distance inland, over a desert country, occasionally pre- 
senting plains of calcareous sand ; nor was he able to find 
his way back to the landing place until the third day ! so 
that the distress, which his absence had occasioned on board 
the ships was extreme. A boat was despatched on the 
second day from each vessel in quest of the lost Naturalist, 
and the admiral ordered guns to be fired every half hour, 
to enable M. Ricue, if still alive, to direct his steps with the 
greater certainty towards the anchoring-place: M. Lasit- 
LARDIERE himself was of the party. 
«The parties traced his course over the sterile waste he 
had traversed, to the edge of a large lake, which they con- 
cluded had a communication with the sea, as its waters 
were salt. The print of his shoes, observed on the margin 
of this considerable water, furnished encouragement to 
proceed in their search, but that the marks of naked feet 
which appeared near his, gave grounds for apprehending 
that he had been dragged by the savages into the interior 
country. Moreover, one of his pistols and his handker- 
chief were found on the sands; and these strengthened in 
their minds, their apprehensions of his fate. Further on, 
the little smoke that arose from a deserted fire directed theit 
steps to the spot, and near it they found bits of paper 
on which they recognized the hand-writing of the unfortu- 
nate man. Around them, the dismal waste extended far 
and wide, but no further trace of M. Ricux was to be found; 
when as they were returning towards the landing place, 
lamenting the fate of their unfortunate messmate, and had — 
nearly reached the shore in a hopeless state of mind, they 
beheld one of the boatmen running to meet them, with the 
epee intelligence, that Ricue was still alive, and that _ 
e had just arrived at the landing-place, extenuated with 
hunger and fatigue, having been upwards of fifty-four hours 
on shore, with no other provision, than some bits of bis- 
cuit. When he had recovered from the state of stupor, 
into which he had been thrown by so long a privation of 
nourisliment, he told his companions, that he had lost him- 
self on the first day ; but that near the fire, which he had 
found burning, there was a little rill of fresh water, at which 
he had quenched his thirst, and urged by hunger, he had 
ranged about in the neighbourhood, and in the thickets had 
discovered a shrub, which furnished him with some small 
fruit, but in a quantity insufficient for the supply of his 
necessities. To that shrub, the plant we have here defined 
ee al 
