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NARRATIVE 
 
 OF A 
 
 VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 
 
 IN 1816; 
 
 UNDERTAKEN BY ORDER OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT, 
 COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT 
 
 of tt)e 
 
 THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW, 
 AND THE VARIOUS OCCURRENCES ON BOARD THE RAFT, 
 
 IN THE DESERT OF ZAARA, AT ST. LOUIS, 
 AND AT THE CAMP OF DACCARD. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE SUBJOINED 
 
 OBSERVATIONS RESPECTING THE AGRICULTURE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA, 
 FROM CAPE BLANCO TO THE MOUTH OF THE GAMBIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. B. HENRY SAVIGNY, 
 
 AND 
 
 ALEXANDER CORR^ARD. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH THE NOTES OF M. BREDIF, 
 
 AND EMBELLISHED WITH 
 A PLAN OF THE RAFT, AND A PORTRAIT OF KING ZAIDE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HENUY COLBUKN, CONDUIT-STREET, 
 
 1818. 
 
London: Printed by Scbulze and Dean, is, Poland-Street. 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OF A 
 
 VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 
 
 IN 1816. 
 
No person can read this Interesting Narrative 
 without being deeply effected by the perils and mis- 
 fortunes to which the small remnant of persons, who 
 were saved from this deplorable Shipwreck, were 
 exposed. Of one hundred and fifty persons em- 
 barked upon the raft, and left to their fate, only 
 fifteen remained alive thirteen days afterwards; 
 but of these fifteen, so miraculously saved, life con- 
 stituted the sole possession, being literally stripped 
 of every thing. At Paris, some benevolent indi- 
 viduals have recently opened a subscription for 
 their relief. Should any persons, in this country, 
 feel disposed to contribute to this humane object, 
 Mr. Colburn will feel great pleasure in becoming 
 the medium for transmitting their subscriptions to 
 the unfortunate sufferers. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 AT the moment that we publish a Second 
 Edition of onr Narrative, we learn that Mr. 
 Sevigny* is going to publish a pretended Ac- 
 
 f This Mr. Sevigny must not be confounded with 
 Mr. Savigny, one of the authors of this narrative. 
 
 This Mr. Sevigny is one of the directors of an anony- 
 mous company, which one of the King's Ministers has re- 
 commended in ihe following manner: 
 
 " The keeper of the seals has informed the magis- 
 " trates, that an anonymous company, which had formed 
 " itself under the name of the Colonial Philanthropic 
 " Society of Senegambia^ and which announced the pro- 
 " ject of procuring for all those who should confide in 
 " it, colonial establishments on the coasts near Cape Verd, 
 " has received no authority from the government, and 
 " that, on the steps which it has taken, to obtain such 
 " authority, it has been found that it was not in a condi- 
 " tion to fulfil its promises, which, therefore, were a kind 
 " of snare, for those whom they might have seduced. It 
 " has been, consequently, prohibited from making any 
 " enterprise, or any expedition. The agents of this Society 
 "having no other object than to deceive the public 
 * credulity, must be denounced to his Majesty's Attorney- 
 " General, who will take against them the measures pre- 
 scribed by the law." 
 
 ( Journal des Debats, Novembre 24, 1817J 
 b 
 
VI ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 count, by Mr. Richefort, an auxiliary Ex- 
 Officer of the French Marine. 
 
 Our readers will not have forgotten a 
 certain pretended sea-officer who was partly 
 the cause of our misfortunes, and who, when 
 on board the Medusa, gave such unhappy 
 advice to the captain, who still more unhap- 
 pily, followed it too closely ; well ; this ex- 
 officer, this fatal auxiliary, who conducted 
 the frigate upon the bank of Arguin, is no 
 other than Mr. Richefort! 
 
 Having gone on board the governor's 
 boat, he remained a stranger to the disasters 
 which he had partly caused, and consequent- 
 ly, knew nothing of what passed, either upon 
 the raft, or on board the boats which stranded, 
 or in the desert. 
 
 We make no farther remarks ; the pub- 
 lic will judge of his account and ours. 
 
 CoRRfcARD AND SAVIGNY. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE annals of the marine, record no example of 
 a shipwreck so terrible as that of the Medusa fri- 
 gate. Two of the unfortunate crew, who have 
 miraculously escaped from the catastrophe, impose 
 upon themselves the painful and delicate task, of 
 describing all the circumstances which attended it. 
 
 It was in the midst of the most cruel sufferings 
 that we took the solemn resolution, to make known, 
 to the civilized world, all the details of our un- 
 happy adventure, if heaven permitted us again to see 
 our dear country. We should believe that we failed 
 in our duty to ourselves, and to our fellow citizens, 
 if we left buried in oblivion facts which the public 
 must be desirous to know. All the details of the 
 events at which we were not present, have been 
 communicated to us by respectable persons, who 
 have warranted their authenticity. We shall, be- 
 sides, advance nothing which cannot be proved. 
 
 Here, we hear some voices ask, what right we 
 have to make known to the government, men who 
 are, perhaps, guilty, but whom their places, and 
 their rank, entitle to more respect. They are ready 
 to make it a crime in us, that we have dared to say, 
 that officers of the marine had abandoned us. But 
 
Viil PREFACE. 
 
 what interest, we ask, in our turn, should cause a 
 fatal indulgence to be claimed for those, who have 
 failed in their duties ; while the destruction of a 
 hundred and fifty wretches, left to the most cruel 
 fate, scarcely excited a murmur of disapprobation? 
 Are we still in those times, when men and things 
 were sacrificed to the caprices of favour ? Are the 
 resources and the dignities of the State, still the 
 exclusive patrimony of a privileged class? and are 
 there other titles to places and honours, besides 
 merit and talents? 
 
 Let us venture to advance another truth, a truth 
 useful to the Minister himself. There exists among 
 the officers of the Marine, an intractable esprit de 
 corps, a pretended point of honour, equally false 
 and arrogant, which leads them to consider as an 
 insult to the whole navy, the discovery of one 
 guilty individual. This inadmissible principle, 
 which is useful only to insignificance, to intrigue, 
 to people the least worthy to call on the name of 
 honour, has the most ruinous consequences for the 
 State, and the public service. By this, incapacity 
 and baseness are always covered with a guilty veil, 
 which they dare to attempt to render sacred ; by 
 this, the favours of government are bestowed at 
 random, upon persons, who impose upon it the 
 strange obligation of being perpetually in the dark 
 respecting them. Under the protection of this 
 obligation of officious silence, hitherto seconded 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 by the slavery of the press, men without talents 
 survive every revolution t exhibit in every anti- 
 chamber their privileged incapacity, and braving 
 public opinion, even that of their comrades, who 
 are the first victims of a foolish and arrog'ant pre- 
 judice, which deceives them, shew themselves more 
 eager to monopolise favours and honours, in pro- 
 portion as they are less able to render themselves 
 worthy of them. 
 
 We shall believe that we have deserved well 
 of our government, if our faithful narrative can 
 make it sensible how much its confidence is abused. 
 Just, besides, and not animated by passion, it is 
 with real pleasure that we shall make those known, 
 who, by their conduct in our shipwreck, have 
 acquired a right to general esteem. Others will 
 doubtless complain of the severity of our accusing 
 language ; but honest men will grant us their ap- 
 probation. If we hear it said, that our frankness 
 may have been useful to our country, this success 
 will be, at once, our justification and our recom- 
 pence. 
 
 We have questioned, concerning the nautical 
 details, several gentlemen of the navy who were 
 on beard ; we confess, however, that on comparing 
 their accounts, we ha\e observed that they did not 
 always entirely agree ; but we have taken those 
 facts which had the most witnesses in their favour. 
 We shall be sometimes obliged to record cruel 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 truths; they will, however, be directed only to those, 
 whose unskilful ness, or pusillanimity have caused 
 these dreadful events. We venture to affirm, that 
 the numerous observations, which we have col- 
 lected, will give to our work all the accuracy ri- 
 gorously required in so interesting- a narrative. 
 
 We must observe to our readers that it has 
 been impossible for us to avoid the use of naval 
 terms, which will, perhaps, give a great degree of 
 roughness to our narrative, but we hope that the 
 public who are always indulgent, will be so on this 
 occasion, to two unfortunate men, who pretend only 
 to make them acquainted with the truth, arid not to 
 give them a superior work. 'Besides, as we in a 
 manner, submit these events, to the judgment of 
 the gentlemen of the French Navy, it was neces- 
 sary to make use of the technical terms, that they 
 might be able to understand us. 
 
 This second edition is enriched with notes, 
 which will give the reader interesting details on 
 many points, which in the former we could only 
 slightly touch upon. He will have nothing more 
 to desire, particularly respecting the march in the 
 desert after the stranding of the long-boat. 
 
 These notes begin with the moment that the 
 frigate stranded, and terminate with the arrival at 
 St. Louis. 
 
 They were communicated to us by Mr. Lan- 
 dry, an officer of the Royal University, Professor 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Emeritus of the Academy of Paris, and at pre- 
 sent at the head of a school or Academy, in the 
 Rue Cerisaye, No. 2, quarter of the Arsenal, at 
 Paris. He has had the kindness to extract them 
 for us from a narrative, written hy his nephew, 
 Mr. Bredif, Engineer of Mines, belonging to the 
 expedition to Senegal. 
 
 The Narrator sent this account to his family 
 above a year ago, addressing it to his sister The 
 reader will, therefore, not be surprised at the tone 
 of simplicity which prevails in this recital. Mr. 
 Landry would not take away any part for fear of 
 injuring the truth of the circumstances, by med- 
 dling with it. If Mr. Bredif, is always placed in 
 the fore-ground, that is not surprising; in a sister, 
 a brother is the principal object which she cannot 
 lose sight of for a moment. 
 
 He who loves to observe men, in all the cir- 
 cumstances, in which they may be placed, will 
 easily judge, after what Mr. Bredif did or felt, 
 what may have been done or felt by the sharers in 
 the same misfortunes, who are, besides, never 
 forgotten. 
 
 Mr. Bredif is now in the interior of Africa, 
 employed upon the Mission which the government 
 has entrusted to him ; the last accounts from him 
 are of the 14th of October, 1817. The mariner 
 in which he knows how to give an account of the 
 facts which he has observed, and still more the 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 courage, the prudence, and humanity, which he 
 displayed in the disaster of the Medusa, and in all 
 that followed it, give reason to hope, and this hope 
 cannot be deceived, that he will duly execute his 
 Mission, and render himself worthy of his Majesty's 
 favours. 
 

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 / 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OP 
 
 A VOYAGE TO SENEGAL, 
 
 THE French settlements, situated on the 
 western coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco 
 to the mouth of the river Gambia, have 
 been alternately possessed by France 
 and England, and have remained de- 
 finitively in the hands of the French, 
 whose ancestors laid the foundations of 
 them previously to the fourteenth century, 
 when they discovered this country. 
 
 The English made themselves mas- 
 ters in 1758 of the Isle of St. Louis, the 
 seat of the general government of all the 
 settlements which the French have on that 
 part of the coast: we recovered it twenty 
 years after, in 1779 : and our possessions 
 were again confirmed to us by the treaty 
 of peace between France andEngland, ron 
 
 B 
 
Z INTRODUCTION. 
 
 eluded on the 3d of September, 1783. In 
 1808, our possessions fell again into the 
 power of the English, less by the supe- 
 riority of their arms, than by the trea- 
 chery of some individuals unworthy of 
 bearing the name of Frenchmen. They 
 were finally restored to us by the treaties 
 of peace of 1814, and 1815, which con- 
 firmed that of 1783 in its whole extent. 
 
 The stipulations of this treaty regu- 
 late the respective rights of the two nations 
 on the Western coast of Africa ; they fix 
 the possessions of France as follows: 
 from Cape Blanco situated in longitude 
 19 30 / , and latitude 20 55' 30", to the 
 mouth of the river Gambia in longitude 
 19 9', and latitude 13 ; they guarantee 
 this properly exclusively to our country, 
 and only permit the English to trade 
 together with the French, for gum, from 
 the river St. John to Fort Portendick 
 inclusive, on condition, that they shall 
 not form establishments of any kind what- 
 soever in this river, or upon any point of this 
 coast. Only it is said, that the possession 
 of the factory of Albreda, situated at the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 mouth of the river Gambia, and that of 
 fort James, are confirmed to England. 
 
 The rights of the two nations being 
 thus regulated, France thought of resum- 
 ing her possessions &nd the enjoyment of 
 her rights. The minister of the marine 
 after having long meditated, and taken 
 two years to prepare an expedition of 
 four vessels, at last gave orders that it 
 should sail for Senegal. The following 
 is a list of the persons who composed 
 the expedition. 
 
 A Colonel, to command in chief for 
 the king on the whole coast from Cape 
 Blanco to the mouth of the river Gambia, 
 and charged .with the superior direction 
 of the administration. 1 
 
 A Lieutenant-Colonel, (chef de 
 bataillon) commandant of Goree. ... 1 
 
 A Lieutenant-Colonel command- 
 ing the African battalion, composed 
 of three companies of 84 men each. . 253 
 
 A Lieutenant of Artillery, in- 
 spector of the powder magazines and 
 batteries, and' commanding ten work- 
 men of his arm . 11 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A Commissary, inspector of the 
 marine, chief of the administration . 
 
 Four Store-keepers 4 
 
 Six Clerks 6 
 
 Four Scouts (guetteurs) 4 
 
 Two Cures 2 
 
 Two Schoolmasters (instituteurs) 2 
 Two Writers (greffiers, they sup- 
 ply the place of the notaries and even 
 
 of the mayors) 
 
 Two Hospital Directors 2 
 
 Two Apothecaries 2 
 
 Five Surgeons 5 
 
 Two Port Captains 2 
 
 Three Pilots 3 
 
 A Gardener I 
 
 Eighteen Women 18 
 
 Eight Children 8 
 
 Four Bakers 4 
 
 Farther for an intended expe- 
 dition into the country of Galam. 
 
 An Engineer of mines 1 
 
 A Geographical Engineer 1 
 
 A Naturalist (cultivateur natu- 
 
 Taliste) I 
 
 Farther for an expedition which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 was to seek upon CapeVerd, or in its 
 neighbourhood for a spot proper for 
 the foundation of a colony. 
 
 A Physician 1 
 
 An Agriculturist for European 
 
 productions 1 
 
 An Agriculturist for colonial pro- 
 ductions 1 
 
 Two Geographical Engineers. . 2 
 
 A Naturalist -. 1 
 
 An officer of the marine 1 
 
 Twenty workmen 20 
 
 Three Women 3 
 
 Total 365 
 
 This expedition consisted therefore 
 of 365 persons, of whom about 240 were 
 embarked on board the Medusa frigate. 
 
NARRATIVE, 
 
 ON the 17th of June, 1816, at seven in 
 the morning, the expedition for Senegal 
 sailed from the roads of the Island of 
 Aix, under the command of Captain 
 Chaumareys; the vessels composing it 
 were the Medusa* frigate of 44 guns, 
 Captain Chaumareys ; the Echo^ corvette. 
 Captain Cornet de Venancourt ; the flute 
 La Loire, commanded by Lieutenant 
 Giquel Destouches ; and the Argus J brig, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Parnajon. The 
 wind \*as northerly, blowing a fresh 
 breeze ; we carried all our sails ; but 
 had hardly cleared the port when the 
 
 * The Medusa was armed en flute, having only 14 
 guns on board ; it was equipped at Rochefort with the 
 Loire. 
 
 f Equipped at Brest. 
 
 J Came from L'Orient. 
 
S NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 wind scanted a little, and we tacked to 
 double the Tower of Chassiron, which is 
 placed at the extremity of the Isle of 
 Oleron.* After having plied to windward 
 the whole day, in the evening about five 
 o'clock, the Loire being unable to stem the 
 currents which w r ere at that time contrary, 
 and hindered her from entering the passes, 
 desired leave to cast anchor ; M. de Chau- 
 mareys granted it, and ordered the whole 
 squadron to anchor. We were then half 
 a league from the Isle of Rhe, within 
 what is called the " Pertuis d'Antioche." 
 We cast anchor the first, and all the other 
 vessels came and placed themselves near 
 us. The Loire being a dull sailer, was the 
 last which came to an anchor. The wea- 
 ther was fine : the wind N. W. and con- 
 sequently too near to allow us to double 
 Chassiron, with a contrary current. At 
 seven in the evening, at the beginning of 
 the ebb, we weighed anchor, and hoisted 
 our sails ; all the other vessels did the 
 same : the signal to get underway had been 
 
 * The town of Chassiron is on the point of Oleron, 
 opposite a bank of rocks called Les Antiochats. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 9 
 
 given them a few minutes before. At night 
 we found ourselves between the lights of 
 Chassiron and La Baleine.* A few mo- 
 ments sufficed to double them ; we were 
 scarcely clear, when the wind became 
 almost calm ; the vessels no longer obeyed 
 the helm, the sky grew dark, the sea was 
 very hollow, in short every thing an- 
 nounced a storm ; the wind threatened to 
 blow from the west, and consequently 
 to become contrary ; it was variable and 
 squally ; towards ten o'clock it was per- 
 ceived that we were running directly upon 
 a danger, called Les Roches Bonnes.^ 
 We tacked to escape certain destruction ; 
 between eleven and twelve at night, a 
 storm arose in the north, and brought on 
 wind from that quarter ; we were then 
 able to advance; the clouds dispersed, and 
 the next day the weather was very fine, 
 with a breeze from the N. E. but very faint; 
 
 1 The light house of La Baleine is placed at the 
 other end of the Pertuis d'Antioche, on the coast of the 
 Isle of line. 
 
 f Les Roches Bonnes are 8 or 9 leagues from the 
 Isle of Rhe, their position is not exactly determined on 
 the charts. 
 
10 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 for some days we made but very little 
 progress. 
 
 On the 21st or 22d we doubled Cape 
 Finisterre; beyond this point which bounds 
 the Gulph of Gascony, the Loire and the 
 Argus parted company ; these vessels 
 sailing very ill, it was impossible for them 
 to keep up with the frigate, which to 
 enable them to do so, would have been 
 obliged to take in her top-gallant sails 
 and studding sails. 
 
 The Echo alone was in sight, but at 
 a great distance, and carrying a press of 
 sail not to lose sight of us. The frigate 
 was so much a better sailer than the 
 corvette, that with a small quantity of 
 sail, she not only kept up with her, but 
 even got a-head of her in a surprising 
 manner; the wind had freshened and we 
 were going at the rate of nine knots. * 
 
 An unfortunate accident disturbed the 
 pleasure we felt at being so favoured by the 
 wind; a sailor lad 15 years of age, fell into 
 the sea, through one of the fore port-holes, 
 
 * Three knots make a marine league of 5556 
 meters. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 11 
 
 on the larboard side; a great many per- 
 sons were at the time, on the poop and the 
 breast work, looking at the gambols of the 
 porpoises.* The exclamations of pleasure 
 at beholding the sports of these animals, 
 were succeeded by cries of pity; for some 
 moments the unfortunate youth held by 
 the end of a rope, which he caught hold 
 of in his fall ; but the rapidity with which 
 the frigate sailed, soon forced him to let 
 go ; a signal was made to acquaint the 
 Echo with this accident ; that vessel was 
 at a considerable distance, and we were 
 going to fire a gun to second the signal, 
 but there was not one loaded, however we 
 threw out the life buoy.t The sails 
 
 * These are very large fish which every moment 
 appear on the surface of the water, where they tumble 
 about. They pass with such prodigious rapidity 
 that they will swim round a ship, when it is going at 
 the rate of nine or ten knots an hour. 
 
 f The life buoy, is made of cask staves hooped to- 
 gether, and is about a metre (something more than a 
 yard.) in diameter, in the middle of which is a little 
 mast to fix a flag to. It is thrown into the sea, as soon as 
 a man falls overboard, that he may place himself upon it 
 while the operation of lowering a boat down, or heav- 
 ing the vessel to, is performed. 
 
12 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 were clewed up, and the ship hove to. 
 This manoeuvre was long; we should 
 have come to the wind, as soon as they 
 cried, " a man overboard/' it is true that 
 somebody cried aloud from the poop, that 
 he was saved ; and a sailor had indeed 
 caught him by the arm, but he had been 
 obliged to let him go, because he would 
 have been pulled overboard himself: a 
 boat was however let down ; it was a six- 
 oared barge in which there were only three 
 men : it was all in vain ; and after having 
 looked for some time, the boat came on 
 board again without having found even 
 the buoy. If the unfortunate youth, who 
 seemed to swim pretty well, had strength 
 to reach it, he doubtless perished on it, 
 after having experienced the most cruel 
 sufferings. The ship was trimmed, and 
 we resumed our course. 
 
 The Echo rejoined us, and for some 
 time she kept within hail ; but we soon 
 lost her.On the 26th, we plied to windward 
 during the night, fearing lest we should 
 strike on the eight rocks, which are situated 
 the most Northerly, in 34 4&, Latitude, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 13 
 
 and the most Southerly in latitude, 34 
 SO 7 , so that the extent of this danger is 
 about five leagues from North to South 
 and about four leagues from East to 
 West : the most southerly rook is distant 
 about forty leagues to the North, 5 
 East, from the East point of Madeira. 
 
 On the 27th, in the morning we expected 
 to see the island of Madeira, we however 
 proceeded to no purpose till noon, at 
 which hour we made an observation to 
 ascertain our situation. The solar obser- 
 vation made us East, and West of Porto 
 Santo ; we continued on the same tack, 
 and in the evening at sunset, the man at 
 the mast head discovered, land.* This error 
 
 * We do not know why the government makes 
 its vessels take this route ; when one can proceed di- 
 rectly to the Canaries : it is true they are often obscured 
 by mists, but there are no dangers in the principal 
 canals which they form, and they extend over so large 
 a space thflt it is impossible not to recognise them, 
 with facility. They have also the advantage of being 
 placed in the course of the monsoons; though how- 
 ever, westwinds sometimes blow for several days toge- 
 ther. We think that vessels going to the East Indies 
 might dispense with making Madeira and Porto 
 Santo, the more so as there are many shoals near 
 
14 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 in the arrival, was at least thirty leagues 
 in the East. It was attributed to the cur- 
 rents of the straits of Gibraltar ; if this 
 error really arises from the currents of the 
 strait, it merits the attention of vessels 
 which frequent these seas. The whole 
 night we proceeded with few sails up ; at 
 midnight we tacked, in order not to 
 approach too near to the land. 
 
 The next morning at day break we 
 saw very distinctly the islands of Madeira 
 and Porto Santo ; on the larboard, were 
 those called Desert; Madeira was at least 
 twelve leagues off: sailing before the 
 wind we made nine knots, and in a few 
 hours we were very near it. For a consi- 
 derable time we ran along the coast 
 of the island at a small distance from 
 shore : we passed before the principal 
 towns, Funchal and Do Sob. 
 
 Madeira appears like an amphitheatre ; 
 
 these islands; besides the rocks, of which we have 
 spoken above there is another, to the N. E. of Porto 
 Santo, on which many vessels have been loist ; by night 
 all these reefs are very dangerous, by day they are re- 
 cognised by tne breakers on them. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 15 
 
 the country houses which cover it seem 
 to be in a very good taste, and give it a 
 charming appearance. All these delight- 
 ful habitations are surrounded by fine 
 gardens, and fields covered with orange 
 and lemon trees, which when the wind 
 blows from the shore, diffuse for full half 
 a league in the open sea, the most agrees 
 able perfume. The hills are covered 
 with vineyards, bordered with banian 
 trees: in short every thing is combined to 
 render Madeira one of the most beautiful 
 islands of Africa. Its soil is only a 
 vegetable sand, mixed with an ash, which 
 gives it astonishing fertility; it shews 
 every where nothing but the remains of 
 a volcanised earth, the colour of which is 
 that of the element, by which it was long 
 consumed. Furichal, the capital town of 
 the islands is situated in long. 19. 20". 
 30." in lat. 32 37'. 40'. This town is 
 far from handsome, the streets are nar- 
 row, and the houses in general ill built : 
 the highest part of the island is the Pic 
 de Ruvio, which rises about two hundred 
 metres above the level of the sea. The 
 
16 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 population of Madeira is from 85,000 to 
 90,000, inhabitants as we are assured by 
 a person worthy of credit, who has resided 
 for some time in that fine colony. 
 
 We sailed in this manner along the coast 
 of Madeira, because the intention of the 
 commander was to send a boat on shore for 
 refreshments; but being surprised by a 
 calm under the land, we were afraid of 
 approaching too near, lest we should not 
 be able to stem the strong currents which 
 set towards it, A gentle breeze arising, 
 enabled us to get out to sea, where the 
 wind became favorable, and pretty brisk ; 
 it was resolved that the boat should not 
 go on shore : and we resumed our course 
 going at eight knots. We had remained 
 three hours opposite Funchal bay. At 
 nightfall Madeira was in full sight : the 
 next morning atsun-rise we sawthe islands 
 called Salvages, and in the evening we 
 descried the Pico of Teneriffe, on the 
 island of that name. This lofty moun- 
 tain, behind which the sun had just set, 
 presented a sight truly magnificent; its 
 summit seemed to be crowned with fire : 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. J7 
 
 its elevation above the level of the sea, 
 is 3711 metres; it is situated in lat. 28 17' 
 and in long. 19. Several persons on 
 board affirmed that they saw the Pico at 
 eight o'clock in the morning; and yet we 
 were at least thirty leagues distant from 
 it; the sky it is true, was extremely clear. 
 The commander resolved to send a 
 boat to St. Croix, one of the principal 
 towns in the island, to fetch fruits, and 
 some filtering stones, which are made in 
 that town ; they are only a kind of mor- 
 tar, made of the volcanic stone of the 
 country. In consequence, during the 
 whole night we made short tacks ; the 
 next morning we coasted the island, at 
 the distance of two musket shot, and 
 passed under the guns of a little fort, 
 called Fort Franqais. One of our com- 
 panions leaped for joy, at the sight of 
 this little fort, which was raised in haste 
 by a few Frenchmen, when the English, 
 under Admiral Nelson, attempted to take 
 possession of the Colony. It was there, 
 said he, that a numerous fleet, commanded 
 by one of the bravest Admirals of the 
 
18 NARRATITE OF A 
 
 English navy, failed before a handful of 
 French, who covered themselves with 
 glory;and saved Teneriffe; the Admiral \qfs 
 obliged to take flight, after having lost an 
 arm in the contest, which was long and 
 obstinate. 
 
 Having doubled a point which ex- 
 tends into the sea, we entered the bay, at 
 the bottom of which is the town of St. 
 Croix. The appearance of Tenerifte is 
 majestic : the whole island is composed of 
 mountains, which are extremely high, and 
 crowned with rocks terrifying from their 
 size, which on the north side, seem to rise 
 perpendicularly above the surface of the 
 ocean, and to threaten every moment to 
 crush by their fall, the vessels which pass 
 near their base. Above them all rises 
 the Pico, the summit of which is lost in 
 the clouds. We did not perceive that the 
 Pic was constantly covered with snow as 
 som voyagers affirm, nor that it vomits 
 forth lava of melted metal ; for when we 
 observed it, its summit seemed intirely 
 destitute of snow and of volcanic eruptions. 
 At the foot of the mountain, and up to a 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 19 
 
 certain elevation excavations filled with 
 sulphur are observed; and in its neigh- 
 bourhood several of the sepulchral caverns 
 of the Guanches, the ancient inhabitants 
 of the island. 
 
 Towards noon the Echo corvette, 
 which had parted company, rejoined us, 
 and passed under the stern of the frigate : 
 she was ordered to imitate our manoeuvres, 
 which she instantly did ; she did not send 
 any boat on shore. Thus united, we lay 
 to together in the bay of St. Croix. About 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, the boat 
 having returned on board we directed 
 our course for Senegal. They had bought 
 in the town some earthen jars of a large 
 size, precious wines, oranges, lemons, 
 banian figs, and vegetables of all kinds. 
 
 Several unfortunate Frenchmen were 
 on the island who had been long prisoners 
 of war; they lived upon what the 
 Spaniards chose to give them. They had 
 been restored to liberty on the conclusion 
 of peace, and waited only for a favorable 
 opportunity to return to France. Their 
 entreaties to the officer who commanded 
 
 c 2 
 
20 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 the boat were useless ; he had the cruelty 
 to refuse to restore them to their country 
 and their families. In this boat there was 
 another officer M. Laperere, who strongly 
 insisted on bringing away these unfortu- 
 nate persons ; his entreaties cotild not 
 move him who commanded the boat. 
 
 The depravity of morals at St. Croix 
 is extreme ; so much so that when the 
 women heard that some Frenchmen were 
 arrived in the town, they placed themselves 
 at their doors, and when they passed, 
 urged them to enter. All this is usually 
 done in the presence of the husbands, who 
 have no right to oppose it, because the 
 Holy Inquisition will have it so, and 
 because the monks who are very numerous 
 in the island take care that this custom 
 is observed. They possess the art of 
 blinding the husbands, by means of the 
 prestiges of religion, which they abuse 
 in the highest degree ; they cure them of 
 their jealousy, to which they are much 
 inclined, by assuring them that their 
 passion, which they call ridiculous, or 
 conjugal mania, is nothing but the per- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 21 
 
 sedition of Satan which torments them, 
 and from which they alone are able to 
 deliver them, by inspiring their dear 
 consorts with some religious sentiments. 
 These abuses are almost inevitable in a 
 burning climate, where the passion of 
 love is often stronger than reason, and 
 sometimes breaks through the barriers 
 which religion attempts to oppose to it : 
 this depravity of morals must therefore 
 be attributed to inflamed passions, and 
 not to abuses facilitated by a religion so 
 sublime as ours. 
 
 The Island of Teneriffe is not equal 
 to that of Madeira: one cannot even com- 
 pare their agricultural productions, on 
 account of the great difference of their 
 soils : but in a commercial view, Teneriffe 
 has the advantage of Madeira, Its geo- 
 graphical position in the middle of the 
 Canaries, enables it to carry on an exten- 
 sive trade, while Madeira is confined to 
 the sale aud exchange of its wines for 
 articles of European manufacture. 
 
 The soil of Teneriffe is much drier; 
 a great part of it is too volcanic to be used 
 
22 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 for agriculture : every part of it however, 
 which is capable of producing anything 
 is very well cultivated, which should seem 
 to prove, that the Spaniards of this 
 country are naturally much less indolent 
 than they have been represented. 
 
 When we were in the open sea we 
 had favorable winds from the N. N.E. 
 
 In the night of the* 29th of June the 
 frigate caught fire between decks, by the 
 negligence of the master baker ; but being 
 discovered in lime, the fire was extin- 
 guished. In the following night the same 
 accident was repeated ; but this time it 
 was necessary, in order to stop the progress 
 of the fire, to pull down the oven which 
 was rebuilt the next day. 
 
 On the 1st of July we descried Cape 
 Bayados, situated in latitude 26 12' 30", 
 and in longitude 16 47'. We then saw 
 the skirts of the immense desert of Zaara, 
 and we thought we perceived the mouth 
 of the river St. John, which is very little 
 known. We passed the tropic at ten 
 o'clock in the morning; the usual cere- 
 mony was there performed with a certain 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 23 
 
 pomp ; the jokes of the sailors amused 
 us for some moments ; we were far from 
 thinking of the cruel event which was 
 soon to deprive of their lives a third of 
 the persons who were on board the frigate. 
 This custom of tropical baptism is strange 
 enough ; the chief object of it, is, to 
 procure the sailors some money. 
 
 From St. Croix, we had constantly 
 steered to the S.S. W. During the cere- 
 mony at the tropic we doubled Cape 
 Barbas, situated in lat. 22 6', and long. 
 19 8': two officers suddenly had the 
 course changed, without informing the 
 captain; this led to a pretty warm dispute, 
 which however had no serious conse- 
 quences. These two officers affirmed that 
 we were running upon a group of rocks, 
 and that we were already very near to the 
 breakers. We had sailed the whole 
 morning in the Gulph of St. Cyprian, the 
 bottom of which is strewed with rocks, 
 so that at low water, brigantines cannot 
 frequent these seas, as we were told at 
 Senegal by M. Valentin, senior, who is 
 perfectly acquainted with this whole coast,, 
 
24 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 and could not conceive how the frigate 
 could have passed amidst all these reefs 
 without striking. The shore was within 
 half a cannon shot, and we clearly saw 
 enormous rocks over which the sea broke 
 violently.* If it had fallen culm, there 
 is no doubt but the strong currents which 
 set, in-shore, would have infallibly carried 
 us into danger. 
 
 In the evening we thought we des- 
 cried Cape Blanco, and according to the 
 instructions given by the Navy Office, we 
 steered W.S.W. During a part of the 
 night the Echo, with which we had con- 
 stantly kept company since we left Ma- 
 deira, burnt several charges of powder 
 and hung a lanthorn at the mizen-masl ; 
 her signals were not answered in the same 
 manner; only a lanthorn was hung for 
 a few moments to the fore-mast; it went 
 out soon after, and was not replaced by 
 another light. M. Savigny was on deck 
 
 * This route was not recommended by the instruc- 
 tions, but there was on board an old sea officer, who 
 announced himself as a pilot in these seas; his advice 
 was unfortunately attended to. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 where he remained a part of the night : 
 he had full opportunity to perceive the 
 negligence of the officer of the watch, 
 who did not even deign to answer the 
 signals made by the Echo. Why, in the 
 neighbourhood of so formidable a danger, 
 not compare the points of the two ships, 
 as is usual when vessels sail in company ? 
 The captain of the frigate was not even 
 informed of the signals of the corvette. 
 At eleven o'clock, she bore off the lar- 
 board bow ; and soon after he perceived 
 that the direction of her course made a 
 pretty large angle with ours, and that it 
 tended to cross us passing a-head ; he 
 soon perceived her on the starboard : it is 
 affirmed that her journal states that she 
 sailed the whole night W.S. W. ours does 
 the same. We must necessarily have 
 hauled totbe larboard, or she to the star- 
 board, since at day-break the corvette 
 was no longer in sight. 
 
 At sea a vessel may easily be per- 
 ceived at the distance of six leagues. 
 From midnight till six in the morning, 
 she must have gained above six leagues 
 
26 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of us, which is not to be imagined, for 
 she sailed much slower than we and 
 stopped every two hours to take soundings. 
 To explain this separation we must neces- 
 sarily admit either that the frigate steered 
 more south, or the corvette more west, 
 if the two vessels had run on the same 
 tack it would be impossible to explain it. 
 Every two hours the frigate brought- 
 to, to sound ; every half hour the lead was 
 cast without lowering the sails; we were 
 always upon shallows, and stood out to 
 sea, to find a greater quantity of water : 
 at length about six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing we had above a hundred fathoms ; we 
 then stood-to the S. S. E.; this course 
 made almost a right angle with that 
 which we had followed in the night: it 
 bore directly in-shore, the approach to 
 which, in this place, is rendered terrible 
 by a very long reef, called Arguin, which 
 according to instructions we had on board 
 extends above thirty leagues in breadth.* 
 
 * A description of the reef of Arguin may be 
 found in the Little Sea Torch. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 According to the instructions given by the 
 Minister of the Marine, this danger is 
 avoided by running only twenty- two 
 leagues in the open sea; it is true they re- 
 commend not to approach the shore but 
 with the greatest precaution, and with the 
 sounding line in the hand : the other ships 
 of the expedition which sailed according 
 to those instructions all arrived at St. Louis 
 without any accident, which is a certain 
 proof of their exactness.* Besides it is 
 said, that one must make W. S. W., when 
 one has discerned Cape Blanco; and it is 
 probable we had not got sight of it in the 
 evening, as was supposed. We therefore 
 had an uncertain point of departure ; 
 hence the error which was so fatal to us. 
 
 According to my Comrade Cor- 
 reard, we cannot pass over in silence, a 
 scene which took place in the morning. 
 
 * Besides the instructions given by the Minister, 
 for sailing", after having* made Cape Blanco, there was a 
 letter sent some days before our departure from the 
 road of the Isle of Aix, recommending the commander 
 of the expedition not to depend upon the Charts, upon 
 which the reef is very erroneously placed. 
 
 
28 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 The Captain was deceived in the most sin- 
 gular manner; about* five or six o'clock 
 he was called up; some persons who were 
 on deck persuaded him that a great cloud 
 which was in the direction of Cape Blanco 
 and in truth very near it, was that Cape 
 itself. My companion jn misfortune, who 
 sees clearly, and who knows how to dis- 
 tinguish between a rock and a cloud, be- 
 cause he has seen enough of them in the 
 Alps, where he was born, told those gen- 
 tlemen that it was only a cape of vapour; 
 he was answered that the instructions 
 which the minister had given to the cap- 
 tain prescribed to him to make this cape ; 
 but that we had passed it above ten 
 leagues; that at this moment the question 
 was, to make the captain believe that 
 the instructions of the minister had been 
 punctually followed, and that they de- 
 sired to persuade him, which was not 
 difficult, that this cloud was the Cape. 
 Many have deposed, as we have been 
 told, that Cape Blanco, had been seen 
 in the evening of the 1st of July: we 
 venture to affirm that that rock was not 
 seen at all. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 29 
 
 After this pretended reconnoissance 
 of the2d July, if we were persuaded that 
 we had seen that Cape, we should have 
 steered west, to double the bank of Ar- 
 guin; the danger once passed, the course 
 should have been again directed to the 
 south which is the route to Senegal ; but 
 he who for some days past had guided 
 the course of the ship, thought proper to 
 persuade the captain, to take immedi- 
 ately the southerly course, and to steer 
 for Portendic'. We are ignorant of the 
 reasons which induced the commander of 
 the frigate to give his confidence to a 
 man who did not belong to the staff. 
 He was an ex-officer of the marine, who 
 had just left an English prison, where he 
 had been for ten years ; he certainly had 
 not acquired there knowledge superior 
 to that of the officers onboard, whom this 
 mark of deference could not but offend. 
 M. de Chaumareys, while we were dou- 
 bling Cape Barbas, presided at the farce 
 performed in passing the Tropic, while he 
 who had gained his confidence, was walk- 
 ing up and down the deck of the frigate, 
 
30 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 coolly observing the numerous dangers, 
 spread along the coast. Several persons 
 remonstrated against this management 
 of the vessel, particularly Mr. Picard the 
 greffier of Senegal, who had struck upon 
 the bank of Arguin eight years before ; 
 this enlightened man declared at that 
 time that we were running into danger. 
 
 As soon as the sun's altitude was ob- 
 served to ascertain our position, we saw, 
 on the quarter deck, Mr. Maudet, en- 
 sign of the watch, working the day's 
 work, (making out the reckoning) upon a 
 chicken coop ; this officer who knows all 
 the duties of his profession, affirmed that 
 
 we were on the edge of the reef; he com- 
 municated this to the person who for 
 
 some days past had given his counsel to 
 the commander respecting the course to 
 be steered ; he received for answer ; never 
 mind, we are in eighty fathoms* 
 
 * Mr. Laperere, the officer on the watch before 
 Mr. Maudet, found by his reckoning, that we were very 
 near the reef; he was not listened to, though he did his 
 utmost, at least to ascertain our situation by sounding. 
 We have mentioned the names of Messrs. Laperere and 
 Maudet, because if they had been attended to, the Me- 
 dusa would be still in existence. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 31 
 
 If our course during the night had 
 
 partly averted all our dangers, that which 
 
 was taken in the morning led us into them 
 
 again. Mr. Maudet, convinced that we 
 
 were upon the reef, took upon him, to have 
 
 soundings taken ; the colour of the water 
 
 was intirely changed, which was observed 
 
 even by those who were the least used to 
 
 recognise the depth of the sea, by the 
 
 appearance of the water ; we even thought 
 
 that we saw sand roll amid the little 
 
 waves that rose; numerous sea weeds 
 
 were seen by the ship's side, and a great 
 
 many fish were caught. All these facts 
 
 proved indubitably that we were on shallow 
 
 water : in fact the lead announced only 
 
 eighteen fathoms ; the officer of the watch 
 
 immediately informed the captain, who 
 
 gave orders to come a little more to the 
 
 wind ; we were going before the wind the 
 
 studding sails on the larboard ; these sails 
 
 were immediately lowered ; the lead was 
 
 again cast, and showed six fathoms ; the 
 
 captain gaveorders tohaul the wind asclose 
 
 as possible, but unhappily it was too late. 
 
 The frigate luffing, almost imme- 
 
32 NARRATIVE Ol A 
 
 diately gave a heel ; it proceeded a mo- 
 ment longer ; gave a second and then a 
 third; it stopped at a place where the 
 sounding line showed only a depth of five 
 metres sixty centimetres, and it was the 
 time of high water. 
 
 Unhappily we were in the season of 
 the high tides, which was the most un- 
 favorable time for us because they were 
 going to decline, and we ran a ground 
 just when the water was at the highest; 
 for the rest, the tides do not much differ 
 in these seas ; at the time of full moon 
 they do not rise more than fifty centi- 
 metres more than usual ; in the spring 
 tides the water does not rise above one 
 hundred and twenty centimetres on the 
 reef. We have already said that when 
 we grounded, the sounding line marked 
 only five metres, and sixty centimetres ; 
 and at low water it marked, four metres 
 sixty centimetres, the frigate therefore 
 saved by a metre : however, as soon as 
 we had stranded, the boats which went 
 out to sound, met with places deeper 
 than that, where we struck, and many 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 33 
 
 others not so deep ; which made us sup- 
 pose that the reef is very uneven and 
 covered with little elevations. All the 
 different manoeuvres which had been per- 
 formed since the moment when we found 
 ourselves in eighteen fathoms, to that in 
 which we struck, succeeded each otherwith 
 extraordinary rapidity: not above ten mi- 
 nutes passed. Several persons have as- 
 sured us that, if the ship had come en- 
 tirely to the wind, when we were in eigh- 
 teen fathoms, the frigate might perhaps 
 have got clean, for she did not run wholly 
 aground till she got to the west part of 
 the reef, and upon its edge. 
 
 We stranded on the 2d of July, at a 
 quarter after three p. m. in 19 36' north 
 latitude, and 19 4V west longitude. This 
 event spread the most profound conster- 
 nation ; if in the midst of this disorder, 
 there were any men who remained collected 
 enough to make observations, they must 
 have been struck with the extraordinary 
 changes impressed on every countenance ; 
 some persons were not to be recognised. 
 
 D 
 
34 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Here you might see features become 
 shrunk and hideous ; there a countenance 
 which had assumed a yellow and even 
 a greenish hue, some men seemed thunder- 
 struck and chained down to their places, 
 without strength to move. When they 
 had recovered from the stupefaction, with 
 which they were at first seized, numbers 
 gave themselves up to excess of despair ; 
 while others uttered imprecations upon 
 those whose ignorance had been so fatal 
 to us. An officer going upon deck, im- 
 mediately after the accident, spoke with 
 energy to him, who, as we have already 
 said, had directed for some days the course 
 of the ship, and said to him, " See, Sir, to 
 what your obstinacy has brought us ; I 
 had warned you of it." Two women 
 alone seemed insensible to this disaster ; 
 they were the wife and daughter of the 
 governor. What a shocking contrast ! 
 men who for twenty or twenty-five years, 
 had been exposed to a thousand dangers, 
 were profoundly affected, while Madame 
 and Mademoiselle Chemals, appeared in- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 35 
 
 sensible, and as if unconcerned in these 
 events. 
 
 As soon as the frigate stranded, the 
 sails were hastily lowered, the topgallant 
 masts got down, the top masts lowered, 
 and every thing necessary arranged to get 
 her off the reef. After numerous efforts, 
 night being come, they were suspended 
 to give some repose to the crew, who had 
 displayed extreme activity. The next day, 
 the third, the top masts were got down, 
 the yards lowered, and they heaved at 
 the capstern upon an anchor which had 
 been fixed the evening before, at a cable's 
 length a-stern of the frigate. This ope- 
 ration was fruitless; for the anchor, which 
 was too weak, could not make sufficient 
 resistance and gave way : a bower an- 
 chor was then used, which, after infinite 
 pains, was carried out to a considerable 
 distance, to a place where there was only 
 a depth of five metres sixty centimetres; 
 in order to carry it so far, it was fixed 
 behind a boat, under which was placed a 
 number of empty barrels fastened toge- 
 ther, because the boat was not able to 
 
 D 2 
 
36 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 carry so considerable a weight.* The 
 sea ran very high, and the current was 
 extremely strong. 
 
 This boat, when it reached the spot 
 where it was to cast the anchor, could not 
 place it in the proper position to make 
 the flukes fix in the sand, for one of the 
 extremities already touched the bottom, 
 while the other was still out of the water: 
 being thus ill fixed, it could not answer 
 the purpose intended ; when they began 
 to heave upon it, it made very little resist- 
 ance, and would have been dragged on 
 board again if they had continued to work 
 at the capstern.f In the course of the day, 
 we staved several water butts which were 
 in the hold, and pumped immediately, 
 the top masts, except the small one which 
 could not be got down, were thrown into 
 the sea ; the yards, the boom, and all the 
 pieces of wood which afterwards composed 
 
 * This was not the long boat of the frigate ; it was 
 a boat in no very good condition, which was to be left 
 at Senegal, for the service of the port. 
 
 f The bottom was besides soft ; being sand mixed 
 with grey mud, and shells. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 37 
 
 the raft, were also put over board : the two 
 lower yards were retained in their place, 
 to serve as shores to the frigate, and to 
 support it, in case it threatened to upset. 
 If the loss of the vessel was certain, 
 it was proper to secure the escape of the 
 crew : a council was called, at which the 
 governor of Senegal gave the plan of a 
 raft, capable, it was said, of carrying two 
 hundred men, with provisions.* It was 
 necessary to have recourse to an expe- 
 dient of this nature, because our six boats 
 were judged to be incapable of taking on 
 board four hundred men, which was our 
 number. The provisions were to be de- 
 posited on the raft, and at the hours of 
 meals, the crews of the boats would have 
 come to receive their rations : we were to 
 reach all together the sandy coast of the 
 desert, and there furnished with arms 
 and ammunition, which were to be taken 
 in by the boats before we left the frigate, 
 we were to form a caravan, and proceed to 
 
 * This plan was shewn to several persons; we 
 ourselves saw it in the hands of the governor, who 
 sketched it, leaning on the geat capstern. 
 
38 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 the Island of St. Louis. The events 
 which happened in the sequel, proved 
 that this plan was perfectly well laid, 
 and that it might have been crowned with 
 success : unhappily these decisions were 
 traced upon a loose sand, which was 
 dispersed by the breath of egotism. 
 
 In the evening another anchor was 
 cast, at a pretfy considerable distance 
 from the frigate : just before high water, 
 we began to work at the capstern, but 
 in vain. The work was put off till 
 the next morning's tide; during all this 
 time, the operations were performed with 
 the greatest difficulty ; the sea was hol- 
 low, the winds strong, the boats which 
 had to go to a distance either to sound or 
 fix anchors, could not attain their object, 
 without the greatest efforts; rapid cur- 
 rents, added to the difficulties. If the 
 weather had not been so extremely un- 
 favorable to us, perhaps the frigate might 
 have been got afloat the next day, for it 
 had been resolved to carry out very long 
 warps, but the violence of the wind, and 
 the sea, baffled these arrangements which 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 39 
 
 nothing but a calm could favor. The 
 weather was bad during the whole night ; 
 about four or five o' clock, at the morn- 
 ing tide, all our efforts to raise her were 
 still fruitless; we began to despair of 
 even being able to save her from this 
 danger ; the boats were repaired, and the 
 construction of the raft diligently prose- 
 cuted : during the day of the 4. se- 
 veral barrels of flour were thrown into 
 the sea, some water casks staved ; some 
 barrels of powder, intended as articles to 
 trade with Segenal, were also got over- 
 board. 
 
 In the evening, a few minutes before 
 high water, the labours at the capstern 
 recommenced ; this time the anchors did 
 not deceive our expectations; for, after 
 a few moments labour, the frigate moved 
 on the larboard ; this motion was effected 
 by means of an anchor fixed on the north 
 west; the stream cable which was bent 
 to its ring, came by the head of the ship 
 and tended to make it swing ; while 
 another much stronger one, the cable 
 of which passed through one of the 
 
40 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 stern ports, tended to prevent it from 
 running a-head, by supporting its quar- 
 ters the motions of which were commanded 
 by means of this force. This first success 
 gave us great hopes; we worked with 
 ardor. 
 
 After some further efforts, the Medusa 
 began to swing sensibly ; we redoubled 
 our efforts, she swung intirely and then 
 had her head turned to the open sea. She 
 was almost afloat, only her stern touched 
 a little ; the work could not be continued, 
 because the anchor was too near, arid it 
 would have been hove up. If a warp 
 had been carried out in the open sea, by 
 continuing to haul upon it, the frigate 
 would have been got wholly afloat that 
 evening. All the things which had been 
 thrown overboard had lightened her by 
 twenty or thirty centimetres at the most, 
 her draught of water might certainly 
 have been lessened still more ; but it was 
 not done because the Governor of Senegal 
 objected to throwing the barrels of flour 
 into the sea, alledging that the greatest 
 scarcity prevailed in the European fac- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 41 
 
 lories. These considerations, however, 
 should not have caused it to be overlooked 
 that we had on board fourteen twenty-four 
 pounders, and that it would have been 
 easy to throw them overboard, and send 
 them even to a considerable distance from 
 the frigate, by means of the yard tackle ; 
 besides, the flour barrels might have been 
 carefully fastened together, and when we 
 were once out of danger, it would have 
 been easy for us to remove them. This 
 plan might have been executed without 
 any fear of doing much damage to the 
 flour, which when it is plunged in the 
 water forms round the inside of the barrel 
 a pretty thick crust, in consequence of 
 the moisture, so that the interior is pre- 
 served from injury : this method was 
 indeed attempted, but it was given up, 
 because the means employed were in- 
 sufficient. More care should have been 
 used, and all the difficulties would have 
 been conquered; only half measures were 
 adopted, and in all the manoeuvres great 
 want of decision prevailed. 
 
 If the frigate had been lightened as 
 
42 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 soon as we struck, perhaps she might have 
 been saved.* The weather, however, as 
 we have already said, was almost always 
 unfavourable, and often hindered the 
 operations. 
 
