from those I had
passed, I followed it in an Easterly direction, which was
reversing my former course, for nearly two miles, when I came to
a large yawl, with her foremast standing. As I set me down on her
gun-wale, the thought struck my mind that this boat, like our
own, might have preserved some unfortunate crew from the fury of
the storm, in order to offer them up to the pitiless Pirate, who,
perhaps, had not suffered a solitary individual to escape and
say, that the vengeance of man, on these encrimsoned shores, had
sacrificed those whom the mercy of God had spared amid the
dangers of his "mighty deep." While I was employed by these
reflections, the gnawings of hunger were suddenly aroused by the
appearance of two Craw-fish under the stern sheets; one of
which, I caught and devoured with such greediness, that it was
very soon rejected; and although I at first thought I could have
eaten a dozen of them, the exhaustion, produced by my efforts to
vomit, destroyed all relish for the other.

I again proceeded on my old course, South Westerly, until about
the middle of the afternoon, when I approached dry land, and set
me down on a wind-fall to contemplate my situation; to a
description of which, I might well have adapted the language of
JOB: "My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin
is broken and become loathsome." Near the roots of this tree, as
I sat viewing some holes formed by land crabs, I observed water
issuing from one of them. A more grateful and unexpected sight
the Israelites could not have witnessed at the smitten rock; for
I soon found the water proceeded from a boiling spring: and
without it, I am sure I could not have survived another day; for
it will be recollected that this was the first fresh water I had
tasted since the morning my shipmates were murdered. But pure as
it was, my parched stomach would not retain it, until after
repeated trials, I succeeded in quenching my thirst. I again
proceeded South Westerly, the land gradually elevating, until
there suddenly opened upon me an immense plain, where the eye
could reach over thousands of acres without the obstruction of a
tree, covered with cattle of every age and description; some of
which came snuffing around, so near, that in my crippled
condition, I feared they might _board me_. But a swing of my hat
set them capering and snorting in every direction. The number and
variety of wild cattle collected on these plains is immense. I
sh