to seize some of their darts, and continued to follow them about a mile:  We then sat down upon some rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down at about an hundred yards distance.  After a short time, the old man again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point:  He stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered by beckoning and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances against a tree, and advanced towards us in a friendly manner:  When they came up, we returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation complete.  We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen, was not among them; we knew however that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the distance at which the shot reached him.  We made all of them presents of such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards the ship:  As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some musquet balls, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and effect.  When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on fire at about two miles distance.  If this accident had happened a very little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our powder had been aboard but a few-days, and the store-tent, with many valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours.  We had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the ground round us.

In the afternoon we got every thing on board the ship, new-birthed her, and let her swing with the tide; and at night the master returned, with the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the northward.

The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar, the ship being now ready for sea.  We saw no Indians this day, but all the hills round us for many miles were on fire, which at night made a most striking and beautiful appearance.

The 21st past without our getting sight of any of the inhabitants, and indeed without a single incident worth notice.  On the 22d, we killed a turtle for the day’s provision, upon opening which we found a wooden harpoon or turtle-peg, about as thick as a man’s finger, near fifteen inches long, and bearded at the end, such as we had seen among the natives, sticking through both shoulders:  It appeared to have been struck a considerable time, for the wound had perfectly healed up over the weapon.