 Some persons expected to see the 
 frigate got afloat the next day, and their 
 joy shewed that they were fully persuaded 
 of it : there were indeed some proba- 
 bilities, but they were very slight; for the 
 vessel had been merely got out of its bed . 
 We had hardly succeeded in changing 
 its place to a distance of about two 
 hundred metres, when the sea began 
 to ebb: the frigate rested on the sand, 
 which obliged us to suspend for ever our 
 last operations. If it had been possible 
 to hold her this night to two or three 
 cables more in the open sea, still lightening 
 her, perhaps, we repeat it, she might have 
 been placed out of danger. 
 
 * Two officers displayed the greatest activity, they 
 would have thrown into the sea every thing that could 
 be got overboard. They were permitted to proceed for 
 a moment; and the next moment contrary orders were 
 given. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 43 
 
 At night the sky became cloudy, the 
 winds came from the sea, and blew vio- 
 lently. The sea ran high, and the frigate 
 began to heel with more and more 
 violence, every moment we expected to 
 see her bulge ; consternation again spread, 
 and we soon felt the cruel certainty that 
 she was irrecoverably lost. She bulged in 
 the middle of the night, the keel broke 
 in two, the helm was unship'd, and held 
 to the stern only by the chains, which 
 caused it to do dreadful damage; it pro- 
 duced the effect of a strong horizontal 
 ram, which violently impelled by the 
 waves, continually struck the poop of the 
 ship ; the whole back part of the cap- 
 tain's cabin was beat in, the water entered 
 in an alarming manner. About eleven 
 o'clock there was a kind of mutiny, which 
 was afterwards checked by the presence 
 of the governor and the officers ; it was 
 excited by some soldiers, who persuaded 
 their comrades that it was intended to 
 abandon them on board the frigate, while 
 the crew escaped in the boats; these 
 alarms were excited by the imprudence 
 
44 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of a young man ; some soldiers had 
 already taken their arms, and had ranged 
 themselves on the deck, all the avenues 
 to which they occupied. 
 
 The raft, impelled by the strength of 
 the current and of the sea, broke the 
 cable which fastened it to the frigate and 
 began to drive ; those who beheld this 
 accident announced it by their cries, and 
 a boat was immediately sent after it, 
 which brought it back. This was a dis- 
 tressing night for us all ; agitated by the 
 idea that our frigate was totally lost, and 
 alarmed by the violent shocks which it 
 received from the waves, we were unable 
 to take a moment's repose. 
 
 At day-break, on the 5th, there were 
 two metres seventy centimetres water in 
 the hold, and the pumps could no longer 
 work with effect: it was decided we ought 
 to quit the vessel as soon as possible. 
 The frigate, it was said, threatened to 
 upset ; a childish fear, doubtless ; but, 
 what particularly made it absolutely ne- 
 cessary to abandon her, was, that the 
 water had already penetrated between 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 45 
 
 decks. A quantity of biscuit was hastily 
 taken from the store-room; wine and 
 fresh water were also got out ; these pro- 
 visions were intended to be placed in the 
 boats and on the raft. To preserve the 
 biscuit from the salt water it was put into 
 strong iron hooped barrels, which were 
 perfectly fit for the purpose. We are ig- 
 norant why these provisions, so carefully 
 prepared were not embarked either on the 
 raft or in the boats; the precipitation with 
 which we embarked was the cause of this 
 negligence, so that some boats did not 
 save above twenty-four pounds of biscuit, 
 a small cask of water and very little wine : 
 the rest was abandoned on the deck of the 
 frigate or thrown into the sea during 
 the tumult of the evacuation. The raft 
 alone had a pretty large quantity of wine, 
 but not a single barrel of biscuit, and 
 if any was put upon it, it was thrown off 
 by the soldiers when they placed them- 
 selves upon it. To avoid confusion, there 
 was made, the day before, a list of the 
 persons who were to embark, assigning 
 to every one the post he was to occupy ; 
 
46 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 but no attention was paid to this wise ar- 
 rangement ; every one took the means 
 which he thought the most favorable to 
 reach the shore ; those who executed the 
 orders which 'they had received to place 
 themselves on the raft, had certainly rea- 
 son to repent it. Mr. Savigny was un- 
 fortunately of this number; he might have 
 stopped on board a boat, but an invinci- 
 ble attachment to his duty made him for- 
 get the danger of the part which was al- 
 lotted him. 
 
 At length, the moment when we were 
 to abandon the frigate arrived. First, the 
 soldiers were embarked, who were almost 
 all placed upon the raft: they wanted to 
 take their muskets and some cartridges : 
 this was formally opposed.* They left 
 them on the deck, and preserved only their 
 sabres : some few, however, saved their 
 carbines, and, almost all the officers, 
 their fowling pieces and pistols. In all, 
 we were about one hundred and forty- 
 seven or one hundred and fifty ; such is 
 pretty nearly the account of the persons 
 
 * Why was it opposed? 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 47 
 
 who embarked on this fatal machine, one 
 hundred and twenty soldiers, including 
 the officers of the army, twenty-nine men, 
 sailors and passengers, and one woman. 
 The barge, commanded by % a lieutenant, 
 on board of which were the governor 
 and his family, took in thirty-five persons 
 in all : this large fourteen-oared vessel, 
 could certainly have carried a larger 
 number : besides the people, there were 
 three trunks; another fourteen-oared 
 boat took in forty-two persons ; the cap- 
 tain's barge took twenty-eight ; the 
 long boat, though in a very bad con- 
 dition, destitute of oars, took in, how- 
 ever, eighty-eight; an eight-oared boat 
 which was to be left at Senegal, for the 
 senice of the port, took twenty-five sai- 
 lors ; the smallest of the boats had fifteen 
 persons on board; among whom were the 
 interesting family of Mr. Picard, of whom 
 we have spoken above : it was composed 
 of three young ladies, his wife, and four 
 young children. All these numbers added 
 together, form a total of three hundred 
 
48 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 and ninety-seven persons;* there were on 
 board the frigate, near four hundred sai- 
 lors and soldiers: thus it appears that se- 
 veral poor wretches were abandoned ; 
 when the Medusa was again found, fifty- 
 two days after, it was ascertained that the 
 number of those, who had been aban- 
 doned, was seventeen ; which proves to 
 us, that there were more than one hun- 
 dred and forty seven of us on the raft, and 
 that it is more correct to fix the number 
 of the men at a hundred and fifty. It is 
 said, that when the last boat, which was 
 the long boat, left the frigate, several men 
 refused to embark in her; the others were 
 too much intoxicated to think of their 
 safety. A man of the name of Dales, one 
 of the seventeen who remained on board 
 the frigate, deposed in the council, that 
 fourteen men had left the long boat, be- 
 cause they did not think it capable of car- 
 rying so many, and that he, with two 
 
 * The numbers above mentioned make only three 
 hundred and eighty-three, so that there is an error some- 
 where. T. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 49 
 
 others hid themselves, that they might 
 not be compelled to go on board. We 
 are ignorant of the depositions of his two 
 companions. 
 
 What a sight was it to behold a mul- 
 titude of wretches, who all wanted to es- 
 cape death, and all sought to save them- 
 selves, either in the boats or upon the 
 rafts! The frigate's ladder was insuffi- 
 cient for so many? some threw them- 
 selves from the vessels, trusting to the 
 end of a rope, which was scarcely able to 
 bear a man's weight ; some fell into the 
 sea, and were recovered ; what is surpri- 
 sing is, that amidst all this confusion, 
 there was not a single serious accident. 
 
 Though in so terrible a situation, on 
 our fatal raft, we cast our eyes upon the 
 frigate, and deeply regretted this fine 
 vessel, which, a few days before, seemed 
 to command the waves, which it cut 
 through with astonishing rapidity. The 
 masts, which had supported immense sails, 
 no longer existed, the barricade was en- 
 tirely destroyed: the vessel itself was cast 
 on the larboard quarter. 
 
 E 
 
50 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 All the boats, after they had sheered 
 off* proceeded in different manners, as we 
 shall afterwards relate ; but the men on 
 board, when they reached the shore, had 
 to contend with a thousand causes ot des- 
 truction. We will first exactly relate all 
 the operations that were executed till the 
 moment when the raft was abandoned. 
 
 About seven o'clock, the signal for 
 departure was given ; four of the boats 
 stood out to sea, the raft was still along 
 side of the frigate, where it was moored : 
 the captain's barge was under the bow- 
 sprit, and the barge near our machine, 
 on which it had just embarked some men. 
 At length we were ordered to depart ; but 
 whether from a presentiment of what was 
 to happen to us, or whether Mr. Correard 
 entertained just fea^, which the event 
 proved to be but too well founded, he 
 would not depart, till he had convinced 
 himself that our raft was provided with all 
 the necessary instruments and charts, to 
 navigate with some degree of safety, in 
 case bad weather should oblige the boats 
 to separate from us. As it was impossible 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 51 
 
 to move upon the raft, because we were so 
 crowded together, he thought it the easiest 
 to call to Mr who imme- 
 diately answered to his call. Coming to 
 the larboard, he asked what we wanted'? 
 The following questions were then put to 
 him : " Are we in a condition to depart? 
 Have we instruments and charts ?" Yes, 
 yes, replied he, " I have provided you 
 with every thing that can be necessary 
 for you." He was then asked, what naval 
 officer was to come and command us ? he 
 answered : " It is I; in a moment I shall 
 be with you." After saying this he disap- 
 peared, and went on board one of the 
 boats. 
 
 How is it possible that a French sea 
 officer shou Id be guilty of such bad faith 
 to his unhappy countrymen, who placed 
 all their confidence in him? 
 
 At last, the barge came to the head 
 of the frigate, and the governor caused 
 himself to be let down in an arm chair ; 
 it then threw a tow rope to our raft, and 
 we stood off with this one boat; the second 
 boat then gave a tow line to the first; the 
 
 E 2 
 
52 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Senegal boat came afterwards, and did 
 the same; there remained three boats, 
 the captain's, which was still at the head 
 of the frigate, on board of which last there 
 were above eighty men, who uttered cries 
 of despair, when they saw the boats and 
 the raft stand off. The three boats which 
 towed us, soon brought us to a distance 
 from the vessel ; they had a good wind, 
 and the sailors rowed like men who were 
 resolved to save themselves from the im- 
 minent danger which threatened us. The 
 long-boat, and the pinnace were at some 
 distance, and attempted to return on board; 
 lastly, M. De Chaumareys embarked in 
 his barge, by one of the ropes a-head : some 
 sailors threw themselves into it, and loos- 
 ened the ropes, by which it was lashed to 
 the frigate. Immediately the cries of the 
 people who remained on board redoubled, 
 and an officer of the troops even took up 
 a carbine to fire at the captain : but was 
 prevented. We soon saw that this man 
 was not equal to his duty ; from the man- 
 ner in which he abandoned his people. 
 We regretted that the arm of the officer 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 53 
 
 had been withheld when he wished to 
 prevent the captain's design ; but, our re- 
 gret was unavailing ; the mischief was 
 done ; it was irreparable ; he had no idea 
 of repairing it,and he could not return on 
 board, for he was sure to meet there with 
 that death, which he sought to avoid, at 
 the expence of honor. 
 
 M. de Chaumareys, however, went 
 on board the long-boat, and gave order 
 that it should take in the men who re- 
 mained on board the frigate. Some per- 
 sons belonging to this boat have informed 
 us, that they were told there were, at th 
 most, about twenty who could not em- 
 bark; but, the long-boat, destitute of oars, 
 attempted, to no purpose, to get back to 
 the frigate ; a boat tried, without success, 
 to tow it; it could not attain the object, 
 till it sent the pinnace to fetch some long 
 ropes, one end of which was lashed to the 
 frigate, and the other brought on board 
 the long-boat, which was thus towed to 
 the larboard side of the ship. Lieutenant 
 Espiau, who commanded this large boat, 
 was surprised at finding above sixty 
 
54 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 diers and sailors, instead of twenty. This 
 officer went on board with Mr. Bredif, 
 engineer of mines, who tried to recall to 
 their reason, those whose intellectual fa- 
 culties had been impaired by the presence 
 of danger. Mr, Espiau, embarked with 
 proper order, the men who were on the 
 deck ; seventeen only as we have said, re- 
 fused; some fearing that the boat would 
 founder before she could reach the raft, 
 and the other boats,which left it more and 
 more behind; some others, because they 
 were too much intoxicated as we have 
 stated, to think of their safety. The fears 
 of the former, (and they are probably those 
 who, according to the deposition of Dales, 
 returned on board the frigate) were found- 
 ed on the bad condition of the long-boat, 
 which let in the water on every side. Af- 
 ter promising the men who persisted in 
 remaining, that assistance should be sent 
 them, as soon as the others arrived at Se- 
 negal, the long-boat stood off to join the 
 little division. Before he left the frigate, 
 Mr. Espiau had the grand national flag 
 hoisted. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 55 
 
 When this boat left the frigate to 
 join us, we were, at least, a league and a 
 half distant; the captain's barge had come 
 some time before to takethetowrope, and 
 was at the head of the line; the smallest 
 of the boats (the pinnace) did not take the 
 towline ; it preceded the little division, 
 probably to take soundings. 
 
 As soon as all the boats had taken 
 their post, cries of " Vive le Roil" were 
 a thousand times repeated by the men 
 upon the raft, and a little white flag was 
 hoisted at the top of a musket. Such was 
 the order of the boats and the raft, The 
 chiefs of the little division which was to 
 conduct us to the land, had sworn not to 
 abandon us : we are far from accusing all 
 those gentlemen of having violated the 
 laws of honor; but a series of circumstan- 
 ces obliged them to renounce the gene- 
 rous plan which they had formed to save 
 us, or to perish with us. These circum- 
 stances deserve to be scrupulously exami- 
 ned ; but our pen, guided by truth, must 
 not fear to record facts which truth itself 
 dictates. It is true they are of so strange 
 
6 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 a nature, that it is unpleasant to make 
 them known. It is painful to us, to have 
 to recount such events: we have to shew 
 to what a degree the imagination of man 
 is susceptible of being struck by the 
 presence of danger, so as to make him 
 even forget the duties which honour 
 imposes on him. We, doubtless, admit 
 that in forsaking the raft, the minds of 
 those who did so, were greatly agitated, 
 and that the desire of withdrawing them- 
 selves from danger, made them forget 
 that a hundred and fifty unfortunate men 
 were going to be abandoned to the most 
 cruel sufferings. We shall relate the facts 
 as we observed them, and as they have 
 been communicated to us, by some of our 
 companions in misfortune. 
 
 Before we proceed, we will describe 
 the construction of this raft, to which a 
 hundred and fifty persons were entrusted. 
 
 It was composed of the top-masts of 
 the frigate, yards, fishes, boom, &c. These 
 different pieces joined together by very 
 strong ropes, were perfectly solid; the two 
 principal pieces were two top-masts, which 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 57 
 
 were placed at the extremity of the two 
 sides; four other masts, two of which 
 were of the same length and strength as 
 the first, joined two by two, at the center 
 of the machine, added to its solidity. The 
 other pieces were placed within these four 
 first but were not equal to them in length. 
 Boards were nailed' n this firstfoundation, 
 and formed a kind of parapet, which would 
 have been of great service to us if it had 
 been higher. To render our raft still 
 more solid, long pieces of wood had been 
 placed across, which projected at least 
 three metres: on the sides, there was a 
 kind of railing, but it was not above forty 
 centimetres in height: it would have been 
 easy to add some crotches to it, which 
 would have formed a breast-work of suffi- 
 cient height ; but it was not done, proba- 
 bly because those who had the machine 
 built, were not to be exposed upon it. To 
 the ends of the top-masts, two top-gallant 
 yards were lashed, the farther ends of which 
 were bound by a very strong cord, and 
 thus formed the front part of the raft. 
 The angular space, formed by the two 
 
58 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 yards, was filled with pieces of wood laid 
 across, and planks ill adjusted. This 
 fore part, which was at least two metres in 
 length, had very little solidity, and was 
 continually submerged. The hinder part 
 did not terminate in a point like ihe fore 
 part, but a considerable length of this 
 part was not more solid, so that in fact, 
 there was only the center which was really 
 to be depended upon : an example will 
 enable the reader to judge of its dimen- 
 sions. When we were no more than fifteen 
 in it, w r e had not space enough to lie down, 
 and yet we were extremely close toge- 
 ther. The raft, from one extremity, to the 
 other was at least twenty metres in length, 
 and about seven in breadth ; this length 
 might induce one to think, at the first 
 sight, that it was able to carry two hun- 
 dred men, but we soon had cruel proofs 
 of its weakness. It was without sails or 
 mast. As we left the frigate they threw 
 us the fore-top-gallant and the main-top- 
 gallant sails; bat they did it with such 
 precipitation, that, some persons who were 
 at their post, were in danger of being 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 59 
 
 wounded by the fall of these sails, which 
 were bent to the yards. They did not 
 give us any ropes to set up our mast. 
 
 There was on board the raft a great 
 quantity of barrels of flour, which had 
 been deposited there the preceding day, 
 not to serve for provisions during the 
 passage, from the frigate to the coast, but 
 because the raft, formed of the barrels, not 
 having succeeded, they were deposited 
 on the machine, that they might not be 
 carried away by the sea, there were also 
 six barrels of wine and two small casks of 
 water, which had been put there for the 
 use of the people. 
 
 Scarcely fifty men had got upon the 
 raft, when it sunk at least severity centi- 
 metres under water; so that to facilitate 
 the embarkation of the other soldiers it 
 was necessary to throw into the sea all the 
 flour barrels, which lifted by the waves, 
 began to float and were violently driven 
 against the men who were at their post ; 
 if they had been fixed, perhaps some of 
 them might have been saved : as it was, 
 we saved only the wine and the water, 
 
60 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 because several persons united to pre- 
 serve them, and had much difficulty to hin- 
 der them from being thrown into the sea 
 like the flour barrels. The raft, light- 
 ened by throwing away these barrels, was 
 able to receive more men; we were at 
 length a hundred and fifty. The ma- 
 chine was submerged at least a metre : 
 we were so crowded together that it was 
 impossible to take a single step ; at the 
 back and the front, we were in water up 
 to the middle. At the moment that we 
 were putting off from the frigate, a bag 
 with twenty-five pounds of biscuit was 
 thrown us, which fell into the sea ; we 
 go,t it up with difficulty ; it was convert- 
 ed into a paste, but we preserved it in 
 that condition. Several considerate per- 
 sons fastened the casks of wine and water 
 to the cross pieces of the raft, and we kept 
 a strict watch over them. Thus we have 
 faithfully described the nature of our si- 
 tuation when we put off from the vessel. 
 The Commander of the raft was named 
 Coudin who was, what is called in the 
 French marine an Aspirant of the first 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 61 
 
 class. Some days before our departure 
 from the roads of the Isle of Aix, he had 
 received a severe contusion on the fore part 
 of the right leg, which was not approach- 
 ing to its cure, when we stranded and 
 wholly incapacitated him from moving. 
 One of his comrades, moved by his situa- 
 tion, offered to take his place, but Mr. 
 Coudin, though wounded, preferred re- 
 pairing to the dangerous post which was 
 assigned him, because he was the oldest 
 officer of his class on board. He was 
 hardly on board the raft, when the sea 
 water so increased the pain in his leg, 
 that he nearly fainted ; we gave notice of 
 his situation to the nearest boat, we were 
 answered that a boat would come and 
 fetch this officer. I do not know whe- 
 ther the order was given, but it is cer- 
 tain that Mr. Coudin was obliged to re- 
 main on the fatal raft. 
 
 The long-boat, which we have been 
 forced to lose sight of for a moment, in 
 order to give these necessary details, at 
 length rallied ; it was, as we have stated, 
 the last that left the frigate. The lieute- 
 
62 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 nant who commanded her, justly fearing 
 that he should not be able to keep the 
 sea, in a crazy boat destitute of oars, 
 badly rigged, and making much water, 
 ran along-side of the first boat, begging 
 it to take in some men ; they refused. 
 This long boat was to leave us some 
 ropes to fix our mast; which an instant 
 before had been hauled to us, by the first 
 boat, which we had before us : we do not 
 know what reason hindered it from leav- 
 ing us these ropes, but it passed on, and 
 ran along-side the second boat, which 
 equally refused to take any body on 
 board. The officer, who commanded the 
 long-boat, seeing that they refused to 
 take any of his men, and falling more and 
 more under the wind, because his sails 
 were badly trimmed, and the currents 
 drove him, made up to the third boat, 
 commanded by a sub-lieutenant named 
 Maudet ; this officer, commanding a slight 
 boat which the day before had a plank 
 beat in, by one of the cross pieces of the 
 raft, (an accident which had been re- 
 medied by covering the hole with a large 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 63 
 
 piece of lead,) and being besides heavily 
 laden, in order to avoid the shock of the 
 long-boat, which might have been fatal 
 to him, was forced to let loose the tow- 
 rope, which held him to the barge, and 
 thus broke in two the line formed by the 
 boats before the raft, by separating him- 
 self from it with the captains boat which 
 was at the head : when the captain and 
 Mr. Maudet had disengaged themselves 
 they hauled the wind, and then put about 
 to come and take their post ; Mr. Mau- 
 det, even hailed M. de Chaumareys, 
 " Captain take your towrope again" he 
 received for answer, yes my friend. Two 
 boats were still at their post, but before 
 the other two were able to rejoin them, 
 the barge separated itself; the officer 
 who commanded it, expressed himself as 
 follows respecting his thus abandoning 
 us. " The towrope was not let go from 
 " my boat, but from that behind me." 
 This second desertion was the forerunner 
 of another still more cruel ; for the officer 
 who commanded the last boat in which 
 was the governor, after having towed us 
 
64 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 alone, for a moment, caused the rope to 
 be loosened which held it to the raft. 
 When the towropes were let go, we were 
 two leagues from the frigate ; the breeze 
 came from the sea, which was as favora- 
 ble as could be desired. This last tow- 
 rope did not break, as the governor has 
 tried to persuade the minister of the ma- 
 rine, and several persons who escaped 
 from the raft. Walking on the terrace of 
 a French merchant at Senegal, in the pre- 
 sence of Messrs. Savigny and Coudin, the 
 governor explained the affair as follows : 
 " Some men were on the front of the raft, 
 " at the place wliere the tow-rope was 
 " fixed, which they pulled so as to draw 
 cc the boat nearer to them ; they had al- 
 " ready pulled several fathoms of it to 
 " them, but a wave coming, gave a vio- 
 " lent shock ; these men were obliged to 
 " let go : the boats then proceeded more 
 cc rapidly, till the rope was stretched ; at 
 " the moment when the boats effected 
 " this tension the effort was such, that 
 cc the rope broke." This manner of ex- 
 plaining this last desertion is very adroit, 
 
TOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 65 
 
 and might easily deceive those who were 
 not on the spot, but it is not possible for 
 us to accede to it, since we could even 
 name the person who loosened it. 
 
 Some persons belonging to the other 
 boats have assured us, that all the boats 
 were coming to resume their post, when 
 a cry of " we forsake them," was heard : 
 we have this fact from many of our com- 
 panions in misfortune. The whole line was 
 thrown into disorder, and no measures were 
 taken to remedy it : it is probable, that if 
 one of the first officers had set the example, 
 order would have been restored; but every 
 one was left to himself; hence there was 
 no concert in the little division ; every one 
 thought of escaping from personal danger. 
 
 Let us here do justice to the courage 
 of Mr. Clanet, pay-master of the frigate, 
 who was on board the governor's boat; 
 if he had been listened to, this tow-rope 
 would not have been let go; every moment 
 an officer who was in the governor's boat 
 cried out aloud, cc shall I let go $" Mr. 
 Clanet opposed it, answering with firm- 
 ness, " No no!" Some persons joined him, 
 
 F 
 
66 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 but could obtain nothing, the tow-rope 
 was let go: we considered it ascertain, 
 that the commander of the other boats, 
 on seeing the chief of the expedition cou- 
 rageously devote himself, would have come 
 and resumed their posts : but it may be 
 said that each individual boat was aban- 
 doned by all the others : there was want- 
 ing, on this occasion, a man of great cool- 
 ness : and ought not this man to have 
 been found among the chief officers ? 
 How shall their conduct be justified $ 
 There are, certainly, some reasons to be 
 alledged. Impartial judges of events, we 
 will describe them, not as unhappy vic- 
 tims of the consequences of this desertion, 
 but as men free from all personal resent- 
 ment, and who listen only to the voice of 
 truth. 
 
 The raft, drawn by all the boats uni- 
 ted, dragged them a little back; it is true 
 that we just had the ebb, and the currents 
 set from shore. To be in the open sea 
 with undecked vessels, might well in- 
 spire some apprehensions : but, in a few 
 hours, the currents would change and 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 67 
 
 favor us ; we ought to have waited for this 
 moment, which would have infallibly de- 
 monstrated the possibility of drawing us 
 to the coast, which was not above twelve 
 or fifteen leagues distant : this is so true 
 that the boats discovered the coast, the 
 same evening, before sunset. Perhaps 
 they would have been forced to forsake us 
 the second night after our departure, if 
 indeed more than thirty-six hours had 
 been required to tow us to land ; for the 
 weather was very bad ; but we should 
 then have been very near to the coast, 
 and it would have been very easy to save 
 us : at least we should have had only the 
 elements to accuse ! We are persuaded *g 
 that a short time would have sufficed to 
 tow us within sight of land, for, the even- 
 ing of our being deserted, the raft was 
 precisely in the direction which the boats 
 had followed between the frigates and the 
 coast, and, at least, five leagues from 
 the former. The next morning, at day- 
 break, we could no longer see the Me- 
 dusa. (14y 
 
 F 2 
 
68 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 At the first moment we did not really 
 believe that we had been so cruelly aban- 
 doned. We imagined that the boats had 
 let loose, because they had perceived a 
 vessel, and hastened towards it to ask as- 
 sistance. The long-boat was pretty near 
 us to leeward on the starboard. She low- 
 ered her foresail half way down : her ma- 
 noeuvre made us think that she was going 
 to take the first tow-rope : she remained 
 so a moment^ lowered her foresail entirely, 
 set up her main-mast, hoisted her sails, 
 and followed the rest of the division. 
 Some men in this boat, seeing that the 
 others deserted us, threatened to fire upon 
 them, but were stopped by Lieutenant 
 Espiau. Many persons have assured us 
 that it was the intention of this officer 
 to come and take the tow-rope ; but his 
 crew opposed it; had he done so, he 
 would certainly have acted with great 
 imprudence. His efforts would have been 
 of little use to us, and his devotedness 
 would but have increased the number of 
 victims.(l5) As soon as this boat was gone. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 69 
 
 we had no doubt but that we were aban- 
 doned ; yet we were not fully convinced 
 of it till the boats had disappeared. 
 
 It was now that we had need of all 
 our courage, which, however, forsook us 
 more than once : we really believed that 
 we were sacrificed, and with one accord, 
 we cried that this desertion was premedi- 
 tated. We all swore to revenge ourselves 
 if we had the good fortune to reach the 
 shore, and there is no doubt but that, if 
 we could have overtaken, the next day, 
 those who had fled in the boats, an obsti- 
 nate combat would have taken place be- 
 tween them and us. 
 
 It was then that some persons who 
 had been marked out for the boats, 
 deeply regretted that they had preferred 
 the raft, because duty and honor had 
 pointed out this post to them. We 
 could mention some persons : for ex- 
 ample, Mr. Correard, among others, was 
 to go in one of the boats; but twelve 
 of the workmen, whom we commanded, 
 had been set down for the raft; he thought 
 that in his quality of commander of engi- 
 
70 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 neers, it was his duty not to separate from 
 the majority of those who had been con- 
 fided to him, and who had promised to 
 follow him wherever the exigencies of the 
 service might require ; from that moment 
 his fate became inseparable from theirs, 
 and he exerted himself to the utmost to 
 obtain the governor's permission to have 
 his men embarked in the same boat as 
 himself; but seeing that he could obtain 
 nothing to ameliorate the fate of these 
 brave men, he told the governor that he 
 was incapable of committing an act of 
 baseness : that since he would not put his 
 workmen in the same boat with him, he 
 begged him to allow him to go on the 
 raft with them, which was granted. 
 
 Several military officers imitated their 
 example; only two of those who were to 
 command the troops did not think fit to 
 place themselves upon the raft, the equip- 
 ment of which, in truth, could not inspire 
 much confidence. 
 
 One of them, Captain Beiniere, placed 
 himself in the long-boat with 36 of his 
 soldiers. We had been told that these troops 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 71 
 
 had been charged to superintend the pro- 
 ceedingsof the other boats, and to fire upon 
 those who should attempt to abandon the 
 raft. It is true, as we have seen above, 
 that some brave soldiers listening, per- 
 haps, more to the voice of humanity and 
 French honor, than to the strict maxims 
 of discipline, were desirous of employing 
 their arms against those who basely aban- 
 doned us, but, that their will and their 
 actions were paralized by the passive obe- 
 dience which they owed to their officers, 
 who opposed this resolution. 
 
 The other, Mr. Danglas, a lieutenant, 
 who had lately left the gardes-du-corps, 
 had at first embarked with us upon the 
 raft, where his post was assigned him, but 
 when he saw the danger which he incurred 
 on this unstable machine, he made haste 
 to quit it, on the pretext that he had 
 forgotten something on board the frigate, 
 and did not return. It was he whom we 
 saw, armed with a carbine, threaten to fire 
 on the barge of the governor, when it 
 began to move from the frigate. This 
 movement, and some other actions which 
 
72 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 were taken for madness, nearly cost him 
 his life ; for while he was thus giving 
 himself up to a kind of extravagance, the 
 captain took flight, and abandoned him on 
 board the frigate with the sixty-three men 
 whom he left there. When M. Danglas 
 saw himself treated in this manner, he 
 gave marks of the most furious despair. 
 They were obliged to hinder him from 
 attempting his own life. With loud cries 
 he invoked death, which he believed in- 
 evitable in the midst of perils so immi- 
 nent. It is certain that if Mr. Espiau, 
 who had his long-boat already full, had 
 not returned to take from on board the 
 frigate, the forty-six men, among whom, 
 was Mr. Danglas, he and all his compa- 
 nions would not, perhaps, have expe- 
 rienced a better fate than the seventeen 
 who were finally left on board the Me- 
 dusa. 
 
 After the disappearance of the boats, the 
 consternation was extreme: all the terrors 
 of thirst and famine arose before our ima- 
 ginations, and we had besides to contend 
 with a perfidious element, which already 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 73 
 
 covered the half of our bodies : when re- 
 covered from their stupefaction, the sailors 
 and soldiers gave themselves up to despair; 
 all saw inevitable destruction before them, 
 and gave vent in lamentations to the 
 gloomy thoughts which agitated them. 
 All we said did not at first avail to calm 
 their fears, in which we however parti- 
 cipated, but which a greater degree of 
 strength of mind enabled us to dissemble. 
 At last, a firm countenance and consoling 
 words succeeded in calming them by de- 
 grees, but could not wholly dispel the 
 terror with which they were struck ; for 
 according to the judicious reflection, made 
 after reading our deplorable story, by 
 Mr. Jay, whose authority we quote with 
 pleasure, " To support extreme misfor- 
 " tunes, and what is worthy of remark, to 
 " bear great fatigues, moral energy is 
 " much more necessary than corporeal 
 " strength, nay, than the habit of priva- 
 " tions and hard labour. On this narrow 
 " theatre where so many sufferings are 
 " united, where the most cruel extremes 
 " of hunger and thirst are experienced, 
 
74 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 " strong and indefatigable men who have 
 " been brought up to the most laborious 
 " professions, sink in succession under the 
 t( weight of the common destiny, while 
 " men of a weak constitution, and not 
 " inured to fatigue, find in their minds 
 " the strength which their bodies want, 
 " endure with courage unheard-of trials, 
 " and issue victorious from their struggle 
 " with the most horrible afflictions. It is 
 " to the education they have received, to 
 " the exercise of their intellectual faculties, 
 " that they owe this astonishing superiori- 
 " ty and their deliverance." When tran- 
 quillity was a little restored, we began to 
 look upon the raft for the charts, the com- 
 pass and the anchor, which we presumed 
 had been placed there, from what had been 
 said to us at the time we quitted the frigate. 
 These highly necessary articles had not 
 been put upon our machine. The want of a 
 compass in particular, greatly alarmed us, 
 and we uttered crip of rage and vengeance. 
 Mr. Correard then recollected, that he had 
 seen one in the hands of one of the chief 
 workmen un$er his command, and en- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 75 
 
 quired of this man about it : " Yes, yes," 
 said he, " I have it with me." This news 
 transported us with joy, and we thought 
 that our safety depended on this feeble 
 resource. This little compass was about 
 the size of a crown-piece, and far from 
 correct. He who has not been exposed 
 to events, in which his existence was in 
 imminent peril, can form but a faint idea 
 of the value which one then sets upon 
 the most common and simple objects, 
 with what avidity one seizes the slightest 
 means, that are capable of softening the 
 rigour of the fate with which one has to 
 contend. This compass was given to the 
 commander of the raft ; but an accident 
 deprived us of it for ever: it fell, and was 
 lost between the pieces of wood which 
 composed our machine : we had kept it 
 only for a few hours ; after this loss, we 
 had nothing to guide us but the rising 
 and setting of the sun. 
 
 We had all left the frigate without 
 taking any food : hunger began to be 
 severely felt ; we mixed our biscuit-paste 
 (which had fallen into the sea) with a lit* 
 
76 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 tie wine, and we distributed it thus pre- 
 pared : such was our first meal, and the 
 best we had the whole time we were on 
 the raft. 
 
 An order, according to numbers, was 
 fixed for the distribution of our miserable 
 provisions. The ration of wine was fixed 
 at three quarters* a day : we shall say no 
 more of the biscuit : the first distribution 
 consumed it entirely. The day passed 
 over pretty quietly : we conversed on the 
 means which we should employ to save 
 ourselves; we spoke of it as a certainty, 
 which animated our courage : and we kept 
 up that of the soldiers, by cherishing the 
 hope of being soon able to revenge our- 
 selves upon those who had so basely 
 abandoned us. This hope of vengeance 
 inspired us all equally, and we uttered a 
 thousand imprecations against those who 
 had left us a prey to so many misfor- 
 tunes and dangers. The officer who com- 
 manded the raft being unable to move, 
 Mr. Savigny took on himself the care 
 
 * Trois quarts : it is not said of what measure ; 
 probably a pint. T. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 77 
 
 of setting up the mast ; he caused the pole 
 of one of the frigate's masts to be cut in 
 two ; we employed the main-top-gallant 
 sail ; the mast was kept up by the rope 
 which had served to tow us, of which we 
 made shrouds and stays : it was fixed on 
 the anterior third of the raft. The sail 
 trimmed very well, but the effect of it was 
 of very little use to us ; it served only 
 when the wind came from behind, and to 
 make the raft preserve this direction it 
 was necessary to trim the sail, as if the 
 wind came athwart. We think that the 
 cross position which our raft always re- 
 tained, may be attributed to the too great 
 length of the pieces of wood which pro- 
 jected on each side. 
 
 In the evening, our hearts and our 
 prayers, with the impulse natural to the un- 
 fortunate, were directed towards heaven; 
 we invoked it with fervour, and we de- 
 rived from our prayers the advantage of 
 hoging in our safety : one must have ex- 
 perienced cruel situations, to imagine what 
 a soothing charm, in the midst of mis- 
 fortune, is afforded by the sublime idea 
 
78 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of a God, the protector of the unfortunate. 
 One consoling idea still pleased our ima- 
 ginations ; we presumed that the little 
 division had sailed for the Isle of Arguin, 
 and that after having landed there a part 
 of its people, would return to our assis- 
 tance : this idea, which we tried to inspire 
 into our soldiers and sailors, checked their 
 clamours. The night came, and our hopes 
 were not yet fulfilled : the wind freshened, 
 the sea rose considerably. What a dread- 
 ful night ! Nothing but the idea of seeing 
 the boats the next day, gave some conso- 
 lation to our people, who being most of 
 them unused to the motion of a vessel,* 
 at every shock of the sea, fell upon each 
 other. Mr. Savigny, assisted by some 
 persons, who, in the midst of this disorder, 
 still retained their presence of mind, fas- 
 tened some ropes to the pieces of the raft: 
 the men took hold of them, and by means 
 of this support, were better able to resist 
 the force of the waves : some were obliged 
 
 * The original is n'ayant pas le pie marin, not 
 having a sailors foot. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 79 
 
 to fasten themselves. In the middle of 
 the night the weather was very bad ; very 
 heavy waves rolled upon us, and often 
 threw us down with great violence; the 
 cries of the people were mingled with the 
 roaring of the billows; a dreadful sea 
 lifted us every moment from the raft, and 
 threatened to carry us away. This scene 
 was rendered still more awful by the hor- 
 rors of a very dark night ; for some mo- 
 ments we thought that we saw fires at a 
 distance. We had taken the precaution 
 to hang, at the top of the mast, some 
 gun-powder and pistols, with which we 
 had provided ourselves on board the fri- 
 gate : we made signals by burning a great 
 many charges of powder ; we even fired 
 some pistol-shot, but it seems that these 
 fires were only an illusion of the eye- 
 sight, or perhaps they were nothing but 
 the dashing of the breakers. 
 
 This whole night we contended against 
 death, holding fast by the ropes which 
 were strongly fastened. Rolled by the 
 waves from the back to the front, and from 
 the front to the back, and sometimes pre- 
 
80 NARRATIVE OK A 
 
 cipitated into the sea, suspended between 
 life and death, lamenting our misfortune, 
 certain to perish, yet still struggling for 
 a fragment of existence with the cruel 
 element which threatened to swallow us 
 up. Such was our situation till day-break; 
 every moment were heard the lamentable 
 cries of the soldiers and sailors ; they 
 prepared themselves for death ; they bid 
 farewell to each other, imploring the pro- 
 tection of Heaven, and addressing fervent 
 prayers to God : all made vows to him, 
 notwithstanding the certainty that they 
 should never be able to fulfil them. 
 Dreadful situation ! How is it possible to 
 form an idea of it, which is not below the 
 truth ! 
 
 About seven o'clock, in the morning, 
 the sea fell a little, the wind blew with less 
 fury; but what a sight presented itself 
 to our view! Ten or twelve unhappy 
 wretches, having their lower extremities 
 entangled in the openings between the 
 pieces of the raft, had not been able to 
 disengage themselves, and had lost their 
 lives ; several others had been carried off 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 81 
 
 by the violence of the sea. At the hour 
 of repast we took fresh numbers, in order 
 to leave no break in the series : we missed 
 twenty men : we will not affirm that this 
 number is very exact, for we found that 
 
 some soldiers, in order to have more than 
 
 ^j 
 
 their ration, took two, and even three 
 numbers. We were so many persons 
 crowded together, that it was absolutely 
 impossible to prevent these abuses. 
 
 Amidst these horrors, an affecting scene 
 of filial piety forced us to shed tears : two 
 young men raised and recognised, for 
 their father, an unfortunate man who was 
 stretched senseless under the feet of the 
 people; at first, they thought he was dead, 
 and their despair expressed itself by the 
 most affecting lamentations ; it was per- 
 ceived, however, that this almost inani- 
 mate body still had breath ; we lavished 
 on him all the assistance in our power; 
 he recovered by degrees, and was re- 
 stored to life and to the prayers of his 
 sons, who held him fast embraced in their 
 arms. While the rights of nature resumed 
 their empire in this affecting episode of 
 our sad adventures, we had soon the 
 
 G 
 
82 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 afflicting sight of a melancholy contrast. 
 Two young lads, and a baker, did not 
 fear to seek death, by throwing them- 
 selves 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 ap- 
 pear. Despondency began again to seize 
 all our people, and a mutinous spirit ma- 
 nifested itself by cries of fury; the voice 
 of the officers was wholly disregarded. 
 When the night came, the sky was co- 
 vered with thick clouds ; the wind, which 
 during the day had been rather high, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 83 
 
 now became furious, and agitated the sea, 
 which, in an instant, grew very rough. 
 
 If the preceding night had been ter- 
 rible, this was still more horrible. Moun- 
 tains 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 vio- 
 lence 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 otrr raft a position almost 
 
 o 2 
 
84 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 perpendicular, so that, in order to coun- 
 terbalance it, we were obliged to run to 
 that side which was raised up by the sea. 
 
 The soldiers and sailors, terrified by 
 the presence of an almost inevitable dan- 
 ger, gave themselves up for lost. Firm- 
 ly believing that they were going to be 
 swallowed up, they resolved to soothe 
 their last moments by drinking till they 
 lost the use of their reason ; we had not 
 strength to oppose this disorder ; they 
 fell upon a cask which was at the middle 
 of the raft, made a large hole at one end, 
 and with little tin cups which they had 
 brought from on board the frigate, they 
 each took a pretty large quantity, but 
 they were soon obliged to desist, because 
 the sea water entered by the hole which 
 they had made. 
 
 The fumes of the wine soon disordered 
 their brains, already affected by the pre- 
 sence of danger and want of food. Thus 
 inflamed, these men, become deaf to the 
 voice of reason, desired to implicate, in 
 one common destruction, their compa- 
 nions in misfortune ; they openly ex- 
 pressed their intention to rid themselves 
 of the officers, who they said, wished to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 85 
 
 oppose their design, and then to destroy 
 the raft by catting the ropes which united 
 the different parts that composed it. A 
 moment after, they were proceeding to 
 put this plan in execution. One of them 
 advanced to the edge of the raft with a 
 boarding-axe, and began to strike the 
 cords : this was the signal for revolt : we 
 advanced in order to stop these madmen : 
 he who was armed with the axe, with 
 which he even threatened an officer, was 
 the first victim : a blow with a sabre put 
 an end to his existence. This man was 
 an Asiatic, and soldier in a colonial re- 
 giment : a colossal stature, short curled 
 hair, an extremely large nose, an enor- 
 mous mouth, a sallow complexion, gave 
 him a hideous air. He had placed him- 
 self, at first, in the middle of the raft, and 
 at every blow of his fist he overthrew 
 those who stood in his way ; he inspire4 
 the greatest terror, and nobody dared to 
 approach him. If there had been half- 
 a-dozen like him, our destruction would 
 have been inevitable. 
 
 Some persons, desirous of prolonging 
 their existence, joined those who wished 
 to preserve the raft, and armed them- 
 
86 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 selves : of this number were some subal- 
 tern officers and many passengers. The 
 mutineers drew their sabres, and those 
 who had none, armed themselves with 
 knives: they advanced resolutely against 
 us; we put ourselves on our defence: the 
 attack was going to begin. Animated by 
 despair, one of the mutineers lifted his 
 sabre against an officer; he immediately 
 fell, pierced with wounds. This firmness 
 awed them a moment; but did not at 
 all diminish their rage. They ceased to 
 threaten us, and presenting a front brist- 
 ling with sabres and bayonets, they re- 
 tired to the back part, to execute their 
 plan. One of them pretended to rest 
 himself on the little railing which formed 
 the sides of the raft, and with a knife 
 began to cut the cords. Being informed 
 by a servant, we rushed upon him a sol- 
 dier attempted to defend him threatened 
 an officer with his knife, and in attempt- 
 ing to strike him, only pierced his coat 
 the officer turned round overpowered his 
 adversary, and threw both him and his 
 comrade into the sea ! 
 
 After this there were no more partial 
 affairs: the combat became general. Some 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 78 
 
 cried lower the sail; a crowd of mad- 
 men instantly threw themselves on the 
 yards and the shrouds, and cut the stays, 
 and let the mast fall, and nearly broke 
 the thigh of a captain of foot, who fell 
 senseless. He was seized by the soldiers, 
 who threw him into the sea: we per- 
 ceived it saved him, and placed him on 
 a barrel, from which he was taken by 
 the seditious ; who were going to cut out 
 his eyes with a penknife. Exasperated by 
 so many cruelties, we no longer kept any 
 measures, and charged them furiously. 
 With our sabres drawn we traversed the 
 lines which the soldiers formed, and 
 many atoned with their lives for a mo- 
 ment of delusion. Several passengers dis- 
 played much courage and coolness in 
 these cruel moments. 
 
 Mr. Correard was fallen into a kind of 
 trance, but hearing every moment cries 
 of " To arms! To us, comrades! We are 
 undone!" joined to the cries and impreca- 
 tions of the wounded and the dying, he 
 was soon roused from his lethargy. The 
 increasing confusion made him sensible 
 that it was necessary to be upon his guard. 
 Armed with his sabre, he assembled some 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of his workmen on the front of the raft, 
 and forbid them to hurt any one unless 
 they were attacked. He remained almost 
 always with them, and they had several 
 times to defend themselves against the 
 attacks of the mutineers; who falling into 
 the sea, returned by the front of the raft ; 
 which placed Mr. Correard and his little 
 troop between two dangers, and rendered 
 their position very difficult to be defended. 
 Every moment men presented themselves, 
 armed with knives, sabres and bayonets ; 
 many had carbines, which they used as 
 clubs. The workmen did their utmost to 
 stop them, by presenting- the point of 
 their sabres; and, notwithstanding the re- 
 pugnance they felt to combat their un- 
 happy countrymen, they were however 
 obliged to use their arms without reserve; 
 because many of the mutineers attacked 
 them with fury, it was necessary to re- 
 pulse them in the same manner. In this 
 action some of the workmen received 
 large wounds ; he who commanded them 
 reckons a great number, which he re- 
 ceived in the various combats they had 
 to maintain. At last their united efforts 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 succeeded in dispersing the masses that 
 advanced furiously against them. 
 
 During this combat,, Mr. Correard was 
 
 informed, by one of his workmen who 
 
 remained faithful, that one of their com- 
 
 rades, named Dominique, had taken part 
 
 with the mutineers, and that he had just 
 
 been thrown into the sea. Immediately 
 
 forgetting the fault and the treachery of 
 
 this man, he threw himself in after him, 
 
 at the place where the voice of the wretch 
 
 had just been heard calling for assistance; 
 
 he seized him by the hair, and had the 
 
 good fortune to get him on board. Do- 
 
 minique had received, in a charge, several 
 
 sabre wounds, one of which had laid open 
 
 his head. Nothwithstanding the darkness 
 
 we found the wound, which appeared to 
 
 us to be very considerable. One of the 
 
 workmen gave his handkerchief to bind 
 
 it up and stanch the blood. Our care re- 
 
 vived this wretch; but as soon as he re- 
 
 covered his strength, the ungrateful Do- 
 
 minique, again forgetting his duty and 
 
 the signal service that he had just re- 
 
 ceived from us, went to rejoin the muti- 
 
 neers. So much baseness and fury did 
 
90 .NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 not go unpunished ; and soon afterwards, 
 while combating us anew, he met with 
 his death, from which he, in fact, did not 
 merit to be rescued, but which he would 
 probably have avoided, if faithful to ho- 
 nor and to gratitude, he had remained 
 among us. 
 
 Just when we had almost finished ap- 
 plying a kind of dressing to the wounds 
 of Dominique, another voice was heard ; 
 it was that of the unfortunate woman who 
 was on the raft with us, and whom the 
 madmen had thrown into the sea, as well 
 as her husband, who defended her with 
 courage. Mr. Correard, in despair at 
 seeing two poor wretches perish, whose 
 lamentable cries, especially those of the 
 woman, pierced his heart, seized a large 
 rope which was on the front of the raft, 
 which he fastened round the middle of his 
 body, and threw himself, a second time, 
 into the sea, whence he was so happy as 
 to rescue the woman, who invoked, with 
 all her might, the aid of Our Lady of 
 Laux, while her husband was likewise 
 saved by the chief workman, Lavillette. 
 We seated these two poor people upon 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 91 
 
 dead bodies, with their backs leaning 
 against a barrel. In a few minutes they 
 had recovered their senses. The first 
 thought of the wpman was to enquire the 
 name of him who had saved her, and to 
 testify to him the warmest gratitude. 
 Thinking, doubtless, that her words did 
 not sufficiently express her sentiments, 
 she recollected that she had, in her pocket, 
 a little snuff, and immediately offered it 
 to him it was all she possessed. Touched 
 by this present, but not making use of 
 this antiscorbutic, Mr. Corr6ard, in turn, 
 made a present of it to a poor sailor, who 
 used it three or four days. But a more 
 affecting scene, which it is impossible for 
 us to describe, is the joy which this un- 
 fortunate couple displayed when they had 
 sufficiently recovered their senses to see 
 that they were saved. 
 
 The mutineers being repulsed, as we 
 have said above, left us at this moment 
 a little repose. The moon with her sad 
 beams, illumined this fatal raft, this nar- 
 row space, in which were united so many 
 heart-rending afflictions, so many cruel 
 distresses, a fury so insensate, a courage 
 
92 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 so heroic, the most pleasing and gene- 
 rous sentiments of nature and humanity. 
 
 The man and his wife, who just be- 
 fore had seen themselves attacked with 
 sabres and bayonets, and thrown at the 
 same moment into the waves of a stormy 
 sea, could hardly believe their senses 
 when they found themselves in each others 
 arms. They felt, they expressed, so fer- 
 vently, the happiness which they were 
 alas, to enjoy for so short a time, that this 
 affecting sight might have drawn tears 
 from the most insensible heart ; but in 
 this terrible moment, when we were but 
 just breathing after the most furious at- 
 tack, when we were forced to be con- 
 stantly on our guard, not only against the 
 attacks of the men, but also against the 
 fury of the waves : few of us had time, if 
 we may say so, to suffer ourselves to be 
 moved by this scene of conjugal friendship. 
 
 Mr. Correard, one of those whom it 
 had most agreeably affected, hearing the 
 woman still recommend herself, as she 
 had done when in the sea, to our Lady of 
 Laux, exclaiming every instant, '' our 
 good Lady of Laux do not forsake us," 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 93 
 
 recollected that there was, in fact, in the 
 Department of the Upper Alps, a place of 
 devotion so called,* and asked her if she 
 came from that country. She replied in 
 the affirmative, and said she had quitted 
 it 24 years before, and that since that time 
 she had been in the Campaigns in Italy,&c. 
 as a sutler; that she had never quitted 
 our armies. " Therefore," said she, "pre- 
 serve my life, you see that I am a useful 
 woman." " Oh ! if you knew how often 
 I also have braved death on the field of 
 battle, to carry assistance to our brave 
 men." [Then she amused herself with 
 giving some account of her campaigns. 
 She mentioned those she had assisted, the 
 provisions which she had provided them, 
 the brandy with which she had treated 
 them. " Whether they had money or not," 
 
 * Our Lady of Laux is in the Department of the 
 Upper Alps, not far from Gap. A church has been built 
 there, the patroness of which is much celebrated, in the 
 country, for her miracles. The lame, the gouty, the 
 paralytic, found there relief, which it is said, never 
 failed. Unfortunately, this miraculous power did not 
 extend, it seems, to shipwrecked persons : at least the 
 poor sutler drew but little advantage from it. 
 
