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HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
brought on a fever, attended with delirium; and as we possessed no medicines, or 
indeed any medical skill, the sick man was left to the operations of nature, which, 
after some little struggle, was overpowered by the disease. He died in the twenty- 
ninth year of his age; and beneath the shade of a palm-tree, his remains were reli¬ 
giously deposited 
“ Though the grief which we felt for the loss of a friend, who was equally useful 
and dear to us, was such as the occasion merited; and though our first undertaking 
was attended with such unpropitious circumstances, it was immediately proposed to 
make another attempt to leave the island, even in such a brittle bark as ours, and 
boldly to brave once more the winds and the waves. It was determined, however, 
to profit by former misfortunes, and to employ a greater degree of precaution. It 
was said that the boat would be strengthened by its repairs, and that buoys might be 
placed to ascertain a better and less dangerous passage through the reefs. It was 
also suggested that we should quit the island at the moment of spring tide, with a 
view to pass over the rocks, if it should not be practicable to follow the track marked 
out by the buoys. 
" I thought, with my companions, that it would be terrible indeed to be confined 
for the rest of our days, in an island of the Antipodes; but at the same time it did 
not appear to me possible that a miserable gondola, such as we had made, would 
be capable of sustaining so long a passage, especially as we had not the necessary 
equipments. I had, indeed, opposed the first design; and was still more averse 
to forward the second. I represented in strong terms, but accompanied with gentle 
manners, the necessity of giving a greater degree of consideration to the design 
which was meditated. I praised the courage of those who were the most forward in 
promotjng jthe project, and assented ;to some of their reasons; at the same time I re¬ 
quested them to reflect, that it would be a miracle if we escaped from a second wreck. 
I added, that experience should have made us wiser: that this impracticable scheme 
1}?4 already post the valuable life of one of our companions; and that we ought to 
consider such an event as a warning to continue the exercise of our patience. I 
proceeded to observe, that the assistance which we expected might be on the sea, 
and that it might arrive at the moment when we were the sport of the waves, or 
gorging the monsters which inhabit them. We were, I said, in a situation where we 
wanted nothing that was necessary to sustain life; at the same time we might pre¬ 
pare large fires on the elevated spots of the island, to invite any passing vessel to 
