40 



A DIARY OF THE 



paraded the camp till daylight, when tea was 

 made for the ship's company, and an hour or two 

 of rest permitted. The party on board, under 

 the second lieutenant, were equally on the alert, 

 firing an occasional great gun, double-shotted, to 

 aid the demonstration of our watchfulness. The 

 ship had been so uneasy during the night, that 

 the best bower-anchor had been dropped, to 

 steady her bow to the surf. Anxiety was ex- 

 pressed by the party of Chilinos for us to move 

 from our present encampment to the entrance 

 of a small river, twenty miles to the northward 

 of us, as adding much to our safety from the 

 Indians, from its defensible situation, and being 

 the nearest spot from which any approach could 

 be made from sea to afford us relief; the diffi- 

 culties of a more distant land journey being 

 impracticable under the circumstances in which 

 we were placed, and the necessity of only moving 

 with our arms, provisions, and several sick. Don 

 Eernardino had, in the first moment of liis arrival, 

 urged our moving, pointing out the danger of 

 remaining, not only on account of the hostile 

 Indians, but the liability of the flat on which we 

 were being overflowed by the sea, as well as 

 flooded by the heavy rains which, at that season 