94 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 said she, " I always let them have my 
 goods. Sometimes a battle made me lose 
 some of my poor debtors; but then, after 
 the victory, others paid me double or 
 triple the value of the provisions which 
 they had consumed before the battle. Thus 
 I had a share in their victory/' The idea 
 of owing her life to Frenchmen, at this 
 moment, seemed still to add to her hap- 
 piness Unfortunate woman! she did not 
 foresee the dreadful fate that awaited her 
 among us ! Let us return to our raft. 
 
 After this second check, the fury of 
 the soldiers suddenly abated, and gave 
 place to extreme cowardice : many of them 
 fell at our feet and asked pardon, which 
 was instantly granted them. It is here, 
 the pi ace to observe and to proclaim aloud 
 for the honour of the French army, which 
 has shewn itself as great, as courageous, 
 under reverses, as formidable in battle, 
 that most of these wretches were not wor- 
 thy to wear its uniform. They were the 
 scum of all countries, the refuse of the 
 prisons, where they had been collected to 
 make up the force charged with the de- 
 fence and the protection of the colony. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 95 
 
 When, for the sake of health, they were 
 made to bathe in the sea, a ceremony 
 from which some of them had the modesty 
 to endeavour to excuse themselves, the 
 whole crew had ocular demonstration that 
 it was not upon the breast that these he- 
 roes wore the insignia of the exploits, 
 which had led them to serve the state in 
 the Ports of Toulon, Brest or Rochefort. 
 This is not the moment, and perhaps 
 we are not competent to examine whether 
 the penalty of branding, as it is re-estab- 
 lished in our present code, is compatible 
 with the true object of all good legisla- 
 tion, that of correcting while punishing, 
 of striking only as far as is necessary to 
 prevent and preserve ; in short, of pro- 
 ducing the greatest good to all, with the 
 least possible evil to individuals. Reason 
 at least seems to demonstrate, and what 
 has passed before our own eyes authorises 
 us to believe that it is as dangerous, as 
 inconsistent, to entrust arms for the pro- 
 tection of society, to the hands of those 
 whom society has itself rejected from its 
 bosom ; thtt it implies a contradiction to 
 require courage, generosity, and that de- 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 votedness which commands a noble heart 
 to sacrifice itself for its country and fellow 
 creatures, from wretches branded, de- 
 graded by corruption, in whom every 
 moral energy is destroyed, or eternally 
 compressed by the weight of the indelible 
 opprobrium which renders them aliens to 
 their country, which separates them for 
 ever from the rest of mankind. 
 
 We soon had on board our raft a fresh 
 proof of the impossibility of depending on 
 the permanence of any honorable senti- 
 ment in the hearts of beings of this de- 
 scription. 
 
 Thinking that order was restored, 
 we had returned to our post at the cen- 
 ter of the raft, only we took the precau- 
 tion to retain our arms. It was nearly mid- 
 night: after an hour's apparent tranquil- 
 lity, the soldiers rose again : their senses 
 were entirely deranged ; they rushed upon 
 us like madmen, with their knives or 
 sabres in their hands. As they were in 
 full possession of their bodily strength, 
 and were also armed, we were forced 
 again to put ourselves on our defence. 
 Their revolt was the more dangerous, as 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 79 
 
 in their delirium they were entirely deaf to 
 the cries of reason. They attacked us; we 
 charged them in our turn, and soon the raft 
 was covered with their dead bodies. Those 
 among our adversaries who had no arms, 
 attempted to tear us with their teeth ; seve- 
 ral of us were cruelly bitten ; Mr. Savigny 
 was himself bitten in the legs and the 
 shoulder ; he received also a wound with a 
 knife in his right arm which deprived him, 
 for a long time, of the use of the fourth 
 and little fingers of that hand; many others 
 were wounded ; our clothes were pierced 
 in many places by knives and sabres. One 
 of our workmen was also seized by four 
 of the mutineers, who were going to throw 
 him into the sea. One of them had seized 
 him by the right leg, and was biting him 
 cruelly in the sinew above the heel. The 
 others were beating him severely with their 
 sabres and the but end of their carbines; 
 his cries made us fly to his aid. On this 
 occasion, the brave Lavillette, ex-serjeant 
 of the artillery on foot, of the old guard, 
 behaved with courage worthy of the highest 
 praise : we rushed on these desperadoes, 
 after the example of Mr. Correard, and 
 
 H 
 
98 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 soon rescued the workman from the danger 
 which threatened him. A few moments af- 
 ter, the mutineers, in another charge, seized 
 on the sub-lieutenant Lozach, whom they 
 took, in their delirium, for Lieutenant Dari- 
 glas, of whom we have spoken above, and 
 who had abandoned the raft when we were 
 on the point of putting off from the frigate. 
 The soldiers, in general, bore much ill will 
 to this officer, who had seen little service, 
 and whom they reproached with having 
 treated them harshly while they were in gar- 
 rison in the Isle of Rhe. It would have been 
 a favorable opportunity for them to satiate 
 their rage upon him, and the thirst of 
 vengeance and destruction which animated 
 them to fancy that they had found him in 
 the person of Mr. Lozach, they were going 
 to throw him into the sea. In truth, the 
 soldiers almost equally disliked the latter, 
 who had served only in the Vendean bands 
 of Saint Pol de Leon. We believed this 
 officer lost, when his voice being heard, in- 
 formed us that it was still possible to save 
 him. Immediately Messrs. Clairet, Savigny, 
 PHeureux, Lavillette, Coudin, Correard, and 
 some workmen, having formed themselves 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 99 
 
 into little parties, fell upon the insurgents 
 with so much impetuosity that they over- 
 threw all who opposed them, recovered Mr. 
 Lozach, and brought him back to the center 
 of the raft. 
 
 The preservation of this officer cost us 
 infinite trouble. Every moment the soldiers 
 demanded that he should be given up to 
 them, always calling him by the name of 
 Danglas. It was in vain we attempted to 
 make them sensible of their mistake, and to 
 recal to their memory, that he, whom they 
 demanded, had returned on board the fri- 
 gate, as they had themselves seen ; their 
 cries drowned the voice of reason ; every 
 thing was in their eyes Danglas ; they saw 
 him every where, they furiously and unceas- 
 ingly demanded his head, and it was only 
 by force of arms, that we succeeded in re- 
 pressing their rage, and in silencing their 
 frightful cries. 
 
 On this occasion we had also reason to be 
 alarmed for the safety of Mr.Coudin.Wound- 
 ed and fatigued by the attacks which we had 
 sustained with the disaffected, and in which 
 he had displayed the most dauntless courage, 
 he was reposing on a barrel, holding in his 
 
 H 2 
 
100 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 arms a sailor boy, of twelve years of age, lo 
 whom he had attached himself. The muti- 
 neers seized him with his barrel, and threw 
 him into the sea with the boy, whom he still 
 held fast; notwithstanding this burden, he 
 had the presence of mind to catch hold of 
 the raft, and to save himself from this ex- 
 treme danger. Dreadful night! thy gloomy 
 veil covered these cruel combats, instigated 
 by the most terrible despair. 
 
 We cannot conceive how a handful of 
 individuals could resist such a considerable 
 number of madmen. There were, certainly, 
 not more than twenty of us to resist all these 
 furious wretches. Let it, however, not be 
 imagined, that we preserved our reason un- 
 impaired amidst all this disorder ; terror, 
 alarm, the most cruel privations had greatly 
 affected our intellectual faculties; but being 
 a little less deranged than the unfortunate 
 soldiers, we energetically opposed their de- 
 termination to cut the cords of the raft. 
 Let us be allowed to make some reflections 
 on the various sensations with which we 
 were affected. 
 
 The very first day, Mr. Griffon lost his 
 senses so entirely, that he threw himself 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 101 
 
 into the sea, intending to drown himself. 
 Mr. Savigny saved him with his own hand. 
 His discourse was vague and unconnected. 
 He threw himself into the water a second 
 time, but by a kind of instinct he kept hold 
 of one of the cross pieces of the raft : and 
 was again rescued. 
 
 The following is an account of what 
 Mr. Savigny experienced in the beginning 
 of the night. His eyes closed in spite of 
 himself, and he felt a general lethargy ; in 
 this situation the most agreeable images 
 played before his fancy; he saw around 
 him, a country covered with fine planta- 
 tions, and he found himself in the presence 
 of objects which delighted all his senses; 
 yet he reasoned on his situation, and felt 
 that courage alone would recover him from 
 this species of trance ; he asked the master 
 gunner of the frigate for some wine : who 
 procured him a little ; and he recovered in 
 a degree from this state of torpor. If the 
 unfortunate men, when they were attacked 
 by these first symptoms, had not had reso- 
 lution to struggle against them, their death 
 was certain. Some became furious; others 
 threw themselves into the sea, taking leave 
 
102 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of their comrades with great coolness; some 
 said " Fear nothing, I am going to fetch 
 you assistance : in a short time you will see 
 me again." In the midst of this general 
 madness, some unfortunate wretches were 
 seen to rush upon their comrades with their 
 sabres drawn, demanding the wing of a 
 chicken, or bread to appease the hunger 
 which devoured them ; others called for 
 their hammocks " to go," they said, "be- 
 tween the decks of the frigate and take some 
 moments' repose." Many fancied themselves 
 still on board the Medusa, surrounded with 
 the same objects which they saw there every 
 day. Some sa\v ships, and called them to 
 their assistance, or a harbour, in the back 
 ground of which there w r as a magnificent city . 
 31 r. Correard fancied he was travelling- 
 through the fine plains of Italy; one of the 
 officers said to him, gravely, " I remember 
 that we have been deserted by the boats; but 
 fear nothing ; I have just written to the 
 governor, and in a few hours ive shall be 
 saved." Mr. Correard replied in the same 
 tone, and as if he had been in an ordinary 
 situation, " Have you a pigeon to carry your 
 orders with as much celerity ?" The cries 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 103 
 
 and the tumult soon roused us from the 
 state in which we were plunged; but 
 scarcely was tranquillity restored, when we 
 sunk back into the same species of trance : 
 so that the next day we seemed to awake 
 from a painful dream, and asked our com- 
 panions if, during their sleep, they had seen 
 combats and heard cries of despair. Some 
 of them replied that they had been conti- 
 nually disturbed by the same visions, and 
 that they were exhausted with fatigue : all 
 thought themselves deceived by the illu- 
 sions of a frightful dream. 
 
 When we recal to our minds those ter- 
 rible scenes, they present themselves to our 
 imagination like those frightful dreams 
 which sometimes make a profound impres- 
 sion on us ; so that, when we awake, we 
 remember the different circumstances which 
 rendered our sleep so agitated. All these 
 horrible events, from which we have escaped 
 by a miracle, appear to us like a point in 
 our existence : we compare them with the 
 fits of a burning fever, which has been ac- 
 companied by a delirium: a thousand ob- 
 jects appear before the imagination of the 
 patient : when restored to health, he some- 
 
104 XAKRAUVE OF A 
 
 times recollects the visions that have tor- 
 mented him during the fever which con- 
 burned him, and exalted his imagination. 
 We were really seized with a fever on the 
 brain, the consequence of a mental exalta- 
 tion carried to the extreme. As soon as 
 daylight beamed upon us, we were much 
 more calm : darkness brought with it a re- 
 newal of the disorder in our weakened in- 
 tellects. We observed in ourselves that the 
 natural terror, inspired by the cruel situation 
 in which we were, greatly increased in the 
 silence of the night: then all objects seemed 
 to us much more terrible. 
 
 After these different combats, worn out 
 with fatigue, want of food and of sleep, we 
 endeavoured to take a few moments' repose, 
 at length daylight came, and disclosed all 
 the horrors of the scene. A great num- 
 ber had, in their delirium, thrown them- 
 selves into the sea : we found that between 
 sixty and sixty -five men had perished dur- 
 ing the night ; we calculated that, at least, a 
 fourth part had drowned themselves in des- 
 pair. We had lost only two on our side, 
 neither of whom was an officer. The deepest 
 despondency was painted on every face; 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 105 
 
 every one, now that he was come to himself, 
 was sensible of his situation ; some of us a 
 shedding tears of despair, bitterly deplored 
 the rigour of our fate. 
 
 We soon discovered a new misfortune ; 
 the rebels, during the tumult, had thrown 
 into the sea two barrels of wine, and the 
 only two casks of water that we had on the 
 raft.* As soon as Mr. Correard perceived 
 that they were going to throw the wine into 
 the sea, and that the barrels were almost 
 entirely made loose, he resolved to place 
 himself on one of them; where he was con- 
 tinually thrown to and fro by the impulse 
 of the waves ; but he did not let go his 
 hold. His example was followed by some 
 others, who seized the second cask, and re- 
 mained some hours at that dangerous post, 
 After much trouble they had succeeded in 
 saving these two casks ; which being every 
 
 * One of the water casks was recovered ; but the 
 mutineers had made a large hole in it, and the sea water 
 got in, so that the fresh water was quite spoiled; we r 
 however, kept the little cask as well as one of the wine 
 barrels, which was empty. These two casks were after- 
 wards of use to us. 
 
106 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 moment violently driven against their legs 
 had bruised them severely. Being unable to 
 hold out any longer, they made some repre- 
 sentations to those who, with Mr. Savigny, 
 employed all their efforts to maintain order 
 and preserve the raft. One of them took 
 his (Mr. Correard) place; others relieved the 
 rest: but finding this service too difficult, 
 and being assaulted by the mutineers, they 
 forsook this post. Then the barrels were 
 thrown into the sea. 
 
 Two casks of wine had been consumed 
 the preceding day; we had only one left, 
 and we were above sixty in number; so 
 that it was necessary to put ourselves on 
 half allowance. 
 
 At daybreak the sea grew calm, which 
 enabled us to put up our mast again ; we 
 then did our utmost to direct our course to- 
 wards the coast. Whether it were an illu- 
 sion or reality we thought we saw it, and 
 that we distinguished the burning air of 
 the Zaara Desert. It is, in fact, very pro- 
 bable that we were not very distant from it, 
 for we had had winds from the sea which 
 had blown violently. In the sequel we 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 107 
 
 spread the sail indifferently to every wind 
 that blew, so that one day we approached 
 the coast, on the next ran into the open sea. 
 As soon as our mast was replaced, 
 we made a distribution of wine ; the un- 
 happy soldiers murmured and accused us for 
 privations, which we bore as well as they: 
 they fell down with fatigue. For forty- 
 eight hours we had taken nothing, and had 
 been obliged to struggle incessantly against 
 a stormy sea ; like them we could hardly 
 support ourselves ; courage alone still made 
 us act. We resolved to employ all possible 
 means to procure fish. We collected all 
 the tags from the soldiers, and made little 
 hooks of them ; we bent a bayonet to catch 
 sharks: all this availed us nothing; the 
 currents carried our hooks under the raft, 
 where they got entangled. A shark bit at 
 the bayonet, and straightened it. We gave 
 up our project. But an extreme resource 
 was necessary to preserve our wretched 
 existence. We tremble with horror at being 
 obliged to mention that which we made use 
 of! we feel our pen drop from our hand; a 
 deathlike chill pervades all our limbs; our 
 hair stands erect on our heads! Reader. 
 
108 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 we beseech you, do not feel indignation to- 
 wards men who are already too unfortunate; 
 but have compassion on them, and shed 
 some tears of pity on their unhappy fate. 
 
 Those whom death had spared in the 
 disastrous night which we have just de- 
 scribed, fell upon the dead bodies with 
 which the raft was covered, and cut off 
 pieces, which some instantly devoured. 
 Many did not touch them ; almost all the 
 officers were of this number. Seeing that 
 this horrid nourishment had given strength 
 to those who had made use of it, it was 
 proposed to dry it, in order to render it a 
 little less disgusting. Those who had firm- 
 ness enough to abstain from it took a larger 
 quantity of wine. We tried to eat sword- 
 belts and cartouch-boxes. We succeeded in 
 swallowing some little morsels. Some eat 
 linen. Others pieces of leather from the hats, 
 on which there was a little grease, or rather 
 dirt We were obliged to give up these last 
 means. A sailor attempted to eat excre- 
 ments, but he could not succeed. 
 
 The day was calm and fine: a ray of 
 hope allayed our uneasiness for a moment. 
 We still expected to set the boats or some 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 109 
 
 vessels; we addressed our prayers to the 
 Eternal, and placed our confidence in him. 
 The half of our men were very weak, and 
 bore on all their features the stamp of ap- 
 proaching dissolution. The evening passed 
 over, and no assistance came. The dark- 
 ness of this third night increased our alarm; 
 but the wind was slight, and the sea less 
 agitated. We took some moment's repose : 
 a repose which was still more terrible than 
 our situation the preceding day ; cruel 
 d reams added to the horrors of our situa- 
 tion. Tormented by hunger and thirst, our 
 plaintive cries sometimes awakened from his 
 sleep, the wretch who was reposing close to 
 us. We were even now up to our knees in the 
 water, so that we could only repose stand- 
 ing, pressed against each other to form a 
 solid mass. The fourth morning's sun, after 
 our departure, at length rose on our disaster, 
 and shewed us ten or twelve of our compa- 
 nions extended lifeless on the raft. This 
 sight affected us the more as it announced 
 to us that our bodies, deprived of existence, 
 would soon be stretched on the same place. 
 We gave their bodies to the sea for a grave; 
 reserving only one, destined to feed those 
 
110 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 who, the day before, had clasped his trem- 
 bling hands, vowing* him an eternal friend- 
 ship. This day was fine ; our minds, long- 
 ing for more agreeable sensations, were har- 
 monized by the soothing aspect of nature, 
 and admitted a ray of hope. About four 
 in the afternoon a circumstance occurred 
 which afforded us some consolation : a 
 shoal of flying fish passed under the raft, 
 and as the extremities left an infinite num- 
 ber of vacancies between the pieces which 
 composed it, the fish got entangled in great 
 numbers We threw ourselves upon them, 
 and caught a considerable quantity : we took 
 near two hundred and put them in an empty 
 cask;* as we caught them we opened them 
 to take out what is called the milt. This 
 food seemed delicious to us ; but one man 
 would have wanted a thousand. Our first 
 impulse was to address new thanksgivings 
 to God for this unexpected benefit. 
 
 An ounce of gunpowder had been found 
 in the morning, and dried in the sun, dur- 
 ing the day, which was very fine ; a steel, 
 
 * These fish are very small ; the largest is not equal 
 to a small herring. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. Ill 
 
 some gun-flints and tinder were also found 
 in the same parcel. After infinite trouble 
 we succeeded in setting fire to some pieces 
 of dry linen. We made a large hole in one 
 side of an empty cask, and placed at the 
 bottom of it several things whicli we wetted, 
 and on this kind of scaffolding we made our 
 fire : we placed it on a barrel that the sea- 
 water might not put out our fire. We dressed 
 some fish, which we devoured with extreme 
 avidity; but our hunger was so great and 
 our portion of fish so small, that we added 
 to it some human flesh, which dressing ren- 
 dered less disgusting; it was this which the 
 officers touched, for the first time. From 
 this day we continued to use it; but we 
 could riot dress it any more, as we were 
 entirely deprived of the means ; our barrel 
 catching fire we extinguished it without 
 being able to save any thing whereby to 
 light it again next day. The powder and 
 the tinder were entirely consumed. This 
 repast gave us all fresh strength to bear 
 new fatigues. The night was tolerable, and 
 would have appeared happy had it not 
 been signalised by a new massacre. 
 
 Some Spaniards, Italians, arid Negroes, 
 
11*2 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 who had remained neuter in the first mu- 
 tiny, and some of whom had even ranged 
 themselves on our side,* formed a plot to 
 throw us all into the sea, hoping to execute 
 their design by falling on us by surprise. 
 These wretches suffered themselves to be 
 persuaded by the negroes, who assured them 
 that the coast was extremely near, and pro- 
 mised, that when they were once on shore, 
 they would enable them to traverse Africa 
 without danger. The desire of saving them- 
 selves, or perhaps the wish to seize on the 
 money and valuables, which had been put 
 into a bag, hung to the mast,t had in- 
 flamed the imagination of these unfortunate 
 wretches. We were obliged to take our 
 
 * This plot, as we learned afterwards, was formed 
 particularly by a Piedmontese serjeant; who, for two days 
 past, had endeavoured to insinuate himself with us, in 
 order to gain our confidence. The care of the wine was 
 entrusted to him : he stole it in the night, and distributed 
 it to some of his friends. 
 
 f We had all put together in one bag the money we 
 had, in order to purchase provisions and hire camels to 
 carry the sick, in case we should land on the edge of the 
 desert. The sum was fifteen hundred francs. Fifteen of 
 us were saved, and each had a hundred francs. The com- 
 mander of the raft and a captain of inftmtry divided it. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 113 
 
 arms again ; bat how were we to discover 
 the guilty? they were pointed out to us, by 
 our sailors, who remained faithful, and 
 ranged themselves near us ; one of them 
 had refused to engage in the plot. The 
 first signal, for combat, was given by a Spa- 
 niard, who, placing himself behind the 
 mast, laid fast hold of it, made the sign of 
 the Cross with one hand, invoking the name 
 of God, and held a knife in the other: the 
 sailors seized him, and threw him into the 
 sea. The servant of an officer of the troops 
 on board was in the plot. He was an Ita- 
 lian from the light artillery of the Ex-King 
 of his country. When he perceived that 
 the plot was discovered, he armed himself 
 with the last boarding-axe that there was 
 on the raft, wrapped himself in a piece of 
 drapery, which he wore folded over his 
 breast, and, of his own accord, threw him- 
 self into the sea. The mutineers rushed 
 fonvard to avenge their comrades, a terrible 
 combat again ensued, and both sides fought 
 with desperate fury. Soon the fatal raft was 
 covered with dead bodies, and flowing with 
 blood which ought to have been shed in 
 another cause, and by other hands. In this 
 
114 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 tumult cries, with which we were familiar, 
 were renewed, and we heard the impreca- 
 tions of the horrid rage which demanded 
 the head of Lieutenant Danglas ! Our 
 readers know that we could not satisfy this 
 mad rage, because the victim, demanded, 
 had fled the dangers to which we were ex- 
 posed ; but even if this officer had remained 
 among us, we should most certainly have 
 defended his life at the expence of our 
 own, as we did that of Lieutenant Lozach. 
 But it was not for him that we were reduced 
 
 to exert, against these madmen, all the 
 courage we possessed. 
 
 We again replied to the cries of the 
 assailants, that he whom they demanded 
 was not with us ; but we had no more suc- 
 cess in persuading them; nothing could 
 make them recollect themselves; we were 
 obliged to continue to combat them, and to 
 oppose force to those over whom reason had 
 lost all its influence. In this confusion the 
 unfortunate woman was, a second time, 
 thrown into the sea. We perceived it, and 
 Mr. Coudin, assisted by some workmen, 
 took her up again, to prolong, for a few 
 moments, her torments and her existence, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 115 
 
 In this horrible night, Lavillette gave 
 farther proofs of the rarest intrepidity. It 
 was to him, and to some of those who have 
 escaped the consequences of our misfor- 
 tunes, that we are indebted for our safety. 
 At length, after unheard-of efforts, the mu- 
 tineers were again repulsed, and tranquillity 
 restored. After we had escaped this new 
 danger, we endeavoured to take some mo- 
 ment's repose. The day at length rose on 
 us for the fifth time. We were now only 
 thirty left; we had lost four or five of our 
 faithful sailors ; those who survived were in 
 the most deplorable state ; the sea-water 
 had almost entirely excoriated our lower 
 extremities ; we were covered with contu- 
 sions or wounds, which, irritated by the salt- 
 water, made us utter every moment piercing 
 cries ; so that there were not above twenty 
 of us who were able to stand upright or 
 walk. Almost our whole stock was ex- 
 hausted ; we had no more wine than was 
 sufficient for four days, and we had not 
 above a dozen fish left. In four days, said 
 we, we shall be in want of every thing, and 
 death will be unavoidable. Thus arrived the 
 seventh day since we had been abandoned; 
 
 i 2 
 
116 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 we calculated that, in case the boats had 
 not stranded on the coast, they would want, 
 at least, three or four times twenty-four 
 hours to reach St. Louis. Time was further 
 required to equip ships, and for these ships 
 to find us ; we resolved to hold out as long 
 as possible. In the course of the day, two 
 soldiers slipped behind the only barrel of 
 wine we had left ; they had bored a hole in 
 it, and were drinking by means of a reed ; 
 we had all sworn, that he who should em- 
 ploy such means should be punished with 
 death. This law was instantly put in exe- 
 cution, and the two trespassers were thrown 
 into the sea.* 
 
 This same day terminated the existence 
 of a child, twelve years of age, named 
 Leon ; he died away like a lamp which 
 ceases to burn for want of aliment. Every 
 thing spoke in favor of this amiable young 
 creature, who merited a better fate. His 
 angelic countenance, his melodious voice, 
 the interest inspired by his youth, which 
 was increased by the courage he had shown, 
 
 * One of these soldiers was the same Piedmontese ser- 
 jeant of whom we have spoken above ; he put his comrades 
 forward, and kept himself concealed in case their plot 
 should fail. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 117 
 
 and the services lie had performed, for he 
 had already made, in the preceding year, 
 a campaign in the East Indies, all this filled 
 us with the tenderest interest for this young 
 victim, devoted to a death so dreadful and 
 premature. Our old soldiers, and our peo- 
 ple in general, bestowed upon him all the 
 care which they thought calculated to pro- 
 long his existence. It was in vain ; his 
 strength, at last, forsook him. Neither 
 the wine, which we gave him without 
 regret, nor all the means which could be 
 employed, could rescue him from his sad 
 fate ; he expired in the arms of Mr. Cou- 
 din, who had not ceased to shew him the 
 kindest attention. As long as the strength 
 of this young marine had allowed him to 
 move, he ran continually from one side to 
 the other, calling, with loud cries, for his 
 unhappy mother, water, and food. He 
 walked, without discrimination, over the 
 feet and legs of his companions in misfor- 
 tune, who, in their turn, uttered cries of 
 anguish, which were every moment re- 
 peated. But their complaints were very 
 seldom accompanied by menaces ; they par- 
 doned every thing in the poor youth., who 
 
118 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 had caused them. Besides, he was, in fact, 
 in a state of mental derangement, and in 
 his uninterrupted alienation he could not 
 be expected to behave, as if he had still re- 
 tained some use of reason. 
 
 We were now only twenty-seven re- 
 maining ; of this number but fifteen seemed 
 likely to live some days : all the rest, 
 covered with large wounds, had almost 
 entirely lost their reason; yet they had 
 a share in the distribution of provisions, 
 and might, before their death, consume 
 thirty or forty bottles of wine, which were 
 of inestimable value to us. We delibe- 
 rated thus : to put the sick on half allowance 
 * would have been killing them by inches. So 
 after a debate, at which the most dreadful 
 despair presided, it was resolved to throw 
 them into the sea. This measure, however 
 repugnant it was to ourselves, procured the 
 survivors wine for six days ; when the de- 
 cision was made, who would dare to execute 
 it? The habit of seeing death ready to 
 pounce upon us as his prey, the certainty of 
 our infallible destruction, without this fatal 
 expedient, every thing in a word, had 
 hardened our hearts, and rendered them 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 callous to all feeling except that of self 
 preservation. Three sailors and a soldier 
 took on themselves this cruel execution : we 
 turned our faces aside, and wept tears of 
 blood over the fate of these unhappy men. 
 Among them were the unfortunate woman 
 and her husband. Both of them had been 
 severely wounded in the various combats : 
 the woman had a thigh broken between the 
 pieces of wood composing the raft, and her 
 husband had received a deep wound with a 
 sabre on his head. Every thing announced 
 their speedy dissolution. We must seek to 
 console ourselves, by the belief, that our 
 cruel resolution shortened, but for a few mo- 
 ments only, the measure of their existence. 
 
 This French woman, to whom soldiers 
 and Frenchmen gave the sea for a tomb, 
 had partaken for twenty years in the glo- 
 rious fatigues of our armies; for twenty 
 years she had afforded to the brave, on the 
 field of battle, either the assistance which 
 they needed, or soothing consolations. . . It 
 is in the midst of her friends ; it is by the 
 hands of her friends. . .Readers, who shud- 
 der at the cry of outraged humanity, recol- 
 lect at least, that it was other men, fellow 
 
120 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 countrymen, comrades, who had placed us 
 in this horrible situation. 
 
 This dreadful expedient saved the fifteen 
 who remained ; for, when we were found by 
 the Argus, we had very little wine left, and 
 it was the sixth day after the cruel sacrifice 
 which we have just described : the victims, 
 we repeat it, had not above forty-eight hours 
 to live, and by keeping them on the raft, 
 we should absolutely have been destitute of 
 the means of existence two days before we 
 were found. Weak as we were, we consi- 
 dered it as certain that it would have been 
 impossible for us to hold out, even twenty- 
 four hours, without taking some food. After 
 this catastrophe, w T hich inspired us with a 
 degree of horror not to be overcome, we 
 threw the arms into the sea; we reserved, 
 however, one sabre in case it should be 
 wanted to cut a rope or piece of wood. 
 
 After all this, we had scarcely sufficient 
 food on the raft, to last for the six days, and 
 they were the most wretched immaginable. 
 Our dispositions had become soured: even in 
 sleep, we figured to ourselves the sad end of 
 all our unhappy companions, and we loudly 
 invoked death. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 121 
 
 A new event, for every thing was an 
 event for wretches for whom the universe 
 was reduced to a flooring of a few toises in 
 extent, who were the sport of the winds and 
 waves, as they hung suspended over the 
 abyss ; an event then happened which hap- 
 pily diverted our attention from the horrors ! 
 of pur situation. All at once a white but- 
 terfly, of the species so common in France, 
 appeared fluttering over our heads, and set- * 
 tied on our sail. The first idea w r hich, as 
 it were, inspired each of us made us consi- 
 der this little animal as the harbinger, which 
 brought us the news of a speedy approach 
 to land, and we snatched at this hope with 
 a kind of delirium of joy. But it was the 
 ninth day that we passed upon the raft; 
 the torments of hunger consumed our en- 
 trails ; already some of the soldiers and 
 sailors devoured, with haggard eyes, this 
 wretched prey, and seemed ready to dis- 
 pute it with each other. Others considered 
 this butterfly as a messenger of heaven, 
 declared that they took the poor insect 
 under their protection, and hindered any 
 injury being done to it. We turned our 
 wishes and our eyes to\tfards the land, which 
 
NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 we so ardently longed for, and which we 
 every moment fancied we saw rise before 
 us. It is certain that we could not be far 
 from it: for the butterflies continued, on the 
 following days, to come and flutter about 
 our sail, and the same day we had another 
 sign equally positive : for we saw a (goe- 
 land) flying over our raft. This second 
 visitor did not allow us to doubt of our 
 being very near to the African shore, and 
 we persuaded ourselves that we should soon 
 be thrown upon the coast by the force of 
 the currents. How often did we then, and 
 in the following days, invoke a tempest to 
 throw us on the coast, which, it seemed to 
 us, we were on the point of touching. 
 
 The hope which had just penetrated 
 the inmost recesses of our souls, revived our 
 enfeebled strength, and inspired us with an 
 ardour, an activity, of which we should not 
 have thought ourselves capable. We again 
 had recourse to all the means which we 
 had before employed, to catch fish. Above 
 all, we eagerly longed for the (goeland), 
 which appeared several times tempted to 
 settle on the end of our machine. The 
 impatience of our desire increased, whew 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 
 
 we saw several of its companions join it, 
 and keep following us till our deliverance ; 
 but all attempts to draw them to us were in 
 vain ; not one of them suffered itself to be 
 taken by the snares we had laid for them. 
 Thus our destiny, on the fatal raft, was to be 
 incessantly tossed between transitory illu- 
 sions and continued torments, and we never 
 experienced an agreeable sensation without 
 being, in a manner, condemned to atone for 
 it, by the anguish of some new suffering, by 
 the irritating pangs of hope always deceived 
 
 Another care employed us this day; 
 as soon as we were reduced to a small 
 number, we collected the little strength we 
 had remaining ; we loosened some planks 
 on the front of the raft, and with some 
 pretty long pieces of wood, raised in the 
 center a kind of platform, on which we re- 
 posed : all the effects which we had been able 
 to collect, were placed upon it, and served 
 to render it less hard; besides, they hindered 
 the sea from passing with so much facility 
 through the intervals between the different 
 pieces of the raft ; but the waves came 
 across, and sometimes covered us entirely. 
 
 It was on this new theatre that we re- 
 
124 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 solved to await death in a manner worthy 
 of Frenchmen, and with perfect resignation. 
 The most adroit among us, to divert our 
 thoughts, and to make the time pass with 
 more rapidity, got their comrades to relate 
 to us their passed triumphs, and sometimes, 
 to draw comparisons between the hardships 
 they had undergone in their glorious cam- 
 paigns, and the distresses we endured upon 
 our raft. The following is what Lavillette 
 the serjeant of artillery told us: " I have 
 66 experienced, in my various naval cam- 
 " paigns, all the fatigues, all the privations 
 " and all the dangers, which it is possible 
 " to meet with at sea, but none of my 
 " past sufferings, is comparable to the 
 " extreme pain and privations which I 
 " endure here. In my last campaigns in 
 61 1813 and 1814, in Germany and France, 
 ic 1 shared all the fatigues which were al- 
 " ternately caused us by victory and retreat. 
 cc I was at the glorious days of Lutzen, 
 " Bautzen, Dresden; Leipzig, Hanau, Mont- 
 " mirail, Champaubert, Montereau," &c. 
 " Yes," continued he, " all that I suf- 
 " fered in so many forced marches, and in 
 " the midst of the privations which were 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 125 
 
 Ci the consequences of them, was nothing in 
 " comparison with what I endure on this 
 " frightful machine. In those days, when 
 " the French valour shewed itself in all 
 " its lustre, and always worthy of a free 
 " people, I had hardly anything to fear, 
 " but during the battle; but here, I often 
 " have the same dangers, and what is more 
 <c dreadful, I have to combat Frenchmen 
 " and comrades. I have to contend, be- 
 (( sides, with hunger and thirst, with a tem- 
 cc pestuous sea, full of dangerous monsters, 
 " and with the ardour of a burning sun, 
 <c which is not the leastof our enemies. Co- 
 " vered with ancient scars and fresh wounds, 
 (e which I have no means of dressing, it is 
 " physically impossible for me to save my- 
 " self from this extreme danger, if it should 
 " be prolonged for a few days." 
 
 The sad remembrance of the critical 
 situation of our country also mingled with 
 our grief; and certainly, of all the afflictions 
 we experienced, this was not the least, to 
 us, whp had almost all of us left it, only 
 that we might no longer be witnesses of the 
 hard laws, of the afflicting dependence, 
 under which, it is bowed down by enemies 
 
126 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 jealous of our glory and of our power. 
 These thoughts, we do not fear to say so, 
 and to boast of it, afflicted us still more 
 than the inevitable death which we were 
 almost certain of meeting on our raft. Seve- 
 ral of us regretted not having fallen in 
 the defence of France. At least, said they, 
 if it had been possible for us to measure our 
 strength once more, with the enemies of our 
 independence, and our liberty! Others found 
 some consolation in the death which awaited 
 us, because we should no longer have to 
 UToan under the shameful yoke which op- 
 presses the country. Thus passed the last 
 days of our abode on the raft. Our time 
 was almost wholly employed in speaking 
 of our unhappy country : all our wishes, 
 our last prayers were for the happiness of 
 France. 
 
 During the first days and nights of 
 our being abandoned, the weather was very 
 cold, but we bore the immersion pretty 
 well ; and during the last nights that we 
 passed on the raft, every time that a wave 
 rolled over us, it produced a very disagreea- 
 ble sensation, and made us utter plaintive 
 cries, so that each of us employed means to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 127 
 
 avoid it: some raised their heads, by means 
 of pieces of wood, and made with whatever 
 they could find a kind of parapet, against 
 which the wave broke : others sheltered 
 themselves behind empty casks which were 
 placed across, along side each other; but. 
 these means often proved insufficient ; it 
 was only when the sea was very calm that it 
 did not break over us. 
 
 A raging thirst, which was redoubled in 
 the daytime by the beams of a burning sun, 
 consumed us : it was such, that we eagerly 
 moistened our parched lips with urine,, which 
 we cooled in little tin cups. We put the 
 cup in a place where there was a little water, 
 that the urine might cool the sooner; it 
 often happened that these cups were stolen 
 from those who had thus prepared them. 
 The cup was returned, indeed, to him to 
 whom it belonged, but not till the liquid 
 which it contained was drank. Mr. Savigny 
 observed that the urine of sam of us was more 
 agreeable than that of others. There was 
 a passenger who could never prevail on 
 himself to swallow it : in reality, it had not 
 a disagreeable taste ; but in some of us it 
 became thick, and extraordinarily acrid : it 
 
128 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 produced an effect truly worthy of remark : 
 namely, that it was scarcely swallowed, when 
 it excited an inclination to urine anew. We 
 also tried to quench our thirst by drink- 
 ing sea-water. Mr. Griffon, the governor's 
 secretary, used it continually, he drank ten 
 or twelve glasses in succession. But all 
 these means only diminished our thirst to 
 render it more severe a moment afterwards. 
 An officer of the army, found by chance, 
 a little lemon, and it may be imagined how 
 valuable this fruit must be to him ; he, in 
 fact, reserved it entirely for himself; his 
 comrades, notwithstanding the most pressing 
 entreaties, could not obtain any of it; al- 
 ready emotions of rage were rising in every 
 heart, and if he had not partly yielded to 
 those who surrounded him, they would cer- 
 tainly have taken it from him by force, and 
 he would have perished, the victim of his 
 selfishness. We also disputed for about 
 thirty cloves of garlic, which had been found 
 accidentally in a little bag: all these dis- 
 putes were generally accompanied with 
 violent threats, and if they had been pro- 
 tracted we should, perhaps, have come to 
 the last extremities. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 129 
 
 We had found, also, two little phials 
 which contained a spirituous liquor to clean 
 the teeth ; he who possessed them, kept them 
 carefully, and made many difficulties to give 
 one or two drops of this liquid in the hollow 
 of the hand. This liquor, which we be- 
 lieve was an essence of guiacum, cinnamon, 
 cloves, and other aromatic substances, pro- 
 duced on our tongues a delightful sensation, 
 and removed for a few moments the thirst 
 which consumed us, Some of us found 
 pieces of pewter, which, being put into the 
 mouth produced a kind of coolness. 
 
 One of the means generally employed, 
 was to put some sea-water into a hat, with 
 which we washed our faces for some time, re- 
 curring to it at intervals ; we also moistened 
 our hair with it, and held our hands plunged 
 in the water.* Misfortune rendered us in- 
 genious, and every one thought of a thou- 
 sand means to alleviate his sufferings ; ex- 
 tenuated by the most cruel privations, the 
 smallest agreeable sensation was to us a 
 
 * Persons shipwrecked, in a situation similar to ours, 
 have found great relief by dipping their clothes in the sea ? 
 and wearing them thus impregnated with the water ; 
 measure was not employed on the fatal raft. 
 
 K 
 
130 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 supreme happiness ; thus we eagerly sought 
 a little empty phial, which one of us pos- 
 sessed, and which had formerly contained 
 essence of roses : as soon as \ve could get 
 hold of it we inhaled, with delight, the 
 perfume which issued from it, and which 
 communicated to our senses the most sooth- 
 ing impressions. Some of us reserved our 
 portion of wine in little tin cups, and sucked 
 up the wine with a quill ; this manner of 
 taking it was very beneficial to us, and 
 quenched our thirst much more than if we 
 had drunk it off at once. Even the smell 
 of this liquor was extremely agreeable to 
 us. Mr. Savigny observed that many of us, 
 after having taken their small portion, fell 
 into a state approaching to intoxication, and 
 that there was always more discord among 
 us after the distribution had been made. 
 
 The following is one instance, among 
 many, which we could adduce. The tenth 
 day of our being on the raft, after a distri- 
 bution of wine, Messrs. Clairet, Coudin, 
 Chariot, and one or two of our sailors, con- 
 ceived the strange idea of destroying them- 
 selves, first intoxicating themselves with 
 what remained in our barrel. In vain 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 131 
 
 Captain Dupont, seconded by Messrs. La- 
 villette, Savigny, Lheureux, and all the 
 others, opposed their purpose by urgent 
 remonstrances, and by all the firmness of 
 which they were capable their disordered 
 brains persisted in the mad idea which 
 governed them, and a new combat was on 
 the point of commencing; however, after 
 infinite trouble, we were beginning to bring- 
 back Messrs. Clairet and Coudin to the use 
 of their reason ; or rather he who watched 
 over us dispelled this fatal quarrel, by turn- 
 ing our attention to the new danger which 
 threatened us, at the moment when cruel dis- 
 cord was, perhaps, about to break out among 
 wretches already a prey to so many other 
 evils it was a number of sharks which came 
 and surrounded our raft. They approached 
 so near, that we were able to strike them 
 with our sabre, but we could not subdue 
 one of them, notwithstanding the good- 
 ness of the weapon we possessed, and the 
 ardour with which the brave Lavillette made 
 use of it. The blows which he struck these 
 monsters, made them replunge into the sea; 
 but a few seconds after, they re-appeared 
 upon the surface, and did not seem at 
 
 K 2 
 
132 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 all alarmed at our presence. Their backs 
 rose about 30 centimetres above the water: 
 several of them appeared to us to be at least 
 10 metres in length. 
 
 Three days passed in inexpressible an- 
 guish ; we despised life to such a degree 
 that many of us did riot fear to bathe in 
 sight of the sharks which surrounded our 
 raft; others placed themselves naked on the 
 front part of our machine which was still 
 submerged : these means diminished, a lit- 
 tle, their burning thirst. A kind of polypus 
 (mollusques),* known by seamen under the 
 name of galeve, was frequently driven in 
 great numbers on our raft, and when their 
 long arms clung to our naked bodies, they 
 caused us the most cruel sufferings. Will 
 it be believed, that amidst these dreadful 
 scenes, struggling with inevitable death, 
 some of us indulged in pleasantries which 
 excited a smile, notwithstanding the horror 
 of our situation ? One, among others said, 
 joking, " If the brig is sent to look for us, 
 " let us pray to God that she may have the 
 " eyes of A rgus" alluding to the name of 
 
 * Perhaps a kind of sea-nettle is here meant. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 133 
 
 the vessel, which we presumed would be 
 sent after us. This consolatory idea did not 
 quit us an instant, and we spoke of it fre- 
 quently. 
 
 During the day of the 16th, reckoning 
 ourselves to be very near land, eight of the 
 most determined of us, resolved to try to 
 reach the coast : we unfastened a strong fish 
 of a mast,* which made part of the little 
 parapet of which we have spoken, we fixed 
 boards to it at intervals, transversely, by 
 means of great nails, to hinder it from up- 
 setting ; a little mast and sail were fixed 
 in the front ; we intended to provide our- 
 selves with oars made of barrel staves, cut 
 out with the only sabre we had remain- 
 ing: we cut pieces of rope, we split them, 
 and made smaller ropes, that were more 
 easy to manage : a hammock cloth, which 
 was by chance on the raft, served for a sail; 
 the dimensions of which, might be about 
 130 centimetres in breadth and 160 in length: 
 the transverse diameter of the fish was 60 
 or 70 centimetres, and its length about 12 
 metres. A certain portion of wine was 
 
 * What is called a fish, is a long piece of wood con- 
 cave on one side, serving to be applied to the side of a 
 
134 NARRAllVfc 01 A 
 
 assigned to us, and our departure fixed for 
 the next day, thr? J7th, When our machine 
 was finished, it remained to make a trial of 
 it: a sailor wanting to pass from the front 
 to the back of it, finding the mast in his 
 way, set his foot on one of the cross boards; 
 the weight ot his body made it upset, and 
 this accident proved to us the temerity of 
 our enterprise. It was then resolved that we 
 should allawaitdeathinourpresent situation: 
 the cable which fastened the machine to our 
 raft, was made loose, and it drifted away. 
 It is very certain that if we had ventured 
 upon this second raft, weak as we were, we 
 should not have been able to hold out six 
 hours, with our legs in the water, and thus 
 obliged continually to row. 
 
 Mean time the night came, and its 
 gloomy shades revived in our minds the 
 most afflicting thoughts; we were convinced 
 that there were not above twelve or fifteen 
 bottles of wine left in our barrel. We began 
 to ftel an invincible disgust at the flesh 
 which had till then, scarcely supported us; 
 and we may say that the sight of it inspired 
 
 mast, to strengthen it when in danger of breaking, it is 
 fastened by strong ropes ; hence, te fish a mast. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 135 
 
 us with a sentiment of terror, which was 
 doubtless produced by the idea of approach- 
 ing destruction. 
 
 On the 17th, in the morning, the sun 
 appeared entirely free from clouds; after 
 having put up our prayers to the Almighty, 
 we divided among us, a part of our wine; 
 every one was taking with delight his small 
 portion, when a captain of infantry looking 
 towards the horizon, descried a ship, and 
 announced it to us by an exclamation of joy : 
 we perceived that it was a brig; but it was 
 at a very great distance ; we could distin- 
 guish only the tops of the masts. The sight 
 of this vessel excited in us a transport of 
 joy which it would be difficult to describe ; 
 each of us believed his deliverance certain, 
 and we gave a thousand thanks to God ; 
 yet, fears mingled with our hopes : we 
 straitened some hoops of casks, to the end 
 of which we tied handkerchiefs of different 
 colours. A man, assisted by us all together, 
 mounted to the top of the mast and waved 
 these little flags. 
 
 For above half an hour, we were sus^ 
 pended between hope and fear; some thought 
 
136 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 they saw the ship become larger, and others 
 affirmed that its course carried it from us : 
 these latter were the only ones whose eyes 
 were not fascinated by hope, for the brig 
 disappeared. From the delirium of joy, we 
 fell into profound despondency and grief; 
 we envied the fate of those whom we had 
 seen perish at our side, and we said to our- 
 selves, when we shall be destitute of every 
 thing, and our strength begins to forsake 
 us, we will wrap ourselves up as well as we 
 can, we will lay ourselves down on this 
 platform, the scene of so many sufferings, 
 and there we will await death with resig- 
 nation. At last, to calm our despair, we 
 wished to seek some consolation in the arms 
 of sleep ; the day before we had been con- 
 sumed by the fire of a burning sun ; this 
 day, to avoid the fierceness of his beams, we 
 made a tent with the sails of the frigate : 
 as soon as it was put up, we all lay down 
 under it, so that we could not perceive what 
 was passing around us. We then proposed 
 to inscribe upon a board an account of our 
 adventures, to write all our names at the 
 bottom of the narrative, and to fasten it to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. , 13? 
 
 the upper part of the mast, in the hope that 
 it would reach the government and our fa- 
 milies. 
 
 After we had passed two hours, ab- 
 sorbed in the most cruel reflections, the 
 master gunner of the frigate wishing to go 
 10 the front of the raft, went out of our tent ; 
 scarcely had he put his head out, when he 
 turned towards us, uttering a loud cry ; joy 
 was painted on his countenance, his hands 
 were stretched towards the sea, he scarce- 
 ly breathed : all that he could say, was, 
 " Saved! see the brig close upon us." And 
 in fact, it was, at the most, half a league 
 distant, carrying a press of sail, and steering 
 so as to come extremely close to us; we 
 precipitately left the tent : even those whom 
 enormous wounds, in the lower extremities, 
 had confined for some days past, always to 
 lie down, crawled to the back part of the 
 raft, to enjoy the sight of this vessel, which 
 was coming to deliver us from certain death. 
 \Ve all embraced each other with transports 
 that looked like delirium, and tears of joy 
 rolled down our cheeks, shrunk by the most 
 cruel privations. Every one seized hand- 
 kerchiefs, or pieces of linen to make signals 
 
138 NARRATIVE O* A 
 
 to the brig, which was approaching rapid- 
 ly. Others prostrating themselves, fervently 
 thanked Providence for our miraculous pre- 
 servation. Our joy redoubled when we per- 
 ceived a great white flag at the foremast head, 
 and we exclaimed " It is then to French- 
 '* men that we shall owe our deliverance. "We 
 almost immediately recognised the brig to 
 be the Argus: it was then within two mus- 
 ket shot : we were extremely impatient to 
 see her clue up her sails; she lowered them 
 at length, and fresh cries of joy rose from 
 our raft. The Argus came and lay-to on 
 our starboard, within half a pistol shot. 
 The crew, ranged on the deck and in the 
 shrouds, shewed, by waving their hats and 
 handkerchiefs, the pleasure they felt at 
 coming to the assistance of their unhappy 
 countrymen . A boat was immediately hoisted 
 out ; an officer belonging to the brig, whose 
 name was Mr. Lemaigre, had embarked in 
 it, in order to have the pleasure of taking 
 us himself from this fatal machine. This 
 officer, full of humanity and zeal, acquitted 
 himself of his mission in the kindest man- 
 ner, and took himself, those that were the 
 weakest, to convey them into the boat. Af- 
 
VOYAGE IO Sr.MXrAL. 139 
 
 ler all the others were placed in it, Mr. Le- 
 niaigre came and took in his arms Mr. Cor- 
 reard, whose health was the worst, and who 
 was the most excoriated : he placed him at 
 his side in the boat, bestowed on him all 
 imaginable cares, and spoke to him in the 
 most consoling terms. 
 
 In a short time we were all removed on 
 board the Argus, where we met with the 
 lieutenant of the frigate, and some others of 
 those who had been shipwrecked. Pity was 
 painted on every face, and compassion drew 
 tears from all who cast their eyes on us. 
 
