When I Gave It
Them They Were Sure To Stay Away The Next Day, And When I Refused
Any Further Advances Some Of Them Declined Working Any More.
As
the boat approached completion my difficulties with the men
increased.
The uncle of one had commenced a war, or sort of
faction fight, and wanted his assistance; another's wife was ill,
and would not let him come; a third had fever and ague, and pains
in his head and back; and a fourth had an inexorable creditor who
would not let him go out of his sight. They had all received a
month's wages in advance; and though the amount was not large, it
was necessary to make them pay it back, or I should get ago men
at a11. I therefore sent the village constable after two, and
kept them in custody a day, when they returned about three-
fourths of what they owed me. The sick man also paid, and the
steersman found a substitute who was willing to take his debt,
and receive only the balance of his wages.
About this time we had a striking proof of the dangers of New
Guinea trading. Six men arrived at the village in a small boat
almost starved, having escaped out of two praus, the remainder of
whose crews (fourteen in number) had been murdered by the natives
of New Guinea. The praus had left this village a few months
before, and among the murdered men were the Rajah's son, and the
relation or slaves of many of the inhabitants.
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