SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 389 
additional quantity of wine. We endeavored to eat shoulder- 
belts and cartouch-boxes, and contrived to swallow some small 
bits of them. Some ate linen; others, the leathers of the hats, 
on which was a little grease, or rather dirt. We had recourse 
to many expedients to prolong our miserable existence, to re- 
count which would only disgust the heart of humanity. 
The day was c^lm and beautiful. A ray of hope beamed 
for a moment to quiet our agitation. We still expected to see 
the boats or some ships, and addressed our prayers to the 
Eternal, on whom we placed our trust. The half of our men 
were extremely feeble, and bore upon their faces the stamp. of 
approaching dissolution. The evening arrived, and we found 
no help. The darkness of the third night augmented our 
fears, but the wind was still, and the sea less agitated. The 
sun of the fourth morning since our departure shone upon 
our disaster, and showed us ten or twelve of our companions 
stretched lifeless upon the raft. This sight struck us most 
forcibly, as it told us we would be soon extended in the same 
-manner in the same place. We gave their bodies to the sea 
for a grave, reserving only one to feed those who, but the day 
before, had held his trembling hands, and sworn to him eter- 
nal friendship. This day was beautiful. Oar souls, anxious 
for more delightful sensations, were in harmony with the as- 
pect of the heavens, and got again a new ray of hope. To- 
ward four in the afternoon an unlooked for event happened, 
which gave us some consolation. A shoal of flying fish passed 
under our raft, and as there was an infinite number of open- 
ings between the pieces that composed it, the fish were entan- 
gled in great quantities. We threw ourselves upon them, and 
captured a considerable number. We took about two hundred 
and put them in an empty barrel ; we opened them as we 
caught them, and took out what is called their milt. This 
food seemed delicious ; but one man would have required a 
thousand. Our first emotion was to give God renewed thanks 
for this unhoped for favor. 
An ounce of gunpowder having been found in the morning, 
was dried in the sun during the day, which was very fine ; a 
steel, gun-flints, and tinder made also a part of the same par- 
cel. After a good deal of difficulty we set fire to some frag- 
ments of dry linen. We made a large opening in the side of 
an empty cask, and placed at the bottom of it several wet 
things, and upon this kind of scaffolding we set our fire ; all 
of which we placed on a barrel, that the sea might not extin- 
33* 
