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as we could get hold of it, we inhaled with delight the perfume which issued from it, and which communicated to Our senses the most soothing impressions. Some of us reserved our portion of wine in little tin cups, and sucked up the wine with a quill; this manner of taking it was very beneficial to us, and quenched our thirst much more than if we had drunk it off at once. Even the smell of this liquor was extremely agreeable to us. M. Savigny observed that many of us, after having taken our small portion, fell into a state approaching to intoxication, and that there was always more discord among us after the distribution had been made.

'Three days passed in inexpressible anguish; we despised life to such a degree, that many of us did not fear to bathe in sight of the sharks which surrounded our raft; others placed themselves naked on the front part of our machine, which was still submerged: these means diminished a little their burning thirst. A kind of polypus (mollusca), known by seamen under the name of galére, was frequently driven in great numbers on our raft; and when their long arms clung to our naked bodies, they caused us the most cruel sufferings. Will it be believed, that amidst these dreadful scenes, struggling with inevitable death, some of us indulged in pleasantries which excited a smile, notwithstanding

the horror of our situation? One, among others, said, joking, "If the brig is sent to look for us, let us pray to God that she may have the eyes of Argus," alluding to the name of the vessel which we presumed would be sent after us. This consolatory idea did not quit us an instant, and we spoke of it frequently.

'During the day of the 16th, reckoning ourselves to be very near land, eight of the most determined of us resolved to try to reach the coast; we unfastened a strong fish of a mast, which made part of the little parapet we have spoken of. We fixed boards to it at intervals, transversely, by means of great nails, to hinder it from upsetting; a little mast and sail were fixed in the front. We intended to provide ourselves with oars made of barrel staves, cut out with the only sabre we had remaining. We cut pieces of rope, we split them, and made smaller ropes, that were more easy to manage. A hammock cloth, which was by chance on the raft, served for a sail, the dimensions of which might be about 130 centimetres in breadth and 160 in length; the transverse diameter of the fish was 60 or 70 centimetres, and its length about 12 metres. certain portion of wine was assigned to us, and our departure fixed for the next day, the 17th. When our machine was finished, it remained to make a trial of it. A sailor wanting to pass

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from the front to the back of it, finding the mast in his way, set his foot on one of the cross boards; the weight of his body made it upset, and this accident proved to us the risk of our enterprise. It was then resolved that we should all await death in our present situation. The cable which fastened the machine to our raft was made loose, and it drifted away. It is very certain that, if we had ventured upon this second raft, weak as we were, obliged to row, and still exposed to the fury of the waves, we should not have been able to hold out six hours. Meantime the night came, and its gloomy shades revived in our minds the most afflicting thoughts; we were convinced that there were not above twelve or fifteen bottles of wine left in our barrel. We began to feel at our wits' end; we knew not how to support life until the hoped-for succour should arrive. We gave ourselves up for lost, and regarded each other with terror as we sat bemoaning our horrible condition.

'On the 17th, in the morning, the sun appeared entirely free from clouds; after having put up our prayers to the Almighty, we divided among us a part of our wine; every one was taking with delight his small portion, when a captain of infantry, looking towards the horizon, descried a ship, and announced it to us by an exclamation of joy. We perceived

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that it was a brig; but it was at a very great distance. We could distinguish only the tops of the masts. The sight of this vessel excited in us a transport of joy, which it would be difficult to describe; each of us believed his deliverance certain, and we gave a thousand thanks to God; yet fears mingled with our hopes. We straightened some hoops of casks, to the end of which we tied handkerchiefs of different colours. A man, assisted by us all together, mounted to the top of the mast and waved these little flags. For above half an hour we were suspended between hope and fear; some thought they saw the ship become larger, and others affirmed that its course carried it from us; these latter were the only ones whose eyes were not fascinated by hope. But the brig disappeared! From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief; we envied the fate of those whom we had seen perish at our side, and we said to ourselves, "When we shall be destitute of everything, and our strength begins to forsake us, we will wrap ourselves up as well as we can, we will lay ourselves down on this platform, the scene of so many sufferings, and there we will await death with resignation." At last, to calm our despair, we wished to seek some consolation in the arms of sleep. The day before we had been consumed by the fire of a burning sun; this day,

to avoid the fierceness of his beams, we made a tent with the sails of the frigate: as soon as it was put up, we all lay down under it, so that we could not perceive what was passing around us. We then proposed to inscribe upon a board an account of our adventures, to write all our names at the bottom of the narrative, and to fasten it to the upper part of the mast, in the vain hope that it would reach the government and our families. After we had passed two hours absorbed in the most cruel reflections, the master gunner of the frigate, wishing to go to the front of the raft, went out of our tent; scarcely had he put his head out, when he turned towards us uttering a loud cry; joy was painted on his countenance, his hands were stretched towards the sea, he scarcely breathed; all that he could say was, "Saved! see the brig close upon

us!"

the tent;

