172 LOSS, BY FIRE, OF THE PRINCE. 
more violent, it might have abated the M^ind that impelled 
us, and a calm would have been attended with inevitable de- 
struction. 
That we might steer our course with greater certainty, we 
consulted every day the rising and setting of the sun and 
moon ; and the stars showed us what wind we ought to take. 
A very small piece of salt pork furnished us one meal in the 
twenty-four hours ; and from this even we were obliged to 
desist on the fourth day, on account of the irritation of blood 
which it occasioned. Our only beverage was a glass of bran- 
dy from time to time ; but that liquor burned our stomachs 
without allaying our thirst. We saw abundance of flying fish, 
but the impossibility of catching them rendered our misery 
still more acute ; we Avere therefore obliged to be contented 
with our provisions. The uncertainty with respect to our fate, 
the want of food, and the agitation of the sea, combined to de- 
prive us of rest, and almost plunged us into despair. Nature 
seemed to have abandoned her functions ; a feeble ray of hope 
alone cheered our minds and prevented us from envying the 
fate of our deceased companions. 
I passed the eighth night at the helm ; I remained at my 
post more than ten hours, frequently desiring lo be relieved, 
till at length I sunk down with fatigue. My miserable com- 
rades were equally exhausted, and despair began to take pos- 
session of our souls. At last, when just perishing with fatigue, 
misery, hunger, and thirst, we discovered land by the first 
rays of the sun, on Wednesday, the 3d of August, 1752. Only 
those who have experienced similar misfortunes can form an 
adequate conception of the change which this discovery pro- 
duced in our minds. Our strength returned, and we took pre- 
cautions not to be carried away by the currents. At two P. M. 
we reached the coast of Brazil, and entered the bay of Tres- 
son, in latitude 6 deg. 
Our first care, upon setting foot on shore, was to thank the 
Almighty for his favors ; we threw ourselves upon the ground, 
and in the transports of our joy rolled ourselves in the sand. 
Our appearance was truly frightful, our figures preserved no- 
thing human that did not more forcibly announce our misfor- 
tunes. Some were perfectly naked, others had nothing but 
shirts that were rotten and torn to rags, and I had fastened 
round my waist a piece of scarlet cloth, in order to appear at 
the head of my companions. We had not yet, however, ar- 
rived at the end of our hardships ; although rescued from the 
greatest of our dangers, that of an uncertain navigation, we 
