314 SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDL'SA. 
swallow one morsel of our biscuit, it being so impregnated 
with sea-water. It happened, however, that some was not 
quite so saturated. Of these Ave ate a small portion, and put 
back the remainder for a future day. Our voyage would 
have been sufficiently agreeable, if the beams of the sun had 
not been so fierce. On the evening we perceived the shores 
of the Desert; but as the two chiefs (MM. Schmaltz and La- 
chaumareys) wished to go right to Senegal, notv^rithstanding 
we were still one hundred leagues from it, we were not allow- 
ed to land. Several officers remonstrated, both on account 
of our want of provisions and the crowded condition of the 
boats for undertaking so dangerous a voyage. Others urged 
with equal force, that it would be dishonoring the French 
name if we were to neglect the unfortunate people on the 
raft, and insisted we should be set on shore, and whilst we 
waited there, three boats should return to look -after the raft, 
and three to the wreck of the frigate, to take up the seven- 
teen who were left there, as well as a sufficient quantity of 
provisions to enable us to go to Senegal by the way of Bar- 
bary. But MM. Schmaltz and Lachaumareys, whose boats 
were sufficiently well provisioned, scouted the advice of their 
subalterns, and ordered them to cast anchor till the following 
morning. They were obliged to obey these orders, and to re- 
linquish their designs. During the night, a certain passenger, 
who was doubtless no doctor, and who believed in ghosts and 
witches, was suddenly frightened by the appearance of flames 
which he tlioaght he saw in the waters of the sea, a little way 
from where our boats were anchored. My father, and some 
others, who were aware that the sea is sometimes phosphora- 
ted, confirmed the poor credulous man in his belief, and added 
several circumstances which fairly turned his brain. They 
persuaded him the Arabic sorcerers had fired the sea to pre- 
vent us from traveling along their deserts. 
On the morning of the Gth of July, at five o'clock, all the 
boats were under way on the route to Senegal. The boats of 
MM. Schmaltz and Lachaumareys took the lead along the 
coast, and all the expedition followed. About eight, several 
sailors in our boat, with threats, demanded to be set on shore ; 
but M. Laperere, not acceding to their requests, the whola 
wei-e about to revolt and seize the command ; but the firm- 
ness of this officer quelled the mutineers. In a spring which 
he made to seize a firelock which a sailor persisted in keep- 
ing in his possession, he almost tumbled into the sea. My 
father fortunately was near him, and held him by his clothes, 
