64 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. m. 



ship broke in two at the after hatchway, and by daylight a 

 small part of the forecastle was all that remained visible of 

 the fore part of the ship. The officers and crew and some of 

 the passengers had sought refuge in the rigging. The rest of 

 the passengers, including the women and children, assisted 

 and encouraged by the second and third officers, and one of 

 the seamen, remained in great peril from the floods of water 

 that poured down into their cabins and drove them to the 

 poop. Here they continued in a state of fearful uncertainty 

 until about six o'clock on the following morning, when, as- 

 sisted by the two officers and the sailor already mentioned, 

 they passed along by the mast, as by a bridge or pathway 

 from the wreck to the shore. Here they found themselves 

 upon a mass of fragments of rugged volcanic rock, extending 

 from forty to one hundred yards, and terminating in a steep 

 inaccessible precipice of rock two or three hundred feet high. 

 For the first two nights and days all remained in this exposed 

 situation, with only the clothes they happened to have on ; 

 but a bale of flannel and woollen shirts being washed on 

 shore, furnished them with a more ample supply of clothing. 

 They also collected amongst the fragments of rock a small 

 quantity of damaged provisions, on which they might have 

 barely subsisted for a few days. For the first two days a 

 biscuit a day was served out to each one, but afterwards their 

 supply was limited to half a biscuit, and, so long as they 

 lasted, a herring a day. On the third day they removed to a 

 spot nearly a mile distant from the place of their wreck, 

 where, an ascent to the summit of the cliff being found, a 

 rude encampment was formed on the heights. A pole was 

 then erected, and a couple of red shirts and some white 

 flannel hoisted as a signal of distress. This, on the fol- 

 lowing morning, was seen by an American whaler cruising off 

 the island, but who was unable for some time, on account of 

 the weather, to hold any communication with the shipwrecked 



