us to be their enemies, and that we would murder them, as well as those that pursued them, they set up a most dreadful fhriek, especially the women; and two of them fell down as if already dead with the fright.

My very foul fhrunk within me, and my blood ran chill in my veins when I faw this; and I believe, had the three English failors that pursued them come on, I had made our men kill them all. However, we took fome ways to let the poor flying creatures know that we would not hurt them; and immediately they came up to us, and kneeling down, with their hands lifted up, made piteous lamentations to us to fave them, which we let them know we would do; whereupon they kept all together in a huddle, close behind us, for protection. I left my men drawn up together, and charged them to hurt nobody, but, if poffible, to get at fome of our people, and fee what devii it was poffeffed them, and what they intended to do; and, in a word, to command them off; affuring them, that if they ftaid till day-light, they would have a hundred thousand men about their ears; I fay, I left them, and went among thofe flying people, taking only two of our men with me: and there was, indeed, a piteous fpectacle among them: Some of them had their feet terribly burnt with trampling and running through the fire; others their hands burnt; one of the women had fallen down in the fire, and was almoft burnt to death before fhe could get out again; two or three of the men had cuts in their backs and thighs, from our men pursuing; and another was fhot through the body, and died while I was there.

I would

I would fain have learned what the occafion of all this was, but I could not understand one word they faid, though by signs I perceived that some of them knew not what was the occafion themselves. I was fo terrified in my thoughts at this outrageous attempt, that I could not stay there, but went back to my own men: I told them my refolution, and commanded them to follow me, when in the very moment came four of our men, with the boatfwain at their head, running over the heaps of bodies they had killed, all covered with blood and duft, as if they wanted more people to maffacre; when our men hallooed to them as loud as they could halloo; and, with much ado, one of them made them hear; fo that they knew who we were, and came up to

us.

As foon as the boatswain saw us, he fet up a halloo, like a fhout of triumph, for having, as he thought, more help come; and without bearing to hear me, Captain, says he, noble captain, I am glad you are come; we have not half done yet: Villains! hell-hound dogs! I will kill as many of them as poor Tom has hairs upon his head. We have fworn to fpare none of them; we will root out the very name of them from the earth: and thus he ran on, out of breath too with action, and would not give us leave to speak a word.

At last, raising my voice that I might filence him a little: Barbarous dog! faid I, what are you doing? I won't have one creature touched more, upon pain of death. I charge you, upon your life, to ftop your hands, and ftand ftill here, or you are a dead man this minute.

Why, Sir, fays he, do you know what you do, or what they have done? If you want a reafon for what we have done, come hither; and with that he fhewed me the poor fellow hanging upon a tree, with his throat cut.

I confefs I was urged then myself, and at another time fhould have been forward enough; but I thought they had carried their rage too far, and thought of Jacob's words to his fons Simeon and Levi, "Curfed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their "wrath, for it was cruel." But I had now a new task upon my hands; for when the men I carried with me faw the fight, as I had done, I had as much to do to restrain them, as I fhould have had with the others; nay, my nephew himself fell in with them, and told me, in their hearing, that he was only concerned for fear of the men being overpowered; for, as to the people, he thought not one of them ought to live; for they had all glutted themselves with the murder of the poor man, and that they ought to be used like murderers: upon these words, away ran eight of my men with the boatswain and his crew, to complete their bloody work: and I, seeing it quite out of my power to restrain them, came away penfive and fad; for I could not bear the fight, much lefs the horrible noife and cries of the poor wretches that fell into their hands.

I got nobody to come back with me but the fupercargo and two men, and with these I walked back to the boats. It was a very great piece of folly in me, I confefs, to venture back as it were alone; for as it began now to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the country, there ftood about forty men, armed

4

armed with lances and bows, at the little place where the twelve or thirteen houses stood, mentioned before; but by accident I miffed the place, and came directly to the fea-fide; and by that time I got to the fea-fide, it was broad day: immediately I took the pinnace, and went aboard, and fent her back to affift the men in what might happen.

I obferved, that about the time I came to the boatfide, the fire was pretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half an hour after I got on board, I heard a volley of our men's fire arms, and faw a great fmoke; this, as I understood afterwards, was our men falling upon the forty men, who, as I faid, ftood at the few houfes on the way; of whom they killed fixteen or seventeen, and fet all thofe houses on fire, but did not meddle with the women or children.

By that time the men got to the fhore again with the pinnace, our men began to appear; they came dropping in, fome and fome; not in two bodies, and in form, as they went out, but all in heaps, ftraggling here and there in fuch manner, that a fmall force of refolute men might have cut them all off.

But the dread of them was upon the whole country: The people were amazed and furprised, and fo frighted, that, I believe, an hundred of them would have fled at the fight of but five of our men. Nor in all this terrible action was there a man who made any confiderable defence; they were fo furprized between the terror of the fire, and the fudden attack of our men in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn themselves; for if they fled one way, they were met by one party; if back again, by ano

ther;

ther; fo that they were every where knocked down. Nor did any of our men receive the leaft hurt, except one who ftrained his foot, and another had one of his hands very much burnt.

I was very angry with my nephew, the captain, and, indeed, with all the men, in my mind, but with him in particular; as well for his acting fo out of his duty, as commander of the ship, and having the charge of the voyage upon him, as in his prompting, rather than cooling, the rage of his men, in so bloody and cruel an enterprife: My nephew answered me very respectfully; but told me that when he faw the body of the poor feaman, whom they had murdered in fuch a cruel and barbarous manner, he was not master of himself, neither could he govern his paffion; he owned, he should not have done fo, as he was commander of the fhip; but, as he was a man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it. As for the rest of the men, they were not fubject to me at all; and they knew it well enough, fo they took no notice of my dislike.

The next day we fet fail; fo we never heard any more of it. Our men differed in the account of the number they killed; fome faid one thing, fome another: But, according to the best of their accounts put all together, they killed, or destroyed, about 150 people, men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in the town.

As for the poor fellow Thomas Jeffrys, as he was quite dead, for his throat was fo cut that his head was half off, it would do him no fervice to bring him away; fo they left him where they found him,

only