WILD MEN. 
307 
waist, and darted into the woods; where he was 
stopped by one of the men who saw him, and 
finally secured. He was evidently enfeebled from 
recent illness, or, as the natives expressed them¬ 
selves, they could neither have caught or retained 
him. Terror seemed to have absorbed every feel¬ 
ing. It was in vain they assured him that they 
meant him no injury, he appeared either not to 
understand, or not to regard any thing they said, 
but constantly exclaimed, “ Ye are murderers, ye 
are murderers,” occasionally supplicating them with, 
“ Do not murder me, do not murder me. ,> They 
conducted him to the settlement, gave him food 
and clothing, and, treating him with kindness, he 
appeared somewhat calmed, but still manifested a 
most restless apprehension, and for a long time 
the only sounds he uttered were, “ Do not kill me.” 
He was taken to the school and the chapel, but 
appeared distressed by the noise, yet pleased with 
letters, and ultimately even learned the elements 
of reading, but took the first opportunity of fleeing 
to the mountains. About a fortnight afterwards 
he was again secured, and brought to the settle¬ 
ment ; but whether or not he has since returned to 
the woods, I have not the means of knowing. He 
is supposed to have originally fled for fear of being 
sacrificed to the gods, and, under the panic which 
seized those who were defeated in some of the 
battles that within the last fifty years have been 
fought in these portions of the island, to have re¬ 
treated to the mountain fastnesses in its more 
central parts, where perhaps he had experienced 
a degree of mental aberration which had deprived 
him of memory, and induced him to wander 
like a demoniac among the lonely rocks and 
valleys. 
x 2 
