he shark would soon pull me down. I
therefore thought I must give up the idea of saving the boat; and must
jump into the water and try to reach the schooner; but I saw in the
water several streaks of light, which showed me that other Zulus had
entered the water with the intention of assisting their friends, and
several of these were between me and the ship. To have attempted to
reach the ship, therefore, would have been a dangerous proceeding, as I
should have been caught by several of the Zulus, and either drowned by
them, or taken prisoner, and assagied. I struck out therefore for the
opposite shore, where the Bluff of Natal, a high piece of land, stands,
and soon reached the shore, where I concealed myself in the bush; and,
being much fatigued with the exertions of the day, lay down and soon
fell asleep.

I hoped when daylight came to swim back to the schooner, or signal to
them to send me a boat; so I felt no anxiety about the morrow.

I awoke on the following morning from the heat of the sun, which was
shining on me, and for a few seconds I was in doubt where I was and what
had happened. I was stiff and uncomfortable from having laid down in my
wet clothes, which were scarcely yet dry, in consequence of the heavy
dew that had fallen; but I got up and worked my way carefully out of the
bush to where I thought I should see the schooner. On reaching the
shore I looked and looked again; no schooner was visible where she had
been, I then noticed that the wind was blowing from the west--the
favourable wind for a vessel to leave the harbour. I ran round the
Bluff to the side next the sea, and there saw the schooner with all
sails set, about five miles off. I then knew I was deserted by the
white men, who probably thought I had been drowned, so that I was now
the only white man remaining on this coast.

During the various adventures through which I had passed since the
shipwreck years ago, I had never despaired or felt really unhappy: there
was always some excitement going on, and my mind was occupied in
planning various things either for sporting or other purposes. Now,
however, a feeling came over me that I had never experienced before.
Had I been better acquainted with the human body and its requirements, I
should have at once attributed this effect to its proper cause. During
the whole of the previous day I had eaten nothing, and had gone through
much hard work and excitement. The depression that I suffered