ld have been imprudent to pass the night in one metre, or one metre
30 centimetres of water; it had already grounded two or three times. On the
6th, about four o'clock in the morning, finding itself too far from the
coast, and the sea very hollow, it tacked, and in a few hours saw the coast
for the second time. At eight o'clock, they were extremely near, and the
men ardently desiring to get on shore, sixty-three of the most resolute
were landed; arms were given them, and as much biscuit as could be spared;
they set out in search of Senegal, following the sea-coast. This landing
was effected to the North of Cape Meric, eighty or ninety leagues from the
Isle of St. Louis.[B7] This vessel then stood out to sea. We will leave,
for the present, these sixty-three poor people who have been landed on the
sands of Cape Meric; and shall return to them in the sequel.

We will now proceed to describe the motions and fate of the other vessels.
At noon, after having proceeded some miles, the long-boat saw the other
vessels, and endeavoured to fall in with them; but every one distrusted the
other: the long-boat did its utmost to rally them; but they employed all
the means they could to avoid the meeting; even the officers assisted in
working them, because some persons had asserted that the crew of the
long-boat had mutinied, and had even threatened to fire on the other
boats.[33] The long-boat, on the other hand, which had just landed a part
of its people, advanced to inform the other boats that it was able to
relieve them, in case they were too much loaded. The captain's boat and the
_pirogue_, were the only ones that came within hail: at five o'clock in the
afternoon the sea became hollow, and the wind very high, when the pirogue,
unable to hold out against it, asked the assistance of the long-boat, which
tacked and took on board the fifteen persons which that frail boat
contained. At two o'clock in the afternoon, of the 8th,[B8] the men,
tormented by a burning thirst, and a violent hunger which they could not
appease, obliged the officer, by their reiterated importunities, to make
the land, which was done the same evening. His intention was to proceed to
Senegal: he would doubtless have succeeded; but the cries of the soldiers
and sailors, who murmured loudly, induced the measure that was taken, and
the crew landed about forty leagues from the Island of St. Louis. The
great-boat, which had approached very near the coast, and had not b