My engraving tools and a sailor's sewing kit, given me by
Anna, were taken from me, but to my great good fortune they did not rob
me of my dagger-knife, or my flint and steel which lay concealed in the
inner pocket of my leathern belt, nor of a lock of Anna's hair which I
carried in a silken bag round my neck; and in the possession of which I
found much comfort in my present predicament. My clothes did not
interest my captors, and I was thankful not to be deprived of them.
I was now startled to observe that some of the natives carried at their
girdles a human skull, but I subsequently learned that these trophies
were not, as I had at first supposed, the result of a massacre, but
were the drinking-cups of these people, who appeared to be the most
debased in the scale of humanity I had ever encountered.
During the morning, although I could see that a watch was kept upon me,
I was allowed my liberty, and, in spite of my wretched plight, I became
interested in observing the natives at their daily occupations, one of
which consisted in the capture of wild-fowl from a lagoon close to the
camp by the ingenious method of floating upon their quarry submerged up
to their necks in water, their heads covered by a mass of weeds and
bulrushes.
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