388 SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 
gfreat number in their delirium had thrown themselves into 
the sea. We found that sixty or sixty-five had perished dur- 
ing the night. A fourth part at least, we supposed, had 
drowned themselves in despair. We only lost two of our 
number, neither of whom were officers. The deepest dejec- 
tion was painted on every face ; each, having recovered him- 
self, could now feel the horrors of his situation ; and some of 
us, shedding tears of despair, bitterly deplored the rigor of 
our fate. 
A new misfortune w^as now revealed to us. During the tu- 
mult, the rebels had thrown into the sea two barrels of wane, 
and the only two casks of water Avhich w^e had upon the raft. 
The casks of wine had been consumed the day before, and 
only one was left. We were more than sixty in number, and 
we were obliged to put ourselves on half rations. 
At break of day the sea calmed, which permitted us again 
to erect our mast. When it was replaced, we made a distri- 
bution of wine. The unhappy soldiers murmured and blamed 
us for privations which w^e equally endured with them. They 
fell exhausted. We had taken nothing for forty-eight hours, 
and we had been obliged to struggle continually against a 
strong sea. We could, like them, hardly support ourselves ; 
courage alone made us still act. We resolved to employ eve- 
ry possible means to catch fish, and collecting all the hooks 
and eyes from the soldiers, made fish-hooks of them, but all 
was of no avail. The currents carried our lines under the 
raft, where they got entangled. We bent a bayonet to catch 
sharks ; one bit at it, and straightened it, and we abandoned 
our project. Something was absolutely necessary to sustain 
our miserable existence, and we tremble with horror at being 
obliged to tell that of which we made use. We feel our pen 
fall from our hands ; a mortal cold congeals all our members, 
and our hair bristles erect on our foreheads. Reader ! we 
implore you, feel not indignant toward men already loaded 
with misery. Pity their condition, and shed a tear of sorrow 
for their deplorable fate. • 
The wretches whom death had spared during the disastrous 
night we have described, seized upon the dead bodies with 
which the raft was covered, cutting them up by blices, which 
some even instantly devoured. Many nevertheless refrained. 
Almost all the officers were of this number. Seeing that this 
monstrous food had revived the strength of those who had 
used it, it was proposed to dry it to make it a little more palat- 
able. Those who had firmness to abstain from it, took an 
