392 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1820. have fallen overpowered with fatigue, had not 
Aug. 23 . the sudden appearance of our people, at the same 
time that it inspired him with fresh hopes of 
escape, arrested the progress of the natives, who, 
after throwing two or three spears without effect, 
stopped, and gave him time to join our party, 
quite spent with the extraordinary effort he had 
made to save his life. 
Whilst this event occurred, I was employed on 
board in constructing my rough chart, but upon 
Mr. Roe’s being seen from the deck in the 
act of running along the beach pursued by the 
Indians, I hastened on shore, determined, if pos- 
sible, to punish them for such unprovoked hos- 
tility. Upon landing, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Roe, and 
one of the men joined me in pursuit of the na- 
tives ; but, from our comparatively slow move- 
ments, and our ignorance of the country, we re- 
turned after an hour without having seen any 
signs of them ; in the evening, before our people 
left off work, we made another circuitous walk, 
but with the same bad success. The natives 
had taken the alarm, and nothing more was seen 
of them during the remainder of our stay, ex- 
cepting the smokes of their fires, which appeared 
over the trees at the back of the island. 
Previous to this attack upon Mr. Roe, the na- 
tives had probably been following Mr. Hunter ; 
