therefore requested the gentlemen to get into the boats, told off and embarked his men, and at three o'clock he himself left the ship, the last man, just as the flames were bursting through the quarter-deck. We then put off, the two boats towing the longboat; the ship's way had been previously stopped by backing her yards. When we were about a mile from the ship, she was in one blaze, and her masts began to fall in. The sight was grand, though awful. Between eight and nine o'clock, all her masts had fallen, and she had burned to the water's edge; suddenly there was a bright flash, followed by a dull, heavy explosion-her powder had caught. For a few seconds her splinters and flaming fragments were glittering in the air, and then all was darkness, and the waters had closed over the Earl of Eldon! had just left, and been subject to variable winds and heavy weather or calms, neither of which we were prepared to resist. Seeing, then, that our stock was sufficient, we determined on trying for Rodrigue. About eleven o'clock, having humbly committed ourselves to the guidance of that Providence in which alone we had hope, we accomplished rigging the boats, and were under sail. We carried a lantern lashed to our mast in the long-boat, to prevent the other boats from losing us during the night; and when day broke, sent them sailing in all directions around to look out for ships. While the wind was light, they could outsail us, but when it became strong and the sea very high, the difference of speed was rather in our favour, as the weight and size of the long-boat enabled her to lay hold of the water better. 'On the third day of our boat navigation, the change of the approaching, the weather began to wear a threatening aspect; but as we were in the trade, we did not apprehend foul or contrary winds. In the course of the night it blew fresh, with rain; we were totally without shelter, and the sea dashing its spray over us, drenched us, and spoiled a great part of our biscuit, though we happily did not discover this until we were nearly out of the want of it. 'Sad was the prospect now before us! There were in the long-boat the captain and twenty-moon five persons, including an infant four months old; the size of the boat 23 feet long by 7 feet broad; in each of the others ten individuals, including the officer in charge. One of the boats had some bags of biscuit, but the chief provision was in the long-boat. We were, by rough calculation, above 1000 miles from Rodrigue, and 450 from Diego Garcias, the largest of the Chagos Islands; but to get there we must have passed through the squally latitudes we 'In the course of the next day, the weather grew worse, and one of our small boats, in bad, I again felt that hope which which was Mr. Simpson, the second mate, with nine others, was split by the sea. She came alongside, and we put the carpenter into her, who made what repairs he could, but with little hope of their answering. We then proceeded to fasten a spraycloth of canvas along our gunwale, having lashed a bamboo four feet up the mast, and fixed it on the intersection of two stanchions at the same height above the stern. The spraycloth was firmly lashed along this, so as to form a kind of half-pent roof; and had it not been for this imperfect defence, we must have been swamped; and we still shipped seas to so great an extent, that four men were obliged to be kept constantly employed in baling to keep her clear of water. Towards evening it blew hard, with a tremendous sea; and not thinking the other damaged boat safe, we took in her crew, and abandoned her. We were now thirty-joyed a comparative degree of six persons, stowed as thick as we comfort. We had three small could hold, and obliged to throw meals of biscuit and some jam, over all superfluities. We had etc., and three half-pints of not more than eight inches of water per day, with brandy if clear gunwale out of water. we liked it. The men had one gill of spirits allowed them daily: thus we had enough for necessity, and I incline to attribute to our having no more, the state of good bodily health we enjoyed. We had plenty of cigars, and whenever we could strike a light, we had a smoke; and I never found tobacco so great a luxury. The ladies were most wretched, for they could not move, and any "This night I shall never forget; but to describe my feelings I am incapable. Our situation was indeed awful. One wave might overwhelm us, and there would not have been a vestige left to tell the tale of the Earl of Eldon. Wet, crushed, and miserable, the night passed away, and the day broke at last; and though the weather was still very "The morning broke and passed away; and after the change of the moon, the weather began to moderate, and we en little alteration in their dress crew were taken inland and enwas only to be made by spread- camped. They then gave our ing a curtain before them. Yet bundles to their negroes and they never uttered a repining took us to their houses, where word. everything they had was set before us- clean linen and a plentiful dinner. They shook us down four or five beds in an out-house, and we tumbled into them and enjoyed what we had 'I hope the sense of our miraculous preservation dwells deeply on all our minds. My feelings on landing were so intense, that I could not restrain my tears. No human skill in such peril could have availed us; it was the hand of almighty goodness alone that withheld us from destruction; and when we consider it, and look back upon the facts as they stand recorded, and with the full knowledge that we were thirteen days and nights exposed to the violence of winds and waves and weather, in an open, leaky boat, often for days and nights completely drenched, and never completely dry, and that with this we should all (with the exception of those who were before sick) have landed safe, and rather improved in health than otherwise, 'On the thirteenth evening we began to look out for