WHALING VOYAGE. 
289 
secret influence is lost, when we should have supposed 
it would have evinced redoubled power. 
I at length followed the example of my companions, 
rolling a detached mass of coral from the edge of the 
sea to the side of the fire, on which to rest my head, I 
reclined upon the sand, and notwithstanding the roar of 
the elements soon fell asleep, but during which dreams 
of a disagreeable nature continually harassed me, and I 
was in a short time entirely aroused by the voices of 
several persons near me, which I soon discovered to be 
my fellow adventurers, who had risen from their uncom- 
fortable resting-places, and were discussing the incidents 
of this adventure. The fate of the ship of course now 
formed the principal topic of their conversation ; one 
supposed she had been driven a long way from the 
island, while another stated that the typhoon had blown 
gradually round the compass, and therefore she could 
not at present be at any very great distance; still a 
heart-rending and melancholy foreboding hung upon us 
all, that she was lost ! The last time we saw her she 
was drifting in the direction of North Island ; we knew 
that great numbers of detached and sunken rocks lie 
about there, which cause the navigation to be extremely 
dangerous, and more particularly in a hurricane, when 
nearly all command of the ship is lost. 
The eastern part of the heavens now became slowly 
illuminated, betokening the coming day, the cheering 
sight of which lessened our melancholy and increased 
our hope. The violence of the storm had somewhat 
abated; the glorious sun w r as rising to light the mariner 
o 
