■mi; 



Hutory of ihc muswnr. 



FEE.! EE GROUP. 



Burial of Ihe slain.— Preparation! for 

 an attack tin Matulo. 



wan a movement among the native?, and the cause 

 Of it was discovered to bo the escape of the 

 hostage, Mr. Underwood, anticipating trouble, 

 immediately ordered tJie men to assemble and 

 make fur the boat. 



John .Sac's story corroborates that of M'Kean. 

 He says, that upon hearing the gun, and seeing 

 die hostage escaping, the chief cried out that his 

 son was killed, and gave the war-cry. 



On seeing the attack, Lieutenants Emmons and 

 Ahlcn pushed for the shore, with both boats. The 

 former had already started to endeavour to retake 

 the hostage. The boats commenced firing as they 

 wailed in on MOM natives who appeared to he 

 wading out to meet them. As soon as the boats 

 took the bottom, all jumped out except two boat- 

 keepers, and waded in, occasionally tiring at the 

 natives, who now retreated, carrying off their dead 

 and wounded, and soon disappeared among tho 

 mangrove-hushes. 



Before reaching the beach, J. G. Clark was met 

 hudty wounded, and was taken at once to the boats. 

 On the bench lay Lieutenant Underwood, partly 

 stripped, and Midshipman Henry, quite naked, with 

 a native close by the fatter, badly wounded, who 

 was at once despatched. 



The party, picking up the bodies, bore them to 

 the boat*. On the first inspection, some faint 

 hopes were entertained that Midshipman Henry 

 wus not dead; but a second examination dissipated 

 this idea. 



The boats now hauled off, and made sail to join 

 the tender, where they had Been her in the moru- 

 ingat anchor. 



Every attention was paid to the wounded and 

 dead by the officers that affection and regard could 

 dictate; and I could not but feel a melancholy 

 satisfaction in having it in my power to pay ihein 

 the Inst sad duties, and that their bodies had been 

 rescued from the shambles of these odious canni- 

 bals. Vet, when 1 thought that even the grave 

 might nut be held sacred from their hellish apjie- 

 tites, I 0 'it much concent relative to the disposition 

 of the bodies. I thought of committing them to 

 the open sen; but one of the secluded sand-islands 

 we had passed the day before occurred to me as a 

 place far enough removed from these condor-eyed 

 savages to permit them to be entombed in the 

 earth, without risk of exhumation, although there 

 was no doubt that our movements were closely 

 watched from tho highest peaks. On consultation 

 with the officers, they concurred with my viewB on 

 this point. 



There being no doubt, from the reports of all 

 parties present, that this outrage was entirely un- 

 provoked, I had no hesitation in determining to 

 inflict the punishment it merited, and this, not by 

 the burning of the towns alone, lint in the blood of 

 the plotters and actors in the massacre. 



The two first cutters of tho Vincennes and Pea- 

 cock were therefore directed to take up stations to 

 prevent the escape of any persons from the island, 

 and before daylight Fassed-Midshipman Eld wns 

 despatched on the same service with the Leopard. 



The tender got under way at the same time, and 

 proceeded towards the spot 1 had chosen for the 

 place of burial. 



The sun rose clearly, and nothing cnuld look 

 more beautiful and peaceful than did the little 

 group of islands, as we passed them in succession 



on our melancholy errand. A t the last and largest, 

 about ten mil- s from Malolo, we came to anchor. 

 Or. Fox and Mr. Agate went on sh.uv to select a 

 place, and dig a common grave for both the vic- 

 tims. About nine o'clock they came off, and re- 

 ported to nM that all was ready. The bodies were 

 now placed in my gig, side by side, wrapped in 

 their country's Hag, and I pulled on shore, fol- 

 lowed by Mr. Sinclair and the officers in the 

 tender's boat. 



Only twenty sailors, (all i!r-s-e.l in white,) with 

 myself and officers, landed to pay this last mark of 

 affection and respect, to those who had gone through 

 so many toils, and shared so many dangers with us, 

 aud of whom wo had been so suddenly bereaved. 

 The quiet of the scene, the solemnity of tho occa- 

 sion, and the smallness of the number who assisted, 

 were all calculated to produce an unbroken silence. 

 The bodies were quietly taken up and borne along 

 to the centre or the island, where stood n grove of 

 firus trees, whose limbs were entwined in all direc- 

 tions by tunning vines. It was a lonely and suitable 

 spot that had been chosen, in a shade so dense that 

 scarce a ray of the sun could penetrate it. 



The grave was dug deep hi the pure white sand, 

 ami sufficiently wide for the two corpses, Mr. Agate 

 read the funeral service so calmly and yet with 

 such feeling, that none who were present will for- 

 get the impression of that sad half hour. After the 

 bodies bad been closed In, three volleys wen- fired 

 over the grave. We then used every precaution 

 to erase all marks that might indicate where these 

 unfortunate gentlemen were interred, I felt as if 

 to refrain from marking the spot where they were 

 laid, deprived n* of one of the ronsolatioua that 

 alleviate the loss of a relative and friend, but was 

 relieved when it occurred to me to fix a more en- 

 during mark on that place, by naming the island 

 after in y nephew, " Henry," and the pretty cluster 

 of w hich it forms one, " Underwood Group.*' 



Places remote from the grave were now more 

 disturbed by footsteps and digging than the grave 

 itself, and our tracks were obliterated from the 

 wind, leaves being thrown about to obscure all indi- 

 cations that might lead the wary savage to the 

 resting-place of the dead. 



We wandered about the beach a short time, 

 after which we embarked aud weighed our anchor 

 to return to Malulo. Shortly after, wc discovered 

 the Porpoise entering the Malolo Passage, with 

 whom we hiH.it joined company, and anchored 

 again in the hay on the cast side of Malolo be- 

 fore dark. 



Preparations were now actively commenced to 

 punish the actors in this foul deed; the arms were 

 prepared, and the parties duly organized in the 

 course of the ni^ht. 



rp.-n the isliitul of Malolo there are two towns, 

 Sualib and Arro. The former was on the souih- 

 v . si side, and the residence of the principal actors 

 in the massacre. Upon this 1 intended to inflict 

 the heaviest blow. The latter, whose inhabitants 

 had also taken a port in the tragedy, and whose 

 unprovoked hostility had been exhibited by their 

 tirciur upon the boats from the mangrove -bushes, 

 I determined to bum to the gronnd. It was also 

 necessary to be prepared upon the water to prevent 

 any attempt at escape, or the more desperate effort 

 to capture the vessels, necessarily loft under n 

 feeble guard. The two latter objects were con- 



