TRANSCRIPTION
On the next day, early in the morning, I again
left the Geographer, intending to cross the isthmus,
and to visit again the monuments on the East Bay.
M.Petit, our draughtsman, accompanied me. A little boat, known to frnach sailors by the name pousse-pied, was at my command ; it held only three men, and our and our only protection was, a single musket, which M. Petit had
secretly taken with him : for,
although we on board our vessels a thousand times more ammunition than was necessary for an
expedition of this kind,
our commander had absolutely
given orders that the men
belonging to any of the boats should
be without arms, under
the pretext that they used too much powder.
On the evening preceeding this very day, two
carpenters belonging to the Naturalist, who were attacked
on Isle
Maria narrowly escaped the blows of the natives. This recent occurence, my solicitations, had no effect on the
determined
resolution of our commander; and as there was no alternative between exposing
ourselves unarmed to the probable attackes of the savages, and staying on board doing nothing, I determined to go on shore at all hazards. We shall
soon see to what imminent danger we were exposed, from the captain's obstinacy.
