LOSS OF THE CENTAUR. 163 
second supply of rain. Our sufferings were now as great as 
human strength could bear, but we were convinced that good 
spirits were a better support than great bodily strength ; for 
on this day Thomas Matthews, quarter-master, the sto-utest 
man in the boat, perished from hunger and cold ; on the day 
before he had complained of want of strength in his throat, as 
he expressed it, to swallow his morsel, and in the night drank 
salt water, grew delirious, and died without a groan. As it 
became next lo a certainty that we should all perish in the 
same manner in a day or two, it was somewhat comfortable to 
reflect that dying of hunger was not so dreadful as our ima- 
ginations had represented. Others had complained of these 
symptoms in their throats ; some had drank their own urine; 
and all but myself had drank salt water. 
As yet despair and gloom had been successfully prohibited ; 
and as the evenings closed in, the men had been encouraged 
by turns to sing a song or relate a story instead of supper; 
but this evening I found it impossible to raise either. As the 
night came on it fell a calm, and about midnight a breeze of 
wind sprang up, we guessed from the westward by the swell, 
but there not being a star to be seen, we were afraid of run- 
ning out of our way, and waited impatiently for the rising 
sun to be our compass. 
As soon as the dawn appeared we found the wind to be ex- 
actly as we had wished, at W. S. W. and immediately spread 
our sail, running before the sea at the rate of four miles an 
hour. Our last breakfast had been served with the bread and 
water remaining, when John Gregory, quarter-master, de- 
clared with much confidence that he saw land in the S. E. 
We had so often seen fog-banks which had the appearance of 
land, that I did not trust myself to believe it, and cautioned 
the people, (who were extravagantly elated,) that they might 
not feel the effects of disappointment ; till at length one of 
them broke out into a most immoderate swearing fit of joy, 
which I could not restrain, and declared he had never seen 
land in his life if what he now saw was not land. 
We immediately shaped our course for it, though on my 
part with very little faith. The wind freshened, the boat 
Vvent through the water at the rate of five or six miles an 
hour, and in two hours' time the land was plainly seen by eve- 
ry man in the boat, but at a very great distance, so that we 
did not reach it till ten at night. It must have been at least 
twenty leagues from us when first discovered; and I cannot 
help remarking with much thankfulness the providential fa- 
vor shown to us in this instance. 
