The Indians At Length Took Courage
To Advance To Our Ships Which Lay With Their Sides Close To The Shore,
Intending To Do Us Some Harm; But Their Designs Turned Out To Their Own
Detriment, Although The Admiral Always Endeavoured To Gain Them By
Patience And Civility.
But perceiving their insolence to increase, he
caused some cannon to be discharged, thinking to frighten them; this they
Answered with loud shouts, thrashing the trees with their clubs and staves,
and showed by threatening signs that they did not fear the noise.
Therefore to abate their pride and to surprise them with respect for the
Christians, the admiral ordered a shot to be fired at a company of them
that stood upon a hillock near the shore; and the ball falling among them
made them sensible that our thunder carried a bolt along with it, and in
future they dared not to show themselves even behind the hills.
The people of this country were the handsomest we had yet seen among the
Indians, being tall and thin, without large bellies, and with agreeable
countenances. The country was all plain, bearing little grass and few
trees. In the harbour there were crocodiles or alligators of a vast size,
which go on shore to sleep, and they scatter a scent as if all the musk in
the world were together: They are fierce and ravenous, so that if they
find a man asleep they drag him to the water and devour him, but they are
fearful and cowardly when attacked.
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