A ship discovered at a small distance from the island.--The natives
prepare to go on board of her.--Captain Barnard and Bartlet
Rollins, after being severely beaten, are allowed to go with the
natives in their canoes, and thus effect their escape; the rest of
the Mentor's people are still forcibly detained on the
island.--Their hopes of being taken on board of the same ship are
suddenly blasted.--Their despondency on that
disappointment.--Return of the natives from the ship; their rage,
and quarrels about the division of the articles procured on board
of her.--They threaten to wreak their vengeance on the Mentor's
people that remained with them.--Their cruel treatment of them.--A
storm destroys the cocoa-nut trees and causes a scarcity of food.
We were captured and taken to the island December 6, 1832; and on the
third day of February, 1833, two months wanting three days, captain
Barnard and Bartlet Rollins effected their escape. Compared with the
remainder of our captivity, our privations and sufferings up to that
time were less severe. But at no time did we have sufficient food to
satisfy the cravings of hunger! The very crumbs that fall from an
ordinary table would have been to us a luxury; the swine of America are
better fed than we were, on the most fortunate day of our residence upon
that island.
It was on the day above mentioned that a ship was discovered a short
distance from the island, and the natives immediately collected, and
prepared to go to it, in order to obtain iron, or some other articles of
value. Hope once more visited us. To escape was, of course, our strong
desire and intention. Accordingly, when the canoes put off we attempted
to go. Our savage masters interposed their authority, and by menaces and
blows prevented us. Many of us were severely beaten, and all but two
were detained by the brutal force of the savages. At length captain
Barnard and Rollins, after being severely beaten, were allowed to
accompany the natives to the ship, and succeeded in effecting their
escape. Trusting to the humanity of the captain and crew, we for some
time confidently expected, that they would contrive some way of enabling
us to join them. They were in sight about three hours; at one time they
were so near that we could distinctly see the hands on board; but judge
of our feelings when we saw the vessel pursuing her course! Our
expectations were all blasted in a moment, and our minds, which had been
gladdened by the hope of once more enjoying the society of civilized
beings, of once more reaching the shores of our beloved country, sunk
back into a state of despair; we wept like children.
The natives, when they returned from the vessel, brought with them a
small quantity of iron hoops, and a few articles of some little value,
but they were highly dissatisfied with the amount received, and greatly
enraged. The division of the property caused much difficulty, and they
quarrelled about it for several days. Those of us who remained, though
innocent, were the greatest sufferers. They held us accountable for the
conduct of those who had left, and vented the malignity of their
unfeeling hearts upon us. We were given to understand, that now our doom
was fixed; that we should remain with them, and die the victims of our
tormentors! Alas! it was but too true, that such was to be the fate of
all but two of our number! We were destined to see one after another of
our fellow-sufferers sink under the constantly increasing severity of
the burdens imposed upon them, and perish either from actual starvation,
or by the blows of the savages.
After the departure of the captain and Rollins, we were treated with
much greater severity than we had been before. Generally we were aroused
from our broken slumbers about sunrise, and compelled to go to work; we
were usually employed in cultivating a species of vegetable somewhat
resembling the yam, and called by them "_korei_." This root is raised in
beds of mud, which are prepared by digging out the sand, and filling the
place with mould. The whole of this labor was performed with the hands.
We were compelled day after day to stand in the mud from morning till
night, and to turn up the mud with our hands. Frequently we were
required to do this without receiving a morsel of food till about noon,
and sometimes we were left without any thing to eat till night. At best
we could get no more than a small piece of cocoa-nut, hardly a common
sized mouthful, at a time, and if, either from exhaustion or any other
cause, we neglected to perform the required amount of labor, our
pittance of food was withheld altogether.
From this plain and unexaggerated account it will be seen, that our
condition at best was bad enough; but a misfortune befell us which
rendered it still worse. About four months from the time of our landing
on that dreary spot, there was a violent storm, which came very near
sweeping away the whole of the means of support which remained for the
miserable inhabitants. The wind blew down many of the best cocoa trees,
and materially injured the fruit on such as were left standing. Besides
this, the low places in which they raised the root, by them called
"_korei_," were mostly filled with sand, and famine stared us all in the
face.
They attributed this misfortune to the anger of their god, and did not
fail to use such means as they thought best calculated to appease him;
and the calamity greatly added to our sufferings. Besides subjecting us
to still more severe deprivations, we were compelled (though hardly able
to drag our limbs from place to place) to labor in repairing the damage
done by the storm. We were employed for months in carrying in our arms
and on our shoulders pieces of the coral rock, in order to form a sort
of seawall to prevent the waves from washing away the trees; and this
drudgery, considering that we were naked, under a burning sun, and
reduced to nothing but skin and bones, was too severe to admit of any
thing like an adequate description. Our flesh, or, to speak more
properly, our skin--for flesh we had none--was frequently so torn by the
sharp corners of the rock, and scorched by the sun, as to resemble more
that of the rhinoceros than of human beings.