JOHN BUFFETT. 189 
Quebec, lie was wrecked in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, the ship having struck on a bed of 
rocks. Most of the people perished, but he 
escaped with a few others in the pinnace safe 
to land, where, as the ground was covered 
with snow, and there were no inhabitants, he 
suffered severe privations. In a few days some 
Canadian fishermen, who sailed near, descried 
the shipwrecked mariners, and rescued them 
from their perilous situation. Some years 
afterwards in a voyage from Jamaica to St. 
John's, New Brunswick, in the brig Weasel, 
Buffett was shipwrecked on Situate Bay, near 
Boston, and was again saved from the fate which 
seemed ready to overtake him. In 1821, he 
sailed as mate from London in an American 
ship bound for Canton. From Canton he went 
to Manilla, and, after experiencing many trials 
and hardships by sea, proceeded to California, 
where he remained for some months. He then 
joined the whale-ship, Cyrus, of London, John 
Hall,* Master, and having procured 1,700 bar- 
rels of sperm oil, touched, in the passage home- 
ward, at Pitcairn's Island, for refreshment. 
" The inhabitants," says Buffett, in his nar- 
rative, " being in want of some person to teach 
them to read and write, the captain asked me if 
I should like to remain there. I told him I 
should, and was discharged and went ashore. 
When our boat landed, the natives appeared 
very glad to see us. We ascended the hill, and 
were conducted to the village, where we saw 
John Adams. He was a man about five feet six 
inches high, stout made, and very corpulent." 
