AMSTERDAM ISLAND. 157 
tween England and France having reached Canton, she was 
captured as French property, and sold upon the spot. 
Tweh^e months after the time fixed on for her return to Am- 
sterdam, the poor fellows, hearing nothing of their vessel, 
concluded she must have been lost, and therefore resolved to 
embark on the first ship that should call at the island. It hap- 
pened to be an American, the master of which took them and 
their cargo of skins on board, in consideration of his sharing a 
certain proportion of the money they should sell for. The 
ship steered for New Holland, where the men were landed, 
after which she set sail for the China market with her cargo 
of skins, leaving the proprietors behind to shift for themselves. 
Such, at least, is the story we were told at the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
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