Rodrigue. The captain told us not to be too sanguine, as his chronometer was not to be depended upon after its late rough treat-not known for the last fortnight ment. The night fell, and I-a sound sleep. went forward to sleep, and about twelve was awoke by the cry that land was right ahead. I looked and saw a strong loom of land through the mist. The captain had the boat brought to for an hour; then made sail and ran towards it, and at halfpast two it appeared still more strongly. We then lay to until daylight. I attempted to compose myself to sleep, but my feelings were too strong; and after some useless attempts, I sat down and smoked with a sensation I had long been a stranger to. With the first light of dawn, Rodrigue appeared right ahead, distant above six miles, and by eight o'clock we were all safely landed. A fisherman, who came off to show us the way through the reefs, received us in his house, and proceeded to feed us, and in the meantime sent to tell the gentlemen of the island of our arrival. Two of them came down immediately, and having heard our story, said that we had been miraculously preserved, and told us off in two parties, the married men to one, and the single to the other; the these things show the hand of a Providence that watches over us, though we too often forget it; and that man who could coldly say that our escape was surprising, without attributing it wholly and solely to the true cause, I should consider little better than a heathen.' THE CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF ALEXANDER HENRY AMONG THE CHIPPEWAY INDIANS. four in number. Thus strong, few entertained anxiety concerning the Indians, who had no weapons but small arms. 'WHEN I reached Michilimac- | lish merchants at the fort were kinac, I found several other traders who had arrived before me, from different parts of the country, and who, in general, declared the disposition of the Indians to be hostile to the English, and even apprehended some attack. M. Laurent Ducharme distinctly informed Major Etherington, that a plan was absolutely conceived for destroying him, his garrison, and all the English in the upper country; but the commandant believing this and other reports to be without foundation, proceeding only from idle or ill-disposed persons, and of a tendency to do mischief, expressed much displeasure against M. Ducharme, and threatened to send the next person, who should bring a story of the same kind, a prisoner to Detroit. The garrison at this time consisted of ninety privates, two subalterns, and the commandant; and the Eng 'Meanwhile, the Indians from every quarter were daily assembling in unusual numbers, but with every appearance of friendship, frequenting the fort and disposing of their peltries in such a manner as to dissipate almost every one's fears. For myself, on one occasion I took the liberty of observing to the major that, in my judgment, no confidence ought to be placed in them, and that I was informed no less than four hundred lay around the fort. In return, the major only rallied me on my timidity; and it is to be confessed that, if this officer neglected admonition on his part, so did I on mine. 'Shortly after my first arrival at Michilimackinac in the preceding year, a Chippeway, named Wawatam, began to come often to my house, betraying in his demeanour strong marks of personal regard. After this had continued some time, he came on a certain day, bringing with him his whole family, and at the same time a large present, consisting of skins, sugar, and dried meat. Having laid these in a heap, he commenced a speech, in which he informed me that some years before he had observed a fast, devoting himself, according to the custom of his nation, to solitude and to the mortification of his body, in the hope to obtain from the Great Spirit protection through all his days; that on this occasion he had dreamed of adopting an Englishman as his son, brother, and friend; that, from the moment in which he first beheld me, he had recognised me as the person whom the Great Spirit had been pleased to point out to him for a brother; that he hoped I would not refuse his present; and that he should for ever regard me as one of his family. I could not do otherwise than accept the present, and declare my willingness to have so good a man as this appeared to be, for my friend and brother. I offered a present in return for that which I had received, which Wawatam accepted; and then, thanking me for the favour which he said that I had rendered him, he left me, and soon after set out on his winter's hunt. elapsed since the occurrence of this incident, and I had almost forgotten the person of my brother, when, on the second day of June, Wawatam came again to my house, in a temper of mind visibly melancholy and thoughtful. He told me that he had just returned from his wintering ground, and I asked after his health; but without answering my question, he went on to say that he was sorry to find me returned from the Sault; that he intended to go to that place himself, immediately after his arrival at Michilimackinac ; and that he wished me to go there along with him and his family the next morning. To all this he joined an inquiry, whether or not the commandant had heard bad news, adding, that during the winter he had himself been frequently disturbed with the noise of evil birds; and further suggesting that there were numerous Indians near the fort, many of whom had never shown themselves within it. Wawatam was about forty-five years of age, of an excellent character among his nation, and a chief. Referring much of what I heard to the peculiarities of the Indian character, I did not pay all the attention which they will be found to have deserved, to the entreaties and remarks of my visitor. I answered, that I could not think of going to the Sault so soon as the next morning, but would follow him there, after the arrival of my clerks. Find 'Twelve months had now |