t be preserved as much as possible for future exigencies,
and that they might be sparingly and equally distributed for present
subsistence, were matters, however important, that could not be
brought about unless by means of discipline and subordination. At the
same time, the mutinous disposition of the people, stimulated by the
immediate impulses of hunger, rendered every regulation attempted for
these indispensable purposes, quite unavailing; so that there were
continual frauds, concealments, and thefts, which animated every one
against his neighbour, and produced infinite contentions and perpetual
quarrels. Hence a perverse and malevolent disposition was constantly
kept up among them, which rendered them utterly ungovernable.

Besides these heart-burnings, occasioned by petulance and hunger,
there was another important point which set the greatest part of the
people at variance with the captain. This was their difference in
opinion from him, on the measures proper to be pursued on the present
emergency; for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit out
the boats in the best manner he could, and to proceed with them to
the northward, as, having above two hundred men in health, and having
saved some fire-arms and ammunition from the wreck, he had no doubt
of being able to master any Spanish, vessel they might fall in with in
these seas, and he thought that he could not fail of meeting with one
in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when taken,
he proposed to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandez. He also
insisted, should they even meet with no prize by the way, that the
boats alone could easily carry them to Juan Fernandez. But this
scheme, however prudent and practicable, was by no means relished by
the generality of the people; for, quite jaded and disgusted with the
fatigues, dangers, and distresses they had already encountered, they
could not be persuaded to prosecute an enterprize which had hitherto
proved so disastrous. The common resolution, therefore, was to
lengthen the long-boat, and, with her and the other boats, to steer to
the southwards, to pass through the Straits of Magellan, and to range
along the eastern coast of South America, till they came to Brazil,
where they had no doubt of being well received, and procuring a
passage to Britain.

This project was evidently a vast deal more tedious, and infinitely
more hazardous, than that proposed by the captain; but, as it had the
a