558 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, made by the person who last quitted her when the party landed, and 
must have been done either with a view of preventing her being carried 
Sept, away, or by depriving themselves of the means of escape, showing their 
resolution to conquer or die. We repaired her as well as we could, 
and kept her in readiness to be restored to her owners on the first 
favourable opportunity that offered. 
The next morning a boat was sent to bring them to friendly 
terms, and to return every thing that was in the baidar, except some 
fish which they had brought for sale, in lieu of which some blue beads 
and tobacco wmre left, but the natives were averse to reconciliation, and 
kept themselves concealed. The night was severely cold, with snow 
showers ; and next day, seeing nothing of the party, the baidar was re- 
turned. The natives removed her during the night to the opposite 
side of the island, where she appeared to be undergoing an additional 
repair ; but we saw none of the people, who must have secreted them- 
selves on the approach of the boat. We took every opportunity of 
showing them we wished to obtain their friendship, but to no purpose ; 
they would not make their appearance, and the next night de- 
camped, leaving a few old skins in return for the articles we had left 
for them. On examining the ravine in which they had concealed 
themselves, we found one man lying dead, with his bow and quiver, 
containing five arrows, placed under his body, and clothed in the 
same manner as when he quitted the baidar. The ravine was con- 
veniently adapted to the defence of a party, being narrow, with small 
banks on each side of it, behind which a party might discharge their 
arrows without much danger to themselves until they became closely 
beset; to obviate which as much as possible, and to sell their lives 
as dearly as they could, we found they had constructed pits in the 
earth by scooping out holes sufficiently large to contain a man, and 
by banking up the mud above them. There were five of these exca- 
vations close under the edges of the banks, which were undermined ; 
one at the head of the ravine, and two on each side, about three yards 
lower down; the latter had a small communication at the bottom, 
through which an arrow might be transferred from one person to 
another, without incurring the risk of being seen by passing it over the 
top. The construction of these pits must have occupied the man who 
