1 693-] AWKWARD PREDICAMENT. 113 



effectually, that the Bark tack'cl about, and the Wind being 

 brisk, it drove us (back) in four Minutes time on tlie other 

 side of the Shelves ; but thirty Paces from thence^ nearer the 

 Island the Boat sank down to the Bottom. If that Mis- 

 fortune had happened to us half an Hour before,'" we had 

 been drown'd every Man of us ; but there being not above 

 six^ foot Water, and the Bark not Over-setting, we stood all 

 of us upright on the Deck, with the Water up to our Middles. 

 'Twas a Happiness in our Trouble, that the Eock on which 

 we struck made such a hole in the Boat, that we saw the 

 Water enter immediately ; for if we had not so visibly and 

 readily seen it, we should have kept on our way, and then 

 had infallibly Perish'd. However, as it was, we were very 

 unpleasantly Posted in the Water on one end of the Deck. 

 Tho' it began to Ebb, and we were but half a League from 

 the Shoar, we cou'd not tell what to resolve on. 'Twas con- 

 cluded after we had thought of it a little, we wou'd stay till 

 the Water was so low that we might get to Shoar, haling our 

 Chests and Barrels after us as they floated in the Water ty'd 

 to one another. 



This was accordingly done, but not without putting us to 

 terrible Fatigues ; for we had several Voyages to make, 

 sometimes up to the Neck in Water, the Bottom being 

 uneven, and sometimes we were oblig'd to Swim, it being 

 out of our Depths, and draw our Chests after us with Ptopes 

 ty'd about our Wasts. We all of us stript, that we might 

 have the more liberty in Swimming, and the sharp and keen 



1 In orig. : " au dela de ce meme brisaut," omitted by translator. 



2 In orig. : " un demi-quart d'heure plutot." 



3 It is high water, full, and change at Port Mathurin at Ohr. 30m. ; 

 spring tides, such as those chosen by Leguafs comrades for passing the 

 reefs, rise, according to Findlay, 41 feet, the neaps to 1^ foot only. 

 The tidal streams are not appreciable except in the channels or passes. 

 Occasionally rollers set in {ras-de-marees\ causing heavy breakers or 

 all the dangerous reefs and rocks, and a nasty swell in Mathurin 

 Bay. {Findlay.) 



I 



