WRECK OF THE CHALLENGER. 25 



towards the hills : they usually came in the 

 morning, in groups, on horseback and on foot, 

 from six to eight in a party, making the shortest 

 route to our camp which the standing pools of 

 water, which were numerous, would allow. 



Before the crew were permitted to partake of 

 any refreshment, the arms were distributed to 

 be dried, cleaned, and prepared for use, and all 

 were cautioned as to their conduct to be ob- 

 served towards the Indians. The scene of our 

 encampment on this night it is not in the power 

 of any one to imagine, who was not witness to it. 

 The exhaustion from incessant labour through- 

 out the day was evident in all ; not an article of 

 clothing or bedding had reached the shore, with- 

 out having experienced the drenching effects of 

 the surf, and the heaps of innumerable articles 

 that were scattered on all sides, formed a melan- 

 choly contrast to our customary order and regu- 

 larity in our poor lost ship. Bounded in our rear 

 by a marsh, which the rainy season, now at hand, 

 would convert into a lake ; the ocean in our 

 front, rising occasionally within little more than 

 a hundred yards of our camp, and from which 

 the effects of an earthquake, (slight, indeed, 

 compared to that which so recently occurred at 



