SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 349 
species of wafers or cakes, though well enough prepared and 
baked, was far from having the taste of those we eat at Paris. 
However, to make them more palatable, I added butter when 
I had it, or we ate them with some sour milk. With the first 
dish Avas served up at the same time the dessert, which stood 
in place of dainties, of roast meat and salad ; it generally con- 
sisted of boiled beans, or roasted pistachio nuts. On festival 
days, being those when my father came to see us, we forgot 
our bad fare in eating the sweet bread he brought with him 
from Senegal. 
In the month of December, 1818, having gone one morning 
with my brothers to take a walk among the woods behind 
our cottage, I found a tree covered with blossoms as white as 
snow, and wdiich had a delicious smell. We gathered a great 
quantity of them, which we carried home ; but these flowers, 
as we afterward found by sad experience, contained a delete- 
rious poison Their strong and pungent odor caused vio- 
lent pains in the head, forerunners of a malignant fever, which 
brought us within two steps of the grave. Two days after my 
young brothers were seized; fortunately my father arrived on 
the foiiovring day and removed them to Senegal 
Nov/ then I was alone with my old negro Etienne in the 
island of Safal, far from my family, isolated in the midst of 
a desert island, in which the birds, the wolves, and the tigers, 
composed the sole population. I gave free course to my 
tears and sorrows. The civilized vrorld, said I to mj-self, is 
far from me, an immense river separates me from my friends. 
Alas ! what comfort can 1 find in this frightful solitude ? What 
can I do upon this VvTetched earth? Eat although I said I 
v.-as unfortunate, was I not necessary to my unhappy father? 
Had I not promist-d to assist him in the education of his chil- 
dren, v.'hom cruel death had deprived of their mother ? Yes ! 
yes ! I vvas too sensible my life was yet necessar5\ Engaged 
in these melancholy reflections, I fell into a depression of 
mind which it wojild be diflicult to describe. Next morning 
the tumult of my thoughts led me to the banks of the river, 
where, the preceding evening, I had seen the canoe carry aw^ay 
my father and my young brothers. There I fixed my humid 
eyes upon the expanse of water without seeing any thing but 
a horrible immensity ; then, as recovered from my sorrow, I 
turned to the neighboring fields to greet the flowers and plants 
which the sun was just beginning to gild. They were my 
friends, m.y companions ; they alone could yet alleviate ray 
melancholy, and render my loneliness supportable. At last 
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