group. All hands were immediately broke off from their work, 

 and landed on the evacuated island, where we found the sculls of five 

 of our unfortunate crew, hanging at the door of Henneen's residence, 

 as trophies of his too successful treachery and barbarity. The remain- 

 der of the afternoon was devoted to the melancholy ceremony of burying 

 them, which was performed with all due solemnity ; the colours of the 

 Antarctic being at half-mast, minute guns fired, and a dirge or death- 

 march played to and from the place of interment. 



September 28th. — On Monday, the 28th, our building on Wallace's 

 Island was completed ; when we commenced collecting and curing 

 biche-de-mer ; and had it not been for the continual attempts of the 

 natives to attack our boats and harass the men engaged in collecting 

 this valuable article from the coral reefs, we should have succeeded 

 in procuring a very handsome cargo in the course of a few months. 

 Under such disadvantages, we continued our operations, perpetually 

 assailed and harassed by the natives, day and night, without any 

 intermission, or any indications on their part of a desire to come upon 

 terms of amity with us again. 



October 28th. — On Thursday, the 28th of October, we found that 

 the natives were once more lying in ambush for our men. At four, 

 P. M., one of the crew, Thomas Holmes, being on shore at the Massacre 

 Island, filling some water-casks from a spring, was suddenly surprised 

 by fifteen of the natives, all of whom instantly aimed their pointed 

 arrows at his breast. At the same moment Holmes presented his 

 musket, which caused them all to drop down upon their haunches. 

 Perceiving that this manoeuvre produced the desired effect, he heldhi3 

 fire, slowly retreating backwards towards the shore, with his piece 

 still ready for an aim. The natives continued to follow him, and 

 several times attempted to discharge a volley of arrows ; but he as 

 often presented his piece, which invariably caused them to squat upon 

 the ground. 



In this manner Holmes continued manoeuvring, without discharging 

 his piece, or giving them an opportunity of notching their arrows, until 

 he reached the edge of the beach ; when, fearful of his eluding them 

 entirely, and effecting his escape, they made a furious rush upon him, 

 which compelled him to pull the trigger, and their leader fell, just as 

 he was on the point of discharging an arrow. This was the brother 

 of the treacherous Henneen, whose death he was thus seeking to 



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