1 693-] OUR DEPLORABLE CONDITION. 143 



not to lose sight of, because if we had not taken particiihir 

 care to manage the Waves/ one of them wou'd have been 

 sufficient to have over-set us. What gave us the more 

 reason to apprehend this danger, was that our Vessel was 

 Deck'd only at one end, as I have already observ'd, a fault 

 committed thro' vain Hopes that we shou'd always have fair 

 Weather, but we found ourselves very much out in our Cal- 

 culation, for this Kight was the most dreadful that cou'd be 

 imagin'd. The Hurricane we underwent between the Cape 

 of Good Hope and the Island of Mascaregna,^ had been 

 terrible enough, but then we were under the Conduct of 

 experienc'd Seamen ; and our Vessel was much better pro- 

 vided to resist a Storm than this poor Cock-Boat,''^ whose 

 deplorable condition my Pen is not able to describe. Amidst 

 these obscurities, the Heavens once more pour'd down a 

 Deluge upon us, which indeed was like to overturn us. The 

 Winds which a small shower sometimes abates, became now 

 but more furious. Sometimes we were lifted up to the Skies, 

 and then immediately precipitated to the profoundest Abyss. 

 A certain Noise in the Rold of the Ship, occasion'd as we 

 afterwards understood by the Water's squashing between 

 two Planks, made the most Courageous of us squaul out from 

 time to time, thinking it was our last Moment, each Shock 

 making us believe the Vessel was about to Split. We look'd 

 upon present Death as inevitable ; we had lost our Route, 

 and according to our Calculation, there was no likelihood of 

 meeting with either Isle Maurice, or any other Land. Being 

 under Despair, we knew not what to do, and debated whether 

 we shou'd forsake the Helm, and without relying any longer 

 on Humane Endeavours,^ wait amidst our Prayers for our last 



1 In orig. : " parer la vague." 



2 The island of Bourbon, or Reunion, formerly known to the Portu- 

 guese as Mascarenhas ; cf. supra, pp. 33-41. Vkh App. A, p. 308 et scq. 



^ In orig. : " petite Nacelle.'' 



* In orig. : " la prudence humaine." 



