The assault was made with stones, of which prodigious numbers were thrown with extraordinary force and accuracy of direction.

To this treachery M.L'Angle fell a sacrifice, and with him twelve of his party, officers and men, the long-boats were destroyed, and the remainder of those who had gone ashore escaped with difficulty in their small boats.

The ships in the mean time were under sail, and having passed a point of land that intercepted the view, knew nothing of this melancholy and unaccountable affray till the boats returned.

This fatal result from too implicit a confidence, may, perhaps very properly, increase the caution of Europeans in their commerce with savages, but ought not to excite suspicion.

The resentments of such people are sudden and sanguinary, and, where the intercourse of language is wanting, may easily be awakened by misapprehension: but it seems possible to treat them with sufficient marks of confidence, without abandoning the guards of prudence.