'And, in fact, it was, at the most, half a league distant, carrying a press of sail, and steering so as to come extremely close to us. We hurriedly left even those whom enormous wounds in the lower extremities had compelled for some days past always to lie down, crawled to the back part of the raft to enjoy the sight of this vessel, which was coming to deliver us from certain death. We all embraced each other with transports that looked like delirium, and tears of joy rolled

down our cheeks, shrunk by the most cruel privations. Every one seized handkerchiefs or pieces of linen to make signals to the brig, which was approaching rapidly. Others, prostrating themselves, fervently thanked Providence for our miraculous preservation. Our joy redoubled when we perceived a great white flag at the foremast - head, and we exclaimed, "It is then to Frenchmen that we shall owe our deliverance." We almost immediately recognised the brig to be the Argus: it was then within two musket-shot: we were extremely impatient to see her clue up her sails; she lowered them at length, and fresh cries of joy rose from our raft. The Argus came and lay to on our starboard, within half a pistolshot. The crew, ranged on the deck and in the shrouds, showed, by waving their hats and handkerchiefs, the pleasure they felt at coming to the assistance of their unhappy countrymen. A boat was immediately hoisted out; an officer belong. ing to the brig, whose name was M. Lemaigre, had embarked in it, in order to have the pleasure of taking us himself from this fatal machine. This officer, full of humanity and zeal, acquitted himself of his mission in the kindest manner, and took himself those that were the weakest, to convey them into the boat. After all the others were placed in it, M. Lemaigre came and took

in his arms M. Corréard, whose health was the worst, and who was the most excoriated: he placed him at his side in the boat, bestowed on him all imaginable cares, and spoke to him in the most consoling terms. In a short time we were all removed on board the Argus, where we met with the lieutenant of the frigate, and some others of those who had been shipwrecked. Pity was painted on every face, and compassion drew tears from all who cast their eyes on us.

'The commander and officers of the brig were eager to serve us, and kindly anticipated our wants. They had just snatched us from death by rescuing us from our raft; their reiterated care rekindled in us the flame of life. M. Renaud, the surgeon, distinguished himself by indefatigable zeal; he passed

the whole day in dressing our wounds; and during the two days that we remained on board the brig, he exerted all the resources of his art, with a degree of attention and gentleness which merit our eternal gratitude. It was, in truth, time that our sufferings should have an end, they had already lasted thirteen days; the strongest among us might, at the most, have lived forty-eight hours. more. M. Corréard felt that he must die in the course of the day; yet he had a foreboding that we should be saved: he said that a series of events so extraordinary were not destined to be buried in oblivion: that Providence would preserve some of us at least, that we might present to mankind the affecting picture of our unhappy adventures.'

CHAPTER XV.

ALONE ON AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC.

EARLY in the year 1825, the subject of this narrative was, at the age of seventeen, by one of the freaks of fortune, placed on board a ship employed in the South Sea Fishery. The ship being in the latitude of the Galapagos, a group of islands situated about 200 miles west of Peru, she directed her course towards them for the purpose of obtaining wood and water; here they found an American brig, which had arrived there

a day or two previous with the same intention. They came to an anchor fronting a sandy beach of no very great extent, with high hills and lofty woods terminating the prospect; the inland parts at a little distance seemed impracticable from the great thickness of the forests. At two in the afternoon, a number of hands were despatched on shore in the long boat; but not meeting with so desirable a place for watering as they ex

pected, some of the men entered the woods in search of the 'Quick freshes,' while others proceeded along shore to find one less objectionable.

greatly superior to most lads of his age; to those qualities, in after years, may be attributed his saving the life of a boy who fell overboard from one of His Majesty's ships at Plymouth, and the promptitude and activity he displayed on another occasion, when a sailor fell from the foreyard into the sea, which procured for him the high commendation of his superior officers, with a certificate of the circumstance from his gallant commander.

Of the former party was a young man named Lord; and whether led on by destiny or want of caution, it so happened that he got separated from the rest, and entered quite unconsciously into the thickest part of the country. Having wandered on in this wild labyrinth for nearly two hours, and not finding any water, nor able to knock down any of the large birds which he occasionally disturbed, and chased from among the wild furze and thickets, he began to think of returning, not apprehending any more difficulty of egress than he had met with on entering. Being perfectly satisfied in his own mind that he was proceeding in the direction for the ship, he stedfastly pursued the path he had chosen; evening, however, began to wrap the forest in a deeper gloom, and only just sufficient light remained to show him that he had arrived at a place clothed with some very fine trees, beyond which the woods grew so thick as to render them completely impassable. The fact now flashed upon him that he had proceeded in all probability some miles into the interior.

Our youth was of a character of much pleasantry and good humour, blended with a determined spirit and resolution

But to resume the certainty of having lost himself did not appear to him to be a discovery of great importance; and with a buoyancy of spirits, he determined to pass the night in the woods, not doubting that on the morrow he should readily find his way back to the vessel. In this comfortable hope, after having fortified himself with a good drink of water from a spring just at hand, he ascended one of the trees; and here, notwithstanding the loud screaming of the night-bird, and the continued whoopings of innumerable owls, making night hideous,' worn out by fatigue and watching, he slept till morning.

It may be imagined that at the first glimpse of daybreak he was not a little anxious to get out of the wood, an anxiety increased by his experiencing that uneasy sensation which too long a fast is apt to produce. For some hours he wandered about in the intricacies of this wild and uninhabited spot, sup

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