s set on the life, they all met and consulted together,
and agreed that I should be sent on board an Indiaman, where I should be
more likely to make a fortune than in the Royal Navy, and should have no
occasion to repeat the trick I had played them when I wanted my
promotion. So I was fitted out with the proper number of shirts and
socks, and sent on board the _Hooghly_.

"I made two voyages, but did not find life in an Indiaman anything like
what I expected; so I left her, and hearing of a brig which had a roving
commission to go wherever there was any trade to be done, I offered to
join her. I especially liked the notion of the excitement and variety,
and, as she was short of hands, my services were accepted on condition
that I shipped as junior mate. I found that I had more work and less
pay than any one on board; but I learned seamanship and practised
navigation, which was considered an equivalent for my services.

"We touched at a great many places in these seas, disposing of some of
our cargo, and collecting the produce of the country in return, when we
managed to run the brig on a shoal off this coast, which was not
correctly laid down on our chart. There was a very heavy sea, and the
vessel struck violently, so that it was the opinion of most onboard that
she would go to pieces. The master, who was of this opinion, and
others, took to the boats, but were swamped, as I was afraid they would
be. I stuck to the wreck, as, knowing her to be thoroughly built, I had
an idea that she would stick together.

"I was in the after part of the vessel, but the rest of the people who
remained were forward, and the sea, making a clean breach over the
wreck, swept them all away. I with difficulty held on; and when the sea
went down, and the morning returned, I discovered that I was the only
person left alive. I found some cold meat and biscuits and plenty of
spirits in the cabin, and a keg of water jammed into the companion
hatch, so there was little fear of my starving for some time to come.
When the sun rose, I saw the land a few miles off, and in the afternoon
of the same day perceived a number of canoes coming off to the wreck. I
knew that the people hereabouts do not make much ceremony about cutting
off a fellow's head; so, determining that they should not have mine
without plenty of trouble, I bound all the handkerchiefs I could find
round my throat, till I appeared to have no more neck than a whale. As
I was h