Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/294

242 us with fresh proofs of the barbarity of the natives.

Farther on we saw plantations of yams, potatoes, &c. We proceeded for some time towards the south, and were surprised at not seeing any of the savages, when I perceived an old man employed in pulling up the roots of the dolichos tuberosus, which he gave to a child to clean. He did not seem in the least intimidated on observing us approach him, but every feature of the child was expressive of the most violent apprehension. The old man had lost one eye, which he told us had been knocked out by a stone, and we thought we recognised him to be one of those inhabitants who had come several times to visit us on board of our vessels.

This man accompanied us along the path in a south-easterly direction across the plain, but had much difficulty in keeping up with us, for he had been wounded in one leg, where we perceived two great scars opposite to each other, as if it had been pierced through and through with a dart.

On both sides of the road we saw straggling huts at great distances from each other, surrounded with cocoa trees. Only a few savages appeared at a distance in the middle of the vast plain. On our right lay a thick forest of cocoa trees extending to the foot of the mountains, on