A sufficient number of prisoners having received permission
to assist in this duty, they entered the boat accompanied by a guard
of soldiers, and put off from the ship.
"I obtained leave to assist in the burial of the body of Mr. Carver, *
* * and after landing at a low wharf which had been built from the
shore, we first went to a small hut, which stood near the wharf, and
was used as a place of deposit for the handbarrows and shovels
provided for these occasions. Having placed the corpses on the
barrows, and received our hoes and shovels, we proceeded to the side
of the bank near the Waleboght. Here a vacant space having been
selected, we were directed to dig a trench in the sand, of a proper
length for the reception of the bodies. We continued our labor until
the guards considered that a sufficient space had been excavated. The
corpses were then laid in the trench without ceremony, and we threw
the sand over them. The whole appeared to produce no more effect upon
our guards than if they were burying the bodies of dead animals,
instead of men. They scarcely allowed us time to look about us; for no
sooner had we heaped the earth upon the trench, than we were ordered
to march. But a single glance was sufficient to show us parts of many
bodies which were exposed to view, although they had probably been
placed there with the same mockery of interment but a few days before.
Pages:
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392