ely appeared, when we perceived our cruel enemy, accompanied
with two others almost of the same size, leading him; and a great
number more coming before him at a quick pace.

We did not hesitate to take to our rafts, and put to sea with all
the speed we could. The giants, who perceived this, took up great
stones, and running to the shore, entered the water up to the
middle, and threw so exactly, that they sunk all the rafts but
that I was upon; and all my companions, except the two with me,
were drowned. We rowed with all our might, and got out of the
reach of the giants. But when we got out to sea, we were exposed
to the mercy of the waves and winds, and tossed about, sometimes
on one side, and sometimes on another, and spent that night and
the following day under the most painful uncertainty as to our
fate; but next morning we had the good fortune to be thrown upon
an island, where we landed with much joy. We found excellent
fruit, which afforded us great relief, and recruited our
strength.

At night we went to sleep on the sea-shore but were awakened by
the noise of a serpent of surprising length and thickness, whose
scales made a rustling noise as he wound himself along. It
swallowed up one of my comrades, notwithstanding his loud cries,
and the efforts he made to extricate himself from it; dashing him
several times against the ground, it crushed him, and we could
hear it gnaw and tear the poor wretch's bones, though we had fled
to a considerable distance. The following day, to our great
terror, we saw the serpent again, when I exclaimed, "O heaven, to
what dangers are we exposed! We rejoiced yesterday at having
escaped from the cruelty of a giant and the rage of the waves,
now are we fallen into another danger equally dreadful."

As we walked about, we saw a large tall tree upon which we
designed to pass the following night, for our security; and
having satisfied our hunger with fruit, we mounted it according.
Shortly after, the serpent came hissing to the foot of the tree;
raised himself up against the trunk of it, and meeting with my
comrade, who sat lower than I, swallowed him at once, and went
off.

I remained upon the tree till it was day, and then came down,
more like a dead man than one alive, expecting the same fate with
my two companions. This filled me with horror, and I advanced
some steps to throw myself into the sea; but the natural love of
life prompting us to prolong it as long as we can, I wi