The following morning Mr. Bedwell went with a watering party to the shore; the tide had however reached the hole, and spoilt what had been collected during the night:  after cleaning the hole again he visited our last year’s wooding-place where he found some remains of our cuttings; but the greater part had been burnt.  On his return to the watering-place the well was full, and the party commenced their occupation:  they had however scarcely been twenty minutes employed before a shower of large stones was thrown down upon them by a party of natives who suddenly appeared on the verge of the cliff; but as suddenly retreated upon a volley of muskets being fired over their heads from our boat, which we had previously taken the precaution of mooring off the shore as we had done last year.  After this our people continued their work without being further molested although many other attacks were premeditated by the natives during the day, they having once or twice approached near the verge of the cliffs; but their courage forsook them before they were sufficiently near to throw either spears or stones with effect.  A flag was always hoisted on board whenever they were observed advancing, which prepared our people on the beach to give them a reception.  This signal was certainly noticed by the natives, for they always stopped short the moment it was displayed.

The run of water was so trifling that we could not procure more than from sixty to one hundred gallons per day, for while the high tides lasted the well in the morning was always found full of salt water.  This inconvenience did not occur last year because it was not found necessary to dig a hole, the stream being of itself sufficiently abundant for our purpose.

August 10 to 16.

The delay however was not lost, inasmuch as it gave an opportunity of finding new rates for the watches, as well as of obtaining a set of lunar observations for the longitude.

On the 13th Mr. Bedwell went to Sims’ Island for turtle but no recent tracks were observed, excepting the remains of one that had a week before furnished a repast to the natives.  Near to this place were found disinterred some of the bones of a human body that had been buried in a grave close by, not longer than two or three months since.  The footsteps of the followers of the body to the grave were still visible in the sand, but other steps appeared to have been more recently impressed; which must have been those of the natives, who had dug the body up either from a motive of curiosity or revenge.

I cannot account for the absence of many of the bones of the skeleton unless the natives are cannibals, of which we have hitherto neither had proofs nor entertained the least suspicion; dogs or birds may certainly have carried them off, or the natives themselves may have removed them as trophies or as evidences of their discovery to their companions on the main.  From the quantity of bamboo which was found scattered about