Page 389 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

of which we stood much in need. Before long they returned,
stating that they had found an Indian hut, inside of which
were some rude earthenware vessels. Fearful of surprise,
we lay off the shore all that night, and putting into the bay
very early in the morning, killed a seal. This was the first
fresh meat I had tasted for four years. It seemed strange to
eat it under such circumstances. We cooked the flippers,
heart, and liver for breakfast, giving some to a cat which
we had taken with us out of the brig, for I would not, will-
ingly, allow even that animal to perish. After breakfast, we
got under weigh; and we had scarcely been out half an hour
when we had a fresh breeze, which carried us along at the
rate of seven knots an hour, running from bay to bay to find
inhabitants. Steering along the shore, as the sun went down,
we suddenly heard the bellowing of a bullock, and James
Barker, whom, from his violent conduct, I thought incapa-
ble of such sentiment, burst into tears.
‘In about two hours we perceived great fires on the beach
and let go anchor in nineteen fathoms of water. We lay
awake all that night. In the morning, we rowed further in-
shore, and moored the boat to some seaweed. As soon as the
inhabitants caught sight of us, they came down to the beach.
I distributed needles and thread among the Indians, and on
my saying ‘Valdivia,’ a woman instantly pointed towards
a tongue of land to the southward, holding up three fin-
gers, and crying ‘leaghos’! which I conjectured to be three
leagues; the distance we afterwards found it to be.
‘About three o’clock in the afternoon, we weathered the
point pointed out by the woman, and perceived a flagstaff

For the Term of His Natural Life