ing the Medusa, M. Laperere, the
officer of our boat, made the first distribution of provisions. Each
passenger had a small glass of water and nearly the fourth of a
biscuit. Each drank his allowance of water at one draught, but it was
found impossible to swallow one morsel of our biscuit, it being so
impregnated with sea-water. It happened, however, that some was found
not quite so saturated. Of these we eat a small portion, and put back
the remainder for a future day. Our voyage would have been
sufficiently agreeable, if the beams of the sun had not been so
fierce. On the evening we perceived the shores of the Desert; but as
the two chiefs (MM. Schmaltz and Lachaumareys) wished to go right for
Senegal, notwithstanding we were still one hundred leagues from it, we
were not allowed to land. Several officers remonstrated, both on
account of our want of provisions and the crowded condition of the
boats, for undertaking so dangerous a voyage. Others urged with equal
force, that it would be dishonoring the French name if we were to
neglect the unfortunate people on the raft, and insisted we should be
set on shore, and whilst we waited there, three boats should return to
look after the raft, and three to the wreck of the frigate, to take up
the seventeen who were left there, as well as a sufficient quantity of
provisions to enable us to go to Senegal by the way of Barbary. But
MM. Schmaltz and Lachaumareys whose boats were sufficiently well
provisioned, scouted the advice or their subalterns, and ordered them
to cast anchor till the following morning. They were obliged to obey
these orders, and to relinquish their designs. During the night, a
certain passenger who was doubtless no doctor, and who believed in
ghosts and witches, was suddenly frightened by the appearance of
flames, which he thought he saw in the waters of the sea, a little way
from where our boat was anchored. My father, and some others, who were
aware that the sea is sometimes phosphorated, confirmed the poor
credulous man in his belief, and added several circumstances which
fairly turned his brain. They persuaded him the Arabic sorcerers had
fired the sea to prevent us from travelling along their deserts.

On the morning of the 6th of July, at five o'clock, all the boats were
under way on the route to Senegal. The boats of MM. Schmaltz and
Lachaumareys took the lead along the coast, and all the expedition
followed. About eight, several sailors in our boat, w