 Let the reader imagine fifteen unfor- 
 tunate men, almost naked; their bodies and 
 faces disfigured by the scorching beams of 
 the sun ; ten of the fifteen were hardly able 
 1o move; our limbs were excoriated, our 
 sufferings were deeply imprinted on our 
 features, our eyes were hollow, and almost 
 wild, and our long beards rendered our ap- 
 pearance still more frightful ; we were but 
 the shadows of ourselves. We found on 
 board the brig some very good broth, which 
 had been got ready ; as soon as they per- 
 ceived us, they added some excellent wine 
 to it; thus they restored our almost ex- 
 
140 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 liausted strength ; they bestowed on us 
 the most generous care and attention ; our 
 wounds were dressed, and the next day 
 several of our sick began to recover ; how- 
 ever, some of us had a great deal to suffer; 
 for they were placed between decks, very 
 near the kitchen, which augmented the al- 
 most insupportable heat of these countries; 
 the want of room in a small vessel, was the 
 cause of this inconvenience. The number 
 of the shipwrecked was indeed too great. 
 Those who did not belong to the marine, 
 were laid upon cables, wrapped in some 
 flags, and placed under the kitchen fire, 
 which exposed them to perish in the night ; 
 fire having broken out between decks, about 
 ten o'clock, which had like to have re- 
 duced the vessel to ashes ; but timely as- 
 sistance w r as afforded, and we were saved for 
 the second time. We had scarcely escaped 
 when some of us again become delirious : 
 an officer of the army wanted to throw him- 
 self into the sea, to go and look for his 
 pocket book ; which he would have done 
 had he not been prevented; others were 
 seized in a manner equally striking. 
 
 The commander and officers of the brig 
 
VOYAGE TO SLNhGAL. 141 
 
 were eager to serve us, and kindly anticipated 
 our wants. They had just snatched ns from 
 death, by rescuing us from our raft ; their 
 reiterated care rekindled in us the flame of 
 life. Mr. Renaud, the surgeon, distinguished 
 himself by indefatigable zeal ; he passed 
 the whole day in dressing our wounds ; 
 and during the two days that we remained 
 on board the brig, he exerted all the re- 
 sources of his art, with a degree of attention 
 and gentleness which merit our eternal gra- 
 titude. 
 
 It was, in truth, time that our suf- 
 ferings should have an end : they had 
 already lasted thirteen days ; the strongest 
 among us might, at the most, have lived 
 forty- eight hours more. Mr. Correard, 
 felt that he must die in the course of the 
 day; yet he had a foreboding that we 
 should be saved; he said that a series of 
 events so extraordinary was not destined to 
 be buried in oblivion : that providence would 
 preserve some of us at least, to present to 
 mankind the affecting picture of our unhap- 
 py adventures. 
 
 Through how many terrible trials have 
 we past ! Where are the men who can say 
 
142 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 that they have been more unfortunate than 
 we have ? 
 
 The manner in which we w r ere saved is 
 truly miraculous: the finger of heaven is 
 conspicuous in this event. 
 
 The Argus had been dispatched, from 
 Senegal, to assist the shipwrecked people 
 belonging to the boats, and to look for the 
 raft; for several days it sailed along the 
 coast without meeting us, and gave pro- 
 visions to the people from the boats who 
 were crossing the great desert of Zaara ; 
 the captain, thinking that it would be use- 
 less to look for our raft any longer, steered 
 his course towards the harbour from which 
 he had been dispatched, in order to an- 
 nounce that his search had been fruitless ; it 
 was when he was running towards Sene- 
 gal that w r e perceived him. In the morn- 
 ing he was not above forty leagues from the 
 mouth of the river, when the wind veered 
 to the South West; the captain, as by a 
 kind of inspiration, said that they ought 
 to go about, the winds blew towards the 
 frigate ; after they had run two hours on 
 this tack, the man at the mast head, an- 
 nounced a vessel : when the brig was nearer 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 143 
 
 to vis, by the aid of glasses, they perceived 
 that it was our raft. When we were taken 
 up by the Argus, we asked this question : 
 Gentlemen have you been long looking for 
 us ? We were answered yes; but that, how- 
 ever, the captain had not received any posi- 
 tive orders on the subject; and that we were 
 indebted to chance alone, for the good for- 
 tune of having been met with. We repeat 
 with pleasure the expression of Mr. Parna- 
 jon, addressed to one of us. " If they were 
 " to give me the rank of captain of a fri- 
 " gate, I should feel a less lively pleasure, 
 " than that which I experienced when I 
 " met your raft." Some persons said to us 
 without reserve, <c We thought you were all 
 <c dead a week ago." We say that the 
 commander of the brig had not received 
 positive orders to look for us. The following 
 were his instructions : " Mr. de Parnajon, 
 " commanding the brig Argus, will proceed 
 " to the side of the desert with his vessel, 
 " will employ every means to assist the 
 " shipwrecked persons, who must have 
 " reached the coast ; and will supply them 
 " with such provisions and ammunition as 
 <c they may want; after having assured him- 
 
146 NAUiiATlVC Ol A 
 
 The governor having been apprised of our 
 arrival, sent a large-decked vessel to convey 
 us ashore. This vessel also brought us wine 
 and some refreshments; the master, thinking 
 the tide sufficiently high to enable him to 
 pass the bar of sand, which lies at the 
 mouth of the river, resolved to land us at 
 once upon the island. Those who were the 
 most feeble among us, were placed below 
 deck, together with a few of the least skilful 
 of the negroes, who composed the crew, and 
 the hatches closed upon us, to prevent the sea 
 from coming in between decks, while the 
 dangers occasioned by the surf running over 
 the bar, was passed. The wretched condition 
 to which we were reduced, was such as to 
 awaken a feeling of sympathy, even among 
 the blacks, who shed tears of compassion 
 for our misfortunes ; during this time, the 
 most profound silence reigned on board; the 
 voice of the master alone was heard ; as 
 soon as we were out of danger, the negroes 
 recommenced their songs, which did not 
 cease till we arrived at St. Louis, 
 
 We were received in the most bril- 
 liant manner ; the governor, several officers, 
 both English and French, came to meet us, 
 and one of the officers in this numerous train, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 145 
 
 St. Louis, where we cast anchor on the 19th 
 of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 Such is the faithful history of one hun- 
 dred and fifty persons, who were left upon 
 the raft ; only fifteen of whom were saved ; 
 and five of that number were so reduced, that 
 they died of fatigue, shortly after arriving at 
 St. Louis ; those who still exist are covered 
 with scars, and the cruel sufferings which 
 they have endured have greatly impaired 
 their constitution. 
 
 In terminating this recital of the unpa- 
 ralelled sufferings, to which we were a prey 
 for thirteen days, we beg leave to name those 
 who shared them with us : 
 
 Alice when we were saved. Notice of tJieir subse- 
 Messrs. quent fate. 
 
 Dupont, Captain of Foot; In Senegal. 
 
 L'Heureux, Lieutenant; In Senegal. 
 
 Lozach, Sub-Lieutenant ; Dead. 
 
 Clairet, Sub- Lieutenant; Dead. 
 
 U tofe mp ,o yra en,. 
 Coudin, eleve de marine; Midshipman. 
 
 Courtade, Master Gunner; Dead. 
 
 Lavillette, In France. 
 
 Coste, Sailor ; In France. 
 
 Thomas, Pilot; In France. 
 
 Fran 9018, Hospital Keeper; In the Indies. 
 
 Jean Charles, black Soldier ; Dead. 
 
 With Ut 
 Savigny, Surgeon, Resigned. 
 
146 NAUiJATlVK Ol A 
 
 The governor having been apprised of our 
 arrival, sent a large-decked vessel to convey 
 us ashore. This vessel also brought us wine 
 and some refreshments; the master, thinking 
 the tide sufficiently high to enable him to 
 pass the bar of sand, which lies at the 
 mouth of the river, resolved to land us at 
 once upon the island. Those who were the 
 most feeble among us, were placed below 
 deck, together with a few of the least skilful 
 of the negroes, who composed the crew, and 
 the hatches closed upon us, to prevent the sea 
 from coming in between decks, while the 
 dangers occasioned by the surf running over 
 the bar, was passed. The wretched condition 
 to which we were reduced, was such as to 
 awaken a feeling of sympathy, even among 
 the blacks, who shed tears of compassion 
 for our misfortunes ; during this time, the 
 most profound silence reigned on board; the 
 voice of the master alone was heard ; as 
 soon as we were out of danger, the negroes 
 recommenced their songs, which did not 
 cease till we arrived at St. Louis. 
 
 We were received in the most bril- 
 liant manner ; the governor, several officers, 
 both English and French, came to meet us, 
 and one of the officers in this numerous train, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 147 
 
 held out to us a hand, which a fortnight 
 before, had, as it were, plunged us in the 
 depth of despair by loosening the tow-rope 
 which made our raft fast to the boat. But 
 such is the effect produced by the sight 
 of wretches who have just been miracu- 
 lously delivered, that there was not a single 
 person, either English or French, who did 
 not shed tears of compassion on seeing the 
 deplorable condition to which we were re- 
 duced; all seemed truly affected by our 
 distress, and by the intrepidity which we had 
 shewn on the raft. Yet we could not con- 
 tain our indignation, at the sight of some 
 persons in this train. 
 
 Some of us were received by two French 
 merchants, who bestowed on us every atten- 
 tion, and rendered every assistance in their 
 power. Messrs. Valentin and Lasalle stimu- 
 lated by that natural impulse which incites 
 man to assist a fellow creature in distress, 
 is, on that account, entitled to the highest 
 praise. We are extremely sorry to say that 
 they were the only colonists who gave assis- 
 tance to the shipwrecked people belonging 
 to the raft. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Before we proceed to the second part 
 of our work, in which we shall include the 
 history of the Camp of Daccard and of the 
 unfortunate persons shipwrecked in the Me- 
 dusa, who remained in the hospitals of St. 
 Louis, let us cast our eyes back, and examine 
 what were the operations of the boats after 
 the tow-lines had been loosened, and the 
 raft abandoned. 
 
 The long-boat was the last which we 
 lost sight of. It descried the land and the 
 Isles of Arguin, the same evening before 
 sun-set : the other boats must, therefore, ne- 
 cessarily have seen it some time before, 
 which proves, we think, that when we were 
 abandoned, we were at a very small distance 
 from the coast. Two boats succeeded in 
 reaching Senegal without accident; they 
 were those in which were the governor 
 and the commander of the frigate. During 
 the bad weather, which forced the other 
 boats to make the land, these two had a 
 great deal of difficulty to resist a heavy sea 
 and an extremely high wind. Two young 
 .seamen gave proofs of courage and coolness 
 iu these critical moments, in the bar^e. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 149 
 
 Mr. Barbotin, eleve of the marine: and in 
 the captain's barge, Mr. Rang,* also an 
 eleve of the marine, as deserving of praise 
 for his knowledge, as for the courage he dis- 
 played on this occasion ; both of them, as 
 long as the bad weather lasted, remained 
 at the helm, and guided the boats. One 
 Thomas, steersman, and one Lange, the 
 boatswain's mate, also shewed great cou- 
 rage, and all the experience of old seamen. 
 These two boats, reached the Echo corvette, 
 on the 9th, at 10 o'clock in the evening, 
 which had been at anchor for some days, in 
 the road of St. Louis. A council was held, 
 and the most prompt and certain measures 
 adopted to assist those who were left on board 
 the boats and the raft. 
 
 * The conduct of this young man merits some recom- 
 pense, f At the end of 1816, there was a promotion of 
 80 midshipmen, who were to be taken from the ettves 
 who had been the longest in the service; Mr. Rang 
 was amongst the first 70, according to the years he had 
 been in the service, and should therefore have been 
 named by right. In fact, it is said that he was placed on 
 the list of Candidates ; but that his name was struck out 
 because some young men, (whom they call proteges) ap- 
 plied to the ministry, and were preferred. 
 
150 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 The Argus brig was appointed tor this 
 mission. The commander of this vessel, 
 burning with eagerness to fly to the assis- 
 tance of his unfortunate countrymen, wanted 
 to set sail that very moment; but causes, 
 respecting which we shall be silent, fettered 
 his zeal ; however, this distinguished officer 
 executed the orders which he received with 
 uncommon activity. 
 
 Let us return to the history of the four 
 other boats; and first, that of the princi- 
 pal, which was the long-boat. As soon as 
 it descried the land, it tacked and stood out 
 in the open sea ; because it was on the shal- 
 lows, and it would 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, aud 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, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 151 
 
 following the sea-coast. This landing was 
 effected to the North of Cape Meric, eighty or 
 ninety leagues from the Isle of St. Louis. (17) 
 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 mo- 
 tions 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 dis- 
 trusted the other : the long-boat did its 
 utmost to rally them ; but they employed 
 all the means they could to avoid the meet- 
 ing; even the officers assisted in working 
 them, because some persons had asserted 
 that the crew of the long-boat had muti- 
 nied, and had even threatened to fire on the 
 
 other boats.* The long-boat, on the other 
 
 _ ; _ : 
 
 * This report of a mutiny, among the crew of the 
 long-boat, began to circulate as soon as it joined the line 
 which the boats formed before the raft. The following is 
 what was told us: when the boats had abandoned the raft, 
 several men, in the long-boat, subaltern officers of the 
 troops on board, exclaimed : " let us fire on those who fly;" 
 
152 NARRATIVE Ol A 
 
 hand, which had just landed a part of its 
 people, advanced to inform the other boats 
 that it was able to relieve them, incase 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 con- 
 tained. At two o'clock in the afternoon, of 
 the 8th, (18) 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 
 
 already their muskets were loaded ; but the officer, who 
 commanded, had influence enough to hinder them from 
 executing their purpose. We have also been told that 
 one F. a quarter-master, presented his piece at the captain 
 of the frigate. This is all we have been able to collect 
 concerning this pretended revolt. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 153 
 
 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 been able to 
 resist the violence of the weather, being 
 besides, destitute of provisions, had also 
 been obliged to make the land on the 8tb: 
 the first, at five in the afternoon ; the 
 second, at eleven in the morning. The 
 officers joined their crews, ranged them 
 in order, and proceeded towards Senegal; 
 but they were in distress, destitute of re- 
 sources of every kind : without a guide, on 
 a coast inhabited by barbarians : hunger 
 and thirst cruelly tormented them ; the 
 beams of a scorching sun, reflected from 
 the immense sandy plains, aggravated their 
 sufferings. In the day, oppressed by ex- 
 oessive heat, they could scarcely move a 
 step: it was only in the cool of the morning 
 and the evening, that they could pursue 
 their painful march. Having, after infi- 
 nite pains, crossed the downs, they met 
 with vast plains, where they had the good 
 fortune to find water, by digging holes in 
 the sand : this refreshing beverage gave them 
 fresh life and hope. 
 
J54 NARRATIVE 01 A 
 
 This manner of procuring water is 
 mentioned by many travellers, and practised 
 in various countries. All along the coasts 
 of Senegambia, and for some distance in 
 land, they find, by digging in the sand to 
 the depth of five or six feet^ a white and 
 brackish water, which is exclusively used in 
 these countries, both for the ordinary beve- 
 rage and domestic purposes ; the water of 
 the Senegal, may, however, be used at St. 
 Louis at the time of the rise or inunda- 
 tion 
 
 The Moors have signs, which they have 
 agreed upon among themselves, to inform 
 each other at a distance when they have 
 found water. As the sands of the desert 
 lie in undulations, and the surface of these 
 plains has the appearance of a sea, broken 
 in large waves, which, by some sudden en- 
 chantment, had been fixed and suspended 
 before they could fall back ; it is on the 
 ridges of these motionless waves, that the 
 Moors in general travel, unless they run in 
 a direction too different from that of their 
 intended route, in which case they are 
 obliged to traverse them ; but besides, as 
 these ridges themselves arc not always 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 155 
 
 ranged parallel to each other, but frequent- 
 ly cross each other, the Moors always have 
 some of their party before, to serve as guides, 
 and to point out, by signs with their hands, 
 at every crossing, on which side they ought 
 to go ; and also every thing which prudence 
 requires they should know before hand, as 
 well as the water, or rather the moisture 
 and verdure which are to be perceived. In 
 general, these people who approach the sea- 
 coast during the winds and hurricanes of 
 the summer solstice, rarely keep on the 
 breach properly so called, because they and 
 their cattle are too much tormented by my- 
 riads of flies which never quit the sea-coast. 
 In this same season the appearance of the 
 gnats, or mosquitoes, induces them to remove 
 from the Senegal, for their cattle being in- 
 cessantly stung by these animals, become 
 mad and sick. 
 
 Our people met with some of these 
 Moors, and in some measure forced them to 
 serve as guides; after continuing their march 
 along the sea-coast, they perceived on the 
 morning of the llth, the Argus brig, which 
 was cruising to assist those who had landed ; 
 as soon as the brig perceived them, it ap- 
 
156 NARRATIVE OI A 
 
 proached very near to the coast, lay-to, and 
 sent a boat on shore with biscuit and 
 wine. 
 
 On the llth, in the evening, they met 
 with more of the natives, and an Irish cap- 
 tain of a merchant ship, who, of his own 
 accord, had come from St. Louis with the 
 intention of assisting the sufferers : he spoke 
 the language of the country, and had put 
 on the same dress as the Moors. We are 
 sorry that we cannot recollect the name of 
 this foreign officer, which we should take 
 particular pleasure in publishing ; but since 
 time has effaced it from our memory, we will 
 at least publish his zeal and noble efforts, 
 which are an unquestionable title to the 
 gratitude of every man of feeling. At last, 
 after the most cruel sufferings and priva- 
 tions, the unfortunate men who composed 
 the crews of the great-boat, and of that 
 which we called the Senegal boat, twenty- 
 five men from the long-boat, and fifteen 
 persons from the pirogue, arrived at Saint 
 Louis, on the 13th of July, at seven o'clock 
 in the evening, after having wandered above 
 five whole days, in the midst of these fright- 
 ful deserts, which on all sides presented to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 157 
 
 their eyes only the most profound solitude, 
 and the prospect of inevitable destruction. 
 
 During their progress, they had to strug- 
 gle with the most dreadful extremes of hun- 
 ger and thirst; the latter was such, that 
 the first time that several of them discovered 
 water in the desert, such selfishness was 
 manifested that those who had found these 
 beneficent springs, knelt down four or five 
 together, near the hole which they had just 
 dug, and there, with their eyes fixed on 
 the water, made signs to their comrades 
 not to approach them ; that they had found 
 the springs, and that they alone had a 
 right to drink at them ; it was not till af- 
 ter the most urgent supplications that they 
 granted a little water to their wretched com- 
 panions, who were consumed by a raging 
 thirst. When they met with any Moors, 
 they obtained some assistance from them ; 
 but these barbarians carried their inhuma- 
 nity so far as to refuse to shew them the 
 springs which are scattered along the shore: 
 sordid avarice made them act in this mari- 
 ner to these unhappy people ; for when the 
 latter had passed a well, the Moors drew 
 water from it, which they sold to them at 
 
 
J5S NARRATIVE 01 A 
 
 a gourd for a glass; they exacted the same 
 price for a small handful of millet. When 
 the brig approached the coast, to assist these 
 unfortunate men, a great many of the na- 
 tives of the country immediately crowned 
 the heights ; their number was so great, 
 that it caused some fear in the French, 
 who immediately formed, in order of battle, 
 under the command of a captain of infantry. 
 Two officers went to ask the chiefs of the 
 Moors what were their intentions ? whether 
 they desired peace or war? They gave the 
 officers to understand that far from wishing 
 to act as enemies, they were willing to 
 afford the shipwrecked people all the assis- 
 tance in their power ; but these barbarians 
 shewed, on all occasions, a perfidiousness 
 which is peculiar to the inhabitants of these 
 climates; when the brig had sent biscuit 
 on shore, they seized the half of it, and a 
 few moments after, sold it at an exorbitant 
 price, to those from whom they had stolen 
 it. If they met with any soldiers or sailors 
 who had had the imprudence to stray from 
 the main body, they stripped them entirely, 
 and then ill treated them; it was only num- 
 bers united, which, inspiring them with fear. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 1.59 
 
 that did not receive any insult from them ; 
 besides, there exists between the chiefs of 
 these tribes and the government of the Isle 
 of St. Louis, a treaty, in which it is stipu- 
 lated that a large reward shall be given to 
 the Moors, who meet in the desert with per- 
 sons that have been shipwrecked, and bring 
 them to the European factory : these barba- 
 rians were therefore induced by their in- 
 terest, and if they brought back those who 
 went astray, it was only in hope of obtaining 
 a reward. 
 
 The women and young children in- 
 spired the greatest pity. These feeble beings 
 could not put their delicate feet on the 
 burning sands, and were besides incapable 
 of walking for any length of time. The 
 officers themselves assisted the children, and 
 carried them in turn: their example in- 
 duced others to imitate them; but having 
 met with some Moors, who never travel in 
 these deserts without having their camels 
 and their asses with them, all that were 
 not able to walk, mounted these animals: 
 to obtain this indulgence, it was necessary 
 to pay two gourds for a day ; so that it was 
 impossible for Mr.Picard, who had a nume- 
 
160 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 rous family, to bear so great an expence ; 
 his respectable young ladies were therefore 
 obliged to walk. 
 
 One day at noon, which was the hour 
 for halting, the eldest of these young ladies, 
 exhausted with fatigue, withdrew to a soli- 
 tary place to take some moments rest. She 
 fell asleep upon the beach ; to guard her- 
 self from the musquitoes, she had covered 
 her breast and face with a large shawl. 
 While every body was sleeping, one of the 
 Moors who served as guides, either from 
 curiosity, or some other motive, approached 
 her softly, attentively examined her ap- 
 pearance, and not content with this, lift- 
 ing up the shawl, looked at her with fixed 
 eyes, remained for a few moments like one 
 profoundly astonished, approached her then 
 very near, but did not venture to touch her. 
 After having looked at her for some time, 
 he let fall the veil, and returned to his 
 place, where he joyfully related to his com- 
 rades what he had just seen . Several French- 
 men who had perceived the Moor, informed 
 Mr. Picard. who resolved, on the obliging 
 offers of the officers, to dress these ladies in 
 a military dress, which, for the future, pre- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 101 
 
 vented all attempts of the inhabitants of the 
 desert. 
 
 Before they arrived at the Senegal, the 
 Irish officer, of whom we have already 
 spoken, bought an ox : it was immediately 
 killed ; they collected such combustibles as 
 they could find, and \yhen the animal was 
 divided into as many portions as there were 
 persons, each fixed his portion to the end 
 of his sabre or bayonet, and thus they pre- 
 pared a repast which they found delicious. 
 
 During the whole time they remained in 
 the desert, biscuit, wine and brandy, in very 
 small quantities, had been their principal 
 nourishment ; sometimes they procured by 
 money, from the Moors, milk and millet; 
 but what most distressed them was, that in 
 the midst of these sandy plains, it was ab- 
 solutely impossible for them to shelter them- 
 selves from the rays of a burning sun, which 
 inflames the atmosphere of these desert 
 regions. Scorched by insupportable heat, 
 almost destitute of the first necessaries of 
 life, some of them partly lost their senses; a 
 spirit of mutiny even shewed itself for some 
 moments, and two officers, whose conduct 
 is, however, irreproachable, were marked as 
 
 M 
 
162 NARRATIVE OF \ 
 
 the first victims : happily they did not pro- 
 ceed to open violence. Many of those who 
 crossed the desert, have assured us that there 
 were moments when they were quite beside 
 themselves. 
 
 An officer of the army in particular, 
 gave signs of the most violent despair ; he 
 rolled himself in the sand, begging his com- 
 rades to kill him, because he could no longer 
 bear up against so many sufferings. They 
 succeeded in calming him; he arrived at 
 St. Louis with the caravan. (20) 
 
 The sixty-three who embarked near the 
 Moles of Angel, had a longer series of fa- 
 tigue to endure : they had to go between 
 eighty and ninety leagues, in the immense 
 desert of Zaara. After their landing, they 
 had to cross downs that were extremely 
 elevated, in order to reach the plain, in 
 which they had the good fortune to meet 
 with a vast pond of fresh water, where they 
 quenched their thirst, and near which they 
 lay down to rest. Having met with some 
 Moors, they took them for guides, and after 
 long marches, and the most cruel privations, 
 they arrived at the Senegal, on the 23d of 
 July, in the evening. Some of them perished 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 163 
 
 for want : among this number was an un- 
 happy gardener, and the wife of a soldier: 
 this poor woman, exhausted with fatigue, 
 told her husband to abandon her, for, that 
 it was impossible for her to proceed ; the 
 soldier in despair, said to her in a rage : 
 " well, since you cannot walk, to hinder 
 " you from being devoured alive by wild 
 " beasts, or carried into captivity among 
 " the Moors, I will run you through the 
 " body with my sabre ;" he did not execute 
 this threat, which he had probably con- 
 ceived in a moment of despair; but the 
 poor woman fell, and died under the most 
 cruel sufferings. 
 
 Some persons having strayed from the 
 main body, were taken by the natives of the 
 country, and carried into the camp of the 
 Moors ; an officer remained above a month 
 with them, and was afterwards brought to 
 the Isle of St. Louis. The naturalist, Kum- 
 mer, and Mr. Rogery, having separated 
 from the troops, were forced to wander from 
 one horde to another, and were at last con- 
 ducted to Senegal. Their story, which we 
 are now going to give, will complete the 
 narrative of the adventures of our ship- 
 
 M 2 
 
164 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 wrecked companions who traversed the de- 
 sarti 
 
 After the stranding of the long-boat, 
 Mr. Rummer quitted the caravan, formed 
 by the persons wrecked, and proceeded in 
 an easterly direction, in the hope of meeting 
 with some Moors, who would give him 
 food, to appease the hunger and thirst which 
 he had endured for two days. Shortly after 
 his departure, Mr. Rogery took the same 
 resolution as our naturalist, and followed a 
 route parallel to that taken by Mr. Rummer. 
 This latter walked the whole day without 
 meeting with any body ; towards the even- 
 ing he perceived, at a distance, some fires on 
 the heights which generally lie round the 
 ponds. This sight filled him with joy, and 
 with hopes of meeting, at length, with some 
 Moors who would conduct him to the Isle 
 of St. Louis, and give him food of which 
 he was much in need ; he advanced with a 
 firm and rapid step/ went up to the Moors, 
 who were under their tents, with much as- 
 surance, pronouncing as well as he could, a 
 few words in Arabic, in w r hich language he had 
 taken some lessons while in France, and which 
 he accompanied with profound salutations : 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 165 
 
 " Receive/' said he, " in your tents, the 
 C son of an unfortunate Mahometan woman, 
 " whom I am going to join in Upper Egypt; 
 4 a shipwreck has thrown me on your coast, 
 " and I come in the name of the great 
 " prophet, to ask you for hospitality and 
 " assistance." At the name of the great 
 prophet, Mr. Kummer bowed his face to the 
 earth, and made the customary salutation : 
 the Moors did the same, and doubted not 
 but that they saw, before them, a follower 
 of Mahomet. 
 
 They received him with joy, asked him 
 to enter their tents, and to give a short 
 account of his adventures. Milk, and flour 
 of millet, were given him, and this food 
 revived his strength. Then the Moors made 
 him promise to conduct them to the place 
 where the long-boat had stranded; they 
 hoped to get possessions of the numerous ef- 
 fects, which they supposed the persons ship- 
 wrecked to have abandoned on the shore. 
 Having made this promise, Mr. Kummer 
 went to examine the tents, and the flocks 
 of the chief of this tribe who conducted 
 him himself, and boasted of his wealth and 
 his dignity : he told him that he was the 
 
166 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Prince Fune Fahdime Muhammed, son of 
 Liralie Zaide, King of the Moors, called 
 Trazas, and that, when he returned from the 
 sea coast, he would take him to the King, 
 his father, and that he would see there, his 
 numerous slaves, and his innumerable flocks. 
 While they were walking about the camp, 
 Prince Muhammed perceived that Mr.Kum- 
 mer had a watch : he desired to see it ; of 
 course, he could not refuse to shew it ; the 
 prince took it, and told Mr. Kummer that 
 he would return it him when they should 
 arrive at Andar, which promise he punc- 
 tually performed. They arrived at last at 
 the head of the flock, and our naturalist 
 was astonished at the extraordinary care 
 which these people take of their beasts. 
 The horses and camels were in a separate 
 place, and the whole flock was on the bor- 
 der of a large salt pond ; behind them, the 
 slaves had formed a line of fires of great 
 extent, to drive away the mosquitoes and 
 other insects, which torment these animals : 
 they were all remakably beautiful. While 
 traversing, with the chief, the various quarters 
 of the camp, Mr. Kummer beheld with sur- 
 prise, their manner of cleaning their beasts. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 107 
 
 Upon an order of the Prince, the men, 
 charged with this employment, take the 
 strongest oxen by the horns, and throw 
 them down on the sand with astonishing 
 ease ; the slaves then take the animal, and 
 clear its whole body from the insects, which, 
 notwithstanding the fires that surround the 
 flocks, get among the hair of the cattle, 
 which they torment cruelly. After this first 
 operation, they are washed with care, par- 
 ticularly the cows, which are then milked. 
 These various operations generally employ 
 the slaves, and even the masters, till eleven 
 o'clock at night. Mr. Kummer was after- 
 wards invited to repose in the Prince's tent ; 
 but before he could go to sleep, he was 
 assailed with a multitude of questions. The 
 history of the French Revolution has pene- 
 trated to these people; and they put ques- 
 tions to our naturalist which surprised him 
 much ; they afterwards asked him why our 
 vessels no longer came to Portendick and 
 the Isles of Arguin ; after this, they allowed 
 him to take a few moments' repose; but 
 the poor Toubabe, (the name which the 
 Moors give to the whites) did not dare to 
 indulge himself in sleep; he feared the per- 
 
168 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 fidy of the Moors, and their rapacious spirit; 
 however, exhausted by three days incessant 
 fatigue, he fell asleep for a few moments ; 
 he had but a very disturbed slumber; 
 during which, the barbarians took away his 
 purse, which still contained thirty pieces of 
 20 francs each, his cravat, pocket handker- 
 chief, great-coat, shoes, waistcoat, and some 
 other things which he carried in his pockets: 
 he had nothing left but a bad pair of pan- 
 taloons and a hunting jacket; his shoes were, 
 however, returned to him. 
 
 The next morning, at sun-rise, the 
 Moors made their salam, (a Mahometan 
 prayer): then about eight o'clock, the Prince, 
 four of his subjects, Mr. Kummer, and a 
 slave, set out for the sea-coast, in order to 
 look for the wreck of the long-boat. They 
 proceeded first towards the South, then to 
 the West, then to the North, which made 
 Mr. Kummer imagine that they were con- 
 ducting him to Morocco. The Moors have 
 no other method of finding their way, than 
 to go from one eminence to another, which 
 obliges them to take all sorts of directions ; 
 after they had proceeded five or six leagues 
 to the East, they again turned to the West, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 169 
 
 then to the South West. After walking a 
 considerable time longer, they^ arrived at the 
 shore, where t ey found but few thing's. 
 What pa ticular y attracted their attention, 
 was pieces of copper : they took them away, 
 resolving to return and fetch the fragments 
 of the long-boat, and several barrel, which 
 the currents had driven on the coast. After 
 taking whatever they could carry away, they 
 set out towards Ihe East, arid at the end of 
 about two leagues, they met some other 
 Moors, also subjects of Prince Muhammed ; 
 they stopped and lay down under their 
 tents : the Prince lay down under the finest, 
 and ordered refreshments to be given to the 
 Toubabe, who was worn out with fatigue 
 and want of nourishment. Here Mr. Kum- 
 iner was tormented by the women and chil- 
 dren, who came every moment to touch and 
 feel the fineness of his skin, and to take 
 away some fragments of his shirt, and the 
 tew things which he had left. During the 
 evening, fresh questions were put to him 
 respecting the cruel wars which desolated 
 France; he was obliged to trace the account 
 of them, on the sand in Arabic letters. It 
 was this extreme complaisance, andhispre- 
 
170 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 tended quality of the son of aChristian and of 
 a Mahometan woman, which caused him to be 
 upon very good terms with Prince Muham- 
 med, and in general, with all the Moors whom 
 he met with, on his journey. Every moment 
 of the day, the Prince begged Mr. Kummer, 
 to make the wheels of his watch go, the mo-* 
 tions of which, much astonished the Moors ; 
 our traveller was on his side equally sur- 
 prised, to see among the hordes, children 
 five or six years of age, who wrote Arabic 
 perfectly well. 
 
 The next day, July 8, at day-break, 
 the Moors went and stationed themselves 
 on the summit of a hill. There, prostrated 
 with their faces turned to wards the East, they 
 waited for the rising of the sun, to perform 
 their salam, which they begin the moment 
 he appears in the horizon. Mr. Kummer 
 followed them, imitated them in all their 
 ceremonies, and never failed in the sequel, 
 to perform his devotions at the same time 
 as they did. The ceremony being over, the 
 prince and his suite, continued their route 
 in the direction of the South East,, which 
 again frightened the poor Toubabe; he 
 thought that the Moors were going to re- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 171 
 
 same their course to the North and that in 
 the end they would take him to Morocco; 
 then he endeavoured to impart his uneasi- 
 ness to Prince Muhammed, who at last com- 
 prehended him ; but to make it quite clear, 
 Mr. Kummer drew upon the sand, a part of 
 the map of Africa ; mean time, he heard 
 them continually pronounce the word An- 
 dar, which did not at all diminish his alarms; 
 but by the lines which he traced, he soon 
 understood that the Moors meant the Isle 
 of St. Louis; of which he was convinced 
 when he had written the name of the Euro- 
 pean factory, by the side of that of Andar. 
 The Moors let him know that they had 
 comprehended him ; and shewed great joy 
 that a white could understand their lan- 
 guage. 
 
 At noon, they stopped on the side of a 
 great pond or lake. Mr. Kummer, who was 
 extremely fatigued, lay down on the sand, 
 and fell asleep immediately. During his 
 sleep, the Moors went to look for a fruit, 
 produced by a tree which generally grows 
 on the sides of these lakes (uiarigots). They 
 are bunches of little red berries, and very 
 
172 NAJI'KATIVE 01' A 
 
 refreshing: the Moors are very fond of them, 
 and make great use of them.* 
 
 During this time, chance ordered it, 
 that Mr. Rogery, who had also been taken 
 by the Moors, stopped at the same place : 
 he was brought by some of the natives, who 
 were taking him also to their sovereign 
 Zaide : he soon perceived Mr. Kummer 
 lying with his face to the earth, and thought 
 he w T as dead ; at this sight, a mortal chill- 
 ness pervaded all the limbs of the unfortu- 
 nate Rogery ; he deplored the loss of a 
 friend, of a companion in misfortune : he 
 approached him trembling ; but his grief 
 was soon changed into joy, when he per- 
 ceived that his friend still breathed ; he 
 
 * The fruit here mentioned, is probably jujubes 
 (ziziphum), in their last stage of maturity. The author of 
 this note, has found in the deserts of Barbary, and the 
 shades of the Acacias, some immense jujubes ; but, be- 
 sides this fruit, the only one of a red or reddish colour 
 which he has remarked in this country, are those of some 
 caparidees, very acid ; some icaques before they are ripe; 
 the tampus or sebestum of Africa, and the wood of a pra- 
 siitm, which is very common in most of the dry places : 
 the calyx of which, is swelled, succulent, and of an|orange 
 colour, good to eat, and much sought after by the natives. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 173 
 
 look hold of him, and embraced him eager- 
 ly 7 . These two unfortunate men were trans- 
 
 * 
 
 ported with mutual joy, at meeting in the 
 midst of their distress, with a fellow country- 
 man. Mr. Rogery had lost every thing; they 
 had taken from him about forty pieces of 20 
 francs each, his watch, and all his effects : 
 he had nothing left but his shirt, a very bad 
 pair of pantaloons, and a hat. The wives 
 of the Moors, and still more the children, 
 had greatly tormented him ; the latter, con- 
 tinually pinched him, and hindered him 
 from taking a moment's sleep. His charac- 
 ter was remarkably soured by this treatment, 
 and his faculties rather impaired. These two 
 unfortunate men, after having related their 
 distresses to each other, fell asleep close 
 together; some hours after, the Moors 're- 
 turned, and gave them some of the berries 
 we have before mentioned. The caravan 
 soon set forward again, and took a South 
 West direction, which led to the camp of 
 King Zaide : they reached it in the evening, 
 but the monarch was absent ; the report of 
 our shipwreck had reached his camp, and 
 Zaide, who desires to see every thing him- 
 self, had gone to the sea-shore to have as- 
 
174 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 sistance given to such of the persons ship- 
 wrecked, as he should meet with. The King 
 did not return till twenty-four hours after, 
 which gave time for our travellers to repose, 
 and for Prince Muhammed to make a bar- 
 gain with the two whites : to conduct them 
 to the Isle of St. Louis; the Prince de- 
 manded for his trouble, including the ex- 
 pences of provisions and travelling, 800 
 gourdes for each, and obliged them before 
 they set out, to sign an agreement in the 
 Arabic language : Mr. Ku miner consented 
 to it, and said to Mr. Rogery, when we 
 have once got to St, Louis, we will give 
 them what we please. The latter hesitated, 
 being much more scrupulous on that point, 
 he would not at first accede to an agree- 
 ment which he feared he should not be 
 able to perform ; but seeing that the Moors 
 were resolved to keep him among them, he 
 consented to accept the absolute proposal 
 of the Prince, and the conventions were 
 signed. 
 
 Our two travellers passed a part of 
 their time in examining the customs of these 
 people ; we shall mention some circum- 
 stances which particularly struck them. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 175 
 
 They observed, that theichildren imperiously 
 command their fathers and mothers : but 
 especially the latter, who never oppose their 
 inclinations; hence, doubtless comes that 
 despotic spirit, which is carried to the ex- 
 treme ; a refusal, or a delay, in the execu- 
 tions of their orders irritates them, and their 
 anger is so violent that, in the first trans- 
 port, the unhappy slave who may have ex- 
 cited their fury, runs the risk of being 
 stabbed on the spot. Hence, too doubtless 
 the manly boldness which characterises 
 them, and which seems to inspire those who 
 surround them, with respect and submis- 
 sion. The Moors are, in every respect, 
 much superior to the Negroes : braver than 
 they are, they reduce them to slavery, and 
 employ them in the hardest labour ; they 
 are, in general, tall and well made, and 
 their faces are very handsome, and full of 
 expression. 
 
 However, it may also be observed that 
 the Moors of both sexes, appear at the first 
 sight, like a people composed of two dis- 
 tinct races, which have nothing in common, 
 except, the extremely brown, or tanned co- 
 lour of their skin, and the shining black of 
 
176 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 their hair. The greater part of them, it is 
 true, are endowed with the stature, and the 
 noble, but austere features, which call to 
 mind some of the great Italian painters, but 
 there are several, (indeed the smaller num- 
 ber) whose cranium and profile form a sin- 
 gular contrast with the others. Their head 
 is remarkably elongated, the ears small : 
 the forehead, which, in the first, is very 
 high and finely formed, is contracted in the 
 latter, and becomes at the top disagreeably 
 protuberant; their eyes are sunk, and placed 
 as it were obliquely, which gives them the 
 savage look with which they are reproached, 
 and their lower jaw has a tendency to be 
 elongated. Some of them have, it is true, 
 the high forehead of the former : but it al- 
 ways differs by being sunk in at the base. 
 These latter are, perhaps, the descendants 
 of the aborigines of this country, whose 
 characteristic features are still discernible, 
 notwithstanding their alliance with so many 
 strangers ? History has, indeed, transmitted 
 to us some of the customs of the Numidians, 
 who were by turns, the enemies, and the 
 allies of the Romans; but it has not con- 
 descended to draw their portrait. Juvenal 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 177 
 
 somewhere speaks of the withered hands of 
 the Moors : manus ossea Mauri. But, be- 
 sides, that this is general in hot countries, 
 this description may be understood of ill-fed 
 slaves. 
 
 The travellers remarked that there was 
 no difference between the very frugal diet 
 of the slaves, who are all blacks, and that 
 of their masters. The fathers and mothers, 
 as well as the marabous, (a kind of priests) 
 pass their leisure moments in teaching the 
 principles of their religion, as well as in- 
 structing them in reading and writing on 
 the sand ; the wives of King Zaide, the 
 number of whom is considerable, passively 
 obey Fatima, who is the favourite, or chief 
 wife of the sovereign. 
 
 Our travellers estimated the number of 
 men, women, children and slaves, at seven 
 or eight hundred persons ; their flocks ap- 
 peared to them very numerous : they con- 
 stitute a part of the wealth of Zaide, who 
 possesses a great many besides, in different 
 parts of the kingdom, the extent of which 
 is pretty considerable ; it has about sixty 
 leagues of coast, and stretches to a great 
 depth in the interior of the desert. The 
 
 N 
 
178 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 people, as we have said, call themselves 
 Trasas, and profess the Mahometan reli- 
 gion; they hunt lions, tigers, leopards, and 
 all other ferocious animals, which abound 
 in this part of Africa. Their commerce is 
 in furs or skins, and ostrich feathers: they 
 manufacture the leather called basil, in 
 french, basane, which they prepare very 
 well ;(21) they make this leather into pocket- 
 books, to which they give different forms, 
 but in general, that of a sabretache. They 
 also dress goats skins, and join several to- 
 gether to give them more breadth; they are 
 known under the name of peaux demaures, 
 are excellent, and afford a complete defence 
 against the rain : in form, they nearly re- 
 semble the dress of a Capuchin ; they sell 
 all these articles in the interior, as well as 
 goldsmiths work, which they manufacture 
 with only a hammer, and a little anvil; but 
 their chief commerce, which is very exten- 
 sive, is in salt, which they carry to Tombuc- 
 too, and to Sego, large and very populous 
 cities, situated in the interior of Africa. Sego 
 is built on both sides of the river Niger, 
 and Tombuctoo not far from its banks, the 
 former about five hundred, and the latter 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 179 
 
 about six hundred leagues East of the Island 
 of Goree. The Marabous, who are almost 
 all traders, frequently extend their journeys 
 into Upper Egypt. The Moors and the 
 Negroes, have an extraordinary respect for 
 these priests, who manufacture leather, in- 
 to little etuis, perfumed bags, and pocket- 
 books, to which they give the name of gris- 
 gris. By means of magic words spoken 
 over the gris-gris, and little notes written 
 in Arabic, which they enclose in them, he 
 who carries such a one about him, is secure 
 against the bite of wild beasts; they make 
 them to protect the wearer against lions, 
 crocodiles, serpents, &c. They sell them 
 extremely dear, and those who possess them 
 set a very high value on them; the king 
 and the princes are not less superstitious 
 than those whom they command. There 
 are some who wear as many as twenty of 
 these gris-gris fixed to the neck, the arms, 
 and the legs. 
 
 After a day's stay, King Zaide arrived: 
 he had no ornament which distinguished 
 him ; but he was of a lofty stature, had an 
 open countenance, and three large teeth in 
 the upper jaw, on the left side, which pro- 
 
 N2 
 
180 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 jected at least two lines over the under lip. 
 which the Moors consider as a great beauty. 
 He was armed with a large sabre, a poniard 
 and a pair of pistols ; his soldiers had za- 
 gayes or lances, and little sabres in the 
 Turkish fashion. The King has always at 
 his side, his favourite negro, who wears a 
 necklace of red pearls, and is called Billai. 
 Zaide received the two whites kindly, or- 
 dered that they should be well-treated, and 
 that Mr. Rogery should not be molested, he 
 being continually tormented by the chil- 
 dren. Mr. Kummer was much more lively, 
 and did not mind his misfortunes ; he wrote 
 Arabic, and had passed himself off for the 
 son of a Mahometan woman ; all this great- 
 ly pleased the Moors, who treated him well: 
 while Mr. Rogery, deeply affected by his 
 misfortunes, and having just lost his last 
 resources, did not much rely on the good 
 faith of the Moors. 
 
 In the course of the day, the King or- 
 dered Mr. Kummer to relate to him the 
 events of the last French revolution ; he was 
 already acquainted with those of the first. Mr. 
 Kummer did not exactly comprehend what 
 the king wanted of him. Zaide ordered his 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 181 
 
 ehief minister, to draw upon the sand, the 
 map of Europe, the Mediteranean, and the 
 coast of Africa, along that sea : he pointed 
 out to him the Isle of Elba, and ordered 
 him to relate the circumstances which had 
 taken place in the invasion of J815, from 
 the moment that Buonaparte left it. Mr. 
 Kummer took advantage of this favorable 
 moment, to ask for his watch; and the King- 
 ordered his son to return it to the Toubabe* 
 who then commenced his narrative ; and as 
 in the course of it he called the Ex-Em- 
 peror, sometimes Buonaparte, and some- 
 times Napoleon, a Marabou, at the name of 
 Buonaparte, interrupted him, and asked if 
 he was the general whose armies he had 
 seen in Upper Egypt, when he was going 
 on his pilgrimage to Mecca, to which Mr. 
 Kummer answering in the affirmative, the 
 king and his suite were quite delighted ; 
 they could not conceive how a mere general 
 of army had been able to raise himself to 
 the rank of Emperor : it seems that these 
 people had, till then, believed that Napo- 
 leon and Buonaparte were two different 
 persons. Mr. Kummer was also asked if 
 his father belonged to the army of Egypt : 
 
182 NARRATIVE Of A 
 
 he said no, but that he was a peaceable 
 merchant, who had never borne arms. Mr, 
 Kummer continued his narrative, and asto- 
 nished more and more, the King of the 
 Trasas, and all his court. The next day, 
 Zaide desired to see the two whites again, 
 from whom he always learnt something 
 new. He sent away the Moors, his subjects, 
 who had brought Mr. Rogery, and ordered 
 his son, Prince Muhammed, accompanied 
 by one of his ministers, two other Moors of 
 his suite, and a slave, to conduct the two 
 whites to Andar. They had camels to carry 
 them, as well as their provisions. Zaide, 
 before he dismissed them, made them take 
 some refreshments, gave them provisions, 
 for a part of the journey, and advised Mr. 
 Kummer to entrust his watch to his son ; 
 because, by that means, he would be secure 
 from its being taken from him by the Moors; 
 and that it would be returned to him at 
 Saint Louis. Mr. Kummer immediately 
 obeyed. The prince faithfully executed his 
 father's orders. 
 
 Before the departure of the two French- 
 men, the King wished to shew them his 
 respect for the laws which govern his do- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 183 
 
 minions; knowing that this quality is that 
 which nations always desire to find in those 
 who govern them ; he therefore thought, 
 with reason, that he could not give a higher 
 idea of his virtues, and show his character 
 in a more honorable light, than by con- 
 vincing them that he was the protector and 
 most faithful observer of the laws : to prove 
 it, he related the following anecdote : 
 
 " Two princes, my subjects, had had 
 " an affair, for a long time, in litigation : 
 " to terminate it, they resolved to ask 
 ic me to be arbitrator between them; but 
 " the proposals which I made, though 1 
 " thought them reasonable, were not ap- 
 " proved by them ; so that after my propo- 
 " sals, a violent quarrel arose between the 
 " two parties : a challenge ensued, and 
 " the two princes left my tent to decide 
 " their cause by arms. In fact, they fought 
 " in my presence; one of them, the weakest, 
 " who was my friend, was thrown down by 
 " his adversary, who stabbed him imme- 
 i! diately. I had the grief to see my friend 
 " die, and notwithstanding all my power, 
 " it was impossible for me, as our laws 
 " allow duelling, and on account of the 
 
184 NARRATIVE OI A 
 
 " respect which I have for them, to avenge 
 " the death of the prince whom I esteemed. 
 " You may judge, by this, how scrupulously 
 " I observe the laws by which I govern 
 <c my dominions, and which regulate the 
 " rights of the princes, as well as those of 
 " the citizens, and of the slaves." 
 
 The third and fourth day, after they 
 had quitted the camp of King Zaide, our 
 travellers were reposing as usual, till the 
 greatest heat of the day should be passed. 
 During the repast, the minister, who had 
 the contracts between the Prince and the 
 two Frenchmen, took from his great gris- 
 gris, or pocket book, that of Mr. Rogery, 
 who snatched it from him, and tore it into a 
 thousand pieces; immediately one of the 
 Moors rushed upon him, seized him by the 
 throat, with one hand threw him on the 
 ground, and was going to stab him with 
 a dagger which he held in the other ; 
 happily, the Prince, out of regard for Mr. 
 Kummer, whom he particularly esteemed, 
 pardoned him who had dared, so seriously, 
 to insult one of his ministers. But, during 
 the four or five days that the journey con- 
 tinued, they incessantly tormented him; and 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. - 185 
 
 did not give him a fourth part of what was 
 necessary for his support, so that the unfor- 
 tunate man was frequently obliged to gnaw 
 the bones which the Moors had thrown 
 away; they also forced him to make the 
 whole journey on foot; it was pretty long; 
 for these gentlemen, on their arrival at St. 
 Louis, estimated it at a hundred and forty 
 leagues at the least, because the Moors 
 made them go so much out of 1 heir way. 
 
 The respectable Mr. Kogery, a man of 
 rare probity, was disturbed by the recollec- 
 tion of the agreement which he had made 
 with Muhammed, in a moment of difficulty, 
 knowing very well that he could never ful- 
 fil it; he thought his honor implicated, and 
 strictly bound by this contract, though he 
 had destroyed it. This recollection, and his 
 inability to pay, affected his nerves; to this 
 was added fear, lest the contract should 
 be known to his countrymen; and this was 
 what induced him to that act of desperation 
 which had nearly cost him his life, and 
 deprived humanity of one of the most zea- 
 lous partisans of liberty, and of the abolition 
 of the slave trade. 
 
 On the 19th, in the morning, they ar- 
 
186 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 rived at a village situated on the bank of 
 one of the arms of Senegal, which is called 
 Marigot of the Maringouins, and which 
 appears to have been the ancient mouih of 
 the river, when it flowed directly to the sea, 
 before it turned aside and flowed to the 
 South. This position may one day become 
 important, if Senegambia should ever be 
 colonised. 
 
