bserved several people upon an eminence, who
seemed to make signals to us. We examined them attentively, and soon
recognised them to be our companions in misfortune. We replied to them
by attaching a white handkerchief to the top of our mast. Then we
resolved to land, at the risk of perishing among the breakers, which
were very strong towards the shore, although the sea was calm. On
approaching the beach, we went towards the right, where the waves seemed
less agitated, and endeavoured to reach it, with the hope of being able
more easily to land. Scarcely had we directed our course to that point,
when we perceived a great number of people standing near to a little
wood surrounding the sand-hills. We recognised them to be the passengers
of that boat, which, like ourselves, were deprived of provisions.

Meanwhile we approached the shore, and already the foaming surge filled
us with terror. Each wave that came from the open sea, each billow that
swept beneath our boat, made us bound into the air; so we were sometimes
thrown from the poop to the prow, and from the prow to the poop. Then,
if our pilot had missed the sea, we would have been sunk; the waves
would have thrown us aground, and we would have been buried among the
breakers. The helm of the boat was again given to the old pilot, who had
already so happily steered us through the dangers of the storm. He
instantly threw into the sea the mast, the sails, and every thing that
could impede our proceedings. When we came to the first landing point,
several of our shipwrecked companions, who had reached the shore, ran
and hid themselves behind the hills, not to see us perish; others made
signs not to approach at that place; some covered their eyes with their
hands; others, at last despising the danger, precipitated themselves
into the waves to receive us in their arms. We then saw a spectacle that
made us shudder. We had already doubled two ranges of breakers; but
those which we had still to cross raised their foaming waves to a
prodigious height, then sunk with a hollow and monstrous sound, sweeping
along a long line of the coast. Our boat sometimes greatly elevated, and
sometimes ingulfed between the waves, seemed, at the moment, of utter
ruin. Bruised, battered, tossed about on all hands, it turned of itself,
and refused to obey the kind hand which directed it. At that instant a
huge wave rushed from the open sea, and dashed against the poop; the
boat plunged, disappeared,