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SOUTH SEA 
proach. We essayed the same performance at another 
place about a mile distant, and although we saw some 
dilapidated huts, nothing, except a few birds, started 
at our appearance* The country seemed untimely 
bereft of its inhabitants, as it were by plague or by 
famine : here were the remains of the handicraft of the 
savage, but the agent had vanished, leaving the marks 
of his rude ingenuity* There was a silence too, and 
solemnity here which naturally inspired us all with the 
reflection, that a handful of men, thousands of miles 
from, their own country, had ventured into this almost 
unknown region, and boldly sought, without arms or 
protection, the habitation of the savage, and actually 
endeavoured to surprise him in his haunts, by pro- 
bably unwelcome and intrusive sounds. But, after 
having visited various places, we did not meet with 
any during the wdiole day, and I have often thought 
since that it was a most fortunate circumstance that 
we did not, for who could have calculated safely on 
their conduct to us when they found that we were but 
few in number, without even the sight of the ship for a 
protection, which was so far off that her masts could not 
be seen? But this only forms another instance of the 
adventurous spirit of whale fishermen, who know no 
fear among the remote parts of the world, which they 
visit in their hardy industry. But, alas! how many 
brave men have at various times fallen a sacrifice to 
this kind of daring. Finding our search fruitless, we 
resolved upon returning to the ship, and we began rating 
and gibing the mate on the unsuccessful chase he had 
