A spear had passed entirely
through the thickest part of the body of one of them, though a very
robust man, and the skull of the other was beaten in. Their tools were
taken away, but some provisions which they had with them at the time of
the murder, and their cloaths, were left untouched. In addition to this
misfortune, two more convicts, who were peaceably engaged in picking of
greens, on a spot very remote from that where their comrades suffered,
were unawares attacked by a party of Indians, and before they could
effect their escape, one of them was pierced by a spear in the hip,
after which they knocked him down, and plundered his cloaths. The poor
wretch, though dreadfully wounded, made shift to crawl off, but his
companion was carried away by these barbarians, and his fate doubtful,
until a soldier, a few days afterwards, picked up his jacket and hat
in a native's hut, the latter pierced through by a spear. We have found
that these spears are not made invariably alike, some of them being
barbed like a fish gig, and others simply pointed. In repairing them
they are no less dexterous than in throwing them.
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