140 
hardly walk; The natives now com¬ 
menced the destruction of my clothing, 
and not being able to converse with 
them, I found it very difficult to pre¬ 
serve my apparel. They often reques¬ 
ted me to divest myself of my clothing,, 
and dress as they did, or rather not dress 
at all. I made signs that the sun would 
burn me, if I should expose myself to 
its scorching rays. When they found 
that persuasion would not induce me to 
divest myself of clothing, they began to 
destroy my clothes, by tearing them in 
pieces. It was some time before I could 
understand their language, so as to in¬ 
form them that the sun would burn my 
back; and being robbed of my clothes, 
the powerful influence of the sun soon 
scorched me to such a degree that I 
could scarcely lie down or take any rest. 
About the latter part of July, William 
Lay and others came to the Island in a 
canoe, to see me, being the first inter¬ 
view we had enjoyed since our separa¬ 
tion, which was about three months pre¬ 
vious. Lay informed me that the na- 
