46 
LOSS OF THE 
The united parly, consisting of six persons, pursued their 
route over a desert country, where neither hut nor native was 
to be seen, and in six days reached the Scwartz river,* as 
they afterwards learned, on the banks of which they took usp 
their abode for the night. 
The country at length began to assume a fertile and culti- 
vated appearance, and some huts appeared at a distance from 
the shore. While contemplating with pleasure this change 
of prospect, the grass near them took fire, and spread with 
great rapidity. They all used' every effort to extinguish it, 
lest this involuntary mischief should provoke the resentnienl 
of the natives, or the blaze call them to the spot. 
Next morning they swam over the river in safety, and soon 
discovered another dead whale lying on the sea-shore. Thu3 
supplied with food they purposed resting here a few days, 
if they could have found fresh water, but that necessary ar- 
ticle being wanting, they cut up as much of the whale as they 
could carry, and proceeded on their route. In two hours 
they came to a thicket, where they met with water, and halted 
to rest. 
Next morning four of the party went back to the whale for 
a larger supply, De Lasso and Price being left in charge of 
the fire. As Price was collecting fuel, he perceived at a little 
distance two men with guns, and being intimidated at the 
sight, he returned hastily to the fire, whither the w^elcome in- 
truders pursued him. These men belonged to a Dutch set- 
tlement in the neighborhood, and were in search of some 
strayed cattle. One of them, named John Battores, supposed 
to be a Portuguese, was able to converse with De Lasso, the 
Italian, so as to be understood, a circumstance as fortunate as 
it w^as little to be expected. Battores having learned the out- 
line of their melancholy story, accompanied them to the whale, 
where their companions w^ere employed in cutting away the 
flesh. Affected at the sight of these miserable objects, he de- 
sired them to throw away what they had been collecting, pro- 
mising them better fare when they reached the habitation to 
which he belonged. 
In vain shall we attempt to describe the sensations of the 
shipwrecked wanderers on receiving this intelligence, and 
that they were within four hundred miles of the Cape. The 
joy that instantly filled every bosom produced effects as va- 
rious as extraordinary : one man laughed, another wept, and 
the third danced with transport. 
*Z wart river. 
