ed suffering; and I trust there is not, nor ever will be any,
where human nature was more foully outraged and disgraced. There are,
nevertheless, some pleasing traits of character in the story, and, I am
proud to say, some of the brightest of them belong to our own nation.
These present a beautiful relief to the selfishness and brutality which
so much abound in the dark picture; and are, to our minds, the green
spots of the Desert--the fountain and the fruit-tree--as they were in
very truth, to the poor wretches they assisted with such genuine
singleness of heart.

To the end of the Narrative I have subjoined an Appendix, translated and
abridged from the work of MM. Correard and Savigny, detailing at greater
length the sufferings of those who were exposed upon the Raft. I have
also added some Notes, extracted from several Authors, illustrative of
various matters mentioned in the course of the Narrative.

It may be satisfactory for some readers to know, that, in 1824, Madame
Dard was living with her husband in comfort at Bligny-sous-Beaune, a
short distance from Dijon. I have lately seen in a French Catalogue, a
Dictionary and Grammar of the Woloff and Bambara languages, by M. J.
Dard, Bachelier des Sciences, Ancien Instituteur de l'Ecole du Senegal,
brought out under the auspices of the French Government.

PATRICK MAXWELL.
_Edinburgh, July 1827._

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

Those who have read the Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, by MM.
Savigny and Correard, are already acquainted with the Picard family.

Attracted to Senegal by a faint prospect of advantage, my father, head
of that unfortunate family, could not, in spite of a good constitution
and the strength of his spirits, resist that destiny, from the mortal
influence of which none of us save three escaped out of a family of
nine. On his deathbed, he expressed to me the desire that our
misfortunes should not remain unknown. This then became my duty, and a
duty sacred to the public. I feel a pleasure in fulfilling it, and
consolation in the thought, that no feeling mind will read the story of
our misfortunes without being affected; and that those who persecuted us
will at least experience some regret.

The recital of the shipwreck of the Medusa was necessary, as much to
explain the origin of our misfortunes, as the cause of the connexion
between that disastrous event, and the terrible journey in the Desert of
Sahara, by which we at last reached Sene