'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎229] (338/496)

placed in their apparent amicable disposition, no treachery was feared:
the whole party thought themselves safe in such hands, and, being much
exhausted by exposure, and the privations they had endured for some
days past, laid on the sandy beach, and were soon sound asleep, no watch
being deemed necessary. But in the mean time the savages had all dis
appeared, and not a sound of them was heard to disturb the slumbers
of the poor worn-out shipwrecked crew, until night had closed in,
when the wily, cunning savages, who had not been idle, by this time had
collected their numbers, and by stealth crept near their sleeping
victims—so near in fact, that escape was impossible, watching a favorable
opportunity : they then uttered a dreadful yell, rushed in upon the whole
party, and with heavy clubs murdered them as they lay on the sandy
beach. One shriek of horror and despair fell from the lips of our poor
countrymen, but all was soon hushed in the deep silence of death : the
deed of blood was completed, and in a few minutes more the murdered
remains vrere dragged some distance off, a huge tire was kindled, the
ieet, hands, and heads, were then severed from the bodies, and the parts
above named were roasted and eaten by these wretched cannibals, who,
whilst this horrible least was preparing, danced round the mutilated
corpses in savage exultation, howling and yelling in the most dreadful
manner.
The frightful scene lasted for some hours, and was clearly seen by
Ireland, who the whole time was in a state of extreme mental agitation,
scarcely knowing what to do : even as he detailed to us the enaction of
this awful tragedy, a shudder of terror passed over his frame. After
tins inhuman banquet was over, he saw the bodies of the murdered cast
by these wretches with ignominy into the sea.
The skulls of the victims of this brutal and inhuman massacre were
caiefudy preserved by these monsters, as a trophy of their bravery; for
Captain Lewis, when he laid waste the island, discovered in the
ccntie, near the shade of some trees, a rude shed erected, under which
they had been placed, built up in the form of a pyramid. This Golgotha
was enclosed by a paling, and was evidently tabooed, for a frightful
wooden figure, in the human form, painted with red ochre, and with eyes
made ft om the oystershell, and their pupils stained black, rested at the base
of this horrible sanctuary, and was evidently a representation of their
Deity, or rather the Demon whom they worship, and whom they might
ha\e sought to propitiate, by the sacrifice of so many human lives, perhaps
101 some misfortune that might have befallen them, or perhaps for some
ns
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