harf in Wiscasset but a few days before
us.

Capt. Holmes conducted me on board the Shamrock, refreshed me,
and had my sores dressed; and with the poultices on my feet, I
walked to the Governor's office, in order to give oath to the
murder of my shipmates, accompanied by a number of American and
British officers, who gave me assurance of their protection. I
was asked through an interpreter if I could speak Spanish, to
which I replied in the negative.--After relating my story, the
Governor enquired of what nation were the Pirates? I answered,
Spaniards. He asked how I could affirm that, if I could not speak
Spanish. My reply was, "I can tell a Spaniard as far as I can see
his evil eye." He bit his lip, shrugged his shoulders, and
concluded by observing, "Spaniards have to bear all the
piracies."

After the examination, I went on board the Shamrock and passed
the night. The next day I spent on shore, and the night
following, sailed in the U. S. schooner Ferret, in search of the
Pirates and fishermen.

No one who had seen me in health would now have recognized me;
for I was reduced to a living skeleton. My head and face were
very badly bruised and swollen, from the beating received on my
journey--the skin of the latter had peeled entirely off, and I
had been nearly blind since leaving the Keys--add to this, the
wounds and sores on my feet and legs had degenerated into foul,
unhealthy ulcers, that caused them to swell enormously. The
American ship masters and seamen who saw me on my first arrival
at Matanzas, have frequently declared, that they had never
beheld a human being more disfigured by sufferings, or emaciated
by wasting disease. I was soon surrounded by American tars, whose
generous hearts were as ready to relieve my present wants, as
were their powerful arms, to defend me from future insult or
injury.

I now began to perceive how much the mind may be diverted from a
consciousness of the sufferings of the body, by its own
operations; for I had never been out of reach of the Pirate or
robber, from the time I landed on Cruz del Padre until I entered
on board the Ferret. My mind was now, therefore, principally
occupied by the contemplation of my present sufferings, and their
rapid termination in death. I was constantly raising blood, and
the inflammation of my numerous sores had produced a sympathetic
fever, that compelled me to keep my birth; and the surgeon, for
my consolation, expressed an apprehension tha