THE. INDIAN OGEAN. 349 
tions were then issued to keep the boat away, and 
a rope with a bowline-knot at one end, was thrown 
to the junk, into which signs were made for each 
man to place himself, and then plunge into the 
water, whence he was dragged into the boat, and 
eventually, in like manner, to the ship. Thus were 
eighteen persons rescued from.the very grasp of 
death at a moment when every ray of hope ap- 
peared to be utterly extinguished. Their gratitude 
was boundless: they almost worshipped the officers, 
the crew, and the vessel; prostrated themselves, 
kissed the feet of the former, and the very planks 
of the latter. * * * * 
“ After being on board five days, we made Pulo 
Aor, where we took in water, and so desirous were 
those simple-hearted people of testifying their gra- 
titude, that they would not permit the men to carry 
it, but filled the casks themselves; and at parting, 
knelt down and kissed each man’s feet with the fer- 
vour of devotion. Here we separated from seven- 
teen men who had been nine days at sea upon a 
miserable wreck, water-logeed, without water to 
drink, and scarcely food to eat. One of them, an 
old man, died on the preceding evening from the 
effects of fatigue and exhaustion; the others, I doubt 
not, have long ere this time reached their homes, 
and taught their friends and children to bless the 
Englishmen and the English ship, which, under 
Providence, snatched them from a watery grave, 
and returned them to their affections.”* 
The principal object of commercial enterprise with 
* Unit. Serv. Journ. 1837, iii. 512. 
26 
