The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1831-09-07

tack, which they only desisted from, on see
ng That the boat had come back from the vos- 1
ell and touched the shore AT midday num-
er OF canoes put off from the other Islands
ne captain being apprehensve of hostilities
enforced the hands on shore till they amount
ID IN number TO twenty lone. Beads were also
sent by him 10 the officer commanding them,
md he was particularly cautioned to be on his
guard, caution. however, which he disregarded,
Tor shortly after the natives made a general and
attack on them from the wood two
of the crew that were in the jolly boat had Just
time to shove her off When out of the reach
of the arrows, they laid by and took on board
three of the crew that had saved themselves in
the water. The whale boat. despatched by the
captain with ten armed men, on hearing the
war whoop Of the natives, saved two more of
them, the remainder were all massacred, with
the exception Of one whose fate we shall here
after mention.
Capt. Mnrrell with diminished crew, found
it impossible TO prosecute the objects of his
voyage, and he therefore determined to return
to Manila, to obtain a reinforcement of men.
He arrived there on the 25th June, and having
shipped fourteen more men sailed again on the
9Th August On the 18th September he once
more reached the islands where he had lost so
many oil his crew, and which from that circum-
stance, he called Massacre Island but ho had
no sooner come to an anchor than he was al
tackled by the natives in their canoes; brisk
fire from the schooner, however, compelled them
to retreat.
Shortly afterwards a small canoe put off from
the shore, in which, to the great Joy Of all on
board the schooner they found one of their old
crew, Leonard Shaw, who at the time of the
massacre, had hidden himself in the woods and
escaped. lilo had remained concealed fifteen
days, suhsising on only four Cocoa nuts when
b bp 5iccnvnrp1 hv IN liz,
wounded.
From this man, Captain Morrell learned, that
the skulls of thirteen OF his men that were Kill
led, vera hanging at tho Chiefs door, and that
few days before his return TO the Island, the
natives had consulted together on killing and
eating Shaw himself, but delayed it in conse-
quence Of the absence of some of their chiefs.
! They afterwards sent him on board with propo-
sails, it was supposed, Of pacific nature.
! Shaw, while on this island, was employed by
the natives in manufacturing knives out of the
! iron they had obtained from the vessel He
was badly treated by them, they giving him
hardly enough to live upon. liz represents
the whole OF the island as under the sway OF
one chief who rules with absolute power; each
OF the other Islands has a subordinate chiel
with many others dependant upon him. He
says he could discover amongst them no trace Of
religion, no appearance of any thing like a rev
erence for a superior power. The chiefs in.
duge in polygamy, but the generality of tho
men have but one wife, the women arc reserved
and chaste, their husbands killing them with
out any scruple on the least suspicion of inideli.
! ty. Shaw thinks they kill all the children ex-
ccpt those of the chief, he having perceived
none other amongst them. Their huts are
made of Bamboos and the leaf of the cocoa nut
/ trees, on the fruit of which, tbs banana and
fish, they entirely subsist. The islands are en-
! tlrely covered with wood, few foot paths only
I running though them, the huts are built in small
/ clusters on the sea coast for the convenience VI
fishing.
The length Of this article warns us to bring
it to n close, We therefore confino ourselves to
I but one other encounter with the natives
Capt. Mo'rell, in order to protect the people at
work on shore, caused kind of battery TO be
constructed on the top of two large trees about
! forty feet from the ground, and mounted it with
four brass swlyels sixteen of his best men were
placed in it will. muskets aad provisions, But il
- y----I,'~svd 'rlrUn the natives came
down IN large force and attacked the men below
the hFc from the battery to their great surprise
{ opened upon them and compelled them TO ro
treat with severe loss.
We pass over the purchase of the Massacre
Islands from its chief, his death and manv
i'oihcr details No exertions of Capt. Morrel
( c"ua pachy the natives, they continued to per.
great loss of lives they sustained and the
burning OF their huts, and eventually compelled
him TO give up the hope of obtaining CARGO OF
fish from the reef Of rocks which bounds Their
shores.
Capt Morrell still prosecuted his VOYAGE ane
made many Other important discoveries; they
are, however, his property and we therefore
abstain from noticing them in he hope that he
WIN, WIN at another day reap that advantage from
them which during this voyage has been de
One Of the natives from the Massacre Is
iahds, ana another from another Island subso
quenlly discovered have been brought home by
Capt MorFell. As may be supposed thew r..
OBJECTS OF much curiosity His intention is te
return with them to their homes, when he
hopes that the treatment they have received al
MS hands VIII ensure him better receplior
from their countrymen, and that the knowieIg,
tney VIII nave acquired here, will be the mean:
OF introducing amongst them some of the adj
vantages Of civilization