Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/310

244 244 TRANSACTIONS AT up ; and, as it was now almost dark, they gave over the attack, and returned towards the shore, leaving us to reflect on our unhappy situation. " The poor man I lost v/as John Norton : this was his second voyage with me as quarter- master, and his worthy character made me lament his loss very much. He has left an aged parent, I am told, whom he supported^" The account the natives gave was- to the following purport.- Part of Captain Bligh's crew had been on shore to procure water, and had all returned into their boat, except one man who was making the best of his way after his companions, with an axe in his hand ; some of the natives, perceiving the axe, resolved to possess tliemselves of it, particularly one of them, who was a carpenter ; they accordingly pursued him, and this carpenter, throwing a stone at him, knocked him down, and, coming up, beat him on the head with stones till he was dead. They then stripped the body, and dragged it up the country towards a malai, where they left it exposed two or three days, and afterwards buiied it near the spot. They said very little about a general attack, merely stating, that some of the natives threw stones at Captain Bligh's boat; and Mr. Mariner, at that time, not having read the narrative, did