SHIPWRECK. 
255 
the seamen were served with biscuit and rum, and the servants 
were supplied from the Ambassador’s table. Exhausted by the 
fatigues of the day we were glad, soon after our repast, to seek some 
rest. 
Nothing could be more mournfully picturesque than the scene 
which about this time presented itself. The place in which the table 
had been spread was a cleared space of about twenty feet square, in 
the midst of a wood on the declivity of a hill to which an avenue had 
been cut from the sea-side. It served as a sleeping ground to many 
of the party. At its extreme part towards the hill, the Ambas- 
sador’s cot was suspended between two trees, its white curtains 
forming a curious contrast to the sable foliage by which it was 
surrounded. Along its sides and those of the avenue, hampers, 
trunks, bags, Chinese toys, and an endless variety of other articles 
were scattered in wild confusion. Reclined on the larger packages 
were the wearied seamen, whose jokes proved their insensibility to 
their situation, and were sadly contrasted with the moans of some 
sick men placed apart from their companions in recesses cut amongst 
the trees. The dull light of a few candles threw a meagre gleam 
over these objects, and scarcely showed to the cots and hammocks 
suspended amongst the trees, or strewn on the ground, the few who 
obtained them : the greater number of the party considered them- 
selves fortunate if they found flags or blankets to defend them from 
the ground. Fires being lighted and sentries placed, to defend us 
from any possible danger, we laid ourselves down to watch anxiously 
for day-light. Captain Maxwell and a part of his officers and crew 
remained on the wreck all night. 
Early the next morning the party rose with a painful thirst, and 
without the means of satisfying it, but many materially lessened 
it by bathing. Several detachments, headed by gentlemen of the 
Embassy and officers of the ship, started in several directions to dig 
for water; but returned, in different parts of the day, without having 
gained their object. Others, amongst whom was the author of this 
narrative, visited the ship by one of the first boats that returned to 
