178 
AX UNPLEASANT CONVICTION. 
rated our boat from the crowded beacli, I found tbe pre- 
vious description of our “innocent sportsman” substan- 
tiated by my own eyes and those of others. We saw an 
excited crowd of fine-looking men and women, copper- 
coloured, and possessed of the slightest possible amount 
of clothing, — the former boasting only a cloth tied around 
tlie head, Avhile the latter had but a thin loose garment 
that seemed to gather around the throat and extended 
no farther than the knee. Some of the men ■were armed 
with bow* and arrow, others with very serviceable-looking 
matchlocks; the women held various articles in their 
liands, probably for barter, and, as we pulled away after 
our narrow escape, they evinced their sorrow and desire 
to trade by loud cries and the most violent gestures. 
Our Cliinese boy hud almost fainted from fright as the 
inner boat backed into the surf in the attempt to land: 
lie could only tremble and cry out, “Dey eat man ! dey 
eat man!” Ilis friends on the other side had evidently 
impressed him with that unpleasant national character- 
istic, and hence his fright when apparently about to be 
rolled helplessly to their feet by a boiling surf. 
The same day upon which we made this our last 
attempt to land among them, we steamed along up their 
coast, keeping as close as was prudent, — in fact closer, — 
and examining with our glasses as far back as we could 
see. In this way we saw small but apparently comfort- 
able stone houses, neatl3’-kcpt grounds, — what looked like 
fruitful gardens and green fields, — all being cultivated by 
“ Chinese prisoners who had not yet been eaten,” we were 
told on the other side; or rather we were told that their 
