424 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



fulphur colour; the feet are flightly tinged with 

 red. 



Our main top-fail having fplit a little the day 

 before, when we tacked in firuggling againft the 

 gale, we availed ourfelves of the tine weather, in 

 the courfe of the forenoon, to fhift it. 



A light breeze from the fouth-eafl had fuc- 

 ceeded the ftorm. As the moment was favourable, 

 we warped the fhip, very early in the morning 

 of the 1 2th, towards the more, from which we 

 were then at the diftance of only about three 

 hundred meters. 



I went aihore on the little ifland that lay to 

 the fouth-wefl ; it is hilly, and is not more than 

 four kilometers long by two broad. 



The fwell had not yet fufhciently fubfided to 

 make it eafy to land ; it was neceffary to feize the 

 moment of the rife of the fea to let our boat, 

 which was riding by a grapnel, approach the 

 fhore, and at each time one of us leaped out on 

 the beach. As the gunnel of the boat, on which 

 it was neceffary to Hand in order to jump on 

 fhore, prefented an inclined plane, and the coafl 

 was fieep, we ran a rifk of falling into the wa- 

 ter, and of being rolled over by the waves, 

 which followed very clofe upon each other, and 

 from which a good fwimmer even would have 

 found much difficulty in extricating himfclf. This, 



was 



