tortured between the
pieces of wood which formed the scaffold on which they floated.--The
bones of their feet and their legs were bruised and broken, every time
the fury of the waves agitated the raft; their flesh covered with
contusions and hideous wounds, dissolved, as it were, in the briny
waves, while the roaring flood around them was colored with their
blood.

As the raft, when it was abandoned, was nearly two leagues from the
frigate, it was impossible these unfortunate persons could return to
it; they were soon after far out to sea. These victims still appeared
above their floating tomb; and, stretching out their supplicating
hands towards the boats which fled from them, seemed yet to invoke,
for the last time, the names of the wretches who had deceived them. O
horrid day! a day of shame and reproach! Alas! that the hearts of
those who were so well acquainted with misfortune, should have been so
inaccessible to pity.

After witnessing that most inhuman scene, and seeing they were
insensible to the cries and lamentations of so many unhappy beings, I
felt my heart bursting with sorrow. It seemed to me that the waves
would overwhelm all these wretches, and I could not suppress my tears.
My father, exasperated to excess, and bursting with rage at seeing so
much cowardice and inhumanity among the officers of the boats, began
to regret he had not accepted the place which had been assigned for us
upon the fatal raft. 'At least,' said he, 'we would have died with the
brave, or would have returned to the wreck of the Medusa; and not have
had the disgrace of saving ourselves with cowards.' Although this
produced no effect upon the officers, it proved very fatal to us
afterwards; for, on our arrival at Senegal, it was reported to the
Governor, and very probably was the principal cause of all those evils
and vexations which we endured in that colony.

Let us now turn our attention to the several situations of all those
who were endeavoring to save themselves in the different boats, as
well as to those left upon the wreck of the Medusa.

We have already seen, that the frigate was half sunk when it was
deserted, presenting nothing but a hulk and wreck.--Nevertheless,
seventeen still remained upon it, and had food, which, although
damaged, enabled them to support themselves for a considerable time;
while the raft was abandoned to float at the mercy of the waves, upon
the vast surface of the ocean. One hundred and fifty wre