 The gentlemen remarked, that the banks 
 of this arm of the river, are very well cul- 
 tivated; the fields are covered with planta- 
 tions of cotton-trees, with maize* and millet; 
 
 * Is it really maize (zea) which has been observed 
 about this Marigot, in large plantations ? This name is 
 so often given to varieties of the Sorgho, or dour ha of the 
 negroes, that there is probably a mistake here. In a 
 publication, printed since this expedition, it has been 
 stated, that maize was cultivated in the open fields, by 
 the negroes of Cape Verd, whereas they cultivate no 
 species of grain, except two kinds of houlques, to which 
 they add, here and there, but in smaller fields, a kind of 
 haricot, or French bean, dolique unguicule, which they 
 gather in October, and a part of which they sell at Goree 
 and St. Louis, either in pods or seed. The dishes which 
 they prepare with this dolique, are seasoned with leaves 
 of the Baobab, (Adansonia) reduced to powder, and of 
 cassia, with obtuse leaves, and still fresh. As for the 
 cous-cous, the usual food of the negroes, it is made of the 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 187 
 
 one meets, at intervals, with tufts of wood, 
 which render it agreeable and healthy. 
 Mr. Kummer thinks that this country could 
 be adapted to the cultivation of colonial 
 productions. Here begins Nigritia, and one 
 may say, the country of good people ; for. 
 from this moment, the travellers were never 
 again in want of food, and the negroes gave 
 them whatever they wanted. 
 
 In the first village, which is called Vu, 
 they met with a good negress, who offered 
 them milk and cous-cous, (flour of millet). 
 
 meal of sorgho, boiled up with milk. To obtain this meal, 
 they pound the millet in a mortar, with a hard and heavy 
 pestle of mahogonyjfmaAo^ow^which grows on the banks 
 of Senegal. The mahogon or mahogoni which, according' 
 to naturalists, has a great affinity to the family of the 
 miliacees, and which approaches to the genus of the 
 cedrelles, is found in India, as well as in the Gulph of 
 Mexico, where it is beginning to grow scarce. At St. Do- 
 mingo, it is considered as a species of acajou,** and they 
 give it that name. The yellow mahogoni, of India, fur* 
 nishes the satin wood. There is also the mahogoni febri- 
 fuge, the bark of which supplies the place of the Peruvian 
 bark. Lamarque has observed that the mahogon of Sene- 
 gal has only eight stamina ; the other kinds have ten. 
 
 ** Acajou is, we believe, generally used for maho- 
 gany. T. 
 
188 NAIIRAT1VE OF A 
 
 She was affected, and shed tears when she 
 saw the two unhappy whites almost naked, 
 and particularly when she learned that they 
 were Frenchmen. She began by praising 
 our nation; it is the custom of these people; 
 and then, she gave them a short account of 
 the misfortunes she had experienced. This 
 good n egress had been made a slave by the 
 Moors, who had torn her from the arms of 
 her mother; she consequently detested them, 
 and called them the banditti of the desert; 
 she said to the two whites, in very good 
 French : " are they not very villainous 
 " people? " Yes," answered our unhappy 
 countrymen. "Well," continued she, "these 
 " robbers carried me off, notwithstanding 
 " the efforts of my unhappy father, who de- 
 " fended me with courage; they then car- 
 C( ried desolation into our village, which a 
 ec moment before enjoyed tranquillity and 
 " happiness; on this sad "day we saw whole 
 " families carried off, and we were all 
 <c conducted to that horrible market at St. 
 " Louis, where the whites carry on the exe- 
 " crable trade of dealers in men ; chance 
 ct favored me, and saved me from being sent 
 44 to find death in Ameriea, amidst the tern- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 189 
 
 f pests which cover the ocean that separates 
 <c it from Africa. I had the good fortune 
 " to fall into the hands of the respectable 
 " General Blanchot.,* whose name and me- 
 
 * The probity and justice of General Blanchot were 
 so fully appreciated by the inhabitants of St. Louis, that 
 when his death deprived the colony of its firmest support, 
 all the merchants and officers of the government united 
 to raise a monument to him, in which the remains of this 
 brave general still repose. It was a short time after his 
 death that the English took possession of St. Louis, and 
 all the officers of that nation joined in defraying the ex- 
 pences of the erection of the monument, on which there 
 is an epitaph beginning with these words : " Here repose 
 " the remains of the brave and upright General Blan- 
 " chot," &c. We think it not foreign to the purpose, to 
 publish a trait which will prove how far General Blanchot 
 carried his ideas of justice; every man, of sensibility, reads 
 with pleasure, the account of a good action, particularly 
 when it belongs to an hero of his own nation. 
 
 Some time before Senegal was given up to the 
 English, St. Louis was strictly blockaded, so that all com- 
 munication with France was absolutely impossible; in a 
 short time the colony was short of all kinds of provisions. 
 The prudent general called an extraordinary council, to 
 which he invited all the chief inhabitants of the town, 
 and the officers of government. It was resolved not to 
 wait till the colony was destitute of provisions ; and that, 
 in order to hold out to the last extremity, all the inhabi- 
 tants, without distinction of colour, or of rank, should have 
 only a quarter of a ration of bread, and two ounces of rice 
 
190 NARltATlVJC OF A 
 
 " mory will be ever dear to the inhabitants 
 
 " of St. Louis. This worthy governor kept 
 
 ' me some years in his service ; but seeing 
 
 " that I always thought of my country and 
 
 or millet per day; to execute this decree, all the provisions 
 were removed into the government magazines, and the 
 general gave orders that it should be punctually followed. 
 Some days after these measures were taken, the governor, 
 according to his custom, invited the authorities to dine 
 with him ; it was understood that every one should bring 
 his portion of bread and of rice ; nevertheless, a whole 
 loaf was served up on the governor's table. As soon as 
 he perceived it, he asked his servants who could have 
 given orders to the store-keeper to suspend, in respect to 
 himself, the decree of the general council? All the company 
 then interfered, and said that the council had never had 
 any idea of putting him upon an allowance, and that he 
 ought to permit this exception. The General, turning to 
 one of hisaides-de-camp,said: "go and tell the store-keeper, 
 " that I put him provisionally under arrest, for bavins 
 " exceeded my orders ; and you, gentlemen, know that I 
 " am incapable of infringing on the means of subsrstance 
 ' of the unhappy slaves, who would certainly want food, 
 " while I had a superfluous supply on my table: learn that 
 " a French general knows how to bear privations, as well 
 " as the brave soldiers under his command." During the 
 short time of the scarcity, which lasted four months, the 
 General would never permit a larger ration to be given to 
 him, than that which came to the meanest slave ; his ex- 
 ample prevented every body from murmuring, and the 
 colony was saved. While they were suffering the severest 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 191 
 
 vc my relations, and that, in short, I could 
 " not habituate myself to your customs, he 
 " gave me my liberty, and from that mo- 
 " ment I have vowed eternal friendship to 
 " every thing that bears the French name." 
 Our two whites were much affected by this 
 interesting meeting ; from that moment 
 they fancied themselves among their own 
 countrymen. 
 
 After some hours repose they con- 
 tinued their journey, and in fact, they had 
 every reason to praise the negroes, who 
 did not let them want for anything. In 
 proportion, as they approached the town, 
 the Moors became much more civil, and 
 when they were going to pass the river, to 
 enter St. Louis, Prince Muhammed returned 
 
 privations the harvest was approaching, and, at length, 
 delivered St. Louis from the scarcity. At the same time,, 
 vessels arrived from France, and brought abundant sup- 
 plies. But soon after, the English returned to besiege 
 St. Louis, and made themselves master of it. Though this 
 note has carried us rather away from our subject, we would 
 not pass over in silence, so honorable a trait; it is a 
 homage paid to the memory of the brave General Blanchot. 
 We may add, that after having been governor, during a 
 long series of years, he died without fortune. How few 
 men do we find who resemble Blanchot? 
 
192 NAUIIATIVE OF A 
 
 Mr. Kummer his watch. The French gover- 
 nor received the Prince and his suite, very 
 well ; he caused them to be paid about sixty 
 francs in two sous-pieces; this sum seemed 
 enormous to them ; for they were extremely 
 satisfied with it : this gives ground to sup- 
 pose that they were not acquainted with 
 the value of the gourde, when they de- 
 manded eight hundred for the ransom of 
 each of the two travellers. It was on the 
 22nd of July, that they arrived, after having 
 wandered sixteen days in the burning desert 
 of Zaara, and having endured all the hor- 
 rors of hunger and thirst, particularly the 
 unfortunate Mr. Rogery, who had to bear 
 all the caprices of the Moors. 
 
 All the shipwrecked persons who had 
 escaped these disasters being assembled at 
 St. Louis, we thought we should imme- 
 diately take possession of our establish- 
 ments. But the English governor, Mr. 
 Beurthonne, having learned our shipwreck, 
 either of his own authority, or having re- 
 ceived orders to that effect, from his govern- 
 ment, refused to give up the colony. This 
 difficulty obliged the commander of the 
 French expedition to take measures, to wait 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. J93 
 
 for fresh orders from France. He was en- 
 joined to send away immediately all the 
 shipwrecked persons who arrived in the 
 town of St. Louis. 
 
 Every thing induces us to believe that 
 the delay in the restitution of these settle- 
 ments depended on the English governor, 
 who threw obstacles in the way, whenever 
 circumstances permitted him. He alledged 
 at first, that he had not received orders to 
 give up the colony, and that besides he was 
 in want of vessels to remove his troops, and 
 all the effects belonging to his nation. This 
 last allegation of wanting vessels is, of itself, 
 sufficient to shew, that he was not much in- 
 clined to retire from the Isle of St. Louis ; 
 for the French governor, in order to remove 
 all. difficulties, proposed the Loire to serve 
 as a transport, and this offer was refused. 
 We think we have guessed the cause of this 
 delay in the restitution of the colony, for 
 two reasons, which seem to us the better 
 founded, as they take their origin in the British 
 policy, which is constantly to follow no 
 other rule than its political or commercial 
 interest. We give them, however, only as 
 suppositions; but these suppositions seem 
 
194 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 so well confirmed by the events to which 
 they relate, that we do not hesitate to lay 
 them before our readers. 
 
 We think then that Mr, Beurthonne had 
 received orders to give up the Islands of 
 St. Louis and Gpree, to the French squadron, 
 which should come to take possession of 
 them ; but we think also, that he was de- 
 sired to evacuate them as late as possible, 
 in case the English merchants or govern- 
 ment could derive any advantage from a 
 delay. 
 
 In fact, if Mr, Beurthonne had not 
 received any instructions to deliver up the 
 colony, it was certainly, useless to alledge 
 that he was in want of vessels. , To the 
 desires of the French governor, he had 
 only to make the plain and unanswerable 
 objection, that his government had not 
 given him any orders. It is therefore, by 
 the kind of vacillation which appears in 
 his answers, that himself, leads us to the 
 opinion which we have formed. But it will 
 be said, what advantage could the English 
 government derive from this delay? The 
 following, is what we conjecture on this 
 subject. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 195 
 
 The gum trade was on the point of 
 commencing ; it was very just that the 
 English merchants, who were in Senegal, 
 should carry off this crop, which would have 
 belonged to the French merchants if the 
 colony, had been restored. 
 
 A second motive, not less powerful, is, 
 that we w^ere just at the entrance of the bad 
 season, and that the English settlements, 
 on the river Gambia, (to which, a part of 
 the English, garrison were to go) are ex- 
 tremely unhealthy : diseases that are almost, 
 always mortal, prevail during the winter- 
 season, and generally carry off two thirds 
 of the Europeans, who are newly arrived. 
 Every year the mortality is the same ; be- 
 cause, every year it is necessary to send 
 fresh garrisons: those who have the good 
 fortune to resist these terrible epidemics, 
 come, to recover, to the Isle of Goree, where 
 the air is salubrious. Such are the reasons 
 which, as we think, caused the delay in the 
 restitution of our settlements on the coast 
 of Africa. 
 
 Without losing ourselves farther in con- 
 jectures, we will conclude with one remark: 
 namely, them on this occasion the English 
 
 o 2 
 
196 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 governor was influenced more by the usual 
 policy of his government than by local and 
 particular considerations. Let us remember 
 what passed on the restitution of our colo- 
 nies at the peace of 1802 and that of 1814; 
 and it will be seen that the British Govern- 
 ment, without giving itself much trouble to 
 assign reasons, has adopted and faithfully 
 followed the principle, of not willingly 
 giving up what it possessed.* 
 
 The shipwreck of the Medusa favoured 
 the designs of the governor ; for, what sen- 
 sation could be produced by the arrival of 
 an expedition, of which the principal vessel 
 no longer existed, and the three others ap- 
 peared one after the other? If the English 
 had had the intention to restore the colony 
 on our arrival, the disorder in which we 
 appeared, would alone have sufficed, to make 
 them conceive the idea of delaying as much 
 as possible to withdraw from the Island of St. 
 Louis. But what we cannot conceive is, that 
 the governor, after giving the French a good 
 
 ' Every body knows the popular proverb, which very 
 well expresses our idea: " That which is worth 
 is worth keeping. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 197 
 
 reception for some days, should have required 
 their troops to be sent away from the colony: 
 and what were these troops? wretches al- 
 most naked, worn out by the long fatigues 
 and privations which they had had to bear 
 in the deserts ; they were almost all without 
 arms. Did he fear the spirit of the colonists, 
 and even that of the negroes, which was not 
 in his favor, and who saw with the greatest 
 pleasure the arrival of the French? This is 
 not at all probable. 
 
 All the shipwrecked persons being as- 
 sembled at St. Louis, as we have already 
 said, the governor, two days before his de- 
 parture for Cape Verd, thought of sending 
 a vessel on board the Medusa, to look for a 
 sum of 100,000 francs,* which was intended 
 
 * It will hardly be believed to how many popular 
 reports, these 100,000 francs have given rise* There are 
 people who do not believe that they were ever embarked 
 on board the frigate. How do they explain this supposi- 
 tion ? It is by asking how the conduct of persons, who 
 had sold the interest of their country, and their honor, to 
 foreign interests, would have been different from that of cer- 
 tain persons ? For our part, we do not doubt but that this 
 report is a fable. The folly, the pride, the obstinacy, which 
 conducted us on the bank of Arguin, have no need of 
 having another crime added to them. Besides, if there 
 are, sometimes, persons who sell their honor, there are 
 
198 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 to form the treasure of the colony, as well 
 as provisions, which were in abundance on 
 board, and of which there was some scarcity 
 in the colony. Very little was said about 
 the men, who had remained on board, and 
 to whom their companions had solemnly 
 promised to send for them as soon as they 
 should arrive at St. Louis ; but these unfor- 
 tunate men were already hardly thought of 
 any more. Mr. Correard says that the first 
 day that he took a walk in the town, he 
 went to pay a visit to the family of the 
 governor. During the conversation, the 
 vessel was mentioned, that was going to be 
 sent to the Medusa, as also the possibility 
 of recovering the 100,000 francs, provisions, 
 and effects. Seeing that they said nothing 
 of the seventeen men who had remained 
 on board the frigate, he said, " but a more 
 "precious object, of which nothing is said, is 
 "the seventeen poor men who were left 4 ?" 
 " Pooh, answered somebody, " seventeen ! 
 " there are not three left." " And if there 
 
 none who, at the same time, sell their lives ; and those 
 whom people would accuse of something more than ex- 
 treme incapacity, have sufficiently proved in dangers which 
 threatened themselves, that they well knew how to pro- 
 vide for their own safety. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 199 
 
 Ci remained but three, but one," replied he, 
 " yet, his life is more valuable than all that 
 " can be recovered from the frigate ;" and 
 left the company in anger. 
 
 When in the first part of this work, we 
 represented Mrs. and Miss Schmalz, as alone 
 unmoved when the frigate ran aground ; 
 and seeming to rise above the general con- 
 sternation, our readers may have given them 
 credit for uncommon greatness of soul, and 
 more than manly courage. Why are we 
 obliged to destroy this honorable illusion 
 which we may have caused ? Why, when 
 these ladies, have carried indifference so far 
 as to dispense themselves from the most 
 common duties of humanity, by refraining 
 from paying the smallest visit to the poor 
 wretches, placed in the hospital at St. Louis, 
 have they themselves discovered to, us that 
 their composure on board the frigate was 
 nothing but profound insensibility? 
 
 We could, however, if not excuse, at 
 least explain this last mark of their hard- 
 heartedness : what sight, in fact, awaited 
 them in this melancholy abode, on the new 
 theatre, where the sad victims of a first act 
 of inhumanity, had to struggle with the 
 
200 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 fresh miseries prepared for them by the 
 indifference, the inattention of their fellow- 
 creatures? The sight of men, who all bore 
 in their hearts, the remembrance of the 
 faults, of a husband, of a father, could not 
 be an object which they would be desirous 
 of seeking, or meeting with ; and in this 
 point of view, the care, which they took to 
 avoid the hospital, seems to us almost par- 
 donable. But what is not, what cannot 
 be excused, what we have not learned 
 without the greatest surprise is, that Miss 
 Schmalz, judging of us doubtless, after a 
 manner of thinking which was not ours, 
 and not supposing it possible that the faults 
 of her father, and the inhuman conduct of 
 herself and her mother, should not be one 
 day known in France, should have hastened 
 to anticipate this publication, by writing to 
 her friends at Paris, a letter justifying her 
 relations with the shipwrecked persons be- 
 longing to the raft, and trying to devote 
 these unfortunate men to public hatred and 
 contempt. In this singular letter, which 
 has been circulated in Paris, she confessed 
 that the sight of the shipwrecked per- 
 sons inspired her with a degree of horror* 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 201 
 
 which she could not suppress. "It was really 
 " impossible for me," said she, " to endure 
 " the presence of these men, without feeling 
 se a sentiment of indignation." 
 
 What then was our crime in the eyes 
 of Miss Schmalz ? Doubtless that of know- 
 ing too well the persons really guilty of our 
 misfortunes. Yes, on this account, when- 
 ever Miss Schmalz saw us, which was ex- 
 tremely seldom, our presence must have 
 been a thunder-bolt to her, She could say 
 to herself, " these men have in their hands 
 4C the fate of my father. If they speak, if 
 " if they utter complaints which they sup- 
 press here, if they are listened to, (and 
 how should they not be listened to in a 
 country, where a charter, the noble pre- 
 sent of our august Monarch, causes jus- 
 tice and the law to reign,) instead of being 
 the daughter of a governor, I am but a 
 wretched orphan ; instead of these honors, 
 with which it gives me so much pleasure 
 to be surrounded, I fall into the degra- 
 dation, and the oblivion which generally 
 await the unhappy family of a great 
 criminal." 
 
 It is certain that, if we had listened to 
 
202 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 our griefs, if we had called to legal account, 
 the authors of our misfortunes, it is difficult 
 to believe that they would have escaped the 
 inflexible rigour of justice. But we have 
 been generous, and it is we who are op- 
 pressed ! Thus, as the historians of the 
 human heart, have but too often observed, 
 "It is more easy to pardon the injury we 
 " have received, than that ice have inflicted" 
 
 The little vessel chosen to go to the 
 frigate, was a schooner, commanded by a 
 lieutenant of the navy ; the crew was com- 
 posed of some black-drivers, and some pas- 
 sengers. It sailed from St. Louis, on the 
 26th, of July, and had on board, provisions 
 for eight days : so that having met with 
 contrary winds, it was obliged to return to 
 port, after having, in vain, endeavoured for 
 seven or eight days, to get to the Medusa. 
 
 This schooner sailed again after having 
 taken in provisions for about twenty-five 
 days; but, as the sails were in a very bad 
 condition, and the owner would not change 
 them, till they were wholly unfit for service, 
 she was obliged to sail again, with a few 
 repairs only. Having experienced at sea, 
 a pretty heavy gale, the sails were almost 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 203 
 
 entirely destroyed, and she was obliged to 
 return to port after having been a fortnight 
 at sea, without having been able to accom- 
 plish her purpose. She was then furnished 
 with new sails, which cost about ten days la- 
 bour. As soon as she was ready, they sailed 
 for the third time, and reached the Medusa, 
 fifty-two days, after she had been aban- 
 doned. 
 
 A very obvious reflection here presents 
 itself to the most inattentive mind : it is 
 certain, that the reader must presume, that 
 this was the only schooner in the colony ; 
 it is our duty to undeceive him : many other 
 merchants offered their vessels; but their 
 offers were declined. The governor liked 
 better to treat with a single house, than to 
 have accounts to regulate with a part of 
 the merchants of the colony ; who, howe- 
 ver, were ready to place at his disposal, 
 every thing in their power. Mr. Durecur 
 was the merchant favored This house car- 
 ries on the whole trade of Senegal ; its firm 
 has taken place of the African company. 
 He made the governor large advances, both 
 of provisions and money, which amounted 
 to 50,000 francs ; he had continually, at his 
 
204 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 house, Mr. Schmalz, his family and a nu- 
 merous suite. The general opinion was that, 
 Mr. Durecur had got by his acts of gene- 
 rosity, a decent profit of a hundred per cent; 
 he was, besides, recompenced, on the ap- 
 plication of the governor, by that decoration, 
 which it seems, ought to be conferred for 
 some brilliant action,* and not for a very 
 profitable commercial transaction ; but let 
 us return to our schooner. What was the 
 astonishment of those on board her, at still 
 finding in the Medusa, three unfortunate 
 men on the point of expiring ! Most cer- 
 tainly, they were very far from expecting 
 this meeting; but as we have said, 17 were 
 abandoned. What became of the 14 others? 
 We will try to relate the story of their un- 
 happy fate. 
 
 As soon as the boats and the raft had left the 
 frigate,these I7men endeavoured to subsist till 
 assistance should be sent them. They searched 
 wherever the water had not penetrated, and 
 succeeded in collecting sufficient biscuit, 
 wine, brandy, and bacon, to enable them to 
 subsist for some time. As long as their pro- 
 
 * Probably the cross of the legion of honor. T. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL, 205 
 
 vision lasted, tranquillity prevailed among 
 them : but forty-two days passed without 
 their receiving the assistance which had been 
 promised them; when twelve of the most 
 resolute, seeing that they were on the point 
 of being destitute of everything, determined 
 to get to the land. To attain their object, 
 they formed a raft with the pieces of timber 
 which remained on board of the frigate, the 
 whole bound together like the first, with 
 strong ropes : they embarked upon it, and 
 directed their course towards the land ; but 
 how could they steer on a machine, that was 
 doubtless destitute of oars and the necessary 
 sails. It is certain that these poor men, 
 who had taken with them but a very small 
 stock of provisions, could not hold out long, 
 and that, overcome by despair and want, 
 tliey have been the victims of their rash- 
 ness. That such was the result of their 
 fatal attempt, was proved by the remains of 
 their raft, which \vere found on the coast of 
 the desert of Zaara, by some Moors, sub- 
 jects of King Zaide, who came to Andar to 
 give the information. These unhappy men 
 were doubtless the prey of the sea-monsters 
 
206 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 which are found in great numbers on the 
 coasts of Africa. 
 
 Unhappy victims we deplore the 
 rigour of your lot : like us, you have been 
 exposed to the most dreadful torments : 
 like us abandoned upon a raft, you have 
 had to struggle with those pressing wants 
 which man cannot subdue, hunger and 
 thirst carried to the extreme ! Our imagina- 
 tion carries us to your fatal machine; we 
 see your despair, your rage ; we appreciate 
 the whole extent of your sufferings, and your 
 misfortunes draw forth our tears. It is then 
 true that misfortune strikes more forciblv 
 
 ' 
 
 him who has had already to struggle with ad- 
 versity ! The happy man scarcely believes 
 in misfortune, and often accuses him whose 
 distresses he has caused. 
 
 A sailor who had refused to embark 
 upon the raft, attempted also to reach the 
 shore some days after the first ; he put him- 
 self on a chicken coop, but he sunk within 
 half a cable's length of the frigate. 
 
 Four men resolved not to leave the 
 Medusa, alledging that they preferred dying 
 on board, to braving new dangers which it 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 207 
 
 seemed impossible for them to surmount. 
 One of the four had just died when the 
 schooner arrived, his body had been thrown 
 into the sea : the three others were very 
 weak; two days later they would have been 
 no more. These unhappy men occupied 
 each a separate place, and never left it but 
 to fetch provisions, which in the last days 
 consisted only of a little brandy, tallow, 
 and salt pork. When they met, they ran 
 upon each other brandishing their knives. 
 As long as the wine had lasted with the 
 other provisions, they had kept up their 
 strength perfectly well ; but as soon as they 
 had only brandy to drink they grew weaker 
 every day.* 
 
 ' These desertions are unhappily too frequent in 
 naval history. The St. John the Baptist stranded in 1760 
 on the isle of Sables, where 87 poor people were aban- 
 doned, in spite of the promises to come and fetch them, 
 made by 320 of the shipwrecked persons, who almost all 
 saved themselves upon the island of Madagascar. Eighty 
 negroes and negresses perished for want of assistance, 
 some of hunger, some in attempting to save themselves 
 upon rafts. Seven negresses and a child who lived there 
 for fifteen years, were exposed to the most terrible dis- 
 tresses, and were saved in 1776 by Mr. de Trommelin, 
 commanding the Dauphine corvette. 
 
 The Favorite, commanded by Captain Moreau, fell in 
 
208 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Every care was bestowed on these three 
 men that their situation demanded, and all 
 three are now in perfect health. 
 
 After having given the necessary suc- 
 cours to the three men of whom we have 
 just spoken, they proceeded to get out of 
 the frigate, every thing that could be re- 
 moved ; they cut a large hole in her, (on la 
 saborcla,} and were thus able to save wine, 
 flour, and many other things. Mr. Correard 
 had the simplicity to think that the sjiip- 
 wrecked people were going to recover o 
 part, at least, of their effects, since a vessel, 
 
 with the island of Adu in 1767; he sent a boat on shore 
 with a crew of eight men, commanded by Mr. Riviere, a 
 navy officer, but Moreau abandoned them, because the 
 currents drove him towards the island ; and he returned 
 to the isle of France, where he took no step to induce the 
 government to send them assistance. The brave Riviere 
 and all his sailors succeeded in saving themselves on the 
 coast of Malabar, by means of a raft and his boat ; he 
 landed at Cranganor, near Calicut. 
 
 One may conceive that at the first moment the pre- 
 sence of danger may derange the senses, and that then 
 people may deesrt their companions on board a vessel ; 
 but not to go to their assistance, when the danger is sur- 
 mounted, not to hasten to fly to their relief, this is incon- 
 ceivable. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 209 
 
 belonging to the king, had reached the fri- 
 gate. But far from it ! Those who were on 
 board declared themselves corsairs, and 
 pillaged, as we may say, all the effects 
 which they could get at. One of them 
 Mr.*****, carried off several portmanteaus, 
 and four hammocks, full of all kind of 
 articles, the whole for his own use. 
 
 The schooner having quite completed 
 its cargo, and all attempts to recover the 
 100,000 francs, of which we have spoken, 
 being fruitless, returned to Senegal. We 
 saw this little vessel arrive, and our hearts 
 beat with joy ; we thought we should see 
 again our unfortunate companions, who had 
 been abandoned on board the frigate, and 
 recover some clothes, of which we were in 
 much need. The schooner passed the bar, 
 and in an hour or two had traversed the 
 space which separated it from us. In an 
 instant we ran to the port, and enquired if 
 any of our unfortunate countrymen had been 
 saved. We were answered, three are still 
 living, and fourteen have died since our 
 departure: this answer confounded us. We 
 then asked if it had been possible to save 
 any of our effects ; and were answered yes, 
 
 p 
 
210 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 but that they were a good prize ; we could 
 not understand this answer, but it was re- 
 peated to us, and we learnt for the first time 
 that we were at war with Frenchmen, be- 
 cause we had been excessively unfortunate. 
 The next day the town was transformed 
 into a public fair, which lasted at least a 
 week. There were sold effects belonging 
 to the State, and those of the unhappy crew 
 who had perished; here, the clothes of those 
 who were still living, a little further was 
 the furniture of the captain's cabin : in 
 another place were the signal flags, which 
 the negroes were buying to make them- 
 selves aprons and cloaks ; at one place they 
 sold the tackling and sails of the frigate, 
 at another bed-linen, frames, hammocks, 
 quilts, books, instruments, &c. &c. 
 
 But there is one thing that is sacred, 
 respected by every man who serves with 
 honor, the rallying sign under which he 
 ought to find victory or death, the flag ; 
 what it will be asked became of it ?. . .It 
 was saved. . .Did it fall into the hands of a 
 Frenchman ?.. .No ! he who debases a re- 
 spectable sign, which represents a nation, 
 cannot belong to that nation. Well ! this 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 211 
 
 sign was employed in domestic uses.* Vases 
 which belonged to the captain of the frigate 
 himself, were also saved, and were trans- 
 ferred from his side-board to the table of the 
 Governor, where Mr. de Chaumareys re- 
 cognized them, and it is from him we have 
 received these details. It is true that the 
 ladies of the Governor had received them, as 
 a present, from those who went on board the 
 schooner. 
 
 Nothing was now seen in the town but 
 negroes dressed, some in jackets and pan- 
 taloons, some in large grey great coats; 
 others had shirts, waistcoats, police "bon- 
 nets, &c. every thing, in short, presented the 
 image of disorder and confusion. Such was 
 a part of the mission of the schooner : the 
 provisions, which it brought, were of the 
 greatest choice to the French Governor, who 
 began to be in want of them. 
 
 Some days after, the Merchants of St. 
 Louis, were authorized to go on board the 
 
 * Persons whom we could name, divided the great 
 flag, and cut it up into table-cloths, napkins, &c. we men- 
 tion with the distinction which they deserve, Sophia, a ne- 
 gress, belonging to the governor, a^id Margaret, a white 
 servant. 
 
212 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Medusa with their vessels, on the following 
 conditions : they were to equip the vessels 
 at their own expence, and all the effects 
 which they could save out of the frigate 
 were to be divided into two equal parts, 
 one for the government, the other for the 
 owners of the vessels. Four schooners sailed 
 from SI. Louis, and in a few days reached 
 their destination : they brought back to the 
 colony a great quantity of barrels of flour, 
 salt, meat, wine, brandy, cordage, sails, &c. 
 &c. This expedition was terminated in less 
 than twenty days. As the schooners arrived 
 in the Senegal, the proper way would have 
 been to unload them, and deposit the things 
 saved, in a magazine, till the arrival of the 
 French Governor, who was absent ; it ap- 
 pears to us, that, in making the division, his 
 presence, or that of some other competent 
 authority was necessary. But whether the 
 ship-owners, would not wait for the return 
 of the Governor, or whether they were in 
 haste to possess their share of the cargo, they 
 went to Mr. Potin Agent, or Partner of the 
 house of Durecur, and begged him to divide 
 the articles saved from the frigate. We are 
 ignorant whether Mr. Potin was authorized 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 to make this division ; but whether he was 
 authorised or not, we think he could not 
 make it, without the co-operation of one or 
 more officers of the administration, since he 
 was himself one of the ship-owners. It 
 would have been the more easy to have this 
 division superintended by an officer of the 
 government, as there were then three or four 
 at St. Louis ; among whom were the secre- 
 tary and the paymaster. Yet neither of them 
 was called in to be present at these opera- 
 tions, though they lasted some days. How- 
 ever, those to whom the vessels belonged, 
 shewed themselves much more generous to 
 the shipwrecked people, than those who 
 went on board the frigate, with the first 
 schooner : the few books and effects which 
 they had been able to save were restored to 
 such of the crew as claimed them. 
 
 A short time after these depredations 
 were ended, some French officers and sol- 
 diers, belonging as well to the land as the 
 sea-service, and who were still at St. Louis, 
 received orders from the English Governor 
 to go immediately to the camp of Daccard : 
 it was about the first of October. At this 
 time Mr. Correard remained the only French- 
 
214 NARRAT1VL OJ- A 
 
 man in the hospital at St. Louis, till he 
 should be entirely recovered. We are en- 
 tirely ignorant of the reasons which induced 
 this Governor to employ such severe mea- 
 sures towards about twenty unhappy per- 
 sons, among whom three officers had been 
 part of the crew of the fatal raft. He how- 
 ever, allowed the civil officers to remain in 
 the city. 
 
 Let us take a rapid survey of the new 
 misfortunes which overtook some of the 
 unfortunate persons who escaped from the 
 raft and the desert, and remained plunged 
 in a horrid hospital without assistance, and 
 without consolation, before we proceed to 
 the history of the camp at Daccard, which 
 will terminate this account. Our readers 
 will remember that it was on the 23d of 
 July, that the men, who escaped from the 
 raft, were united to the sixty-three landed 
 by the long boat, near the Moles of Angel. 
 
 Mr. Coudin, commander of the raft a and 
 Mr. Savigny, were received at Senegal by 
 Mr Lasalle, a French Merchant, who, on all 
 occasions, bestowed on them the most gene- 
 rous care, which spared them the new suffer- 
 ings, to which their companions in misfor- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 215 
 
 tune were exposed, and gives Mr. Lasalle a 
 title to their lasting gratitude. 
 
 As for Mr. Correard, as soon as he was 
 at the isle of St. Louis, he and some others 
 of our companions covered with wounds, 
 and almost without life, were laid upon 
 truck-beds, which, instead of mattresses, had 
 only blankets doubled in four, with sheets 
 disgustingly dirty ; the four officers of the 
 troops were also placed in one of the rooms 
 of the hospital, and the soldiers and sailors 
 in another room, near the first, and lying in 
 the same manner as the officers. The even- 
 ing of their arrival, the Governor, accom- 
 panied by the captain of the frigate, and by 
 a numerous suite, came to pay them a visit : 
 the air of compassion, with which he ad- 
 dressed them, much affected them ; in this 
 first moment, they were promised a guinea, 
 linen to clothe them, wine to restore their 
 strength, and ammunition to amuse them 
 when they should be able to go out. Vain 
 promises ! It is to the compassion of stran- 
 gers, alone, that they were indebted for their 
 existence for five months. The Governor 
 announced his departure for the camp at 
 Duccard, saying to these poor men who 
 
216 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 were left behind, that he had given orders 
 that they should want for nothing during 
 his absence. AH the French, able to embark, 
 departed with the Governor. 
 
 Left to themselves in the horrid abode 
 which they inhabited, surrounded with men 
 in whom their cruel situation inspired no 
 pity, our countrymen again abandoned, 
 gave vent to their distress in useless com- 
 plaint< In vain they represented to the 
 English physician that the ordinary ration 
 of a common soldier, which had been hither- 
 to given them, was wholly unfit for them, 
 first, because their health required, if it was 
 indeed wished to recover them, better nou- 
 rishment than is given to a soldier in good 
 health in his barracks : that, besides, officers 
 enjoyed in all countries some preference, 
 and that, in consequence, he was requested 
 to have regard to the just desires of the 
 sick. 
 
 The doctor was inexorable : he an- 
 swered that he had received no orders and 
 that he should make no change. They then 
 addressed their complaints to the English 
 Governor, who was equally insensible. It 
 is, however, probable that the French Go- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 217 
 
 vernor, before his departure, had requested 
 this officer to afford all the assistance which 
 the situation of those whom he left required, 
 under the protection of his generosity. If 
 this request was made it must be allowed 
 that this Mr. Beurthonne has a heart but 
 little accessible to sentiments of humanity. 
 
 What a contrast between the conduct 
 of this Lieutenant-Colonel, and that of the 
 other officers of his nation, belonging to the 
 expedition for exploring the interior of 
 Africa, with whom the officers of the garri- 
 son joined. It is to their generous efforts 
 that the officers saved from the raft, owed 
 assistance and perhaps life. It is not, in 
 fact, rare to see the same circumstances give 
 rise to the same observation. On occasions 
 of this kind, a great number of private 
 Englishmen excite astonishment by the ex- 
 cess of their generosity to their enemies, 
 while on the other hand the agents of the 
 government, and individuals, who doubtless 
 believe that they enter into its views, seem 
 to glory in a conduct diametrically opposite. 
 
 These gentlemen, some days after the 
 arrival of our unfortunate comrades, having 
 been informed of their melancholy situation, 
 
218 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 came to the hospital and took away with 
 them the four officers who were already 
 able to go out ; they invited them to share 
 their repast with them, till the colony should 
 be given up.* Forty days had passed, since 
 the compassionate English had come to 
 the relief of these four companions in mis- 
 fortune, without the distressed Correard's 
 having personally felt the effects of their 
 kindness. His health was greatly impaired, 
 in consequence of the unheard-of sufferings 
 which he had experienced on the raft ; his 
 wounds gave him great pain, and he was 
 obliged to remain in the infirmary : add to 
 this the absolute want of clothes, having 
 nothing to cover him except the sheet of 
 his bed, in which he wrapped himself up. 
 Since the departure of the governor, he had 
 heard nothing of the French, which made 
 him very uneasy, and doubled his desire to 
 join his countrymen, hoping to find from 
 
 * They dined almost every day with the English offi- 
 cers ; but in the evening they were obliged to return to 
 the fatal hospital, where an infinite number of victims 
 languished : if, by chance, one of the convalescents failed 
 to come, their generous and benevolent hosts sent to the 
 hospital, anxiously enquiring the cause of his absence. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 219 
 
 them, consolation and relief; for he had 
 friends among the officers and passengers 
 who were at the Camp of Deccard. He 
 was in this temper of mind, and in the me- 
 lancholy situation which we have just de- 
 scribed, reduced to the ration of a common 
 soldier, during the forty days which had 
 just elapsed, when he caused the captain of 
 an American merchant vessel to be asked 
 whether he would do him the pleasure to 
 take him to Cape Verd, to which place he 
 was to go ; the answer was affirmative, and 
 the departure fixed for two days after. In 
 this interval, Mr. Kummer, the naturalist, 
 happened to express, in the presence of 
 Major Peddy, commander in chief of the 
 English expedition for the interior of Africa, 
 the fears which he felt at the departure of 
 his friend, alledging that he was very un- 
 easy respecting the effects of the bad air of 
 the camp of Deccard, on a constitution so 
 shaken as that of Mr. Correard. Scarcely 
 had the sensible Mr. Kummer ceased speak- 
 ing, when Major Peddy hastily went away, 
 returned to his apartment, and imme- 
 diately got ready linen, clothes and money, 
 and while he was thus employed, this ge- 
 
220 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 nuine philanthropist shed tears at the fate 
 of the unhappy man, whom he did not 
 know, cursing those who had cruelly aban- 
 doned him. His indignation was excited, 
 because he had been assured that ever since 
 the departure of the French governor, Mr. 
 Correard had heard nothing farther, either 
 of him, or of his countrymen. Respectable 
 Major! worthy friend of humanity! in de- 
 parting for the interior of Africa, you have 
 carried with you the regret and the grati- 
 tude of a heart, on which your noble bene- 
 ficence is indelibly engraven. 
 
 While this unexpected relief was pre- 
 paring Mr. Correard, seated at the foot of 
 his truck bed, was overwhelmed by the 
 thoughts of his wretchedness, and plunged 
 in the most heart-rending reflections. All 
 that he saw affected him still more deeply, 
 than the dreadful scenes which had passed 
 upon the raft. " In the very heat of battle, 
 said he, " the pain of my wounds was not 
 " accompanied by the gloomy despondency 
 66 which now depresses me, and by a slow, 
 " but sure progress, is conducting me to 
 " death. Only two months ago, I was strong, 
 " intrepid, capable of braving every fatigue : 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL . 221 
 
 cc now, confined to this horrid abode, my 
 " courage is vanished, every thing forsakes 
 " me. I have, in vain, asked some assistance 
 " of those who have come to see me, not 
 " from humanity, but from unfeeling curio- 
 " sity : thus, people went to Liege to see 
 " the brave Goffin, after he had extricated 
 " himself by his courage, from the coal-pit 
 " which had fallen in and buried him. But 
 " he, happier than I, was rewarded with the 
 " cross of the legion of honour, and a pen- 
 " sion which enabled him to subsist.* If I 
 
 * The affair of the coal-mine of Beaujon, as a journa- 
 list has well observed, insures lasting* celebrity to the name 
 of the brave Goffin, whose memory the French Academy 
 has consecrated by a poetical prize ; and the city of Liege, 
 by a large historical picture which has been publicly 
 exhibited. Doubtless the devotedness of Goffin was 
 sublime ; but, Goffin was only the victim of a natural ac- 
 cident, no sentiment of honour and duty, had plunged him 
 voluntarily into an imminent danger, as it had many of 
 those on the raft, and which, several of them might have 
 avoided. Goffin, accusing only fate and the laws of na- 
 ture, to which we are subject, in every situation, had not 
 to defend his soul against all the odious and terrible im- 
 pressions of all the unchained passions of the human 
 heart : hatred, treachery, revenge, despair, fratricide, all 
 the furies in short, did not hold up to him their hideous 
 and threatening spectres; how great a difference does 
 
222 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 " were in France," he continued, " my re- 
 " lations, my countrymen, would mitigate 
 " my sufferings ; but here, under a burning 
 " climate, where every thing is strange to 
 " me, surrounded by these Africans, who 
 66 are hardened by the habitual sight of 
 " the horrors produced by the slave trade, 
 " nothing relieves me; on the contrary, the 
 66 length of the nights, the continuance of 
 " my sufferings, the sight of those of my 
 " companions in misfortune, the disgusting 
 " filth by which 1 am surrounded, the inat- 
 " tention of a soldier who acts as nurse, and 
 " is always drunk or negligent, the insup- 
 " portable hardness of a wretched bed,scarce- 
 " ly sheltered from the inclemency of the 
 " air, all announce to me an inevitable 
 " death. I must resign myself to it, and 
 66 await it with courage! I was less to be 
 
 the nature of their sufferings, suppose in the souls of 
 those who had to triumph over the latter? and yet, 
 what a contrast in the results! Coffin was honored and 
 with justice; the men shipwrecked on the raft, once pro- 
 scribed, seem to be for ever forsaken. Whence is it that 
 misfortune so perseveringly follows them? Is it that, 
 when power has been once unjust, has no means to efface 
 its injustice but to persist in it, no secret to repair its 
 wrongs, but to aggravate them? 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 223 
 
 " pitied on the raft ; then my imagination 
 " was exalted, and I scarcely enjoyed my 
 66 intellectual faculties! but here, I am only 
 " an ordinary man, with all the weaknesses 
 " of humanity. My mind is continually 
 " absorbed in melancholy reflections; my 
 " soul sinks under incessant sufferings, and 
 " I daily see those who shared my unhappy 
 " fate, drop before me in to the grave."* 
 
 While he was wholly absorbed in this 
 distressing soliloquy, he saw two young offi- 
 cers enter the room, followed by three or 
 four slaves, carrying various effects. These 
 two officers approached, with an air of kind- 
 ness, the mournful and motionless Correard, 
 ee Accept," said they, Cf these trifling pre- 
 cc sents, they are sent to you by Major 
 " Peddy, and Captain Cambpell :" we, sir, 
 have desired the happiness of bringing you 
 this first assistance ; we were commissioned 
 by all our comrades, to obtain from you 
 accurate information respecting your wants; 
 you are, besides, invited to partake of our 
 
 ' Three men saved from the raft, died in a very short 
 time ; those who crossed the desert, being too weak to go 
 to Deccard, were in considerable numbers in this same 
 hospital, add perished there successively. 
 
224 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 table, all the time we shall pass together : 
 the Major, and all the officers, beg you to 
 remain here, and not to go to the pestilen- 
 tial camp at Deccard, where a mortal dis- 
 temper would carry you off in a few days." 
 It would be ungrateful not to name these 
 two young officers : one bears the name of 
 Beurthonne, without being a relation of 
 the Governors ; the name of the other is 
 Adam. 
 
 While these generous officers were ful- 
 filling, with so much politeness and kind- 
 ness, these acts of humanity, Major Peddy 
 entered the room, followed by other slaves, 
 also loaded with things, which he came to 
 offer to the friend of the naturalist, Kummer, 
 by whom he was accompanied. The Major 
 approached the unfortunate Correard, who 
 seemed as if awaking from a dream; he 
 embraced him, shedding tears, and vowing 
 to him a friendship which never abated 
 during the whole time that he remained 
 with him. What a sublime image is a fine 
 man, almost two metres in height, who 
 sheds tears of pity at the sight of an unfor- 
 tunate man, who was not less affected, and 
 shed them in abundance, penetrated with 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 225 
 
 the most delicious feelings of gratitude 
 and admiration. After he had recovered 
 from the emotion excited in him by the 
 sight of the melancholy situation of the 
 stranger, whom he had just snatched from 
 misery, the Major made him the most 
 obliging offers : and that Mr. Correard 
 might not decline them, he assured him, 
 beforehand, that he himself and many of 
 his comrades had received similar assis- 
 tance from Frenchmen ; and that their 
 countrymen ought to allow him the honour 
 of discharging, if it were possible, his debt 
 to their nation, for the generous treatment 
 which he had received from them.* Offers so 
 nobly made, could not but be accepted by 
 Mr. Correard, who expressed to his bene- 
 factor, how happy he should esteem himself 
 to be able to merit the friendship that he 
 had just offered him, and that he wished 
 nothing so much as to be able, one day, to 
 
 * Major Peddy had fought against the French in the 
 Antilles and in Spain ; the bravery of our soldiers, and 
 the reception given him in France at the time of our disas- 
 ters, had inspired him with the greatest veneration for our 
 countrymen, who had, on more than one occasion, shewn 
 themselves generous towards him. 
 
 Q 
 
226 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 shew his gratitude in a manner worthy of 
 himself, and of a Frenchman. From that 
 time Mr. Correard received all imaginable 
 assistance from the Major and his officers, 
 and it may be said with truth, that he owes 
 them his life, as do the four French officers 
 who were with him. 
 
 On the 24th of August, Mr. Clairet 
 paid the debt of nature. It was thirty-four 
 days after our arrival at St. Louis. Mr. 
 Correard had the grief to see him die at his 
 side, and to hear him say before his death, 
 that he died satisfied, since he had had time 
 to recommend to his father a natural son 
 whom he loved. At this time Major Peddy 
 had not yet relieved Mr. Correard; he was 
 without clothes, so that he could not attend 
 the funeral of his comrade, who had just 
 expired, worn out by the sufferings which 
 he had experienced on the raft. 
 
 The remains of this young officer re- 
 ceived the honours due to them. The 
 English officers, and especially Major 
 Peddy, acted on this occasion in a manner 
 worthy of praise. 
 
 Perhaps our readers will not be sorry 
 to be made acquainted with some of the 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 227 
 
 details of this mournful ceremony. They 
 are drawn up by Mr. Correard, who still 
 feels a sad pleasure in calling to mind the 
 moments which necessarily made upon him 
 so great an impression. 
 
 The body of the unfortunate Clairet 
 was laid out in a subterraneous apartment 
 of the hospital, whither immense crowds 
 repaired to see once more the mortal re- 
 mains of one who was almost regarded as 
 an extraordinary man; and who, at this 
 moment, owed to his cruel adventures, the 
 powerful interest, which the public favor 
 attached to him and to those, who had so 
 miraculously escaped from all the combined 
 afflictions sustained on the fatal raft. 
 
 " About four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 says Mr. Correard, " I heard the mournful 
 " sounds of martial instruments under the 
 " windows of the hospital. This was a 
 " dreadful blow to me, not so much because 
 " it warned me of the speedy fate which in- 
 " fallibly awaited me, as because this funeral 
 " signal announced to me the moment of 
 " eternal separation from the companion of 
 ' niy sufferings: from the friend, whom 
 ik our common misfortunes had iven we, 
 
228 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 " when 1 passed with him the most dread- 
 " ful moments of my life. At this sound I 
 " wrapped myself in my sheet, and crawled 
 " to the balcony of my window, to bid him 
 Ci the last farewell, and to follow him with 
 " my eyes as far as possible. I know not 
 " what effect the sight of me may have pro- 
 " duced, but when I now reflect upon it 
 66 myself, I imagine that the people must 
 " have believed it was a spectre welcoming 
 " a corpse to the abode of the grave. 
 
 " As for me, notwithstanding my emo- 
 " tion, the sacrifice which I supposed 1 had 
 " made of my life, permitted me to contem- 
 " plate and to follow in detail the sad spec- 
 " tacle on which my almost extinguished 
 " eyes eagerly dwelt. I distinguished a 
 " crowd of slaves who had obtained permis- 
 cc sion from their masters to be present at 
 66 the ceremony. A body of English sol- 
 " diers was placed in a line ; after them 
 " came two lines of French soldiers and 
 " sailors. Immediately after, four soldiers 
 " bore the coffin on their shoulders, after 
 " the manner of the ancients. A national 
 " flag covered it, and hung down to the 
 " ground ; four officers, two French and 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 229 
 
 cc two English, were placed at the angles, 
 St diagonally opposite, and supported the 
 " corners; on the coffin were laid the 
 " uniform and the arms of the young 
 " soldier, and the distinctive marks of his 
 " rank. On the right and left French officers 
 " of the army and navy, and all the officers 
 " of the administration, ranged in two files, 
 " formed the procession. The band of mu- 
 " sic \vas at their head: afterwards, came 
 " the English staff with the respectable 
 " Major Peddy at its head, and the corps 
 " of citizens, led by the mayor of the town; 
 " lastly, the officers of the regiment, and a 
 " detachment, commanded by one of them, 
 " closed the procession. Thus was con- 
 " ducted to his last repose, this other victim 
 " of the fatal raft, snatched in the flower of 
 ;fi his age, from his friends and his country, 
 " by the most fatal death, and whose fine 
 " qualities and courage rendered himwor- 
 * thy of a less deplorable fate." 
 
 This brave officer, who was only 
 twenty-eight years of age, had been eight 
 years in the service; he had received the 
 cross of the Legion of Honor at the Champ 
 de Mai, as a reward for the services which 
 
230 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 he had performed at Talavera de la Reina, 
 Sierra Morena, Saragossa, Montmiraill, 
 Champaubert, and Montereau ; he was pre- 
 sent, also, at the too deplorable day of 
 Waterloo; he was then ensign-bearer of his 
 regiment. 
 
 Such were the events that passed in the 
 isle of St. Louis. The bad season, which, in 
 these countries is so fatal to the Europeans, 
 began to spread those numerous and dread- 
 ful maladies, which are so frequently accom- 
 panied by death. Let us now turn to the 
 unhappy persons assembled in the camp at 
 Daccard, not far from the village ot that 
 name, situated on the Peninsula of Cape 
 Verd. 
 
