Page 467
An.1688
The People on the Islands.
with them: for we were in hopes to get some Provision among them. But the Inhabitants, see- ing our Boat coming, run away and hid themselves. We searched afterwards 3 days, in hopes to find their Houses; but found none: yet we saw many places where they had made Fires. At last, being out of hopes to find their Habitations, we searched no farther: but left a great many toys ashore; in such places where we thought that they would come. In all our search we found no water, but old Wells on the sandy Bays.
At last we went over to the Islands, and there we found a great many of the Natives: I do be- lieve there were 40 on one Island, Men, Women and Children. The Men, at our first coming a- shore, threatened us with their Lances and Swords; but they were frighted by firing one Gun, which we fired purposely to scare them. The Island was so small that they could not hide themselves: but they were much disordered at our Landing, espe- cially the Women and Children: for we went di- rectly to their Camp. The lustiest of the Women snatching up their Infants ran away howling, and the little Children run after squeaking and bawl- ing; but the Men stood still. Some of the Women, and such People as could not go from us, lay still by a Fire, making a doleful noise as if we had been coming to devour them: but when they saw we did not intend to harm them, they were pretty quiet, and the rest that fled from us at our first coming, returned again. This their place of dwelling was only a Fire, with a few Boughs before it, set up on that side the wind was of.
After we had been here a little while, the Men began to be familiar, and we cloathed some of them, designing to have had some service of them for it: for we found some Wells of Water here, and intended to carry 2 or 3 Barrels of it aboard. But