When The Indians Perceived That He Had Got About A League Above The Colony, They Rushed From The Thickets On Both Sides Of The River In Their Canoes, And Assaulted Him Boldly On All Sides, Making Hideous Shouts And Blowing Their Horns.

They had great odds against our people, being in great numbers, and their canoes very swift and manageable, especially

The small ones belonging to the fishermen, which hold three or four men in each, one of whom paddles and can easily turn it about as he pleases, while the others threw their javelins at our boat. I call them javelins because of their bigness, though they have no iron heads, but are only pointed with fish bones. In our boat there were seven or eight men to row, and three or four more with the captain to fight; and as the rowers could not defend themselves from the javelins, they were forced to quit the oars to handle their targets. But the Indians poured upon them in such multitudes from all sides, advancing and retiring in good order as they thought fit, that they wounded most of the Christians, especially Captain Tristan who was hurt in many places; and though he stood unmoved, encouraging his men, his bravery availed him nothing, for he was beset on all sides and could not stir or make use of his musket, and at length he was pierced by a javelin in the eye and fell down dead. All the rest shared his fate except one man named John da Noia a native of Cadiz; he by good fortune fell into the water in the height of the combat, and gaining the shore by diving made his way through the thickest of the woods to the colony, where he brought the melancholy news of the destruction of all his companions.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 345 of 789
Words from 96765 to 97072 of 219607