turned round to the man who had the charge of sharing
out our scanty allowance of provisions and desired him to divide Woods'
portion of water and provisions amongst the rest of us today, as I
intended for the future that he should have none, at all events not until
he did his fair share of work. This had the desired effect; he soon came
to his senses and told me that I might as well throw him overboard at
once as starve him, to which I replied that unless he overcame his
cowardice and bore his proportion of the toil we all had to go through I
should in no way whatever interfere with his starving, being thrown
overboard, or anything else; but that I would take very good care that he
had neither a morsel to eat or a drop of water to drink; whereupon he
again resumed his duty and from that time forward proved to be one of the
best men I had with me; indeed I never again had occasion to find fault
with him.

Seeing however what a pernicious effect this delay was likely to produce
I determined at once to cope with those difficulties, which we must
either overcome or perish; and accordingly round Steep Point we again
went, and for the rest of this evening and night contended with the heavy
sea as well as we could, keeping about a mile from the shore, sometimes
pulling and sometimes getting a favourable slant of wind.

March 31.

This day we continued our course, tracing out the shore. A small piece of
raw pork was served out to each man; and I found this to be a very nice
and palatable morsel; it however increased our thirst, which, as we were
upon very short allowance of water, was rather a disadvantage; but it was
absolutely necessary that we should take some nourishment.

CHARACTER OF THE SHORE.

The country hereabouts is very uninviting, consisting of a high range of
barren limestone hills, ascending gradually from steep cliffs which form
the coastline. These hills are of such equal elevation that they have a
monotonous as well as barren appearance, and are rent in places by deep
rocky gullies which run down into the sea. No change whatever took place
in the character of the coast throughout our day's ruin, nor did I see a
spot where a boat could land. I did not close my eyes during Sunday
night, for we were still in a most perilous position, and I felt that
whilst we were on so dangerous a coast with a foul wind it was my duty to
keep upon the alert as long as wearied nature would admit of my so doing.

As soon a