ey had three passengers in
the great cabin, that they were in a deplorable condition; "Nay," says
he, "I believe they are dead, for I have heard nothing of them for above
two days; and I was afraid to inquire after them," said he, "for I had
nothing to relieve them with."

We immediately applied ourselves to give them what relief we could
spare; and indeed I had so far overruled things with my nephew, that I
would have victualled them, though we had gone away to Virginia, or any
part of the coast of America, to have supplied ourselves; but there was
no necessity for that.

But now they were in a new danger, for they were afraid of eating too
much, even of that little we gave them. The mate or commander brought
six men with him in his boat, but these poor wretches looked like
skeletons, and were so weak they could hardly sit to their oars; the
mate himself was very ill, and half-starved, for he declared he had
reserved nothing from the men, and went share and share alike with them
in every bit they ate.

I cautioned him to eat sparingly, but set meat before him immediately,
and he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began to be sick, and out
of order; so he stopped awhile, and our surgeon mixed him up something
with some broth, which he said would be to him both food and physic; and
after he had taken it, he grew better: in the meantime I forgot not the
men; I ordered victuals to be given them, and the poor creatures rather
devoured than ate it; they were so exceeding hungry, that they were in a
manner ravenous, and had no command of themselves; and two of them ate
with so much greediness, that they were in danger of their lives the
next morning.

The sight of these people's distress was very moving to me, and brought
to mind what I had a terrible respect of at my first coming on shore in
my island, where I had not the least mouthful of food, or any hopes of
procuring it; besides the hourly apprehension I had of being made the
food of other creatures. But all the while the mate was thus relating to
me the miserable condition of the ship's company, I could not put out of
my thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures in the
great cabin; viz. the mother, her son, and the maid-servant, whom he had
heard nothing of for two or three days; and whom he seemed to confess
they had wholly neglected, their own extremities being so great; by
which I understood that they had really given them no food at all;