134 



PORTER'S JOURNAL. 



ry instance met with a refusal. An opportunity presented 

 itself to possess myself of one, and I took advantage of it. 

 I have been a long time endeavouring, by hard labour and 

 suffering, to accumulate wherewith to make myself com- 

 fortable ; but at different times have been robbed and mal- 

 treated, and in a late instance by captain Paddock, whose 

 conduct in punishing me, and robbing me of about five 

 hundred dollars, in cash and other articles, neither agrees 

 with the principles he professes, nor is it such as his sleek 

 coat would lead one to expect.* 



On the 29th of May, 1809, I sail from the enchanted 

 island in the Black Prince, bound to the Marquesas. 



Do not kill the old hen ; she is now sitting, and will soon 

 have chickens. 



(Signed) FATHERLESS OBERLUS. 



Patrick arrived alone at Guyaquil in his open boat, the 

 rest who sailed with him having perished for want of water, 

 or, as is generally supposed, were put to death by him on 

 his finding the water to grow scarce. From thence he pro« 

 ceeded to Pay ta, where he wound himself into the affection 

 of a tawny damsel, and prevailed on her to consent to ac- 

 company him back to his enchanted island, the beauties of 

 which he no doubt painted in glowing colours ; but, from his 

 savage appearance, he was there considered by the police 

 as a suspicious person, and being found under the keel of a 

 small vessel then ready to be launched, and suspected of 

 some improper intentions, he was confined in Payta gaol, 

 where he now remains ; and probably owing to this circum- 

 stance Charles' island, as well as the rest of the Gallipagos, 

 may remain unpopulated for many ages to come. This re- 

 flection may naturally lead us to a consideration of the 

 question concerning the population of the other islands 

 scattered about the Pacific ocean, respecting which so many 

 conjectures have been hazarded. I shall only hazard one, 

 which is briefly this : that former ages may have produced 

 men equally as bold and as daring as Pat, and women as 

 willing as his fair one to accompany them in their adventu- 

 rous voyages. And when we consider the issue which 

 might be produced from a union between a red-haired wild 

 Irishman, and a copper-coloured mixt-blooded squaw, we 



^■{■ii- * Captain Paddoclc was of the Society of Friends, 



