One day, being out in the main ocean, we were attacked by a
horrible tempest, which made us lose our course. The tempest
continued several days, and brought us before the port of an
island, where the captain was very unwilling to enter; but we were
obliged to cast anchor there. When we had furled our sails the
captain told us that this and some other neighbouring islands were
inhabited by hairy savages, who would speedily attack us; and
though they were but dwarfs, yet our misfortune was that we must
make no resistance, for they were more in number than the locusts;
and if we happened to kill one of them they would all fall upon us
and destroy us.
This discourse of the captain put the whole company into a great
consternation; and we found very soon, to our cost, that what he
had told us was but too true; an innumerable multitude of frightful
savages, covered all over with red hair, and about two feet high,
came swimming towards us, and in a little time encompassed our
ship. They spoke to us as they came near, but we understood not
their language; they climbed up the sides of the ship with an
agility that surprised us. We beheld all this with mortal fear,
without daring to offer to defend ourselves, or to speak one word
to divert them from their mischievous design.
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