breath of wind), Philip
explained to the men the necessity of reducing the quantity of water,
and it was agreed that it should be served out so as to extend the
supply to twelve days, the allowance being reduced to half a pint per
day.

There was a debate at this time, as the raft was in two parts, whether
it would not be better to cast off the smaller one and put all the
people on board the other; but this proposal was overruled, as, in the
first place, although the boats had deserted them, the number on the
raft had not much diminished, and moreover, the raft would steer much
better under sail, now that it had length, than it would do if they
reduced its dimensions and altered its shape to a square mass of
floating wood.

For three days it was a calm, the sun poured down his hot beams upon
them, and the want of water was severely felt; those who continued to
drink spirits suffered the most.

On the fourth day the breeze sprung up favourably, and the sail was
filled; it was a relief to their burning brows and blistered backs; and
as the raft sailed on at the rate of four miles an hour, the men were
gay and full of hope. The land below the cocoa-nut trees was now
distinguishable, and they anticipated that the next day they could land
and procure the water which they now so craved for. All night they
carried sail, but the next morning they discovered that the current was
strong against them, and that what they gained when the breeze was
fresh, they lost from the adverse current as soon as it went down; the
breeze was always fresh in Use morning, but it fell calm in the evening.
Thus did they continue for four days more, every noon being not ten
miles from the land, but the next morning swept away to a distance, and
having their ground to retrace. Eight days had now passed, and the men,
worn out with the exposure to the burning sun, became discontented and
mutinous. At one time they insisted that the raft should be divided,
that they might gain the land with the other half; at another, that the
provisions which they could no longer eat should be thrown overboard to
lighten the raft. The difficulty under which they lay was the having no
anchor or grapnel to the raft, the boats having carried away with them
all that had been taken from the ship. Philip then proposed to the men
that, as everyone of them had such a quantity of dollars, the money
should be sewed up in canvas bags, each man's property separate; and
th