The island was so small that they could
not hide themselves; but they were much disordered at our landing,
especially the women and children, for we went directly to their camp.
The lustiest of the women, snatching up their infants, ran away howling,
and the little children ran after, squeaking and bawling, but the men
stood still. Some of the women and such of the people as could not go
from us, lay still by a fire making a doleful noise, as if we had been
coming to devour them; but when they saw we did not intend to harm them,
they were pretty quiet, and the rest that fled from us at our first
coming, returned again. This, their place of dwelling, was only a fire,
with a few boughs before it, set up on that side the wind was of.
After we had been here a little while, the men began to be familiar, and
we cloathed some of them, designing to have some service of them for it;
for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry two or
three barrels of it on board. But being somewhat troublesome to carry on
the canoes, we thought to have made these men carry it for us and
therefore we gave them some cloathes; to one an old pair of breeches; to
another a ragged shirt; to the third a jacket that was scarce worth
owning; which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where
we had been, and so we thought they might have with these people.
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