WHALING VOYAGE. 
335 
Spanish, by whom, as I have before stated, they are 
governed. They behave in a moderate, or rather kindly 
manner to strangers ; but if offended they are revenge- 
ful to a sanguinary degree. They all carry long, broad, 
and thick swords, or more properly choppers, by their 
sides, which they use for clearing the small farms 
that most of them possess, and where they princi- 
pally cultivate the yam and sweet potato, these are 
both of very large size and of very fine quality. With 
their swords or choppers, they frequently commit hor- 
rible outrages, inflicting in the heat of quarrel terri- 
ble wounds upon each other, or upon any one who 
may chance to give them cause of quarrel, which at 
times may amount to a mere trifle, I saw one poor 
fellow, who had received in one of these affrays no less 
than nineteen deep and dangerous gashes in different 
parts of his body from one of these weapons— but he 
had still been fortunate enough to recover from them 
all, because none of the blows happened to wound any 
important part. 
But the punishment which was awarded to the mis- 
creant who inflicted them, by his judges, appeared to 
me to be exceedingly wise— they doomed him Co work 
for his victim for three days out of every week for the 
space of six years, which was certainly far better than 
incarcerating the wretch within the walls of a dungeon, 
which would not have repaid his victim in the smallest 
degree for the injuries he had received. It was at this 
island that the sanguinary and cowardly murder of 
Captain Stavers was committed, even in the centre of 
