ced us in this awful situation!

This horrible expedient saved the fifteen who remained; for when we
were found by the Argus brig, we had very little wine left, and it was
the sixth day after the cruel sacrifice we have described. The
victims, we repeat, had not more than forty-eight hours to live, and
by keeping them on the raft, we would have been absolutely destitute
of the means of existence two days before we were found. Weak as we
were, we considered it as a certain thing, that it would have been
impossible for us to have lived only twenty-four hours more without
taking some food. After this catastrophe, we threw our arms into the
sea; they inspired us with a horror we could not overcome. We only
kept one sabre, in case we had to cut some cordage or some piece of
wood.

A new event, for everything was an event to wretches to whom the world
was reduced to the narrow space of a few toises, and for whom the
winds and waves contended in their fury as they floated above the
abyss; an event happened which diverted our minds from the horrors of
our situation. All on a sudden a white butterfly, of a species common
in France, came fluttering above our heads, and settled on our sails.
The first thought this little creature suggested was, that it was the
harbinger of approaching land, and we clung to the hope with a
delirium of joy. It was the ninth day we had been upon the raft; the
torments of hunger consumed our entrails; and the soldiers and sailors
already devoured with haggard eyes this wretched prey, and seemed
ready to dispute about it. Others looking upon it as a messenger from
Heaven, declared that they took it under their protection, and would
suffer none to do it harm. It is certain we could not be far from
land, for the butterflies continued to come on the following days, and
flutter about our sail. We had also on the same day another indication
not less positive, by a Goeland which flew around our raft. This
second visitor left us no doubt that we were fast approaching the
African soil, and we persuaded ourselves we would be speedily thrown
upon the coast by the force of the currents.

This same day a new care employed us. Seeing we were reduced to so
small a number, we collected all the little strength we had left,
detached some planks on the front of the raft, and, with some pretty
long pieces of wood, raised on the centre a kind of platform, on which
we reposed. All the effects we could collect were place