we were; they had at least
a little wine, which supplied the place of other necessaries. We then
demanded some from them, explaining our situation, but none would assist
us, not even Captain Lachaumareys, who, drinking to a kept mistress,
supported by two sailors, swore he had not one drop on board. We were
next desirous of addressing the boat of the Governor of Senegal, where
we were persuaded were plenty of provisions of every kind, such as
oranges, biscuits, cakes, comfits, plumbs, and even the finest liqueurs;
but my father opposed it, so well was he assured we would not obtain any
thing.

We will now turn to the condition of those on the raft, when the boats
left them to themselves.

If all the boats had continued dragging the raft forward, favoured as
we were by the breeze from the sea, we would have been able to have
conducted them to the shore in less than two days. But an inconceivable
fatality caused the generous plan to be abandoned which had been formed.

When the raft had lost sight of the boats, a spirit of sedition began to
manifest itself in furious cries. They then began to regard one another
with ferocious looks, and to thirst for one another's flesh. Some one
had already whispered of having recourse to that monstrous extremity,
and of commencing with the fattest and youngest. A proposition so
atrocious filled the brave Captain Dupont and his worthy lieutenant M.
L'Heureux with horror; and that courage which had so often supported
them in the field of glory, now forsook them.

Among the first who fell under the hatchets of the assassins, was a
young woman who had been seen devouring the body of her husband. When
her turn was come, she sought a little wine as a last favour, then rose,
and without uttering one word, threw herself into the sea. Captain
Dupont being proscribed for having refused to partake of the
sacrilegious viands with which the monsters were feeding on, was saved
as by a miracle from the hands of the butchers. Scarcely had they seized
him to lead him to the slaughter, when a large pole, which served in
place of a mast, fell upon his body; and believing that his legs were
broken, they contented themselves by throwing him into the sea. The
unfortunate captain plunged, disappeared, and they thought him already
in another world.

Providence, however, revived the strength of the unfortunate warrior.
He emerged under the beams of the raft, and clinging with all his might,
holding his he