Information having been received toward the close of the last month, that
some natives had thrown a spear or fiz-gig at a convict in a garden on
the west side, where they had met together to steal potatoes, the
governor sent an armed party to disperse them, when a club being thrown
by one of the natives at the party, the latter fired, and one man was
wounded. This circumstance was at first only surmised, from tracing a
quantity of blood from the spot to the water; but in a few days afterward
the natives in the town told us the name of the wounded man, and added,
that he was then dead, and to be found in a cove which they mentioned. On
going to the place, a man well known in the town since the intercourse
between us and his countrymen had been opened was found dead, and
disposed of for burning. He had been shot under the arm, the ball
dividing the subclavian artery, and Mr. White was of opinion that he bled
to death.

It was much to be regretted that any necessity existed for adopting these
sanguinary punishments, and that we had not yet been able to reconcile
the natives to the deprivation of those parts of this harbour which we
occupied. While they entertained the idea of our having dispossessed them
of their residences, they must always consider us as enemies; and upon
this principle they made a point of attacking the white people whenever
opportunity and safety concurred. It was also unfortunately found, that
our knowledge of their language consisted at this time of only a few
terms for such things as, being visible, could not well be mistaken; but
no one had yet attained words enough to convey an idea in connected
terms. It was also conceived by some among us, that those natives who
came occasionally into the town did not desire that any of the other
tribes should participate in the enjoyment of the few trifles they
procured from us. If this were true, it would for a long time retard the