eet
water; every body leaped into the sea, and no one perished.

Before we thought of landing I had undressed myself, in order to dry my
clothes; I might have put them on again, but the resolution to land having
been taken, I thought that without clothes, I should be more able to swim
in case of need. Mr. de Chasteluz could not swim: he fastened a rope round
his middle, of which I took one end, and by means of which, I was to draw
him to me as soon as I got on shore. When the boat sunk I threw myself into
the water, I was very glad that I touched the bottom, for I was uneasy
about my comrade. I returned to the boat to look for my clothes and my
sword. A part of them had been already stolen, I found only my coat and one
of the two pair of pantaloons which I had with me. A negro offered to sell
me an old pair of shoes for eight francs, for I wanted a pair of shoes to
walk in.

The sailors had saved the barrel of water; and as soon as we were on shore
they fought for the drinking of it. I rushed in among them, and made my way
to him who had got the barrel at his mouth. I snatched it from him and
contrived to swallow two mouthfuls, the barrel was afterwards taken from
me, but these two mouthfuls did me as much good as two bottles; but for
them I could not have lived longer than a few hours.

Thus I found myself on the coast of Africa wet to the skin, with nothing in
my pockets except a few biscuits, steeped in salt water, to support me for
several days: without water, amidst a sandy desert inhabited by a ferocious
race of men: thus we had left one danger to plunge into a greater.

We resolved to proceed along the sea coast, because the breeze cooled us a
little, and besides the moist sand was softer than the fine moveable sand
in the interior. Before we proceeded on our march, we waited for the crew
of the other boat which had stranded before us.

We had proceeded about half an hour, when we perceived another boat
advancing with full sail, and came with such violence on the beach that it
stranded: it contained all the family of Mr. Picard, consisting of himself
and his wife, three daughters grown up, and four young children, one of
whom was at the breast. I threw myself into the sea to assist this unhappy
family; I contributed to get Mr. Picard on shore, every body was saved. I
went to look for my clothes, but could not find them; I fell into a violent
passion, and expressed in strong terms, the infamy of stealing in suc