Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

226 RECEPTION BY THE SPANIARDS.
It belonged to an acquaintance of our cacique;
and as he was possessed of my fowling-piece,
and we had preserved about one charge oi
powder, he made us load it for him, and desir¬
ed we would show him how to discharge it;
upon which standing up, and holding his head
from it as far as possible, he fired, and fell
back into the bottom of the canoe. The In¬
dians belonging to the house, not in the least
used to fire-arms, ran out and hid themselves
in the woods. But after some time, one of
them, bolder than the rest, got upon a hill,
and hallooed to us, asking who and what we
were. Our cacique now made himself known,
and they presently came down to the boat,
bringing with them some fish, and plenty of
potatoes. This was the most comfortable
meal we had made for many long months;
and as soon as this was over, we rowed about
two miles farther to a little village, where we
landed. Here our cacique presently awoke
all the inhabitants by the noise he made, and
obliged one of them to open his door to us,
and immediately to make a large fire; for
the weather was very severe, this being the
month of June, the depth of winter in this
part of the world. The Indians now flocked