sight of a melancholy
contrast. Two young lads, and a baker, did not fear to seek death, by
throwing themselves into the sea, after having taken leave of their
companions in misfortune. Already the faculties of our men were singularly
impaired; some fancied they saw the land; others, vessels which were coming
to save us; all announced to us by their cries these fallacious visions.

We deplored the loss of our unhappy companions; we did not presage, at this
moment, the still more terrible scene which was to take place the following
night; far from that, we enjoyed a degree of satisfaction, so fully were we
persuaded that the boats would come to our relief. The day was fine, and
the most perfect tranquillity prevailed on our raft. The evening came, and
the boats did not appear. Despondency began again to seize all our people,
and a mutinous spirit manifested itself by cries of fury; the voice of the
officers was wholly disregarded. When the night came, the sky was covered
with thick clouds; the wind, which during the day had been rather high, now
became furious, and agitated the sea, which, in an instant, grew very
rough.

If the preceding night had been terrible, this was still more horrible.
Mountains of water covered us every moment, and broke, with violence, in
the midst of us; very happily we had the wind behind us, and the fury of
the waves was a little checked by the rapidity of our progress; we drove
towards the land. From the violence of the sea, the men passed rapidly from
the back to the front of the raft, we were obliged to keep in the centre,
the most solid part of the raft; those who could not get there, almost all
perished. Before and behind the waves dashed with fury, and carried off the
men in spite of all their resistance. At the centre, the crowd was such
that some poor men were stifled by the weight of their comrades, who fell
upon them every moment; the officers kept themselves at the foot of the
little mast, obliged, every instant, to avoid the waves, to call to those
who surrounded them to go on the one or the other side, for the waves which
came upon us, nearly athwart, gave our raft a position almost
perpendicular, so that, in order to counterbalance it, we were obliged to
run to that side which was raised up by the sea.[A10]

The soldiers and sailors, terrified by the presence of an almost inevitable
danger, gave themselves up for lost. Firmly believing that they were going
to be swallowed up, t