 The French Governor, as we have al- 
 ready observed, being unable to enter into 
 the possesssion of the colony, resolved to go 
 and remain upon Cape Verd, which had 
 been recognized to be the property of France. 
 On the 26th of July the Argus brig, and a 
 three-masted vessel belonging to Messrs. 
 Potin and Dureeur, took on board the re- 
 mains of the crew of the Medusa, that is, 
 the men who had landed near Portendick, 
 and some persons from the raft: those whose 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 231 
 
 health were the most impaired remained in the 
 hospital at St. Louis. These two vessels set sail; 
 the Governor embarked on board that with 
 three masts, and they arrived in the Goree 
 Roads at nightfall. The next day the men 
 were removed to Cape Verd : several soldiers 
 and sailors had already repaired to it; 
 (these were those who had first crossed the 
 desert :) the flute, la Loire, had conveyed 
 them thither some days before, with the 
 commander of the frigate. It had also 
 landed the troops it had on board, consist- 
 ing of a company of colonial soldiers. The 
 command of the camp was confided to Mr. 
 deFonsain, a respectable old man, who died 
 there the victim of his zeal. What procured 
 him this fatal distinction was the resolution 
 taken by the Governor to go and reside in 
 the island of Goree, to be able to superintend 
 the camp, and the ships, and doubtless for 
 the sake of his health.* 
 
 * The Governor, who it seems did not like the sight 
 of the unfortunate, had, however, no reason to fear that it 
 would too much affect his sensibility. He had elevated 
 himself above the little misfortunes of life, at least, when 
 they did not affect himself, to a degree of impassibility, 
 which would have done honor to the most austere stoic, 
 
NAltltATlVE 01 A 
 
 The shipwreck of the frigate having 
 much reduced the number of the garrison, 
 and occasioned the loss of a great quantity 
 of provisions which she had on board, it 
 was necessary to dispatch a vessel to France, 
 to obtain assistance and fresh orders, on ac- 
 count of the difficulties that had been raised 
 by the English Governor. The Echo cor- 
 vette was chosen for this purpose, which 
 sailed on the 29th of July, in the evening. 
 She had on board fifty-five of those who 
 
 and which, doubtless, indicates the head of a statesman r 
 in which superior interests, and the thought of the pub- 
 lic good, leave no room for vulgar interests, for mean 
 details, for care to be bestowed on the preservation of a 
 wretched individual. Thus, when the death of some un- 
 happy Frenchman was announced to him, this news no 
 further disturbed his important meditations than to make 
 him say to his secretary, " Write, that Mr such a one is 
 " dead." 
 
 The governor is, at the bottom, doubtless, a man not 
 destitute of sensibility; for example, he never passed by 
 the king's picture (if any strangers were present) but he 
 shed tears of emotion. But bis great application to busi- 
 ness, the numerous occupations, the divers enterprises 
 which have agitated his life, have, if we may so express 
 it, so long distracted his thoughts that he has at length 
 felt the necessity of concentrating them wholly in himself* 
 
 We cannot here become the historians of the governor ; 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 233 
 
 had been shipwrecked, three of whom were 
 officers of the navy, the head surgeon, the 
 accountant, three eleves of the marine, and 
 an under surgeon. After a passage of thirty- 
 four days, this corvette anchored in Brest 
 Roads. Mr. Savigny says, that during the 
 six years he has been in the navy, he has 
 never seen a vessel so well kept, and where 
 the duty was done with so much regularity 
 as on board the Echo. Let us return to the 
 new establishment, which collected the 
 remnant of us on Cape Verd. 
 
 \re do not know whether his modesty will ever permit 
 him to publish the memoirs of his life; but the public 
 who know, or easily may know, that having been an apo- 
 thecary in Bengal, a physician in Madagascar, a dealer in 
 small wares, and land-surveyor in Java, a shopkeeper's 
 clerk in the isle of France and Holland, an engineer in the 
 camp of Batavia, commandant at Guadaloupe, chief of a 
 bureau at Paris, he has succeeded after passing through all 
 these channels, in obtaining the orders of St. Louis, and 
 the Legion of Honor, the rank of colonel, and the command 
 of a colony; the public, we say, will reasonable conclude, 
 that the governor is, without doubt, a universal man, and 
 that it is very natural that so superior a genius should have 
 set himself above many little weaknesses, which would 
 have arrested his flight, and which are proper for none but 
 weak minds, for good people who are made to creep on 
 upon the common route, and to crawl on the ground. 
 
234 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 A camp was formed there to receive them 
 neara village inhabited by negroes, andcalled 
 Daccard, as has been stated above. The na- 
 tives of the country appeared to be pleased 
 at seeing the French found an establishment 
 on their coast. A few days after, the sol- 
 diers and sailors having had some misunder- 
 standing, the latter were removed, and dis- 
 tributed between the Loire and the Argus. 
 
 The men who formed this camp were 
 soon attacked with the diseases of the coun- 
 try. They were ill fed, and many of them 
 had just endured long fatigues. Some fish, 
 very bad rum, a little bread, or rice, such 
 were their provisions. The chace also con- 
 tributed to supply their wants; but the 
 excursions which they made to procure game, 
 frequently impaired their health. It was in 
 the beginning of July that the bad season 
 began to be felt. Cruel diseases attacked 
 the unhappy French ; who being exhausted 
 by long privations, these terrible maladies 
 spread with dreadful rapidity. Two thirds 
 of them were attacked by putrid fevers, the 
 rapid progress of which hardly allowed the 
 physicians time, to administer that precious 
 remedy, the produce of Peru, of which, by 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 335 
 
 some mismanagement, the hospitals were 
 nearly destitute. (22) It was in these dis- 
 tressing circumstances that Mr. de Chau- 
 mareys came to take the command of the 
 camp. Other measures were taken, and the 
 hospitals were no longer in want of bark ; 
 but dysenteries, which frequently proved 
 mortal, spread every where. On all sides 
 there were none but unhappy men who 
 gave themselves up to despair, and who 
 sighed after their country : it was scarcely 
 possible to find men enough for the duty of 
 the camp. It is remarkable, that the crews 
 of the vessels, which were in the roads of 
 Goree, were hardly sensible of the influence 
 of the bad season : it is true these crews 
 were better fed, better clothed, and sheltered 
 from the inclemency of the air ; it is, besides, 
 pretty certain, that this road is healthy, 
 while the maladies of the country prevail 
 on shore. Such was the situation of the 
 camp of Daccard, when, on the 20th of No- 
 vember, the French Governor, was autho- 
 rized, by Mr. Macarty, Governor General 
 of the English settlements, to inhabit, on the 
 former coast of the French possessions, the 
 
236 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 place which should suit him the best. Mr. 
 Schtnalz chose St. Louis.* 
 
 As we were neither of us at the camp 
 of Daccard, we have not been able to detail 
 all that passed there, and to speak only of 
 things, with which we are perfectly ac- 
 quainted, we have been obliged to pass over 
 this part of our narrative rather slightly. 
 
 Mr. Correard, who had remained at the 
 isle of St. Louis, hastened to pay his re- 
 spects to the governor, when he came, in 
 consequence of the permission of Mr. Ma- 
 carty to inhabit that town. He relates, that 
 on this occasion, the governor received him 
 very well, pitied him much, and protested 
 that if he had not been taken better care of, 
 it was not his fault : Mr, Schmalz, allowed, 
 that he had been the worst treated of all the 
 shipwrecked persons, a thing which he had 
 long known ; " But, added he, your inisfor- 
 cc tunes are terminated, and henceforward 
 " you will want for nothing. I will send 
 
 * The giving up of the colony did not take place till 
 six months after our shipwreck. It was_not till the 25th 
 of January, 1817, that we took possession of our settle- 
 ments on the coast of Africa. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 237 
 
 " you, every day, very good rations of rice, 
 " meat, good wine, and excellent bread; 
 besides, in a short time, I will put you 
 " to board with Mr. Monbrun, where you 
 <c will be extremely well off." These last 
 promises were as unavailing as the first had 
 been. One day, however, in a fit of the 
 fever, Mr. Correard sent his servant to the 
 governor with a note, in which he asked for 
 a bottle of wine, and one of brandy ; he, in 
 fact, received what he had asked for ; but 
 when he was recovered from his delirium, 
 he was going to send back these two bot- 
 tles; however, on reflection, he thought it 
 would not be proper, and he resolved to 
 keep them. This is all that he was able to 
 obtain from the French authorities, during 
 five month's time that he remained at Saint 
 Louis. It is even probable that he would 
 have returned to France without having cost 
 his government the smallest trifle, but for 
 that fit of the fever, which deprived him of 
 his reason, and during which, he made the 
 request which he afterwards thought to be 
 indiscreet and improper. 
 
 On the 23rd, or 24th of November, he 
 again saw his two benefactors Major Peddy 
 
238 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 and Captain Campbell, who were about to 
 depart on their great expedition to the in- 
 terior of Africa. 
 
 At the moment of their separation. 
 Major Peddy was eager to give to Mr. 
 Correard the last marks of true friendship, 
 not only by his inexhaustible generosity, 
 but also by good advice, which the event has 
 rendered very remarkable, and which, for 
 this reason, we think it necessary to mention 
 here. The following is pretty nearly the 
 discourse which the good Major addressed 
 to Mr. Correard at their last interview : 
 " Since your intention," said he, " is to 
 " return to France, allow me, first of all, to 
 " give you some advice; I am persuaded 
 " that, if you will follow it, you will one day 
 tc have reason to congratulate yourself on 
 " it. I know mankind, and without pre- 
 " tending exactly to guess how your Mi- 
 " nister of the Marine will act towards 
 66 you, I, nevertheless, think myself justi- 
 " fied in presuming that you will obtain 
 " no relief from him; for, remember that 
 " a minister, who has committed a fault. 
 " never will suffer it to be mentioned to 
 " him, nor the persons or things presented 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 239 
 
 Ci to him, that might remind him of his 
 " want of ability ;* therefore, believe me, my 
 " friend; in stead of taking the road to Paris, 
 " take that to London ; there you will find 
 
 * What would our good Major have said if he had 
 known that our Minister of the Marine, Mr. Dubouchage, 
 had exposed himself in a far greater degree, to the em- 
 barrassment of the species of shame, attributed to him 
 here, by confiding seven or eight expeditions to officers 
 who do no more honour to his choice and discernment, than 
 the expedition to Senegal has done. 
 
 Besides the Medusa, which was conducted so directly 
 upon the bank of Arguin, by the Viscount de Chauma- 
 reys, Knight of St. Louis, and of the Legion of Honour, and 
 in the intervals of his campaigns, receiver of the droits 
 reunis, at Bellac, in Upper Vienue, every body knows 
 that the Golo, bound from Toulon to Pondichery, nearly 
 perished on the coast, by the unskilfulness of the Captain, 
 Chevalier Amblard, Knight of St. Louis, and the Legion of 
 Honour, who, in order not to lose sight of maritime affairs, 
 had become a salt merchant, near Toulon.* .Neither is the 
 debut of the Viscount de Cheflfontaine forgotten, who, on 
 quitting Rochefort, whence he was to sail to the Isle of 
 Bourbon, put into Plymouth to repair his masts, which he 
 had lost after being three or four days at sea. Who does 
 not know that it would be in our power to mention more 
 examples of this kind? 
 
 We spare the French reader these recollections, which 
 are always painful ; besides, what could our weak voice 
 add to the eloquent expressions which resounded in the 
 last session, in the chamber o4' deputies ; when a member, 
 
210 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 <c a number of philanthropes, who will 
 cc assist you, and I can assure you that 
 " henceforward, you will want for nothing. 
 " Your misfortunes have been so very great 
 
 the friend of his country and of glory, pointed out the 
 errors of the Minister of the Marine, and raised his voice 
 against those shadows of officers whom favor elevated to 
 the most important posts. He represented, with reason, 
 how prejudicial it was to government, that the command 
 of ships and colonies should be given as caprice dictates, 
 and to gratify the pretentious of vain pride, while expe- 
 rienced officers were overlooked, or disdainfully repulsed, 
 condemned to figure on the lists of the half-pay, of the re- 
 forms, and even before the time, which would have called 
 them to a necessary, or at least legal repose. How bur- 
 densome to the State, are these rctraites which render 
 useless, men whose zeal and talents ought to insure no 
 other than their vessel, who wished but to spend their 
 life there in uninterrupted service, who would have found 
 there a tomb, the only one worthy of a French sailor, 
 rather than suffer any thing contrary to duty and honour. 
 Instead of that, we have seen titles s take the reward of 
 knowledge, repose of experience, and protection of merit. 
 Men proud of thirty years of obscurity, make them figure 
 on the lists, as passed under imaginary colours, and this 
 service of a novel description establishes for them the 
 right of seniority. These men, decorated with ribbons of 
 all colours, who counted very well the number of their 
 ancestors, but of whom it would have been useless to ask 
 an account of their studies, being called to superior com- 
 mands, have not been able to shew anything but their 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 241 
 
 " that there is no Englishman who will 
 (< not feel a pleasure in assisting you. Here, 
 4< Sir, are 300 francs, which will suffice for 
 " the expences of your voyage, whether 
 " you go to Paris or to London. Reflect a 
 " moment on what I propose to you, and 
 " if your resolution is such as [ wish you 
 " to take, let me know it immediately, that 
 " I may give you letters of recommendation 
 " to all my friends, as well as to my patrons, 
 " who will be truly happy to serve you." 
 
 Mr. Correard was deeply affected by 
 what he had just heard ; the noble genero- 
 
 orders, and their unskilfulness. They have done more: 
 they have had the privilege of losing the vessels and the 
 people of the State, without its being possible for the laws 
 to reach them ; and after all, how could a tribunal have 
 condemned them ? They might have replied to their 
 judges, that they had not passed their time in studying 
 the regulations of the service, or the laws of the marine, 
 and that, if they had failed, it was without knowledge or 
 design. In fact, it would be difficult to suppose that they 
 intended their own destruction ; they have but too well 
 proved that they knew how to provide for their own 
 safety. And what reply could have been made to them, 
 if they had confined their defence to these two points? 
 We did not appoint ourselves ; it is not we who are to 
 blame, 
 
 R 
 
2-12 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 sity of the excellent man to whom he al- 
 ready owed his life, and who entered with 
 such perfect readiness, into all the details 
 which he thought the most proper to finish 
 his work, and insure the happiness of his 
 poor friend, filled the heart of the latter 
 with emotion and gratitude; yet, shall we say 
 it? The advice to goto London, which the 
 Major had just given him, had in it some- 
 thing that distressed him ; he had not heard 
 it without recollecting that he was a French- 
 man, and some secret suggestions of self-love 
 and national pride, told him that aFrench- 
 man who had served his country, and 
 to whom unparalleled misfortunes had 
 given so many claims to the justice, as well 
 as to the kindness of his own government, 
 could not, without offering a kind of insult 
 to his fellow countrymen, begin by going 
 to England, and there throwing himself on 
 the public compassion. These sentiments, 
 therefore, suggested much more by his heart 
 than by his understanding, dictated his 
 answer to the Major. 
 
 It was not difficult for him to express, 
 with warmth, all the gratitude which he 
 owed him, forihe noble and delicate manner 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 243 
 
 in which he had sought him out. and re- 
 lieved him in his misfortune. 
 
 " As for the pecuniary assistance which 
 ec you still offer me/' continued he, " I accept 
 " it with great pleasure, because benefits 
 " conferred by you, can only do honour to 
 <c him who receives them, and because I 
 <c hope, one day, to repay this debt with 
 " interest, to your countrymen, if I can 
 " meet with any who have need of my as- 
 " sistance. As for your other proposal, Ma- 
 " jor, allow me not to be of your opinion, 
 " and to have a little more confidence in 
 4C the generosity of my government, as well 
 " as in that of my countrymen. If T acted 
 4C otherwise, would you not be authorised 
 " to have a bad opinion of the French 
 " character, and then, I appeal to yourself, 
 " generous Englishman, should not I have 
 <f lost my claims to your esteem? Believe 
 " me. Major, France can also boast of 
 " a great number of men, whose patri- 
 " otism and humanity may rival those 
 " which are so frequently found in Great 
 " Britain. Like you we are formed to the 
 <c sentiments, to the duties which compose 
 <f the true love of our country and of li- 
 
 R 2 
 
244 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 " berty. In returning to France, I firmly 
 " believe that I return into the bosom of a 
 " great family. But if, contrary to my ex- 
 " pectation, it were possible that I should 
 " find myself, one day, abandoned by my 
 " government, as we were by some men 
 " who have nothing French about them but 
 " their dress; if France, which so often and 
 " so nobly welcomes the unfortunate of 
 " other countries, should refuse pity and 
 " assistance to her own children, then, Ma- 
 " jor, should I be obliged to seek, else- 
 cc where, a happier fate and a new country : 
 " there is no doubt but that I should chuse 
 " that of my generous benefactors in pre- 
 " ference to every other/* 
 
 Major Peddy answered Mr. Correard 
 only by tears. The transport of patriotism, 
 in which the latter had naturally indulged 
 himself, had found, as may be supposed, 
 the heart of the noble Briton, in harmony 
 with that of him whom he protected ; he 
 felt a visible satisfaction, and an emotion 
 which he did not attempt to dissemble. The 
 Major closely embraced Mr. Correard, bid- 
 ding him farewell for ever; it seemed that 
 this worthy man forsesaw his approaching 
 end. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 245 
 
 He was in fact destined to sink beneath 
 the fatigues of the journey which he was 
 about to undertake. 
 
 This expedition was composed, besides 
 the Major, who commanded in chief, and 
 the Captain, \vho was the second in com- 
 mand, and charged with the astronomical 
 observations, of a young Physician, who 
 was third in command ; of Mr. Kummer, 
 the naturalist (a Saxon naturalized in 
 France); of a Mulatto, who acted as inter- 
 preter; of thirty white soldiers, almost all 
 workmen; of a hundred black soldiers, and 
 of about ten camels, a hundred and fifty 
 horses, as many asses, and a hundred oxen 
 to carry burdens ; so that there were above 
 a hundred and thirty men, and four hun- 
 dred animals. All the equipages w r ere em- 
 barked on board six small vessels, which 
 ascended the Rio Grande to the distance of 
 about fifty leagues up the country. The 
 respectable commander of this expedition 
 could not resist the influence of the cli- 
 mate; he was attacked by a cruel disease, 
 which terminated his existence a few days; 
 after his departure from the island of St, 
 
246 NARRATIVE Ol A 
 
 Louis. Such men ought to be imperish- 
 able *. 
 
 * Just as we are going to send this sheet to the 
 press, we learn from the newspapers, that this expedition 
 has failed ; that it was not able to proceed above fifty 
 leagues into the interior, and that it returned to Sierra 
 Leone, after having lost several officers, and among them 
 Captain Campbell, who had taken the command after the 
 death of Major Peddy. Thus the good fall and the 
 Thersites live, and are often even honoured. Captain 
 Campbell was one of our benefactors, may his manes be 
 sensible to our regret, and may his family and country 
 permit us to mingle with their just affliction, this weak 
 tribute of respect, by which we endeavour as far as lies in 
 our power ro discharge the sacred debt of gratitude ! 
 
 Among the losses which this expedition has expe- 
 rienced, it is feared that we must reckon that of our excel- 
 lent companion, the Naturalist Kummer; nevertheless, as 
 no possitive information of his death has yet been re- 
 ceived of his fate, his numerous friends, in the midst of 
 their fears, still cherish some hopes : May they not be dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 The accounts which inform us of this event, attribute 
 the ill success of the expedition, to the obstacles opposed 
 to it by the natives of the interior, but enter into no de- 
 tails. We learn from geogaphers, that up the Rio Grande 
 there lives the warlike nation of the Souucsous,whom some 
 call the Fonllahs of Guinea. The name of their capital 
 is Teembo. They are Mahometans, and make war on the 
 idolatrous tribes who surround them, to sell their prisoners. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 247 
 
 The English physicians finding that 
 the health of Mr. Correard far from im- 
 proving, seemed on the contrary, to decline 
 more and more, persuaded him to return 
 to France. These gentlemen gave him 
 a certificate of such a nature, that the 
 French governor could not object to his de- 
 parture; he received his request perfectly 
 well, and two days after his passage was 
 secured ; but we shall see in the sequel what 
 was the motive of this favorable attention to 
 his request. 
 
 On the 28th of November, in the morn- 
 ing, he embarked on board of a coasting- 
 vessel, which conveyed him first on board 
 the Loire, which was bound for France : he 
 was no sooner embarked, than the fever 
 seized him, as it did almost every day; he 
 was in a dreadful situation, weakened by 
 
 A remarkable institution, called the Pouarh, seems to have 
 a great resemblance with the ancient secret Tribunal of 
 Germany. The Pouarh is composed of members who 
 are not admitted among the initiated till they have tinder- 
 gone the most horrible probations. The association exer- 
 cises the power of life and death; every body shuns him, 
 whose head it has proscribed. It may be that it was by 
 this species of government, which seems not to want 
 power, that the English expedition was stopped. 
 
248 NARRATIVE OJt A 
 
 five months' illness, consumed by a burning' 
 fever, added to the heat of the noon-day 
 sun, which struck perpendicularly on his 
 head ; he thought he was going to die ; he 
 had, besides, painful vomitings, produced 
 by the heat, and by an indisposition caused 
 by the fish on which he had breakfasted 
 before his departure. The little vessel 
 crossed the bar; but it falling a dead calm, 
 it could not proceed : they perceived this 
 on board the Loire, and immediately dis- 
 patched a large boat to fetch the passen- 
 gers out of the heat of the sun. While this 
 boat was coming, Mr. Correard fell asleep 
 upon a coil of cables that were on the 
 deck of the little vessel ; but before he fell 
 quite asleep, he heard some one say, 
 <c Thwe's one who will never get to France" 
 The boat came in less than a quarter of an 
 hour; all those who were about my sick 
 friend, embarked on board the boat, without 
 any one's having the generosity to awaken 
 him ; they left him asleep, exposed to the 
 beams of the sun ; he passed five hours in 
 this situation, after the departure of the 
 boat. In his life he had never suffered so 
 much, except during the thirteen days on 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 249 
 
 the raft. When he asked, on awaking, 
 what was become of the other gentlemen, 
 he was told that they were gone, and that 
 not one of them had shewed any intention 
 of taking him with them. A breeze 
 springing up, his vessel at last reached the 
 Loire, and there on the deck, in the pre- 
 sence of the sailors, he reproached in the 
 bitterest manner, those who had abandoned 
 him, and even said oifensive things to 
 them. These sallies, the consequence of 
 his exasperation, caused him to be looked 
 upon as out of his mind, and nobody trou- 
 bled himself about the severe truths which 
 he had thus publicly uttered. The Loire 
 sailed on the 1st of December, and arrived 
 in France on the 27th of the same month. 
 
 When Mr. Correard got to Rochefort, 
 he waited on the Intendant of the Marine, 
 who received him kindly, and authorised 
 him to remain in the hospital as long as he 
 should think necessary for his recovery. 
 He was placed in the officers' ward, where 
 he received the utmost attention from the 
 medical gentlemen, who besides the aid ot 
 their art, shewed him the greatest regard 
 
250 NARRATIVE OV A x 
 
 and mitigated his misfortunes by kind con- 
 solations. Mr. Savigny saw every day his 
 companion in misfortune, and he often re- 
 peated, " Iain happy, I have at length met 
 " with men sensible to my misfortunes." After 
 having passed thirty-three days in this fine 
 hospital, he judged his health sufficiently 
 recovered, and desired to leave it, in order 
 to go to his family. 
 
 We shall here conclude the nautical 
 part of our history; but as, since our return 
 to France, particular circumstances and a 
 series of events, which we were far from 
 foreseeing, have, as it were prolonged the 
 chain of our adventures, we think it will 
 not be amiss to add another article, respect- 
 ing what has happened to us since we have 
 returned to our country. 
 
 Mr. Savigny thought, that after having 
 undergone unexampled misfortunes, he had 
 a right to describe all the sufferings to 
 which he and his companions in misfortune 
 had been exposed for thirteen days. Was 
 it ever heard that the unhappy were 
 forbidden to complain? Well, the fresh 
 misfortunes which have befallen him, and 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 251 
 
 which he is going to lay before our readers, 
 have arisen, from his not having buried in 
 silence these disastrous events. 
 
 During his passage on board the Echo, 
 he wrote the account of our unhappy adven- 
 tures; his intention w 7 as to deliver his nar- 
 rative to the Minister of the Marine. When 
 he arrived in France, in the month of Sep- 
 tember, some persons advised him to go to 
 
 Paris, where, said they, " Your misfor- 
 " tunes will procure you the favor of 
 " the Ministry ," and it was considered as 
 an absolute certainty, that some recom- 
 pense would make him forget the consider- 
 able losses which he had sustained, the 
 dangers which he had just escaped, and the 
 pain arising from his wounds, for at that 
 time he still wore his right arm in a sling. 
 He listened to the advice which was given 
 him, because it came from very sensible 
 persons, and set out for the capital, carry- 
 ing his manuscript with him. He arrived 
 at Paris on the 11th of September; his first 
 care was to go to the office of the Minister 
 (of the Marine), where he deposited all the 
 papers which he had drawn up respecting 
 the shipwreck of the Medusa. But what 
 
2-32 AARRAT1VE OF A 
 
 was his astonishment to see the day after, 
 the Journal dcs Debats of the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, an extract from his narrative, copied 
 almost literally : he then endeavoured to 
 
 m 
 
 discover whence the editors con Id have ob- 
 tained these details; it cost him but little 
 time to solve the riddle. 
 
 We shall not here explain by what 
 means his manuscript became known to the 
 editor of the Journal. We shall here con- 
 tent ourselves with saying, that while Mr. 
 Savigny was still at Brest, a person, who 
 has connexions with the officer of the marine, 
 with the intention of serving him, asked him 
 for a copy of his memoir, saying, that by 
 the medium of a person in office, he could 
 get it conveyed to the minister of the marine. 
 This copy of our adventures was entrusted 
 to this person, arid by him sent to Paris. 
 Mr. Savigny had acted in this manner, be- 
 cause his intention, at that time, was to go to 
 his family, without passing through the ca- 
 pital. It appears that this copy was not 
 discreetly kept, since it reached the editor of 
 the Journal des Debats : certainly, he who 
 received it from Brest, was very far from 
 wishing to injure the author of the memoir, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 253 
 
 If he had had the smallest idea of all the dis- 
 agreeable con sequences ai sing from the pub- 
 licity which he gave to the narrative, by 
 shewing it to several persons, he would have 
 kept it more carefully, or at least, he would 
 have delivered it immediately to the minister 
 of the marine for whom it was intended. 
 This publicity, by means of the Journal, 
 drew upon Mr. Savigny the most serious 
 remonstrances. The very same day he was 
 sent for to the office ; he was told that his 
 excellency was discontented, and that, he 
 must immediately prove, that he was inno- 
 cent of the publication of our misfortunes, 
 which affected all France, and excited a 
 lively interest in the fate of the victims. 
 ButforMr. Savigny,every thing was changed ; 
 instead of the interest, which his situation 
 ought to inspire, he had called down upon 
 himself the severity of the minister, and was 
 to justify himself, for having dared to write 
 that he had been very unfortunate, by the 
 fault of others. The reception he met with 
 at the office affected him so much, that but, 
 for the advice of some persons, he would 
 have resigned his commission at once. There 
 was but one means to prove, that it was not 
 
254 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 he, who had given his narrative to the editor 
 of the Journal des Debats : this was to ob- 
 tain the certificate of the editor himself. 
 Conscious of the truth,, he went to him, and 
 that honorable writer, without hesitation, 
 did homage to the truth, by the following 
 certificate. 
 
 " I certify that it is not from Mr. Sa 
 " vigny, that I have the details of the ship- 
 " wreck of the Medusa inserted in the 
 " journal of the 13th of September, 1816." 
 (Signed) The Editor of the Jour- 
 nal des Debats. 
 
 This certificate was put into the hands 
 of M. * * * * and by him presented to his ex- 
 cellency, who, however, did not appear 
 satisfied, because this certificate, though it 
 proved, that Mr. Savigny was not the person 
 who had rendered public the history of our 
 adventures, threw no light on the means by 
 which the manuscript had become known 
 to the editor. One of the principal persons 
 in the office, having signified to him the 
 opinion of his excellency, who found this 
 justification insufficient, Mr. Savigny again 
 had recourse to the editor of the journal, 
 who gave a second certificate as follow 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAI*. 255 
 
 " I certify, that it is not from Mr. Sa- 
 " vigny, that I have the details inserted in 
 " the Number of the 13th of September, 
 " but from the office of the Minister of the 
 " Police/' After this new proof, it was no 
 longer doubted, but that Mr. Savigny had 
 been the victim of an indiscretion, and he 
 was told that he might return to his post. 
 He therefore left the capital, after having 
 experienced many vexations ; but those, 
 which the publication of our misfortunes 
 was to cause him, were not yet at an end. 
 
 The English translated the details con- 
 tained in the Journal of the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, and inserted them in one of their 
 Journals which reached Senegal. In this 
 amplified translation, there were some 
 pretty strong passages, which were far 
 from pleasing the governor, and M. * * * *, 
 one of the officers of the frigate. They 
 perceived that there was but one means to 
 combat the narrative ; this was to endeavour 
 to make it believed, that it was false in many 
 particulars. A report was therefore drawn 
 up at St Louis ; it was brought to Mr. Cor- 
 reard to be signed, who, after perusing it. 
 refused, because he found it contrary to the 
 
256 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 truth. The governor's secretary came several 
 times to the hospital, to urge him for his 
 signature ; but he persisted in his refusal : 
 the governor himself pressed him very earn- 
 estly one day that he went to solicit leave 
 to depart; he answered, that he would never 
 consent to sign a paper quite at variance 
 with the truth, and returned to his hospital. 
 The next day, his friend, Mr. Kummer, 
 went to him, and invited him to return to 
 the governor's, in order, at length, to sign 
 this paper, because he had been informed, 
 that if he persisted in his refusal, he should 
 not return to France. These gentlemen, 
 must therefore, have felt themselves deeply 
 interested, to be reduced to employ such 
 measures towards an unfortunate man, ex- 
 hausted by a long sickness, and whose reco- 
 very depended on his return to Europe, 
 which they thought not to grant him, except 
 on condition of his signing a false narrative, 
 contrary to what he had himself seen ; for 
 one paragraph was employed to prove that 
 the towrope had broken ; could he sign it, 
 who was himself an eye witness, and who 
 had been assured by more than twenty per- 
 sons, that it had been made loose. Besides 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 257 
 
 this falsehood, it was stated one passage, that, 
 when the raft was left, the words we abandon 
 them, were not pronounced ; in another 
 passage, that Mr. Savigny, in publishing 
 his account, had shewn himself ungrateful 
 to his officers, who had done every thing to 
 serve him personally; there were, besides, 
 some improper personalities : he was in par- 
 ticular much surprised to see at the bottom 
 of this paper, the signature of a man, whose 
 life Mr. Savigny had saved with his own 
 hand.* Mr. Correard's perseverance in 
 
 * This remark on the conduct of one of our compa- 
 nions whom we had known, under more favourable circum- 
 stances, had cost us some pain in the first edition : there- 
 fore, we did not expressly name the person meant. When 
 we now name Mr. Griffon, we conceive ourselves to be 
 fulfilling a duty, which his present sentiments impose 
 on us. 
 
 A man of honor, especially, when in the state of weak- 
 ness, and of mental and bodily infirmity to which we were 
 reduced, might be misled for a moment ; but when he 
 repairs this involuntary error, with the generosity which 
 dictated the following letter, we repeat it, there is no longer 
 any crime in having thus erred, and it is justice, and a 
 very pleasing duty for us to do homage to the frankness, to 
 the loyalty of Mr. Griffon, and to congratulate ourselves, 
 on having found again the heart of the companion of our 
 
258 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 withholding his signature, triumphed over 
 injustice, and his return to Europe was no 
 longer retarded. But the same manoeuvres 
 
 misfortunes, such as we had known him, and with all his 
 rights to our esteem. 
 
 The following is the letter which he has just written 
 to Mr. Savigny, and which is a highly valuable proof of 
 the truth of our accounts. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Mr. Griffon to Mr. Savigny. 
 
 At present, Sir, I owe you a testimony of gratitude for 
 your attention in anticipating me. I know, that in your 
 eyes I could not merit so much generosity from you : it is 
 noble to forget the ills that have been done us, and to do 
 good to those who have sought to injure us: your conduct 
 towards me is admirable ; 1 confess, that, though my recla- 
 mations were just at the first, I have suffered myself to be 
 carried too far by the first impulse of a weak and exalted 
 imagination, which led me to decry my unhappy com- 
 panion in misfortune, because I fancied, that the account 
 which he had drawn up of our misfortunes might render 
 us odious to all our relations and friends.** Such are the 
 reasons which I alledged to you at Rochefort, and you 
 must then have perceived, that 1 spoke to you with frank- 
 ness, since I concealed nothing from you. I am not at 
 present without repentance, for not havingwaited for better 
 information, before I acted against one, whose firmness did 
 not a little contribute to save our lives. 
 
 Bourgneuf, January 7, 1818. GRIFFON DUBELLAY. 
 
 ** 
 
 The same means were employed with Mr. Correard. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 259 
 
 had more success in anoflier quarter, and 
 Messrs. Dupont, Lheureux^ Chariot, Jean 
 Charles, and Touche-Lavilette could not 
 escape the snare which was laid for them. 
 They were labouringunderthat terriblefever 
 which carried off the French with so much 
 rapidity, when they were invited by the 
 governor to sign this narrative. Some 
 yielded to the fear of displeasing his excel- 
 lency ; others conceived hopes of obtaining 
 his protection, which, in the colonies is no 
 trifling advantage ; others again were so 
 weak, that they were not even able to make 
 themselves acquainted with the paper to 
 which they were desired to put their names. 
 It was thus, that our companions were in- 
 duced to give testimony against themselves, 
 to certify the contrary of what they had seen 
 respecting all that had been done, to bring 
 about our destruction. Our readers have 
 just seen the noble disavowal of Mr. Griffon, 
 of the false impressions which had deceived 
 him in respect to us : in order that the reader 
 may be able to form a just opinion of the 
 report directed against us, we insert here a 
 document equally precise and decisive : it is 
 a declaration of Mr. Touche-Lavillette, who 
 
 8 2 
 
260 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 acknowledges, that he signed in confidence, 
 a paper, the contents of which were unknown 
 to him, as well as the purpose for which it 
 was drawn up.* 
 
 Thus supported by authorities, the 
 value of which any body can now appre- 
 ciate, this lardy and inexact report was 
 
 * I, the undersigned chief of the workmen under the 
 command of Mr. Correard, engineer, geographer, one of 
 the members of the commission appointed by his excel- 
 lency the minister of the marine and the colonies, to exa- 
 mine Cape Verd and its environs, certify that, in the month 
 of November, 1816, a memorial was presented me to sign ? 
 by order of the governor of Senegal ; that, at this time, 
 living in the hospital in the island of Goree, to be cured of 
 an epidemic fever, which then raged on Cape Verd ; it occa- 
 sioned temporary fits of delirium; that consequently, this 
 weakeningof my moral faculties, and even the state of mental 
 derangement, in which I was caused to sign this piece with- 
 out reading it: it appears, that it tended, in part, to blame 
 the conduct of Mr. Savigny on the raft, and for which 1 
 owe him, only commendations. It appears, also, according 
 to what has been told me, that I have been made to certify, 
 that the tow-rope broke and was not loosened ; 1 declare, 
 that my signature at the bottom of this memorial, having 
 been surreptitiously obtained, is null and void ; in testi- 
 mony whereof, I have delivered the present certificate to 
 serve towards repelling any attack that might be made 
 against Mr. Savigny, on the ground of this memorial. 
 Done at Paris, November 1, 1817. TOUCHE LAVILETTE. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 261 
 
 addressed to the minister of the marine. 
 Mr. Correard, when he landed at Rochefort, 
 informed Mr. Savigny of it, and gave him 
 a certificate of what has been just related. 
 The latter procured two others, which were 
 delivered to him, by those of his companions 
 in misfortune, who were in France. These 
 certificates will be found in the notes (I) 
 (2) (3). 
 
 (1) I, the undersigned, appointed to command the raft 
 of the Medusa frigate, certify, that Mr. Savigny, the sur* 
 geon, who embarked in the said raft, has given on all occa- 
 sions, in the unhappy situation in which we were placed* 
 proofs of the greatest courage and coolness, and that on 
 several occasions, his prudence was of the greatest service 
 to us, in suggesting to us means to maintain good order, 
 and discipline, of which we had so much need, and which 
 it was so difficult for us to obtain. 
 
 (Signed) COUDIJT. 
 
 \2) 1, the undersigned, certify, that Mr. Savigny, by 
 his courage and coolness, succeded in maintaining good 
 order upon the raft, and that, his prudent arrangements 
 saved the lives of the fifteen unfortunate persons, who 
 were taken up by the Argus brig. 
 
 (Signed) NICOLAS FRANCOIS. 
 
 (3) 1, the undersigned, certify, to all whom it may 
 concern, that I have refused to sign a memorial drawn up 
 
 by Mr. , which was addressed to his excellency the 
 
 minister of the marine, and tended to disapprove the con- 
 
262 NARRATIVE A OF 
 
 Provided with these three certificates, 
 Mr. Savigny solicited permission to go to 
 Paris, in order to be able to let his excel- 
 lency see, that they were seeking to deceive 
 him. Two months passed without informa- 
 tion. Mean time, Mr. Correard deparled 
 for the capital, taking a letter from his com- 
 rade, for a person in the office, to whom it 
 was delivered, and who did not give a deci- 
 sive answer to what was asked of him. At 
 length, Mr. Savigny received a letter from 
 Paris, in which he was informed, " That 
 Cf not only he would not receive the permis- 
 " sion which he solicited, but that, as long 
 " as the present minister was at the head of 
 " affairs, he would have no promotion." 
 This letter, which he had so long expected, 
 was dated May 10, 1817. Mr. Savigny dis- 
 gusted by all that he had just experienced, 
 gave in his resignation, after having served 
 
 duct of Mr. Savigny on board the raft, as well as to refute 
 some parts of the narrative of our shipwreck, inserted in 
 the Journal des Debats, the 13th of September, 1816, 
 besides, the events related in this memorial, appear to me 
 so entirely false, and so contrary to all that we owe to Mr. 
 Savigny, that it was impossible for me to put iny name to 
 it. (Signed) CORREARD. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 263 
 
 six years, and made as many expeditions 
 by sea. On leaving the service, this medical 
 officer, who had several times narrowly 
 escaped perishing in the waves, was ho- 
 nored by the regret of the superiors under 
 whom he has been employed, as may be 
 judged by the copy of the* certificate, which 
 they gave him when he resigned his situa- 
 tion. Fresh misfortunes have also befallen 
 Mr. Correard, from the time that he left 
 Rochefort, till the moment that he was able 
 to join his companion in misfortune, to write 
 together the account of their shipwreck. 
 
 On the 4th of February 1817, thinking 
 himself entirely recovered, he resolved to 
 set out for Paris, where business rendered 
 his presence necessary ; but as his pecuniary 
 resources were slender, and he had been 
 
 * The Board of Health certifies, that Mr. Jean Baptiste 
 Henry Savigny, has been employed in the character of 
 surgeon, fromjthe 15th of April,1811, to the 5th of May,1817 
 and that in the course of his service, both by sea and land. 
 he has given proofs of zeal, emulation, and good conduct. 
 It is with regret, that the Board of Health, sees an 
 officer retire from the service, who is so distinguished by 
 his talents as Mr. Savigny. 
 
 (Signed) CHASLON, TUFFET, REJOU. 
 
264 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 at considerable expence to clothe himself, 
 (for he was almost naked when he landed 
 from the Loire) he thought he could make 
 the journey on foot. On the first day he felt 
 only a slight pain, on the second it in- 
 creased, and on the third, the fever seized 
 him. He was then three leagues from Poi- 
 tiers, near a very little village : exhausted 
 with fatigue, and weakened by the fever, he 
 resolved to go to the mayor, and ask him 
 for a billet; this functionary was from home, 
 but his wife said, that at all events, it would 
 be necessary first to obtain the consent of 
 
 Monsieur the Marquis de. Colonel of 
 
 the National Guard. The weary traveller 
 thought there could be no impropriety in 
 waiting on the Marquis : he was deceived 
 in his expectation ; the Colonel gave him a 
 very bad reception, and was insensible to 
 his entreaties; it was in vain that he shewed 
 him his certificates, his pass, his wounds, 
 and even his arms which shook with the 
 fever : nothing could move him. The un- 
 fortunate invalid, in despair, retired, cursing 
 the inhumanity, which he had not expected 
 to find in an officer of the National Guard, 
 promising in his own mind, never to forget 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGA I,. 265 
 
 his illustrious name, and the unfeeling man- 
 ner in which lie had answered to his re- 
 quests. Exhausted as he w r as, he was 
 obliged to drag on another weary league on 
 foot, in order to reach a public house where 
 he might rest himself. The next day, with 
 much difficulty, he got to Poitiers. He had 
 the happiness to find a man of feeling in 
 the Mayor, who was much affected by his 
 melancholy situation ; it was, indeed, calcu- 
 lated to excite interest; for a few minutes 
 before he entered the town-hall, he fainted, 
 but the most charitable assistance was be- 
 stowed on him by a respectable lady, and 
 he soon recovered from this swoon. One of 
 the clerks soon gave liim a billet, assuring 
 him that it was upon one of the best houses 
 in the town ; which was true; and the poor 
 invalid owns, that in his life, he never 
 has received more affectionate care than that 
 which he met with in the house of Mr. 
 Maury, proprietor of the hotel of the Roman 
 Antiquities. Poitiers was therefore a place 
 of happiness for him. It was soon known 
 in the town, that one of the shipwrecked 
 persons from the raft, was within its walls ; 
 and during the whole day nothing was 
 
266 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 spoken of but that melancholy event. Two 
 persons, well known for their talents, and 
 the high offices which they have filled, came 
 to the relief of Mr. Correard : both had been 
 formerly exiled ; they knew what misfortune 
 was, and knew how to pity that of an un- 
 happy man, who had just experienced such 
 extraordinary hardships; they invited him to 
 spend the whole of the fine season at their 
 country houses ; but desiring to reach Paris 
 as soon as possible, he refused the generous 
 offer that was made him, and after having 
 rested three days at Poitiers, he left it by 
 the diligence, and at. last arrived in the 
 capital. 
 
 On his arrival, his first step was di- 
 rected by gratitude; he recollected the signal 
 services which he had received from the 
 English officers, during his abode at Saint 
 Louis ; and his heart urged him to enquire 
 of the ambassador of that nation, if he had 
 not received any intelligence respecting his 
 benefactors.* 
 
 * To His Excellency the^British Ambassador, at the 
 
 Court of France. 
 My Lord, 
 A Frenchman who, after a shipwreck without parallel, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 267 
 
 After he had thus discharged the duty 
 which was imposed on him by their bene- 
 ficence, he made all the necessary applica- 
 tions to the office of the Marine to obtain 
 an employment in the capital. He was 
 answered that it was impossible, advising 
 
 has been fraternally assisted by foreigners whom national 
 interests seemed calculated to estrange from him, is eager 
 to give utterance to the sentiments of gratitude with which 
 he is filled. 
 
 This Frenchman, My Lord, is Alexander Correard, an 
 engineer, an honorary member of the commission appointed 
 to examine Cape Verd and its environs, one of the fifteen 
 persons who escaped out of the hundred and fifty indi- 
 viduals shipwrecked, with the raft of the Medusa frigate, 
 of whom only eleven are still living. 
 
 It is this want of my heart, which emboldens me to 
 address Your Excellency, the worthy representative in my 
 country of that of my generous benefactors, whose names 
 will be ever memorable in the annals of humanity. 
 
 Yes, My Lord, it is a duty delightful to my heart, to 
 declare, that the justest title to the gratitude of all the 
 French has been acquired by Major Peddy, commanding 
 the Expedition to the Interior of Africa, charged to con- 
 tinue the great undertaking of Mungo Park, by the obliging 
 generosity which he shewed to the unfortunate men who 
 escaped from the fatal raft, by bestowing on them linen, 
 clothes, money and admitting them to his table, &c. These 
 attentions were aided by Captain Campbell, the second 
 in command, who never ceased to load me also with his 
 benefits ; in short, in imitation of them, all the English 
 
208 iNARRATlVE OF A 
 
 him to make an application for a situation 
 in the colonies, particularly Cayenne. Three 
 months passed in useless solicitations to ob- 
 tain this employment, as well as the deco- 
 ration of the legion of honour, which he 
 had been led to hope for. 
 
 During: this time he neglected nothing 
 
 Officers, both those of the Expedition, as of the Royal 
 African Regiment in garrison at St. Louis, vied with each 
 other in relieving- us, especially Captain Chemme, Lieute- 
 nant Hommera, Adjutant-Major Grey, Ensigns Beurthonne 
 and Adams. 
 
 May Your Excellency receive with kindness, the sin- 
 cere expression of gratitude to the English nation, of a 
 French private citizen who has been ruined by this dread- 
 ful disaster. Above all, may what he has experienced 
 give his countrymen fresh reason to esteem these brave 
 officers, at the same time that it is a proof of the wisdom 
 of a government, which, among so many enlightened per- 
 sons, has so well chosen, to finish an immense enterprise, 
 co-operators, whose distinguished talents and social vir- 
 tues, must ensure success, which promises such great 
 advantages to the universe. 
 
 Relying on Your Excellency's generosity, Mr. Cor- 
 reard begs you to be pleased to transmit to him some in- 
 formation respecting his benefactors, and particularly the 
 honorable Major Peddy, to whom he has vowed eternal 
 attachment, 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 A. CORREARD. 
 
 Paris, March 5, 1817. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 269 
 
 which he thought might conduce to enable 
 him to attain the object which he thought 
 he might propose to himself without being 
 accused of extravagant pretensions. Ex- 
 cited by the advice of a great many persons, 
 whose judgment, as well as their noble and 
 generous sentiments, commanded implicit 
 confidence, he resolved to go to the very 
 fountain of favors, to carry into the royal 
 palace the sight of his strange misfortune, to 
 invoke that hereditary goodness, the bright 
 patrimony of the Bourbons, which so 
 many other unfortunate persons have not 
 solicited in vain. But the malignant in- 
 fluence of the adverse star, which so long 
 persecuted Mr. Correard, doubtless continued 
 to manifest itself here. Neither he nor any 
 other person will accuse the heart of the 
 august personages to whom he addressed 
 his petition ; but whether timidity, the na- 
 tural concomitant of misfortune, or a certain 
 delicacy, hindered him from renewing his 
 applications, for fear of seeming importunate, 
 whether, as in the crowd of solicitors who 
 surround princes, it is morally impossible 
 that some should not be forgotten or less 
 remarked, Mr. Correard's ill-fortune placed 
 
270 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 him among this less favored number, or 
 whether it b the effect of some other un- 
 known adverse cause, he obtained on this 
 side only vain hopes, as well as a just idea 
 of the obstacles of every kind, with which 
 the best princes are, as it were, surrounded 
 without being conscious of it, and which 
 keep back or turn aside the favor, which is 
 always granted in their heart, just at the 
 moment that it is on the point of being 
 declared, 
 
 He first presented a petition to His 
 Royal Highness Monsieur. He solicited the 
 insignia of that order which was instituted 
 torecompence all kinds of civil and military 
 merit, to spread among all classes of society, 
 the noble flame of emulation, of that order 
 which was offered to Goflin, whose firmness 
 forced his desponding companions, to hope 
 for the assistance that was preparing for 
 them: which has just been given to several 
 of the shipwrecked crew of La Caravane* 
 
 * The flute La Caravane, commanded by Mr. Le 
 Nonnand de Kergrist, perished in the dreadful hurricane, 
 which was experienced at Martinique and some other 
 Islands, on the 21st and 22nd of October last. Messrs. 
 Fournier Lieutenant, Legrandais, and Lespert Midship- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 271 
 
 who in their disaster, shewed themselves 
 equally generous and intrepid ; but who, 
 however, had nothing to complain of but 
 the elements, nothing to combat but the 
 tempest. 
 
 He has every reason to believe that 
 Monsieur had the goodness to sign his peti- 
 tion ; but he has not been able to discover 
 where, or how it has been lost on the way with- 
 out reaching its destination. In the inquiries 
 which he made at the office of the Prince's 
 Secretary, he metwith a young man eighteen 
 or 20 twenty years of age, who already 
 wore the same mark of merit which Mr. Cor- 
 reard desired, and who only expressed an 
 astonishment which was more than diso- 
 bliging, at the subject of his demand, asking 
 him if he had been twenty-five years in the 
 service. Mr. Correard, feeling on his side 
 something more than surprise, thought it 
 best to withdraw, but not till he had ob- 
 served to this very young man, that he who 
 appeared so difficult about the claims of 
 
 man, and Paulin Boatswain, have received the cross of the 
 Legion of Honor for their conduct on this occasion.^ Vide 
 the Moniteur of January 22. 
 
272 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 others must, according to appearance, in 
 order to obtain the cross of the legion of 
 honor, have got the years of his ancestors 
 services counted instead of his own. 
 
 His friends again persuaded him to 
 petition the Duke d j Angouleme, from whom, 
 as High-Admiral of France, these friends 
 thought that Mr. Correard might expect an 
 intervention more likely to promote the suc- 
 cess of his application to the Minister of the 
 Marine. He therefore went to the Tuileries 
 on the 8th of May, and though his wounds 
 still rendered walking painful to him, he 
 had the good fortune to meet with the Prince 
 as he was coming from a review, and. to 
 present him a memorial as he passed. His 
 Koyal Highness received him graciously, 
 expressed his satisfaction at seeing one of 
 the persons who had escaped from the fatal 
 raft, and pressing his hand in the most 
 affable manner, said to him, " My friend, 
 " you have experienced very great misfor- 
 " tunes. It seems that amidst these disas- 
 " ters you have behaved well." After 
 having run over the memorial, the Prince 
 was pleased to add : 4C Thus it is that the 
 " King should be served; I will recom- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 273 
 
 Wfc jiiend you to His Majesty, and let him 
 " know your conduct and your situation." 
 These marks of kindness have hitherto 
 been all that Mr. Correard has obtained by 
 this memorial. However, His Royal High- 
 ness transmitted it to the navy-office, but 
 there is every reason to suppose that it will 
 remain buried there amidst the mass of pa- 
 pers; from which it might be presumed 
 that the recommendations of princes are 
 received with great indifference by the 
 clerks of ministers, and that their offices are 
 the shoals where the petitions of the un- 
 happy are lost ; in fact, a man of great ex- 
 perience, to whom Mr. Correard communi- 
 cated this mischance, told him, that, in such 
 an affair, he would rather have the protec- 
 tion of the meanest clerk, than that of the 
 first prince of the blood. 
 
