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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
** On Sunday the ? d of June , instead of assembling tjie colonists at prayers , and taking thkt opportunity of pointing out to t&eoi their pfei cise situation , the difficulties they nad to encounter , ^ e necessity of order , regularity , sobriety , and industry , inshort , the virtue * that would ensure tae p ^ sjerity , or the vices that would tend to ttie ^ detraction of the € olonyy instead pfdphig this , which their situation
imperiously called for , every one was wandering about the island in |> ursuit of some favorite amusements Some were on the shore ibting among the rocks , or seeking crabs and muscles : | others taking-, posters from the Mangrove branches , while many were ihland i botanizing , or hunting after lizards , and others chasing , some—butterflies , and someelephants 5 a few were sleeping by the hut where the arms were kept , and some of the women were sitting in its shade 5 and thus were the colonists scattered , ^ t two o ' clock , when the Bijugas made an attack * They began by firing a volley into the hut , which rousing those who were asleep in it , as they rushed out they were shot . Those who were liear the beach , and ran towards , it on hearing the firing of musketry ^ in order to get on board , were intercepted by another party , and met with the same fate . In short , all the men who were near the hut at
the time of attack , were either killed or wounded , and all the \ yomen and children taken prisoners . Some , at a little distance , hid themselves behind the rockS till the firing had ceased , and by that means escape ^ to the ship 1 and all those who were distant in the woods , iriany ofwnom did not return nntil very late , escaped also . On boaM the Calypso , during this dreadful sdene on shore > all was disorder . They
tfideed sent two armed boats on shore as soon as they could > to receive and protect those who had fled to the beach for assistance 5 but the work of death was done ; the object of the savages accomplished They had surprised and destroyed 5 and then , loaded with booty , had retreated to the bushes * When the boats reached the shore the firing had ceased , and a few colonists , who had been alarmed at it , having been near enough to hear , without seeiiig its effects till they passed the dead bodies , were standing m > to their necks in -water , waiting to be taken on board . Of those who were absent in the woods , some
heard , and some did not hear the firing * but they all returned , although late , in safety , In this melancholy affair , we had five men and one woman killed , four men wounded , and four women and three children taken prisoners /* -, ¦ . , » No resistance was made to this attack by the colonists , and the Bijugas might , if they had chosen , have cut off every one upon the island . Of four canhori which the Calypso had , not one , at the time of this melancholy affair , was mounted .
The fate of Mr . and Mrs . Gardiner was pecuiiariydistressing , Mr . G . had been wounded in the onset by a musket-ball , and was endeavouring to reach the beach , when he was intercepted b y one of the party of natives . Unarmed , weakened with loss of blood , and incapable of retreating , he tried to softenfthi ' s man ' s ferocity , by imploring * Jooks and hunnliating po&tures j l ^ ut in vain : the savage made a stroke at him with his cutlass , which
severed his harid from his arm , at the wrist . In the conditioin , he passed on into the water , where he stood up to his chin in
Untitled Article
AfricanMemoranda . 26 £ ) ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1806, page 269, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1724/page/45/
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