re an infinite number of openings between the pieces which
composed it, the fish were entangled in great quantities. We threw
ourselves upon them, and captured a considerable number. We took about
two hundred and put them in an empty barrel; we opened them as we caught
them, and took out what is called their milt. This food seemed
delicious; but one man would have required a thousand.[18] Our first
emotion was to give to God renewed thanks for this unhoped for favour.

[Footnote 18: These fish are very small, the largest not equal in
size to a small herring.]

An ounce of gunpowder having been found in the morning, was dried in the
sun during the day, which was very fine; a steel, gun-flints, and tinder
made also a part of the same parcel. After a good deal of difficulty we
set fire to some fragments of dry linen. We made a large opening in the
side of an empty cask, and placed at the bottom of it several wet
things, and upon this kind of scaffolding we set our fire; all of which
we placed on a barrel that the sea-water might not extinguish it. We
cooked some fish and eat them with extreme avidity; but our hunger was
such, and our portion so small, that we added to it some of the
sacrilegious viands, which the cooking rendered less revolting. This
some of the officers touched for the first time. From this day we
continued to eat it; but we could no longer dress it, the means of
making a fire having been entirely lost; the barrel having caught fire
we extinguished it without being able to preserve anything to rekindle
it on the morrow. The powder and tinder were entirely done. This meal
gave us all additional strength to support our fatigues. The night was
tolerable, and would have been happy, had it not been signalized by a
new massacre.

Some Spaniards, Italians, and negroes, had formed a plot to throw us all
into the sea. The negroes had told them that they were very near the
shore, and that, when there, they would enable them to traverse Africa
without danger. We had to take to our arms again, the sailors, who had
remained faithful to us, pointing out to us the conspirators. The first
signal for battle was given by a Spaniard, who, placing himself behind
the mast, holding fast by it, made the sign of the Cross with one hand,
invoking the name of God, and with the other held a knife. The sailors
seized him and threw him into the sea. An Italian, servant to an officer
of the troops, who was in the plot, seein