 We think it superfluous to detain the 
 reader any longer, with two or three other 
 attempts, which were still more unfortunate, 
 and only revived painful recollections in the 
 mind of Mr, Correard. 
 
 At last he received a letter from the 
 Minister of the Marine, dated the 4th of 
 June : it was a thunder-clap to him, for he 
 
 T 
 
274 NARRATIVE OI< A 
 
 was made to understand that all his appli- 
 cations would probably be in vain. 
 
 However, on the 20th of July, he received 
 a note from Mr. Jubelin, inviting him to call 
 at the Office of the Marine. His heart opened 
 at this ray of hope ; it was merely to know 
 whether it were true, that he had received 
 a pass to repair from Rochefort to his home. 
 He answered in the affimative, which seemed 
 to cause much surprise, for one had just 
 been refused to Mr, Richefort, who solicited 
 it in vain, though he was also one of those 
 shipwrecked. He profited by the opportu- 
 nity to inquire whether the expedition to 
 Cayenne was soon to depart? A vague 
 answer being returned, he represented how 
 unfortunate he and his companions on the 
 raft were, that they could obtain nothing, 
 while some officers of the frigate had been 
 appointed to commands. Mr. Jubelin answer- 
 ed that the ministry owed them nothing, and 
 particularly to him : that he had gone of 
 his own free will, and had engaged to ask 
 nothing of the minister, except what was 
 stipulated and mentioned in the treaty of 
 May 16, 1816, by which His Excellency 
 made to the explorers, numerous concessions 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 275 
 
 (which it would be too long to mention here) 
 on condition that they should correspond 
 with His Excellency, through the Governor 
 of Senegal ; that they should be placed un- 
 der the orders of that governor, and that 
 they should undertake nothing without his 
 approbation. 
 
 The impartial public will judge if, af- 
 ter such conventions, and having allowances, 
 and passes from the government, it was to 
 be presumed that he, who had been thus 
 treated, would be told that they owed him 
 nothing, not even assistance. 
 
 He learned, in the office, that the coun- 
 sellor of State, Baron de Portal, had the in- 
 tention to obtain for him, the decoration of 
 the Legion of Honor, and that, for this pur- 
 pose, he had had a memorial drawn up in 
 his favour : but the minister had written in 
 the margin, " I cannot lay this request be- 
 " fore the King. 33 Thus the voice of the 
 unfortunate Correard could not reach the 
 throne ; the minister would not permit it. 
 Doubtless if His Majesty had been informed, 
 that some unhappy Frenchmen, who had 
 escaped from the raft of the Medusa> had 
 
 T 2 
 
NAKIlATlVli 01 A 
 
 long and in vain solicited his minister, his 
 paternal goodness would have given them 
 proofs of his justice and his benevolence. 
 His kind hand which is extended even to 
 the guilty, by conferring his favors upon 
 us his faithful subjects, would have made us 
 forget our misfortunes and our wounds ; but 
 no, an unfriendly power, between us and 
 the throne, was an insuperable barrier, which 
 stopped all our supplications. 
 
 Mr. Correard persuaded of the inu- 
 tility of making fresh applications, gave up 
 for the present all farther solicitation for 
 what he had so well deserved by his cou- 
 rage and his services. The change in the 
 ministry has revived his hopes : a letter 
 from that department informs him that his 
 Excellency would willingly embrace an op- 
 portunity to serve him *. 
 
 A minister, when he is really so dis- 
 
 * Paris, Sept. 8, 1817, 
 
 Sir. The Memorials which you addressed on the tenth 
 of June last, to the King and to His Royal Highness the 
 Duke of Angouleme, have been referred to my apartment. 
 J have examined the Memorials, as well as the letters 
 which you have written on the same subject to my prede- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
 
 posed, easily finds means to employ an un- 
 fortunate man who asks but little. 
 
 Such are the vexations which we have 
 expei ienced since our return to France : now 
 returned to the class of citizens, though re- 
 duced to inactivity, after having exhausted 
 our resources in the service, disgusted, for- 
 gotten, we are not the less devoted to our 
 country and our king. As Frenchmen, we 
 know that we owe to them our fortune and 
 our blood. It is with the sincere expression 
 of these sentiments that we shall conclude 
 the history of our adventures. 
 
 In fine, we think that the reader 
 will not be sorry to have some notices 
 concerning the French settlements on the 
 coast of Africa. As they seemed to us 
 very interesting, we shall examine, but 
 briefly, the places themselves, and the 
 advantages that might be derived from 
 them. 
 
 cessors. If an opportunity should occur, in which 1 can 
 serve you, I will readily embrace it. 
 
 Receive, Sir, the assurance of my perfect considera- 
 tion. 
 
 The Minister Secretary of State of the Marine and 
 Colonies. COUNT Moif 
 
278 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 These details will be a happy digres- 
 sion from the sad accounts of our misfor- 
 tunes, and as the object of them is of great 
 public utility, they will not be out of their 
 place at the conclusion of a work, in which, 
 we have thought it our duty, less for our 
 own interest, than that of the public ser- 
 vice, to employ our humble efforts for the 
 disclosure of the truth. 
 
 The part of the coast beginning at Cape 
 Blanco, and extending to the arm of the river 
 Senegal, called the Marigot of the Marin- 
 gouins, is so very arid, that it is not fit 
 for any kind of cultivation ; but from that 
 Marigot, to the mouth of the river Gambia, 
 a space, which may be about a hundred lea- 
 gues, in length, with a depth of about two 
 hundred, we meet with a vast country, which 
 geographers call Senegambia. 
 
 Let us remark, however, before we go 
 any further, that, notwithstanding the steri- 
 lity of this part of the coast, it is not without 
 importance, on account of the rich produce 
 of the sea which bathes it. The agriculture 
 of the waters as a celebrated naturalist has 
 said, offers too many advantages, for the 
 places that are adapted to it, to pass un- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 279 
 
 observed : this part of the sea, known by 
 the name of the Gulphof Arguin, is especi- 
 ally remarkable for the immense quantity 
 of fish which visit it, at different seasons, or 
 which continually frequent these shores. 
 Thisgulph, included between Capes Blanco 
 and Merick, and the coast of Zaara, on 
 which, besides the isle of Arguin which 
 was formerly occupied, there are several 
 others at the mouth of what is called the 
 river St. John, is as it were closed towards 
 the west, in its whole extent, by the bank 
 which bears its name. This bank, by break- 
 ing the fury of the waves, raised by the winds 
 of the ocean, contributes by securing the 
 usual tranquillity of its waters, to render it 
 a retreat for the fish, at the same time that it 
 also favors the fishermen. In fact, it is from 
 this gulph, that all the fish are procured 
 which are salted by the inhabitants of the Ca- 
 naries, and which constitute their principal 
 food. They come hither every spring in 
 vessels of about 100 tons burden, manned 
 by 30 or 40 men, and they complete their 
 operations with such rapidity, that they sel- 
 dom employ more than a month. The fisher- 
 men of Marseilles and Bayonne might at- 
 
280 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 tempt this fishery. In short, whatever ad- 
 vantage may be sought to be derived from 
 this gulph, so rich in fish, it may be con- 
 sidered as the African Bank of Newfound- 
 land, which may one day contribute to supply 
 the settlements of Senegambia, if the Euro- 
 peans should ever succeed in establishing 
 them to any extent. Among the species of 
 fish found in this gulph, there is one. which 
 seems peculiar to itself; it is that, which 
 was caught on board the Medusa, and is 
 the principal object of the fishery in these 
 seas. An accurate description had been 
 made of it, and Mr. Kummer made an 
 exact drawing of it; but all was lost with 
 the frigate. All that can be recollected of 
 this description, is, that these fish which are 
 from two to three feet long, are of the genus 
 Gade or Morue (cod) ; that they do not 
 appertain to any of the species mentioned by 
 Mr. Lacepede, and that they belong to the 
 section in which the Merlan is placed. 
 
 Whence comes the name of Arguin? 
 who gave it to this gulph? If we consider 
 the heat of the sun which is experienced 
 here, and the sparkling of the sandy downs 
 which compose the coast, we cannot help 
 
VOYAGE TO SFNEGAL. 281 
 
 remarking that Arguia in Phenician means 
 what is luminous and brilliant, and that in 
 Celtic, Guin signifies ardent. If this name 
 comes from the Carthaginians, who may 
 have frequented these coasts, they must have 
 been particularly struck with their resem- 
 blance to the famous Syrtes in their own 
 neighourhood, which mariners took so much 
 care to avoid. 
 
 Exercitas aut petit Syrtes Noto. 
 
 Some division of territory, or of pastur- 
 age among the hordes of the desert, was 
 doubtless the cause, that the Europeans, who 
 desired to carry on the gum trade, formerly 
 chose the dangerous bay of Portendic, sur- 
 rounded by a vast amphitheatre of burning 
 sands, in preference to Cape Merick. Perhaps, 
 the Trasas of the west, could not advance to 
 the north of this bay, without quarrel ling with 
 the other Moors, who frequent Cape Blanco. 
 This Cape Merick seems preferrable for com- 
 merce, either as a factory, to trade with the 
 Moors, or as a place of protection for the 
 traders, and the fishery. Its elevation and 
 nature, afford a facility of defence, which is 
 not found at Portendic ; where there is not 
 
282 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 at present the smallest appearance of vege- 
 tation. 
 
 The Estuary of the river, St. John, at 
 the back of this Cape, is now entirely desti- 
 tute of verdure, and humidity, and salt is 
 abundant in the neighbourhood. 
 
 But, as we have said above, it is when 
 we penetrate a little into the interior, that 
 an immense country, rich in the gifts of na- 
 ture, invites European cultivation, and offers 
 the fairest prospect of success for the colonial 
 productions. 
 
 The soil is in general good, and all colo- 
 nists from the Antilles, who have visited 
 these countries, think that they are well 
 adapted to the cultivation of all kinds of 
 colonial produce. This immense country 
 is watered by the Senegal and the Gambia, 
 which bound it to the north and south. 
 The river Faleme crosses it in the eastern 
 part, as well as many other less considerable 
 rivers, which, flowing in different directions, 
 water principally that part covered with 
 mountains which is called the high country, 
 or the country of Galam. All these little rivers 
 fall at length into the two large ones, of 
 which we have spoken above. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 283 
 
 These countries are very thickly 
 peopled, and are in general mild and 
 hospitable. Their villages are so nume- 
 rous, that it is almost impossible to go 
 two leagues without meeting with some, 
 that are very extensive and very populous. 
 Nevertheless, we have no more than two 
 settlements ; those of St. Louis and Go- 
 ree ; the others, which were seven or eight 
 in number, have been abandoned ; either, 
 because the French and the English, who 
 have occupied them in turn, have wished 
 to concentrate the trade in the two settle- 
 ments which still exist; or because the 
 natives no longer found the same advantage 
 in bringing their goods and slaves. It 
 is, however, true, (as we have been as- 
 sured) that in consequence of the aboli- 
 tion of those factories, the considerable 
 commerce which France carried on upon 
 this coast before the revolution, has been 
 reduced to one fourth of its former extent. 
 (23) 
 
 The town of St. Louis, the seat of the 
 general government, is situated in longitude 
 18 48' 15" and in latitude 16 4 10". It is 
 built on a little island formed by the river 
 
284 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 Senegal, and is only two leagues distant 
 from the new bar formed by the inundation 
 of 1812. Its situation in a military point 
 of view, is pretty advantageous, and if art 
 added something to nature, there is no doubt, 
 but this town might be rendered almost im- 
 pregnable ; but in its present state, it can 
 hardly be considered as any thing more than 
 an open town, which four hundred reso- 
 lute men, well commanded, might easily 
 carry. At the mouth of the river is a bar, 
 which is its strongest bulwark. It may even 
 be said, that it would be impossible to pass 
 it, if it were well guarded ; but the coast of 
 the point of Barbary, which separates the 
 river from the sea is accessible ; it would be 
 even possible, without meeting with many 
 obstacles, and with the help of flat bottomed 
 boats, to land troops and artillery upon it. 
 When this landing is once made, the place 
 may be attacked on the side of the north, 
 which is entirely destitute of fortifications. 
 There is no doubt, but that, if it were attacked 
 in this manner, it would be forced to sur- 
 render at the first summons However, 
 many have hitherto considered it as impreg- 
 nable, believing that it was impossible to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL 285 
 
 make a landing on the coast of Barbary, 
 but as we are convinced of the contray, be- 
 cause the English already executed this 
 manoeuvre at the last capture of this place, 
 we venture to call the attention of the go- 
 vernment to the situation of St. Louis, which 
 would certertainly become impregnable if 
 some new works were erected on different 
 points. 
 
 This town has, in other respects, no- 
 thing very interesting in it, only the streets 
 are strait, and pretty broad, the houses toler- 
 ably well built and airy. The soil is a burn- 
 ing sand, which produces but few vegetables : 
 there are only eight or ten little gardens, con- 
 taining from two to four ares of ground at 
 the most, all cultivated, and in which, within 
 these few years orange and lemon trees have 
 been planted, so that there is reason to sup- 
 pose, that, with some care, these trees would 
 thrive perfectly well. Mr. Correard saw a 
 fig-tree and an European vine, which are 
 magnificent, and bear a large quantity of 
 fruit. Since the colony has been restored to 
 the French, several kinds of fruit-trees have 
 been planted, which thrive in an extraordi- 
 nary manner. Five or six palatuviers, and 
 
286 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 a dozen palm trees are dispersed about the 
 town. 
 
 The parade is tolerably handsome ; it 
 is situated opposite the castle, and what is 
 called the fort and the barracks. On the 
 west it is covered by a battery of ten or 
 twelve twenty-four pounders, and two mor- 
 tars ; this is the principal strength of the 
 island. On the east is the port, where 
 vessels lie in great safety. The population 
 of the town amounts to 10,000 souls, as 
 the Mayor told Mr. Correard. The in- 
 habitants of the island are both Ca- 
 tholics and Mahometans; but the latter 
 are the most numerous, notwithstanding 
 this, all the inhabitants live in peace and 
 the most perfect harmony. There are no 
 dissentions about religious opinions : every 
 one prays to God in his own manner; but it 
 is observed, that the men who have abjured 
 Mahornetanism, still retain the custom of 
 having several wives. We think that it 
 would not be very difficult to abolish it 
 among the blacks, who are struck with the 
 pomp of our religious ceremonies : they 
 would be much more inclined to the Catho- 
 lic religion, if it tolerated polygamy, a habit 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 287 
 
 which will inevitably render all the efforts 
 of the Missionaries abortive, as long as they 
 commence their instruction by requiring its 
 abolition. 
 
 The isle of St. Louis, by its important 
 position, may command the whole river, 
 being placed at the head of an Archipelago 
 of pretty considerable islands : its extent 
 is however small. Its length is 2,500 
 metres from north to south; audits breadth 
 from east to west is, at the north part, 370 
 metres ; in the middle of its length 28 
 metres; and at the south only 370 metres. 
 The elevation of its soil is not more than 50 
 centimetres above the level of the river: in 
 the middle it is however a little higher, 
 which facilitates the running of the waters. 
 The river dividing to form the isle of St. 
 Louis has two arms, which reunite below 
 the island: the principal situated on the 
 east is about 1000 metres in breadth, and 
 that on the west about 600. The currents 
 are very rapid, and carry with them quanti- 
 ties of sand, which the sea throws back 
 towards the coast; this it is that forms a bar 
 at the mouth of the river; but the currents 
 have opened themselves a passage, which is 
 
288 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 called the pass of the bar. This pass is 
 about 200 metres broad and five or six metres 
 in depth. Very often these dimensions 
 are less; but at all times only such vessels 
 can pass over it as draw four metres water 
 at the utmost: the overplus is very neces- 
 sary for the pitching of the vessel, which is 
 always very considerable upon this bar. The 
 waves which cover it are very large and 
 short; when the weather is bad, they 
 break furiously, and intimidate the most in- 
 trepid mariners. 
 
 The western arm of the river is sepa- 
 rated from the ,sea by a point called the 
 Point ofBarbary. It is inconceivable how 
 this slip of land, which is not above 250 
 metres in its greatest breadth, and is formed 
 only of sand, should be able to resist the 
 efforts of the river, which always tends to 
 destroy it; and those of the sea, which breaks 
 upon it sometimes with such fury, that it co- 
 vers it entirely, and even crossing the arm of 
 the river, comes and breaks on the shore of 
 the island of St. Louis. Almost opposite the 
 chateau and on the Point of Barbary, is a 
 little battery of six guns at the most, which 
 is called the Fort of Guetander ; it is. on 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 289 
 
 the summit of a hill of sand which has been 
 formed by the wind, and increases daily ; it 
 is even already pretty high, and is surround- 
 ed by a great number of huts of the blacks, 
 which form a pretty extensive village : 
 these huts tend to hold the sand together, 
 and to prevent its sinking. The inhabi- 
 tants of this village are very superstitious, as 
 the following anecdote will prove. 
 
 In the course of the month of Septem- 
 ber, Messrs. Ku miner and Correard crossed 
 the arm of the river, to visit the coast of 
 Barbary and the village of Guetander ; 
 when they landed on the point, they pro- 
 ceeded towards the north, and having gone 
 three or four hundred paces along the 
 shore, they found a turtle, the diameter of 
 which was a metre at the least; it was 
 turned upon its back and covered with a 
 prodigious quantity of crabs, (toulouroux)* 
 which are found along the sea-coast. Mr. 
 Correard stopped a moment, and remark- 
 ed that, when he had wounded one of 
 
 * A kind of crab found on the sea-coast ; it is the 
 Cancer cursor of Linnaeus, and the same that is found on 
 the shores of the Antilles. 
 
 IT 
 
99 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 these animals with his cane, the others de- 
 voured it instantly. While he was looking 
 at these crabs feeding on the turtle, Mr. 
 Kummer went on towards the south, and vi- 
 sited the burying-places of the blacks. Mr. 
 Correard joined him, and they saw that the 
 natives erect over the tombs of their fathers, 
 their relations and friends, little sepulchres, 
 some made of straw, some of slight pieces of 
 wood, and even of bones. All these frail 
 monuments are consecrated much more by 
 gratitude than by vanity. The blacks pro- 
 hibit all approach to them in the strictest 
 manner. Mr. Kummer, whom his com- 
 panion had left to return to the shore, was 
 examining very tranquilly these rustic 
 tombs, when suddenly one of the Africans 
 armed with a sabre, advanced towards him, 
 crouching and endeavouring to surprise 
 him; Mr. Kummer had no doubt but this 
 man had a design upon his life, and retired 
 towards Mr. Correard, whom he found again 
 observing the crabs and the turtle. On 
 relating to him what had just passed, as 
 they were unarmed, they resolved immedi- 
 ately to pass the river, by throwing them- 
 selves into a boat ; they had soon reason to 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 291 
 
 congratulate themselves on having done so, 
 for they perceived several men who had col- 
 lected at the cries of the black, and, if they 
 had not taken flight, it is probable that 
 their innocent cariosity would have cost 
 them their lives. 
 
 The left bank of the river, which is 
 called Grande Terre, is covered with per- 
 petual verdure, the soil is fertile, and wants 
 only hands to cultivate it. 
 
 Opposite, and to the east of St. Louis, 
 is the isle of Sor, which is four or five 
 leagues in circumference; it is of a long and 
 almost triangular form: there are two ex- 
 tensive plains in it, where habitations might 
 be erected. They are covered with grass 
 two metres in height, a certain proof of the 
 advantages that might be derived from the 
 cultivation of this island. Cotton and in- 
 digo grow there naturally, the ground is in 
 some parts low and damp, which gives rea- 
 son to suppose that the sugar-cane would 
 succeed. It might be secured against the 
 inundations which take place in the rainy 
 season, by erecting little causeways a metre 
 in height, at the most. There are in this 
 island, principally on the east side, man- 
 
 u2 
 
292 NARRATITE OF A 
 
 goes, palatuviers, a great quantity of gum 
 trees, or mimosas, and magnificent Bao- 
 babs*. 
 
 Let us stop for a moment before this 
 colossus,which,by the enormous diameter to 
 which it attains, has acquired the title of the 
 Elephant of the vegetable kingdom. The 
 Baobab often serves the negroes fora dwell- 
 
 * The Baobab or Adansoia of botanists, is placed in 
 the class Monadelphia polyandria, in the family of malva- 
 ceous plants, and has but one species. The first of these 
 trees seen by Adanson, were twenty-seven feet in diame- 
 ter, about eighty-three feet in circumference. Ray says 
 they have been seen thirty feet in diameter, and Goldberry 
 says he saw one of thirty-four feet. According to the 
 calculations of Adanson, a tree, twenty-five feet in diame- 
 ter, must have taken 3750 years to acquire these dimen- 
 sions, which would allow a foot growth in 150 years, or an 
 in inch in twelve years and a half; but an observation of 
 Goldberry's would quite overturn this calculation. He, 
 in fact, measured a Baobab thirty-six years after Adansou, 
 and found its diameter increased by only eight lines. The 
 growth is not therefore uniformly progressive, and must 
 become slower at a certain period of the age of this tree 
 in a proportion which it is hardly possible to determine. 
 Otherwise, if we admitted that it takes thirty-six years to 
 increase in diameter only eight lines, it would require 
 fifty-four years for an inch, and 648 for a foot, which 
 would make 16,200 years for a tree twenty-four feet in 
 diameter! 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 293 
 
 ing, the construction of which costs no fur- 
 ther trouble than cutting an. opening in the 
 side to serve as adoor,and taking out the very 
 soft pith which fills the inside of the trunk. 
 The tree, far from being injured by this 
 operation, seems even to derive more vigour 
 from the fire which is lighted in it for the 
 purpose of drying the sap, by carbonising 
 it. In this state it almost always happens, 
 that the bark, instead of forming a ridge 
 at the edge of the wound, as happens with 
 some trees in Europe, continues to grow, 
 and at length covers the whole inside of the 
 tree, generally without any wrinkles, and 
 thus presents the astonishing spectacle 
 of an immense tree recompleated in its or- 
 ganisation, but having the form of an enor- 
 mous hollow cylinder, or rather of a vast 
 arborescent wall bent into a circular 
 form, and having its sides sufficiently 
 wide asunder to let you enter into the space 
 which it encloses. If casting our eyes on 
 the immense dome of verdure which forms 
 the summit of this rural palace, we see a 
 swarm of birds adorned with the richest 
 colours, sporting in its foliage, such as rol- 
 lers with a sky-blue plumage, senegallis, 
 
294 NARRATIVE Of A 
 
 of a crimson colour, soui-mangas shining 
 with gold and azure ; if, advancing under 
 the vault we find flowers of dazzling white- 
 ness hanging on every side, and if, in the 
 center of this retreat, an old man and his 
 family, a young mother and her children 
 meet the eye, what a crowd of delicious 
 ideas is aroused in this moment? Who would 
 not be astonished at the generous fore-sight 
 of nature? and where is the man who would 
 not be transported with indignation if, while 
 he was contemplating this charming scene, 
 he beheld a party of ferocious Moors violate 
 this peaceful asylum, and carry off some of 
 the members of a family, to deliver them 
 up to slavery? It would require the pencil 
 of the author of the Indian Cottage, to do 
 justice to such a picture. 
 
 This is not the only service which the 
 blacks, who inhabit Senegambia, derive from 
 the Adansonia or Ifoobab. They convert its 
 leaves, when dried, into a powder which they 
 call Lalo, and use it as seasoning to almost 
 all their food. They employ the roots as 
 a purgative ; they drink the warm infusion 
 of its gummy bark, as a remedy for disorders 
 in the breast ; they lessen the inflamation 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 295 
 
 of the cutaneous eruptions, to which they 
 are subject by applying to the diseased parts 
 cataplasms made of the parenchyma of the 
 trunk: they make an astringent beverage cf 
 the pulp of its fruit ; they regale themselves 
 with its almonds, they smoke the calyx of 
 its flowers instead of tobacco; and often by 
 dividing into two parts the globulous cap- 
 sules, and leaving the long woody stalk 
 fixed to one of the halves, which become 
 dry and hard, they make a large spoon or 
 ladle. 
 
 It has been found that the substance, 
 called very improperly, terra sigillata of 
 lemnos, is nothing more than the powder 
 made of the pulp of the fruit of the Baobab. 
 The Mandingians and the Moors carry this 
 fruit as an article of commerce into various 
 parts of Africa, particularly Egypt; hence, 
 it finds its way to the Levant. There it is that 
 this pulp is reduced to powder, and reaches 
 us by the way of trade. Its nature was long 
 mistaken : Prosper Alpinus was the first 
 who discovered that it was a vegetable sub- 
 stance. 
 
 After the Isle of Sor, towards the South 
 is that of Babague, separated from the former 
 
295 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 and that of Safal, by two small arms of the 
 river; this island, in an agricultural point 
 of view, already affords a happy result to 
 the colonists, who have renounced the in* 
 human traffic in slaves, to become peaceable 
 planters. Many have already made plan- 
 tations of cotton, which they call lougans. 
 Mr. Artique, a merchant, has hitherto been 
 the most successful. His little plantation 
 brought him in 2100fr. in 1814, which has 
 excited in many inhabitants of St. Louis a 
 desire to cultivate pieces of land there. Af- 
 ter his example, we now see every where 
 beginnings of plantations, which already 
 promise valuable crops to those who have 
 undertaken the cultivation of these colonial 
 productions. The soil of Babague is more 
 elevated than that of the surrounding islands. 
 At its southern extremity, which is pre- 
 cisely opposite the new bar of the river, 
 there is a very great number of huts of the 
 blacks, a military post with an observatory, 
 and two or three country houses. 
 
 The Isle of Safal, belonging to Mr. Pi- 
 card, offers the same advantages. Its soil 
 is fertile as that of the islands of which we 
 have just spoken. No drinkable water is 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 297 
 
 found in any of them ; but it would be easy 
 to procure excellent water by digging wells 
 about two metres in depth. 
 
 Cotton and indigo grow every where 
 spontaneously; what then is wanting, to 
 these countries, to obtain in them what the 
 other colonies produce? Nothing but some 
 men, capable of directing the natives in 
 their labours, and of procuring them the 
 agricultural implements, and the plants of 
 which they stand in need. When these men 
 are found, we shall soon see numerous ha- 
 bitations arise on the banks of this river, 
 which will rival those in the Antilles. The 
 blacks love the French nation more than 
 any other, and it would be easy to direct 
 their minds to agriculture. A little adven- 
 ture, which happened to Mr. Correard, will 
 shew to what a degree they love the French. 
 
 In the course of the month of Septem- 
 ber, his fever having left him for some days, 
 he was invited by Mr. Francois Valentin, to 
 join a hunting party in the environs of the 
 village of Gandiolle, situated six leagues to 
 the South, South East of St. Louis. Mr Du- 
 pin, supercargo of a vessel from Bordeaux, 
 who was then at Senegal, and Mr. Yonne, 
 
298 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 brother of Mr. Valentin, were of the party. 
 Their intention was to prolong the pleasures 
 of the chace, for several days ; in conse- 
 quence, they borrowed a tent of the worthy 
 Major Peddy, and fixed themselves on the 
 banks of the gulph which the Senegal forms, 
 since its ancient mouth is entirely stopped 
 up, and a new one formed, three or four 
 leagues higher up than the former. There 
 they were only a short league from the vil- 
 lage of Gandiolle. Mr. Correard directed 
 his course, or rather his reconnaissances, a 
 little into the interior, for he had conceived 
 the idea of taking a plan of the coast, and 
 of the islands formed by the Senegal. He 
 was soon near to Gandiolle, and stopped 
 some moments at the sight of an enormous 
 Baobob tree, the whiteness of which much 
 surprised him : he perceived it was covered 
 with a cloud of the birds called aigrettes.* 
 He advanced across the village to the foot 
 of this tree, and fired two shot successively, 
 supposing he should kill at least twenty of 
 
 * These aigrettes or white herons, are found in large 
 flocks in this part of Africa ; they follow the cattle to feed 
 on the insects with which they are infested. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 299 
 
 these birds. Curiosity induced him to mea- 
 sure the prodigious tree, on which they 
 were perched, and he found that its cir- 
 cumference was 28 metres. While he was 
 examining this monstrous production of the 
 vegetable kingdom, the report of his piece 
 had caused a great many blacks to come out 
 of their huts, who advanced towards Mr. 
 Correard, doubtless, with the hope of ob- 
 taining from him some powder, ball, or to- 
 bacco. While he was loading his piece, 
 he fixed his eyes upon an old man, whose 
 respectable look announced a good disposi- 
 tion ; his beard and hair were white, and his 
 stature colossal ; he called himself Samba- 
 durand. When he saw Mr. Correard look- 
 ing at him attentively, he advanced towards 
 him, and asked him if he was an English- 
 man? No, replied he, I am a Frenchman. 
 How, my friend, you are a Frenchman ! 
 that gives me pleasure. Yes, good old man, 
 I am. Then the black tried to put on a 
 certain air of dignity to pronounce the word 
 Frenchman, and said, " Your nation is the 
 " most powerful in Europe, by its courage 
 and the superiority of its genius, is it not? 3 
 -Yes. It is true that you Frenchmen 
 are not like the white men of other nations 
 
300 NARRATIVE or A 
 
 of Europe whom I have seen ; that does not 
 surprise me ; and then, you are all fire, and 
 as good tempered as we blacks. I think 
 you resemble Duraud in vivacity and sta- 
 ture ; you must be as good as he was; are 
 you his relation ? No, good old man. I 
 am not his relation; but I have often 1 heard 
 speak of him. Ah! you do not know 
 him as I do: it is now thirty years since 
 he came into this country with his friend 
 Rubault, who was going to Galam This 
 Frenchman, whose language I learned at 
 St. Louis, loaded us all with presents; I 
 still keep a little dagger which he gave me, 
 and I assure you that my son will keep it as 
 long as I have done. We always remember 
 those white men who have done us :ood, 
 particularly the French whom we love very 
 much. <c Well," answered Mr. Correard, 
 " 1 am sorry I have nothing which can suit 
 you, and be kept for a long time, or I would 
 offer it you with pleasure, and you would 
 join the remembrance of me with that of 
 the philanthropic Durand, who had con- 
 ceived plans which, if they had been exe- 
 cuted, would, perhaps, have been the glory 
 of my country, and the happiness of yours; 
 but here, take my powder and bail, if that 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 301 
 
 can do you pleasure. " Ah! good French- 
 man, I would willingly take them, for I 
 know that you have as much as you please 
 in your own country;* but at this moment 
 it would deprive you of the pleasure of the 
 chace. No, take it all. Take my advice 
 Ton babe : let us divide it, that will be bet- 
 ter. In fact, they divided. The black in- 
 vited Mr. Correard to enter his hut to re- 
 fresh himself. " Come Toubabe," said he, 
 " come, my women shall give you some 
 milk and millet flour, and you shall smoke 
 a pipe with me." 
 
 Mr. Correard refused, in order to con- 
 tinue his sport, which was interrupted by 
 the cries of the blacks, who pursued a young 
 lion, which came from the village of Mouit, 
 and attempted to enter that of Gandiolle ; 
 this animal had done no harm, but the 
 natives pursued him in the hopes of killing 
 him, and to sell his skin. Dinnertime being 
 come, all the white hunters returned to their 
 tent. A few moments after, they saw a 
 
 7 
 
 * The blacks think that all the whites are very rich 
 in their own country. 
 
302 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 young negro, twelve years of age at the 
 most, whose mild and pleasant countenance 
 was far from indicating the courage and the 
 strength which he had just displayed; he 
 held in his hands an enormous lizard quite 
 alive, at least a metre and eighty centime- 
 tres in length. These gentlemen were asto- 
 nisfyed to see this child holding such a ter- 
 ribl^ animal, which opened a frightful pair 
 of jaws, Mr. Correard begged Mr. Valentin 
 to ask him how he had been able to take, 
 and pinion it in this manner. The child an- 
 swered as follows in the Yoloffe language : 
 " I saw this lizard come out of a hedge, I 
 immediately seized it by the tail and hind 
 feet : I raised it from the ground, and with 
 my left hand took it by the neck ; and 
 holding it very fast, and at a distance from 
 my body, I carried it in this manner to the 
 village of Gandiolle, where I met one of 
 my companions, who tied his legs, and 
 persuaded me to come and present it to 
 the Toubabes who are in the tent ; he told 
 me also that they were Frenchmen, and as 
 we love them much, I have come to see 
 them, and offer them this lizard/" After 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 303 
 
 these details, Mr. Correard presented the 
 but end of his piece to the animal, which 
 made a deep indenture with its teeth ; having 
 then presented it the end of the barrel, it 
 immediately seized it furiously, and broke 
 all its teeth, which made it bleed very much ; 
 nevertheless, it made no effort to disengage 
 itself from its bonds.* 
 
 The environs of Gandiolle appear to be 
 extremely fertile ; we find there grass two 
 metres in height, fields of maize and millet. 
 This country is full of large pieces of water, 
 which the natives call marigots ; the major 
 part of which cover an immense space ; but 
 it would be easy to drain them by means of 
 some little canals, particularly in the part 
 near the coast. These lands would be very 
 productive, and proper for the culture of the 
 sugar cane : the soil is mud mixed with very 
 fine sand. (24) 
 
 / 
 * This lizard was probably a turpinambis. This animal, 
 
 which is not uncommon at Cape Verd, climbs up trees, 
 frequents the marshy places, and is said to inflict severe 
 wounds if it is not laid hold of with great precaution. The 
 inhabitants of the Mamclles assert that it devours young 
 crocodiles. This species seems to be the same as that 
 which frequents the banks of the Nile. It grows to the 
 length of four feet and uses its tail in swimming. 
 
304 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 After having examined the environs of 
 St. Louis, let us cast a glance upon the rock 
 called the Island of Goree, and its environs. 
 This isle is nothing of itself; but its posi- 
 tion renders it of the greatest importance ; 
 it is situated in longitude 19 5 7 , and in la- 
 titude 14 40 7 10", half a league from the 
 main land, and thirty-six leagues from the 
 mouth of the Senegal. The Cape de Verd 
 Islands, are eighty leagues to the West. It 
 is this position that renders it mistress of all 
 the commerce of these countries. Its port 
 is excellent; and so great a number of ships 
 and boats are seen there that its road is 
 continually covered ; there is so much ac- 
 tivity that some persons have, said the 
 Island of Goree was, perhaps, the point in 
 the world, where there was most bustle and 
 population. The number of its inhabitants 
 is estimated at 5000 souls, which is by no 
 means in proportion with its confined 
 surface, which is not above 910 metres 
 in length, and 245 in breadth. Its cir- 
 cumference is not above 2000 metres. It 
 is only a very high rock, the access to the 
 coasts, of which is very difficult. The nu- 
 merous rocks, which surround it on all sides, 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 305 
 
 have made some navigators give it the name 
 of Little Gibraltar ; and if nature were 
 seconded by art, there is no doubt but like 
 that, it would become impregnable. It was 
 first taken possession of by Admiral d'Es- 
 trees, about the end of the year 1677. This 
 isle lies in the direction of S.S.E. and N.N.W. 
 and is only about 2600 metres distant from 
 Cape Verd. It is defended by a fort, and 
 by some small batteries in very bad con- 
 dition ; but it is, nevertheless, impregnable 
 by its position. In fact, it is not accessible, 
 except on the E.N.E. where there is a pretty 
 large and deep bay, capable of receiving 
 the largest ships. Its road is immense ; 
 vessels are .safe in it, and tolerably well 
 sheltered. At two leagues from Goree is the 
 bay of Ben, which affords the greatest faci- 
 lities for the careening of vessels, and for the 
 repairs of which they may stand in need. 
 
 The Island of Goree is cool during the 
 evening, the night and the morning ; but 
 during the day, there prevails in the island 
 an unsupportable heat, produced by the re-: 
 flection of the sun's rays, which fall perpen- 
 dicularly on the Basalt rocks which sur- 
 round it. If we add to this the stagnation 
 
 x 
 
306 NAIUIATIVE OF A 
 
 of the air, the circulation of which is inter- 
 rupted by the houses, being very closely 
 built, a considerable population, which con- 
 tinually fills the streets, and is beyond all 
 proportion with the extent of the town, it 
 will be readily conceived that all these rea- 
 sons, powerfully contribute to concentrate 
 here such insupportable heat, that one can 
 scarcely breathe at noon day. The blacks 
 too, who certainly know what hot countries 
 are, find the heat excessive, and prefer living 
 at St. Louis. 
 
 The Island of Goree may become of 
 the greatest importance if the government 
 should ever think proper to establish a 
 powerful colony, from Cape Verd to the 
 river Gambia ; then this isle would be the 
 bulwark of the settlements on the coast of 
 Africa. But it will be objected that Goree 
 is very small, and that great establishments 
 can never be formed there ; we think, only, 
 that it is proper to be the central point, till 
 a greater colony shall be established on Cape 
 Verd, which nature seems to have intended 
 for it, and the advantages of which, in a 
 military and maritime point of view, are of 
 the highest importance. Men of sound judg- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 307 
 
 ment who have examined it, have considered 
 it calculated to become one day a second 
 Cape of Good Hope. It is certain that, 
 with time and by means of some works, 
 this Cape would become highly intejrest- 
 ing, and would serve as a depdt, to ac- 
 custom to the climate, such Europeans, as 
 might wish to settle either in the projected 
 colonies, or on those which might be found- 
 ed, between this Cape and the Gambia, or 
 on the islands of Todde, Reffo, Morphil, 
 Bilbas, and even in the kingdom of Galam. 
 
 The position and figure of Cape Verd 
 are such, that it would be easy to form 
 there an excellent port at a small expense ; 
 perhaps it would not be impossible to make 
 some use of the Lake or Marigot of Ben, 
 which is but a short distance from the sea. 
 Its road, which is the same as that of Goree, 
 might almost serve as a port, even in its 
 present state. The following is an extract 
 from a Letter, written to Mr. Correard by 
 a Physician, who has carefully examined 
 Cape Verd. 
 
 " This Cape is very different from what 
 " we thought. Its surface is not above six 
 i or eight square leagues; its population is 
 
 x 2 
 
308 AARUAT1VE OF A 
 
 " very numerous, and by no means in pro- 
 " portion with the part of this peninsula, 
 " proper for cultivation, which is not above 
 " one-third of its surface. Another third 
 " serves for pasture for the flocks of the 
 " blacks; and the other part is too much 
 " vulcanised, too full of rocks, to afford any 
 " hope of advantage in an agricultural 
 " view. But its military position is admir- 
 " able; all seems to concur to render it im- 
 " pregnable, and it would even be easy to 
 " insulate it entirely from the Continent, 
 " and to form upon it several ports, which 
 " nature seems to have already prepared." 
 
 This letter likewise speaks of the advan- 
 tages offered by the environs of Rufisque, 
 which are so well known, that we may dis- 
 pense with speaking of them here. We 
 shall only mention as among the principal 
 points to be occupied, with the mornes of 
 Cape Rouge, Portudal, Joal, and Cahone. 
 this last on the river Salum near the Gam- 
 bia ; they are large villages, the environs of 
 which are covered with magnificent forests, 
 and the soil of which is perhaps the most 
 fertile of any in Africa. For more ample 
 accounts of these countries, we refer to the 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 309 
 
 excellent works of Messrs. Durand and 
 Geoffroy de Villeneuve, who have examined 
 them like enlightened observers, and per- 
 fectly well described them in their travels, 
 only that they have too much exaggerated 
 the agricultural advantages of Cape Verd. 
 
 We shall not have the presumption to 
 lay down plans, to propose systems, to en- 
 force such or such means for putting them 
 in execution. We shall merely terminate 
 our task by some general considerations 
 calculated to confirm what numerous and 
 able observers have already thought, of the 
 importance of the establishments in Africa, 
 and of the necessity of adopting some general 
 plan of colonisation for these countries. 
 
 However pride, prejudice and personal 
 interest, may deceive themselves respecting 
 the re-establishment of our WesternColonies, 
 nobody will be able longer to dissemble the 
 imitility of attempts to persevere in a false 
 route. Calculation will at length triumph 
 over blind obstinacy and false reasonings. 
 There is already a certain number of incon- 
 testable data, the consequences of which 
 must be one day admitted. And first, 
 
310 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 though some persons who fancy that, like 
 them, the whole world have been asleep for 
 these twenty-five or thirty years, still dream 
 of the submission of St. Domingo, reason- 
 able persons now acknowledge, that even 
 were the final success of such an enterprise 
 possible, its real result would be, to have ex- 
 pended, in order to conquer a desert, and 
 ruins drenched in blood, ten times more 
 men and money than would be sufficient to 
 colonise Africa. It is well known, also, 
 that the soil of Martinique is exhausted, 
 and that its productions will diminish more 
 and more ; that the small extent of Guada- 
 loupe confines its culture to a very narrow 
 circle, and does not permit it to offer a mass 
 of produce sufficient to add much to the 
 force of the impulse, which a country like 
 France, must give to all parts of its agri- 
 cultural and commercial industry. It is 
 not to be doubted, but that nature has given 
 to French Guiyana the elements of great 
 prosperity; but this establishment requires 
 to be entirely created ; every thing has hi- 
 therto concurred to prolong its infancy. 
 There are not sufficient hands; and how 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 311 
 
 will you convey thither the requisite number 
 of cultivators, when you have proclaimed 
 the abolition of the slave trade. 
 
 The Abolition of the Slave Trade : this 
 is the principle, pregnant with consequen- 
 ces, which should induce every enlightened 
 government speedily to change its whole co- 
 lonial system. Itwould be in vain to attempt 
 to prolong this odious trade by smuggling, 
 and thus still to draw from it some precarious 
 resources. This sad advantage would but 
 keep open the wound which has struck the 
 western colonies, without being able to 
 effect their recovery, as is desired by those 
 who seek to found their prosperity on the 
 regular farming out of one of the races of 
 mankind. The slave trade is abolished not 
 only by religion, by treaties, by the consent 
 of some powers, by the calculations and in- 
 terest of some others, which will not permit it 
 to be re-established; but it is abolished also 
 by the light of the age, by the wish of all 
 civilised nations; by opinion, that sovereign 
 of the world, which triumphs over every 
 obstacle, and subdues all that resist her 
 laws. Without the slave trade, you cannot 
 transport to the West Indies those throngs of 
 men whose sweat and blood are the manure 
 
312 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 of your lands: on the other hand, you see 
 the Genius of Independence hover over the 
 New World, which will soon force you to seek 
 friends and allies where you have hitherto 
 reckoned only slaves. Why then do you he- 
 sitate to prepare a new order of things, to 
 anticipate events, which time, whose march 
 you cannot arrest, brings every day nearer 
 and nearer? Reason, your own interest, 
 the force of circumstances, the advantages 
 of nature, the richness of the soil, every 
 thing tells you that it is to Africa, that you 
 must carry culture and civilization. 
 
 Without entering into the question, 
 whether the Government should reserve to 
 itself, exclusively, the right of founding co- 
 lonies on that continent, or whether it 
 ought to encourage colonial companies, and 
 depend on the efforts of private interest 
 suitably directed, let us be permitted fo 
 offer some views, on the prudent and tem- 
 perate course which ought to be laid down, 
 to arrive at a satisfactory result, not only in 
 respect to the civilization of the blacks, but 
 even relatively to the commercial advanta- 
 ges which the colonist must naturally have 
 in view. 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 313 
 
 Though the abolition of the slave trade 
 has been proclaimed, yet the present slaves 
 must he Jed to liberty only in a progressive 
 manner. The whites who are possessed of 
 negroes, should not be allowed to prolong 
 their possession and their dominion over them , 
 beyond the space of ten years, and without 
 being permitted to resell them during that 
 period. During these ten years, the ne- 
 groes should be prepared for their new con- 
 dition as well by instruction as by the suc- 
 cessive amelioration of their situation ; it 
 would be necessary gradually to relax the 
 chain of slavery; and by affording them 
 means to lay up a part of the produce of their 
 labou . inspire them with the desire, and the 
 necessity of possessing something of their 
 own. 
 
 After these ten years, which may be 
 called a Noviciate, it is to be presumed, that 
 if lands were granted to them upon advan- 
 tageous conditions, fixed before hand, if 
 they were furnished in case of need, with 
 the agricultural instruments, the use of 
 which they would have learned, they would 
 become excellent cultivators : it is needless 
 
314 NARRATIVE OF A 
 
 to remark that the man who cultivates the 
 soil, and whose labour the soil rewards, by 
 its produce, becomes strongly attached to 
 the land, which supplies both his wants and 
 his enjoyments, and is soon led by family 
 affections to the love of social order, and to 
 the sentiments .which constitute a good 
 citizen. 
 
 The blacks have been too long encou- 
 raged to sell their fellow-creatures, for us 
 to depend upon their soon forgetting this 
 deplorable traffic. But doubtless we ought 
 to begin by renouncing the perfidious means 
 of inflaming their cupidity and iheir pas- 
 sions. The articles which they are the most 
 desirous to obtain from us, ought to be the price 
 of the produce of the soil, and no longer the 
 means of exchange, and the aliment of this 
 dreadful traffic in human flesh. It would, 
 however, be proper that, as long as slaves 
 should continue to arrive from the interior, 
 the whites might buy them. This permis- 
 sion should be granted for a time, and in a 
 certain extent of country. Their slavery 
 should also be limited to ten years, as we 
 have said above, and their moral and physi- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 315 
 
 oal improvement, should be directed in such 
 a manner as to attach them to the soil by 
 exciting in them the love of property. 
 
 The laws and institutions which govern 
 the mother country, would incontrovertible* 
 be applicable to the new establishments. It 
 would certainly be presumable, that on ac- 
 count of particular considerations of moral 
 and political order, it would be proper to 
 allow local regulations, in forming which, 
 all proprietors enjoying the rights of citizen- 
 ship, ought to participate, without any dis- 
 tinction of colour. It would especially be 
 nighly important, that the regulations for 
 the government of the slaves, should be 
 founded on mildness and humanity, that 
 prudent and enlightened persons should su- 
 perintend the execution of them, and have 
 the necessary authority to prevent abuses, 
 and to secure to the slave the protection of 
 the law. 
 
 In order to obtain these results, it is 
 evident that it would be no less essential to 
 preserve the colonies from the scourge of 
 arbitrary authority, from the excesses of 
 power, which always accompany abuses, 
 injustice, and corruption. When favor and 
 
316 N'ARRATIVE OF A 
 
 caprice are the only laws that are attended 
 to ; when intrigue supplies the place of 
 merit; when cupidity succeeds to honorable 
 industry; when vice and meanness are 
 titles to distinctions, and the true means of 
 making a fortune ; when honours are no 
 longer synonimous with honour; then so- 
 ciety presents only disorder and anarchy, 
 then people renounce obscure virtue, and la- 
 borious acquisition to follow the easy ways 
 of corruption; then enlightened men, for 
 whom public esteem is a sterile recommen- 
 dation, the true servants of the king, the 
 faithful friends of their country, are forcea 
 to disappear, to withdraw from employ- 
 ments, and the interest of the public, as well 
 as that of humanity, is miserably sacrificed 
 to the basest calculations, to the most guilty 
 passions. 
 
 He who desires the end, desires the 
 means of attaining it. The end at present, 
 should be to prepare every thing before- 
 hand, and rather sooner than later, in order to 
 repair in Africa the past losses and disas- 
 ters, which irremediable events have caused 
 in the Western Colonies, and to substitute 
 for their riches their prosperity, the pro- 
 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 317 
 
 gressive decline of which ishenceforward ine- 
 vitable, new elements of wealth and prospe- 
 rity : the means will be to carry into these 
 countries, so long desolated by our relentless 
 avarice, knowledge, cultivation, and in- 
 dustry. By these means we shall see in 
 that vast continent numerous colonies arise, 
 which will restore to the mother country all 
 the splendour, all the advantages of her 
 ancient commerce, and repay her with in- 
 terest for the sacrifices she may have made 
 in the new world. But to effect this, let there 
 be no more secret enterprises; no more con- 
 nivance at fraudulent traffic, no more un- 
 happy negroes snatched away from their 
 families; no more tears shed on that sad 
 African soil, so long the witness of so many 
 afflictions; no more human victims, drag- 
 ged to the altars of the shameful, and insati- 
 able divinities, which have already devoured 
 such numbers: consequently, let there be 
 no more grounds for hearing in the English 
 Parliament, voices boldly impeaching our 
 good faith, attacking the national honour, 
 and possitively asserting that France main- 
 tains in her African possessions, the system 
 of the slave trade in the same manner as she 
 did before she consented to its abolition. 
 
318 NARRATIVE A OF 
 
 Africa offers to our speculators, to the 
 enterprises of our industry, a virgin soil, 
 and an inexhaustible population peculiarly 
 fitted to render it productive. It must be 
 our business to form them according to our 
 views, by associating them in these by a 
 common interest. In conquering them by 
 benefits, instead of subjugating them by 
 crimes, or degrading them by corruption, 
 let us lead them to social order and to hap- 
 piness, by our moral superiority, instead 
 of dragging them under scourges and chains 
 to misery and death, we shall then have 
 accomplished a useful and a glorious enter- 
 prise; we shall have raised our commercial 
 prosperity on the greatest interest of those 
 who have been the voluntary instruments of 
 it, and above all, we shall have expiated, 
 by an immense benefit, this immense crime 
 of the outrages, with which we so long 
 afflicted humanity. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following Notes were communi- 
 cated to the Authors, when the second edi- 
 tion was already so far advanced, as to render 
 it impracticable to incorporate them with 
 the body of the work, and they are there- 
 fore placed at the end. Some of them are 
 extracted irom the Journal of Mr. Bredif, 
 who belonged to the expedition, and were 
 communicated by his uncle, Mr. Landry ; 
 the others are by an officer of merit, whose 
 modesty prevents the publication of his name. 
 
 The Translator has thought it would be 
 more convenient to place these notes in one 
 series, refering to the pages to which they 
 belong. Those of Mr. Bredif, are signed 
 (B) the others (A). 
 
320 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 I. Page 14. On the Route to Africa. 
 
 IN going from Europe to the western coasts of Africa* 
 situated to the north of the line, it is better stil), to pass be- 
 tween ihr Azores and Madeira, and not to come within 
 sight of the coast, till you have nearly reached the latitude 
 of the point where you desire to land. Nothing but the 
 necessity of procuring refreshments can author se vessels, 
 bound to the Cape of Good Hope, or to the south of Ame- 
 rica, to touch at the Canaries, or at the Cape Verd Islands. 
 Notwithstanding the depth of the channels between the 
 tirst of these islands, these seas, which are subject both to 
 calms and hurricanes are not without danger. By keeping 
 at a distance, there is also the advantage of avoiding the 
 current of Gibraltar, and of not running- the risk of meeting 
 with the north west winds, which generally prevail along 
 the desert, (and hitherto insufficiently known.) Coasts of 
 Zaara, along which the Medusa sailed to no purpose, and 
 which winds also tend to impel vessels upon the dangerous 
 bank of Arguin. (A) 
 
 IT. On the Manoeuvres before Funchal. 
 
 The usual indecision, which the commander of the 
 frigate displayed in all his resolutions, joined to a little 
 accident, made him change the intention which he had ex- 
 
NOTES. 321 
 
 pressed of presenting- himself before Funchal. From a 
 singularity which nothing justified, he appeared to have 
 more confidence in one of the passengers, who had 
 indeed, frequented these seas, than in any of his officers, 
 in respect to the management of the vessel. As they ap- 
 proached Madeira, the vessel was worked almost entirely 
 according to the advice of this passenger ; but suddenly 
 the breeze, which is always strong in the neighbourhood 
 of these mountainous countries, fell when they got too near 
 it, the sails flagged, the current seemed rapid; but after 
 some hesitation in the manoeuvring of the vessel, which the 
 officers soon put into proper order, they recovered the 
 wind, and it was resolved to steer for TenerifFe. (A) 
 
 III. Page 22. On the Islands of Madeira and 
 
 Tenerijfe. 
 
 Madeira and TenerifFe seen on the side where their 
 capital cities lie, have a very different appearance. The 
 first is smiling with cultivation from its shores, almost 
 to the summit of the mountains. Every where the eye 
 discovers only little habitations surrounded by vine- 
 yards and orchards of the most delightful verdure: these 
 modest dwellings surrounded by all the luxuriance of 
 vegetation, placed under an azure sky, which is seldom 
 obscured by clouds, seem to be the abode of happiness, and 
 the navigator, long wearied by the monotonous prospect 
 of the sea, cheerfully hailed this delightful prospect. 
 TenerifFe, on the contrary, shews itself with every mark of 
 the cause by which it was formed. The whole south east 
 side is composed of black sterile rocks, which are piled 
 together in an extraordinary confusion ; even to the envi- 
 rons of the town of Saint Croix, scarcely any thing is seen, 
 on the greater part of these dry and burnt lands, but low 
 
 Y 
 
322 NOTES 
 
 plants, the higher of which are probably Euphorbia, or 
 thorny Cereus ; and those which cover the ground, the hairy 
 lichen, Crocella tinctoria, which is employed in dying, and 
 which this island furnishes in abundance. Seen from the 
 sea, the town, which is in the form of an amphitheatre, ap- 
 pears to be situated in the recess, formed by two distinct 
 branches of mountains, of which the one towards the 
 south, forms the Peak properly so called ; it is particularly 
 remarkable at a distance for its slender towers, and for the 
 steeples of its churches, the construction of which, calls to 
 mind the arabic architecture. (A) 
 
 IV. Page 22. On the Mouth of the River St. 
 John. 
 
 There is probably an error in this account : the river 
 St. John, is much more to the south, and oh the north 
 side of Cape Aleric. The inlet, which was perceived dur- 
 ing the ceremony of the tropic, which was a little tardy, is 
 the gulf of St. Cyprian, into which the currents appear to 
 set. Early in the morning, and to the north of this gulph, 
 they passed a little island, very near the coast, and the 
 black colour of which, owing doubtless to the marine 
 plants that cover it, made a striking contrast with the 
 whiteness of the sandy downs of the great desert, the 
 abode of the Moors, and of wild beasts. Tellus leonum 
 arida nutrix. (A) 
 
 V. Page24. Onthereconnaissance o/CapeBlanco . 
 Mr. de Chaumareys gave notice in the course of this 
 day, that he had a mind to anchor at a cable's length from 
 Cape Blanco. He talked of it till the evening, but on 
 going to bed he thought no more about it ; however, he 
 continually repeated that the minister had ordered him to 
 
NOTES. 323 
 
 make that Cape ; and therefore, when somebody said the 
 next morning-, that this Cape was supposed to have been 
 seen at eight o'clock the preceding evening-, it was from 
 that time forbidden to doubt of it; and either from defe- 
 rence or persuasion itwas agreed, but not without laughing, 
 that the Cape had been seen at the hour mentioned. It 
 was from the course of the vessel at this moment that 
 the route was calculated till an observation was made at 
 noon. (A) 
 
 VI. Page 25. On the Refusal to answer the Sig- 
 nals of the Echo. 
 
 It would probably have been of no use to inform Mr. 
 de Chaumarey's of the signals of the Echo. The com- 
 mander of 1 the Medusa, the chief of the division, had de- 
 clared already in the. roads of the island of Aix, his in- 
 tention to abandon his vessels, and to proceed alone in all 
 haste to the Senegal. Though he spoke of strictly follow- 
 ing the pretended instructions of the minister respecting 
 the route to be followed, it was, however, violating the 
 principle one, since it is useless to form a division if it 
 is not to go together. The corvette, commanded by Mr. 
 Venancourt succeeded, it is true, several times in joining 
 the commander; but soon, by the superior sail ing of the 
 Medusa, they lost sight of him again, and every time they 
 rejoiced at it. This resolution, not to sail in company, 
 was the chief cause of the loss of the principal vessel. 
 The Echo having determined, as was proper, to follow 
 its commander, alone passed to the north west of tlfe bank. 
 The two other vessels which had remained long behind 
 and were much more at liberty, passed more' than thirty 
 
 v2 
 
324 NOTES. 
 
 leagues to the west of it, and thus proved that it was the 
 safest and shortest rout. (A) 
 
 VII. Page 31. On the Stranding of the Medusa. 
 
 From ten o'clock in the morning the colour of the 
 water visibly changed, and the head pilot, calculating after 
 his sea-torch before mentioned, declared, at half past 
 eleven, that they were at the edge of the bank, and this 
 was probable. From that moment the sailors were 
 entirely employed in drawing up the lines thrown out 
 alongside of the vessel, and the astonishing quantity of 
 fish, nil of the cod species, which were drawn on board, 
 added to the weeds that floated on every side, were more 
 than sufficient to make it believed that they were sailing 
 upon a shoal. We shall speak below of the species of this 
 fish ; but as for the weeds, which were perceived on every 
 side, besides that they gave reason to suppose that we 
 were approaching the land, their appearance in this 
 gulph, also gives ground to presume, that the currents of 
 these seas, at this season, set north, since the plants, with 
 exception of some Zosteres, were nothing but long stalks 
 of grasses ; most of them still furnished with their roots, 
 and many even with their ears, belonging to the tall grasses 
 of the banks of the Senegal, and the Gambia, which these 
 rivers bring away at the time of the inundations. All 
 those which could be observed were Parties or millets. (A) 
 
 VIII. Page 31. Moment of the Stranding of the 
 Frigate. 
 
 The officers wanted to tack about, as the water became 
 shallower every moment: but Mr. Rich efort, (who enjoyed 
 
NOTES. 325 
 
 the confidence of Mr. de Chaumarey's,) declaring that there 
 was no reason to be alarmed, the captain ordered more 
 sail to be spread. Soon we had only fifteen fathoms, 
 then nine, then six. By promptitude the danger might still 
 have been avoided. They hesitated : two minutes after- 
 wards a shock informed usthatwe had struck; the officers, 
 at first astonished, gave their orders with a voice that 
 shewed their agitation : the captain was wholly deprived 
 of his ; terror was painted on the countenances of all those 
 who were capable of appreciating- the danger : I thought 
 it imminent, and expected to see the frigate bilge. I con- 
 fess that I was not satisfied with myself, at this first mo- 
 ment, I could not help trembling, but afterwards, ray 
 courage did not any more forsake me. (B) 
 
 XI. Page 41 . Confusion on Board the Frigate. 
 
 The frigate having stranded, the same thing happen- 
 ed, which usually does happen in critical circumstances, 
 no decisive measures were taken: to increase our misfor- 
 tunes the obedience of the crew to the officers was dimi 
 nished for want of confidence. There was no concert. A 
 great deal of time was spent, and the second day was 
 lost without having done any thing. 
 
 On the third, preparations were made to quit the 
 frigate, and the efforts made the day before to get her afloat, 
 were renewed, but only half measures were taken. The 
 other preparations to insure our safety were not carried on 
 with any activity. Every thing went wrong. A list of 
 the people was made, and they were distributed between 
 the beats and the raft, in order that they might hold them- 
 selves ready to embark when it should be time. 1 was 
 set down for the long boat. 
 
326 NOTES 
 
 Our mode of living, during all this time, was extremely 
 singular. We all worked either at the pump or at the 
 capstern. There was no fixed time for meals, we eat just 
 as we could snatch an opportunity. The greatest confu- 
 sion prevailed, the sailors already attempted to plunder the 
 trunks. (B) 
 
 X.Page 4$.T/ie Frigate lost. 
 
 On the fourth the weather being fine, and the wind fa- 
 vourable to the motion which we wished to give to the vessel, 
 we succeeded in it. The most ardent hope was excited 
 among all the crew, we even supped very cheerfully ; we 
 flattered ourselves that we should free the vessel and sail 
 the next day. A beautiful evening encouraged our hopes, 
 we slept upon deck by moonlight; but at midnight the 
 sky was overclouded, the wind rose, the sea swelled, the 
 frigate began to be shaken. These shocks were much more 
 dangerous than those in the night of the third. At three 
 o'clock in the morningt he master-caulker came to tell the 
 captain that the vessel had sprung a leak and was filling; 
 we immediately flew to the pumps, but in vain, the hull 
 was split, all endeavours to save the frigate were given up, 
 and nothing thought of but how to save the people. (B) 
 
 XI. Page 53. Embarkment of the Crew. 
 
 On the 5th, about seven o'clock in the morning, all 
 the soldiers were first embarked on board the raft, which 
 was not quite finished, these unfortunate men crowded 
 together upon pieces of wood, were in water up to the 
 middle. 
 
 Mrs. and Miss Schmalz went on board their boat. 
 Mr. Schmalz, notwithstanding the entreaties of every body, 
 would not yet quit the vessel. 
 
NOTES. 327 
 
 The people embarked in disorder, every body was 
 in a hurry. J advised them to wait patiently till 
 every one's turn came. I gave the example, and was 
 near being the victim of it. All the boats, carried away 
 by the current, withdrew and dragged the raft with them; 
 there still remained sixty of us on board. Some sailors, 
 thinking that the others were going to abandon them, 
 loaded their muskets, and were going to fire upon the 
 boats, and particularly upon the boat of the captain, who 
 had already gone on board. It was with the greatest dif- 
 ficulty that 1 dissuaded them from it. I had need of all 
 my strength, and all the arguments I could think of. I 
 succeeded in seizing some loaded muskets and threw them 
 into the sea. 
 
 When I was preparing to quit the frigate, J had con- 
 tented myself with a small parcel of things which were 
 indispensable ; all the rest had been already pillaged. I 
 had divided, with a comrade, eight hundred livres in gold, 
 which I had still in my possession ; this proved very fortu- 
 nate for me in the sequel. This comrade had embarked on 
 board one of the boats. (B) 
 
 XII. Page 54. On Mr.Espiau. 
 
 The name of this officer cannot be mentioned, in this 
 memoir, without acknowledging the services which he per- 
 formed on this occasion. To him we owe the lives of se- 
 veral sailors and soldiers who had remained on board 
 It is he who, notwithstanding the various dangers with 
 which he was surrounded, following only the impulse of 
 his courage, succeeded in saving them. In giving him a 
 command, the minister has paid the debt which the State 
 had contracted towards this officer for his honorable con- 
 du ct. (A) 
 
328 NOTES. 
 
 XIII. Page 54. Embarkation of the Men who 
 remained on Board the Frigate. 
 
 1 began to believe that we were abandoned, and that 
 the boats, being too full, could take no more people on 
 board. The frigate was quite full of water. Being con- 
 vinced that she touched the bottom, and that she could 
 not sink, we did not lose courage. Without fearing death 
 it was proper to do every thing we could to save ourselves : 
 we joined all together, officers, sailors and soldiers. We 
 appointed a master-pilot for our leader, we pledged our 
 honour, either to save ourselves, or to perish all together; 
 an officer and myself promised to remain to the last. 
 
 We thought of making another raft. We made the 
 necessary preparations to cut away one of the masts, in 
 order to ease the frigate. Exhausted by fatigue, it was 
 necessary to think of taking some food; the gaily was 
 not under water ; we lighted a fire ; the pot was already 
 boiling, when we thought we saw the long-boat returning 
 to us; it was towed by two other lighter-boats, we all 
 renewed the oath, either all to embark, or all to remain. 
 It appeared to us that our weight would sink the long- 
 boat. 
 
 Mr. Espiau, who commanded it, came on board the 
 frigate, he said that he would take every body on board. 
 First, two women and a child were let down ; the most 
 fearful followed. I embarked immediately before Mr. 
 Espiau. Some men preferred remaining on board the 
 frigate to sinking, as they said, with the long-boat. In 
 fact, we were crowded in it to the number of ninety per- 
 sons ; we were obliged to throw into the sea our little 
 parcels, the only things we had left. We did not dare 
 
NOTES. 329 
 
 to make the least motion for fear of upsetting our frail 
 vessel. 
 
 I had had some water-casks and a great many bottles 
 of wine put on board : I had got all these things ready 
 before hand. The sailors concealed in the long-boat what 
 ought to have been for every body ; they drank the whole 
 the first night, which exposed us to the danger of perish- 
 ing with thirst in the sequel.(B) 
 
 XIV. Page 67. Occurrences which took place 
 after the Raft was abandoned. 
 
 About half-past six in the evening, and just at sun- 
 set, the people in the boats descried the land : that is to 
 say, the high downs of sand of theZaara, which appeared 
 quite brilliant and like heaps of gold and silver. The sea, 
 between the frigate and the coast, appeared to have some 
 depth ; the waves were longer and more hollow, as if the 
 bank of Arguin rose towards the West. But as they 
 approached the land, the water suddenly became shallow, 
 and finding only a depth of three or four feet, they re- 
 solved to cast anchor till day-break. Several scattered 
 hills, a few rocky shoals nearly dry, made them presume 
 that they were in the Lagunes, formed by the River St. 
 John ; this opinion was verified by the sight of Cape Me- 
 ric, which appears like the continuation of a high hill 
 coming from the interior, but suddenly rising at its ap- 
 proach to the sea, like the torrents of Volcanic matter. In 
 passing before this cape, out at sea and towards the West, 
 the sea appeared to break over some shoals, which are 
 suspected to be the Southern end of the bank of Arguin, 
 which, according to some persons at Senegal, is dry at low 
 water. (A) 
 
330 NOTfcS. 
 
 XV. Page 68. Forsaking the Raft. 
 
 When we had overtaken the raft, towed by the other 
 boats, we asked the latter to take from us at least twenty 
 men, or otherwise we should sink. They answered that 
 they were already too much loaded. . One of our move- 
 ments, towards the boats, made them fancy that despair had 
 inspired us with the idea of sinking them and ourselves at 
 the same time. 
 
 How could the officers imagine that such a design 
 was entertained by Mr. Espiau, who had just before dis- 
 played such a noble desire to assist his comrades? The 
 boats, in order to avoid us, cut the ropes which united 
 them together, and made all the sail they could from us* 
 In the midst of this confusion, the rope which towed the 
 raft, broke also, and a hundred and fifty men were 
 abandoned in the midst of the ocean, without any hope of 
 relief. 
 
 This moment was horrible. Mr. Espiau, to induce 
 his comrades to make a last effort, tacked and made a 
 motion to rejoin the raft. The sailors endeavoured to 
 oppose it, saying that the men qn the raft would fall upon 
 us, and cause us all to perish. " 1 know it, my friends/* 
 said he, " but 1 will not approach so near as to incur any 
 *' danger; if the other vessels do not follow me, J will 
 ** think only on your preservation, I cannot do impossibili- 
 *' ties." In fact, seeing that he was not seconded, he re- 
 sumed his route. The other boats were already far off. " We 
 shall sink," cried Mr. Espiau, let us shew courage to the 
 very last. Let us do what we can : vive le roi ! This cry 
 a thousand times repeated rises from the bosom of the 
 waters which are to serve us for a grave. The boats also 
 repeated it, we were near enough to hear this cry of vive 
 
NOTES. 311 
 
 le roi! Some of us thought that this enthusiasm was 
 madness: was it the fulness of despair which made them 
 speak so, or was it the expression of the soul broken by 
 misfortune ? I know not, but for my part, this moment 
 appeared to me sublime : this cry was a rallying cry, 
 a cry of encouragement and resignation. (B) 
 
 XVI. Page 84, line 3. On the sudden Gale ex- 
 perienced by the Raft. 
 
 This strong gale was the same North West wind which 
 in this season, as has been said before, blows every day 
 with great violence after sun-set; but which, that day, 
 began sooner, and continued till 4 o'clock the next morn- 
 ing, when it was succeeded by a calm. The two boats 
 which resisted it, were several times on the point of being 
 wrecked* The whole time that this gale lasted, the sea 
 was covered with a remarkable quantity of yaletes or phy- 
 salides, (physalis pelasgica) which arranged, for the most 
 part, in straight lines, and in two or three files, rut at an 
 angle the direction of the waves, and seemed at the same 
 time to present their crest or sail to the wind, in an oblique 
 manner, as if to be less exposed to its impulse. It is probable 
 that these animals have the faculty of sailing two or three 
 abreast, and of ranging themselves in a regular or syme- 
 trical order; but had the wind surprised these, so arranged 
 on the surface of the sea, and before they had time to sink, 
 and shelter themselves at the bottom, or did the sea, agi- 
 tated on these shores, to a greater depth than is supposed, 
 make them fear, in this situation, to be thrown upon the 
 coast? However it be, the orders of thp'- m r<'li ; their 
 disposition, in respect to the force which impelled them, and 
 which they strove to resist ; the apparent stiffness of the 
 
332 NOTES. 
 
 sail seemed equally admirable and surprising 1 . Mr. Rang,, 
 who has been mentioned with praise in this work, having 
 had the curiosity to catch one of these singular animals, 
 soon felt a tingling in his hand, and a burning heat, which 
 made him feel much pain till the next day. Bones of 
 seche gigantesque (sepia, cuttle-fish) already whitened by 
 the sun, passed rapidly along the side of the ship, and al- 
 most always with some insects, which having, imprudently 
 ventured too far from the land, had taken refuge on these 
 floating islands. As soon as the sea grew calm, they per- 
 ceived some large pelicans, gently rocking themselves on 
 the bosom of the waves. (A) 
 
 XVII. Page 151. Landing of the Sixty-three 
 Men of the Long-Boat. 
 
 The sea was within two fingers breadth of the gunnale 
 of the boat: the slighest wave entered ; besides, it had a 
 leak ; it was necessary to empty it continually : a service 
 which the soldiers and sailors, who were with me, refused. 
 Happily the sea was pretty calm. 
 
 On the same evening, the 5th, we saw the land, and 
 the cry of " land, land," was repeated by every body. 
 We were sailing rapidly towards the coast of Africa, when 
 we felt that we had struck upon the bottom. We were 
 again in distress: we had but three feet water; but 
 would it be possible for us to get the boat afloat again, 
 and put out into the open sea ? There was no more hope 
 of being able to reach the shore. As for myself, I saw 
 nothing but danger on the coast of Africa, and 1 preferred 
 drowning to being made a slave, and conducted to Mo- 
 rocco or Algiers. But the long-boat grounded only once ; 
 we proceeded on our route, and by frequent soundings we 
 got into the open sea towards night. 
 
NOTES. 333 
 
 Providence had decided that we should experience 
 fears of every kind, and that we should not perish What 
 a night indeed was this ! The sea ran very high, the ability 
 of our pilot saved us. A single false manoeuvre, and we 
 must all have perished. We, however, partly shipped two 
 or three waves which we were obliged to empty immedi- 
 ately. Any other boat, in the same circumstances, would 
 have been lost. This long and dreadful night was at 
 length succeeded by day. 
 
 At day break we found ourselves in sight of land. 
 The sea became a little calm. Hope revived in the souls 
 of the desponding sailors, almost every body desired to 
 go on shore. The officer, in spite of himself, yielded to 
 their wishes. We approached the coast and threw out a 
 little anchor that we might not run aground. We were so 
 happy as to come near the shore, where there was only two 
 feet water. Sixty-three men threw themselves into the 
 water and reached the shore, which is only a dry and 
 burning sand, it must have been a few leagues above Por- 
 tendic. I took care not to imitate them. 1 remained with 
 about twenty-six others in the long-boat, all determined 
 to endeavour to reach the Senegal with our vessel, which 
 was lightened of above two-thirds of its burden. It was 
 the 6th of July. (B) 
 
 XVII I. Page Itt.The Fifteen Persons in the 
 Yawl taken into the Long-Boat ; sequel of the 
 day of the 6th. 
 
 An hour after landing the sixty-three men, we per- 
 ceived behind us four of our boats. Mr. Espiau, notwith- 
 standing the cries of his crew who opposed it, lowered his 
 sails and lay-to, in order to wait for them. " They have 
 " refused to take any people from us, let us do better now 
 
334 NOTES. 
 
 < we are lightened, let us offer to take some from them/' 
 In fact, he made them this offer when they were within 
 hail ; but instead of approaching boldly, they kept at e. 
 distance. The smallest of the boats (a yawl) went from 
 one to the other to consult them. This distrust came from 
 their thinking, that, by a stratagem, we had concealed all 
 our people under the benches, to rush upon them when 
 they should be near enough, and so great was this distrust 
 that they resolved to fly us like enemies. They feared 
 every thing from our crew, whom they thought to be in a 
 state of mutiny : however, we proposed no other condi- 
 tion on receiving some people, than to take in some water, 
 of which we began to be in want, as for biscuit we had a 
 sufficient stock. 
 
 Above an hour had passed after this accident, when 
 the sea ran very high. The yawl could not hold out 
 against it : being obliged to ask assistance, it came up to 
 us. My comrade de Chasteluz was one of the fifteen men 
 on board of her. We thought first of his safety, he leaped 
 into our boat, 1 caught him by the arm to hinder his falling 
 into the sea, we pressed each others hands, what language. 
 
 Singular concatenation of events ! If our sixty-three 
 men had not absolutely insisted upon landing, we could 
 not have saved the fifteen men in the yawl ; we should have 
 had the grief of seeing them perish before our eyes, with- 
 out being able to afford them any assistance : this is not 
 all, the following is what relates to myself personally. A 
 few minutes before we took in the people of the yawl, I 
 had undressed myself in order to dry my clothes, which had 
 been wet for forty-eight hours, from my having assisted 
 in lading the water out of the long-boat. Before 1 took 
 off my pantaloons I felt my purse, which contained the 
 four hundred francs? a moment after 1 had lost it; this was 
 
NOTES. 335 
 
 the completion of all my misfortunes. What a happy 
 thought was it to have divided my eight hundred francs 
 with Mr. de Chasteltiz who now had the other four hundred. 
 
 The heat was very violent on the sixth. We were 
 reduced to an allowance of one glass of dirty or corrupted 
 water ; and therefore to check our thirst, we put a piece 
 of lead into our mouths; a melancholy expedient ! 
 
 The night returned ; it was the most terrible of all : 
 the light of the moon shewed us a raging sea : long and 
 hollow waves threatened twenty times to swallow us up. 
 The pilot did not believe it possible to avoid all those 
 which came upon us; if we had shipped a single one it 
 would have been all over with us. The pilot must have let 
 the helm go, and the boat would have sunk. Was it not 
 in fact better to disappear at once than to die slowly ? 
 
 Towards the morning the moon having set, exhausted 
 by distress, fatigue, and want of sleep I could not hold out 
 any longer and fell asleep ; notwithstanding- the waves 
 which were ready to swallow me up. The Alps and their 
 picturesque scenery rose before my imagination. I enjoyed 
 the freshness of their shades, I renewed the delicious 
 moments which I have passed there, and as if to enhance 
 my present happiness by the idea of past evils, the re- 
 membrance of my good sister flying with me into the woods 
 of Kaiserslautern to escape the Cossacks, is present to 
 my fancy. My head hung over the sea ; the noise of the 
 waves dashing against our frail bark, produced on my 
 senses the effect of a torrent falling from the summit; of a 
 mountain. I thought I was going to plunge into it. This 
 pleasing illusion was not complete ; 1 awoke, and in what 
 a state ! I raised my head with pain ; I open my ulcerated 
 lips, and my parched tongue finds on them only a bitter 
 
336 NOTES. 
 
 crust of salt, instead of a little of that water which I had 
 seen in my dream. The moment was dreadful, and mr 
 despair was extreme. I thought of throwing myself into 
 the sea, to terminate at once all my sufferings. This despair 
 was of short duration, there was more courage in suffering. 
 A hollow noise, which we heard in the distance, in- 
 creased the horrors of this night. Our fears, that it might 
 be the bar of the Senegal, hindered us from making so 
 much way as we might have done. This was a great error; 
 the noise proceeded from the breakers which are met with 
 on all the coasts of Africa. We found afterwards, that we 
 were above sixty leagues from the Senegal. (B) 
 
 XIX. Page 162. Stranding of the Long-Boat, 
 and Two other Boats. 
 
 Our situation did not change till the eighth ; we suffered 
 more and more from thirst. The officer desired me to make 
 a list, and to call the people to distribute the allowance of 
 water; everyone came and drank what was given him. 
 I held my list under the tin cup, to catch the drops which 
 fell, and moisten my lips with them. Some persons at- 
 tempted to drink sea water; 1 am of opinion that they did 
 but hasten the moment of their destruction. 
 
 About the middle of the day, on the 8th of July, one 
 of our boats sailed in company with the long-boat. The 
 people on board suffered more than we, and resolved to go 
 on shore and get water if possible ; but the sailors mutinied 
 and insisted on being landed at once : they had drank 
 nothing for two days. The officers wished to oppose it ; 
 the sailors were armed with their sabres. A dreadful 
 butchery was on the point of taking* place on board this 
 unfortunate boat. The two sails were hoisted in order to 
 
NOTE?. 337 
 
 strand more speedily upon the coast* every body reached 
 tiie shore, the boat filled with water and was abandoned. 
 
 This example, fatal to us, gave our sailors an inclina- 
 tion to do the same. Mr. Espian consented to land them ; 
 he hoped to be able afterwards with the little water that 
 remained, and by working the vessel ourselves, to reach the 
 Senegal. We therefore placed ourselves round this little water, 
 and took our swords to defend it. We advanced near to 
 the breakers, the anchor was got up, and the officer gave 
 orders to let the boat's painter go gently, the sailors on the 
 contrary, either let the rope go at once, or cut it. Our boat 
 being no longer checked, was carried into the first breaker. 
 The water passed over our heads, and three quarters filled 
 the boat: it did not sink. Immediately we hoisted a sail 
 which carried us through the other breakers. The boat 
 entirely filled and sunk, but there was only four feet water ; 
 every body leaped into the sea, and no one perished. 
 
 Before we thought of landing I had undressed myself, 
 in order to dry my clothes; I might have put them on again, 
 but the resolution to land having been taken, I thought 
 that without clothes, I should be more able to swim in 
 case of need. Mr. de Chasteltiz could not swim: he 
 fastened a rope round his middle, of which 1 took one end, 
 and by means of which, I was to draw him to me as soon 
 as I got on shore. When the boat sunk I threw myself 
 into the water, I was very glad that I touched the bottom, 
 for I was uneasy about my comrade. I returned to the 
 boat to look for my clothes and my sword. A part of 
 them had been already stolen, I found only my coat and 
 one of the two pair of pantaloons which I had with me. 
 A negro offered to sell me an old pair of shoes for eight 
 francs, for I wanted a pair of shoes to walk in. 
 
 The sailors had saved the barrel of water; and as soou 
 
342 JVOTES. 
 
 as we were on shore they fought for the drinking of it. 
 I rushed in among them, and made my way to him who 
 had got the barrel at his mouth. 1 snatched it from him 
 and contrived to swallow two mouthfuls, the barrel was 
 afterwards taken from me, but these two mouthfuls did me 
 as much good as two bottles; but for them I could not 
 have lived longer than a few hours. 
 
 Thus I found myself on the coast of Africa wet 
 to the skin, with nothing in my pockets except a few 
 biscuits, steeped in salt water, to support me for several 
 days: without water, amidst a sandy desert inhabited by a 
 ferocious race of men : thus we had left one danger to 
 plunge into a greater. 
 
 We resolved to proceed along the sea coast, because 
 the breeze cooled us a little, and besides the moist sand 
 was softer than the fine moveable sand in the interior. 
 Before we proceeded on our march, we waited for the crew 
 of the other boat which had stranded before us. 
 
 We had proceeded about half an hour, when we 
 perceived another boat advancing with full sail, and 
 came with such violence on the beach that it stranded: 
 it contained all the family of Mr. Picard, consisting- 
 of himself and his wife, three daughters grown up, 
 and four young children, one of whom was at the breast. 
 I threw myself into the sea to assist this unhappy 
 family; I contributed to get Mr. Picard on shore, every 
 body was saved. I went to look for my clothes, but 
 could not find them ; 1 fell into a violent passion, and ex- 
 pressed in strong terms, the infamy of stealing in such 
 circumstances. I was reduced to my shirt and my trowsers. 
 I know not whether my cries, and my complaints, excited 
 remorse in the robber, but 1 found my coat and pantaloons 
 again, a little further off upon the sand. (B) 
 
NOTES. 343 
 
 XX. Page 162. March in the Desert and Ar- 
 rival at St. Louis. 
 
 We proceeded on our journey for the rest of the day 
 on the 8th of July; many of us were overcome by thirst. 
 Many with haggard eyes awaited only death. We dug in 
 the sand, but found only water more salt than that of the 
 sea. 
 
 At last we resolved to pass the sandy downs along the 
 sea coast ; we afterwards met with a sandy plain almost as 
 low as the ocean. On this sand there was a little long and 
 hard grass. We dug a hole three or four feet deep, and 
 found water which was whitish and had a bad smell. I 
 tasted it and finding it sweet, cried out " we are saved!" 
 These words were repeated by the whole caravan who col- 
 lected round this water, which everyone dveoured with his 
 eyes. Five or six holes were soon made and every one took 
 his fill of this muddy beverage. We remained two hours at 
 this place, and endeavoured to eat a little biscuit in order 
 to keep up ( ur strength. 
 
 Towards evening we returned to the sea shore. The 
 coolness of the night permitted us to walk, but Mr. Picard's 
 family could not follow us. The children were carried, 
 the officers setting the example, in order to induce the 
 sailors to carry them by turns. The situation of Mr. Picard 
 was cruel ; his young ladies and his wife displayed great 
 courage ; they dressed themselves in mens clothes. After 
 an hours march Mr. Picard desired that we might stop, he 
 spoke in the tone of a man who would not be refused ; we 
 consented, though the least delay might endanger the 
 safety of all. We stretched ourselves upon the sand, and 
 slept till three o'clock in the morning. 
 
 We immediately resumed our march. It was the 9th 
 
 z'2 
 
340 NOTES. 
 
 of July. We still proceeded along the sea shore, the wet 
 sand was more easy to walk upon ; we rested every half 
 hour on account of the ladies. 
 
 About eight o'clock in the morning we went a little 
 from the coast to reconnoitre some Moors who had shewn 
 themselves. We found two or three wretched tents, in 
 which there were some Mooresses almost all naked, they 
 were as ugly and frightful as the sands they inhabit. They 
 came to our aid, offering us water, goat's milk, and millet) 
 which are their only food. They would have appeared to us 
 handsome, if it had been for the pleasure of obliging us, 
 but these rapacious creatures wanted us to give them every 
 thing we had. The sailors, who were loaded with what 
 they had pillaged from us, were more fortunate than we, a 
 handkerchief procured them a glass of water or milk, or a 
 handful of millet. They had more money than we, and 
 gave pieces of tive or ten francs for things, for which we 
 offered twenty sous. These Mooresses, however, did not 
 know the value of money, and delivered more to a person 
 who gave them two or three little pieces of ten sous, than 
 to him who offered them a crown of six livres Unhap- 
 pily we had no small money, and I drank more than one 
 glass of milk at the rate of six livres per glass. 
 
 We bought, at a dearer price than we could have 
 bought gold, two goats which we boiled by turns in a little 
 metal kettle belonging to the Mooresses. We took out 
 the pieces half boiled, and devoured them like savages. 
 The sailors, for whom we had bought these goats, scarcely 
 left the officers their share, but seized what they could, 
 and still complained of having had too little. I could 
 not help speaking to them as they deserved. They conse- 
 quently had a spite against me and threatened me more 
 than once. 
 
NOTES. 41 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon, after we had passed 
 the greatest heat of the day in the disgusting tents of the 
 Mooresses, stretched by their side, we heard a cry of 
 " To arms, to arms/" 1 had none; I took a large knife 
 which I had preserved, and which was as good as a sword. 
 We advanced towards some Moors and Negroes, who had 
 already disarmed several of our people whom they had 
 found reposing on the sea shore. The two parties were 
 on the point of coming to blows, when we understood that 
 these men came to offer to conduct us to Senegal. 
 
 Some timid persons distrusted their intentions. For 
 myself, as well as the most prudent among us, thought 
 that we should trust entirely totnenwho came in a small 
 number, and who, in fact, confided their own safety to us ; 
 though it would have been so easy for them, to come in- 
 sufficiently large numbers to overwhelm us. We did so, 
 and experience proved that we did well. 
 
 We set off with our Moors who were very well made 
 and fine men of their race ; a Negro, their slave was one of 
 the handsomest men I have ever seen. His body of a fine 
 black, was clothed in a blue dress which he had received 
 as a present. This dress became him admirably, his gait 
 was proud and his air inspired confidence. The distrust 
 of some of our Negroes, who had their arms unsheathed, 
 and fear painted on the countenances of some made 
 him laugh. He put himself in the middle of them, and 
 placing the point of the weapons upon his breast, opened 
 his arms, to make them comprehend that he was not afraid, 
 and that they also ought not to fear him. 
 
 After we had proceeded some time, night being come, 
 our guides conducted us a little inland, behind the downs 
 where there were some tents inhabited by a pretty con- 
 siderable number of Moors. Many persons in our caravan 
 
342 NOTES. 
 
 cried out, that they were going 1 to be led to death. But 
 we did not listen to them, persuaded that in every way we 
 were undone, if the Moors were resolved on our destruc- 
 tion, that besides, it was their true interest to conduct us 
 to Senegal, and that in short, confidence was the only 
 means of safety. 
 
 Fear caused every body to follow us. We found in 
 the camp, water, camels' milk, and dry, or rather rotten 
 fish. Though all these things were enormously dear, we 
 were happy to meet with them. I bought for ten francs 
 one of these fish which stunk terribly. I wrapt it up in 
 the only handkerchief I had left, to carry it with me. We 
 were not sure of always finding such a good inn upon 
 the road. We slept in our usual bed, that is to say stretched 
 upon the sand. We had rested till midnight : we took 
 some asses for Mr. Picard's family, and for some men whom 
 fatigue had rendered incapable of going any further. 
 
 I observed that the men who were most overcome by 
 fatigne were presisely those who were the most robust. 
 From their look and their apparent strength they might 
 have been judged indefatigable, but they wanted mental 
 strength, and this alone supports man in such a crisis. 
 For my part I was astonished at bearing so well so many 
 fatigues and privations. I suffered, but with courage ; my 
 stomach, to my great satisfaction did not suffer at all. I 
 bore every thing in the same manner till the last. 
 
 Sleep alone, but the most distressing sleep possible, 
 had nearly caused my destruction. It was at two or three 
 o'clock in the morning that it seized me, I slept as I walked. 
 As soon as they cried halt I let myself fall upon the sand 
 and was plunged into the most profound lethergy. No- 
 thing gave me more pain than to hear at the expiration of 
 a quarter of an hour " up, march." 
 
NOTES. 343 
 
 I was once so overcome that 1 heard nothing-, I re- 
 mained stretched upon the ground while the whole caravan 
 passed by me. It was already at a great distance when a 
 straggler happily perceived me; he pushed me, and at last 
 succeeded in awaking me. But for him 1 should doubtless 
 have slept several hours. If 1 had awoke alone in the 
 middle of the desert, either despair would have terminated 
 my sufferings, or I should have been made a slave by the 
 Moors, which 1 could not have borne. To avoid this mis- 
 fortune 1 begged one of my friends to watch over me, and 
 to waken me at every stage, which he did. 
 
 On the 10th of July towards six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, we were marching along the sea coast, when our guide 
 gave us notice to be upon our guard and to take our arms. 
 I seized my knife ; the whole party was collected. The 
 country was inhabited by a poor and plundering race of 
 Moors, who would not have failed to attack those who had 
 loitered behind. The precaution was good, some Moors 
 shewed themselves on the downs; their number encreased 
 and soon exceeded ours. To move them, we placed our- 
 selves in a line holding our swords and sabres in the air. 
 Those who had no arms waved the scabbards, to make them 
 believe that we were all armed with muskets. They did 
 not approach. Our guides went half way to meet them. 
 They left one man and retired : the Moors did the same on 
 their side. The two deputies conversed together for some 
 time, then each returned to his party. The explanation 
 was satisfactory, and the Moors soon came to us without 
 the leasr distrust. 
 
 Their women brought us milk which they sold horri- 
 bly dear; the rapacity of these Moors is astonishing, they 
 insisted on having a share of the milk, which they had 
 sold us. 
 
344 NOTES. 
 
 Mean time we saw a sail advancing towards us: we 
 made all kinds of signal* to be perceived by it, and we 
 were convinced that they were answered. Our joy was 
 lively and well founded : it was the Argus brig which came 
 to our assistance, She lowered her sails and hoisted out 
 a boat. When it was near the breakers a Moor threw him- 
 self into the sea, carrying a note which painted our distress. 
 The boat took the Moor on board and returned wish the note 
 to the captain. Half an hour afterwards the boat returned 
 laden with a large barrel, and two small ones. When it 
 reached the place where it had taken in the Moor, the 
 latter threw himself into the sea again to bring back the 
 answer. It informed us that they were going to throw 
 into the sea a barrel of biscuit and cheese, and two others 
 containing brandy and wine. 
 
 Another piece of news filled us with joy; the two 
 boats which had not stranded on the roast as we had done 
 arrived at the Senegal, after having experienced the most 
 stormy weather. Without losing a moment the governor 
 had dispatched the Argus, and taken every measure to 
 assist the shipwrecked people, and to go to the Medusa. 
 Besides, he had sent by land camels loaden with provisions 
 to meet us, lastly, the Moors were desired to respect us, 
 and to render us assistance : so much good news revived 
 us, and gave us fresh courage. 
 
 I learned also that Mr. Schmalz and his family, those 
 very ladies, whom 1 had seen e\pose themselves with so 
 much com -insure to the fury of the waves, and who had 
 made me shed the only tears which our misfortunes had 
 drawn from me, were well and in safety. 1 should have 
 been sorry to die without having learned that they were 
 preserved. 
 
 When the three barrels were thrown into the sea we 
 
NOTES. 345 
 
 followed them with our eyes ; we feared lest the current, 
 instead of bringing them to the coast, should carry them 
 into the open sea. At las f we saw, clearly, that they ap- 
 proached us. Our Negroes and Moors swam to them, and 
 pushed them to the coast, where we secured them. 
 
 The great barrel was opened : the biscuit and cheese 
 were distributed. We would not open those of wine and 
 brandy. We feared lest the Moors, at this sight, would 
 not be able to refrain from falling upon the booty. We 
 continued our march, and about half a league farther on, 
 made a delicious feast on the sea-shore. Our strength 
 being revived, we continued our route with more ardour. 
 
 Towards the close of the dy, the aspect of the country 
 began to change a little. The downs were lower: we 
 perceived, at a distance, a sheet of water: we thought, and 
 this was no small satisfaction to us, that it was the Senegal 
 which made an elbow in this place to run parallel to the 
 sea. From this elbow runs the little rivulet called Marigot 
 des Marinyoins ; we left the sea-shore to pass it a little 
 higher up. We reached a spot where there was some 
 verdure and water, and resolved to remain there till mid- 
 night. 
 
 We had scarcely reached this spot, when we saw an 
 Englishman coining towards uswiththreeor fourMarabous, 
 or priests ; they had camels with them ; they were doubt- 
 less sent by the English Governor of Senegal, to seek for 
 the shipwrecked people. One of the camels, laden with 
 provisions, is immediately dispatched ; those who conduct 
 it are to go, if necessary, to Portendic, to fetch our com- 
 panions in misfortune ; or at least to get some information 
 respecting them. 
 
 The English envoy had money to buy us provisions. 
 He informed us that we had still three days march to the 
 
346 NOTES. 
 
 Senegal. We imagined that we were nearer to it; the 
 most fatigued were terrified at this great distance. We slept 
 all together on the sand. Nobody was suffered to go to a 
 distance for fear of the lions, which were said to haunt 
 this country. This fear did not at all alarm me, nor hinder 
 me from sleeping pretty well. 
 
 On the llth of July, after having walked from one 
 o'clock in the morning till seven, we arrived at a place 
 where the Englishman expected to meet with an ox. By 
 some misunderstanding there was none ; we were obliged 
 to pinch our bellies: but we had a little water. 
 
 The heat was insupportable; the sun was already 
 scorching. We halted on the white sand of these downs, 
 as being more wholesome for a resting place than the sand 
 wetted by the sea-water. But this sand was so hot, that 
 even the hands could not endure it. Towards noon we 
 were broiled by the beams of the sun darting perpendicu- 
 larly upon our heads. I found no remedy, except in a 
 creeping plant, which grew here and there on the moving 
 sand. I set up some old stalks, and spread over them my 
 coat and some leaves : thus 1 put my head in the shade ; 
 the rest of my body was roasted. The wind overturned, 
 twenty times, my slight scaffolding. 
 
 Meantime, the Englishman was gone, on his camel, 
 to see after an ox. He did not return till four or five 
 o'clock: when he informed us that we should find this 
 animal, after we had proceeded some hours. After a most 
 painful marcL till night, we, in fact, met with an ox which 
 was small, but tolerably fat. We looked at some distance 
 from the sea, for a place where there was supposed to be 
 a spring. It was only a hole, which the Moors had left 
 a few hours before. Here we fixed ourselves, a dozen fires 
 were lighted around us. A negro twisted the neck of the 
 
NOTES. 347 
 
 ox, as we should have done that of a fowl. In five minutes 
 it was flayed and cut into pieces, which we toasted on the 
 points of our swords or sabres. Every one devoured his 
 portion. 
 
 After this slight repast, we all lay down to sleep. I 
 was not able to sleep: the tiresome buzzing of the mosqui- 
 toes, and their cruel stings, prevented me, though I was 
 so much in need of repose. 
 
 On the 12th, we resumed our march at three o'clock 
 in the morning. I was indisposed ; and to knock me up 
 entirely, we had to walkover the moving sand of the point 
 of Barbary. Nothing hitherto, had been more fatiguing: 
 every body complained ; our Moorish guides assured 
 us that this way was shorter by two leagues. We pre- 
 ferred returning to the beach, and walking on the sand, 
 which the sea-water rendered firm. This last effort was 
 almost beyond my strength, 1 sunk under it, and but for 
 my comrades, I should have remained upon the sand. 
 
 We had absolutely resolved to reach the point, where 
 the river joins the downs. There some boats, which were 
 coining up the river, were to take us on board, and convey 
 us to St. Louis. When we had nearly reached this spot, 
 we crossed the downs, and enjoyed the sight of the river 
 which we had so long desired to meet with. 
 
 Happily too, it was the season when the water of the 
 Senegal is fresh : we quenched our thirst at our pleasure. 
 We stopped at last ; it was only eight o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. We had no shelter during the whole day, except some 
 trees, which were of a kind unknown tome, and which had 
 a sombre foliage. I frequently went into the river, but 
 without venturing too far from the bank, for fear of the 
 alligators. 
 
 About two o'clock, a small boat arrived ; the master 
 
348 NOTES. 
 
 of it asked for' Mr. Picard ; he was sent by one of the old 
 friends of that gentleman, and brought him provisions and 
 clothes for his family. He gave notice to us ail, in the 
 name of the English Governor, that two other boats loaded 
 with provisions, were coming. Having to wait till they 
 arrived, 1 could not remain with Mr. Picard's family. I 
 know not what emotion arose in my soul when 1 saw the 
 fine white bread cut, and the wine poured out, which would 
 have given rue so much pleasure. At four o'clock we also 
 were abie to eat bread and good biscuit, and to drink 
 excellent Madeira, which was lavished on us with little 
 prudence. Our sailors were drunk; even those among 
 us who had been more cautious, and whose heads were 
 stronger, were, to say the least, very merry. How did our 
 tongues run as we went down the river in our boats! After 
 a short and happy navigation, we landed at Saint Louis, 
 about seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 But what should we do? whither should we go? 
 Such were our reflections when we set foot on shore. They 
 were not of long duration. We met with some of our 
 comrades belonging to the boats who had arrived before 
 us, who conducted us, and distributed us among various 
 private houses, where every thing had been prepared to 
 receive us well. 1 shall always remember the kind hospi- 
 tality which was shewn to us, in general, by the white 
 inhabitants of St. Louis, both English and French. We 
 were all made welcome; we had all clean linen to put on, 
 water to wash our feet ; a sumptuous table was ready for 
 us. As for myself, I was received, with several of my 
 companions, in the house of Messrs. Potin and Durecur 
 Merchants of Bordeaux. Every thing they possessed was 
 lavished upon us. They gave rue linen, light clothes, in 
 short, whatever I wanted. 1 had nothing left. Honour to 
 
NOTES. 349 
 
 him, who knows so well how to succour the unfortunate ; 
 to him especially who does it with so much simplicity, and 
 as little ostentation as these gentlemen did. It seemed 
 that it was a duty for them to assist every body. They 
 would willingly have left to others no share in the good 
 that was to be done. English officers eagerly claimed the 
 pleasure, as they expressed it, of having some of the ship- 
 wrecked people to take care of. Some of us had feather 
 beds, others good mattrasses laid upon mats, which they 
 found very comfortable. 1 slept ill notwithstanding, 1 was 
 too much fatigued, too much agitated : I always fancied, 
 myself either bandied about by the waves, or treading on 
 the burning sands. (B) 
 
 XXI. Page 178. On the Manufactures of the 
 Moors. 
 
 The Moors tan skins with the dried pods of the Gum- 
 miferous Accia : thus prepared, they are impenetrable to 
 the rain, and it may be affirmed that, for their suppleness, 
 as \vell as for the brilliancy and finesss of their grain, they 
 might become a valuable fur in Europe, e-ither for use or 
 ornament. The most beautiful of these skins seemed to 
 be those of very young goats, taken from the belly of the 
 dam before the time of gestation is completed. The great 
 numbers of these animals, which are found round all the 
 inhabited places, allow the inhabitants to sacrifice many 
 to this species of luxury, without any extraordiny loss. 
 The cloaks, with a hood, which are mentioned in this 
 memoir, are composed of several of these skins, inge- 
 niously sewed together, with small and very fine seams. 
 These garments, designed as a protection against the cold 
 and the rain, are generally black, but some are also seen 
 of a reddish colour, which are not so beautiful, and heavier 
 
350 NOTES. 
 
 these latter are made of the skins of the kind of sheep, 
 known by the name of guinea-sheep, which have hair 
 instead of wool. As for the goldsmiths work, made by 
 these people, it is executed by travelling- workmen, who 
 are at the same time armourers, smiths and jewellers. 
 Furnished with a leather bag which is provided with an 
 iron pipe, and filled with air, which they press and fill 
 alternately, by putting it under their thigh, which they 
 keep in constant motion, singing all the while ; seated 
 before a little hole dug in the sand, and under the shade 
 of some leaves of the date-tree laid upon their heads, they 
 execute on a little anvil, and with the help of a hammer, 
 and some small iron awls, not only all kinds of repairs 
 necessary to fire-arms, sabres, &c. but manufacture knives 
 and daggers, and also make bracelets, earrings, and neck- 
 laces of gold, which they have the art of drawing into 
 very fine wire, and forming into ornaments for women, in 
 a manner which, though it wants taste, makes us admire 
 the skill of the workman, especially when we consider the 
 nature, and the small number of the tools which he em- 
 ploys. 
 
 The Moors, like the Mahometan negroes, are for the 
 most part, provided with a larger or smaller number of yris- 
 gris, a kind of talisman consisting in words, or verses co- 
 pied from the Goran, to which they ascribe the power of 
 securing them against diseases, witchcraft and accidents, 
 and which they buy of their priests or Marabous. Some 
 Spaniards from TenerifFe, who came to Cape Verd, at the 
 time that the French Expedition had taken refuge there, 
 struck us all, by their resemblance with these Africans. 
 It was not only by their brown complexions that they 
 resembled them ; but it was also by their long rosaries, 
 in the same manner about their arms, resembling, 
 
NOTES. 351 
 
 except the cross, those of the Moors, and by the great 
 number of Amulets, (yris-yris of another kind) whrch 
 they wear round their necks, and by which they seemed 
 to wish to rival the infidels in credulity. There is then, in 
 the South of Europe, as well as in the North of Africa, a 
 class of men, who would found their authority, upon 
 ig'norance, and derive their authority from superstition. 
 
 XXII. Page 235. On the Bark given to the 
 
 Sick. 
 
 The bark, which began to be administered at that 
 time, had been damaged, but an attempt was made to 
 supply the want of it by the bark which the negroes use 
 to cure the dysentery, and which they bring from the en- 
 virons of Rufisque. This bark, of which they made a secret, 
 seems to come from some terebinthine plant, and perhaps, 
 from the monbins, which are common on this part of the 
 coast. In the winter fevers which prevail at Goree, Cape 
 Verd, &c. two methods of cure were employed which had 
 different effects. These fevers were often attended with cho- 
 lic, spasms in the stomach, and diarrhea. The first method 
 consisted in vomitting, purging, and then administering 
 the bark, to which musk was sometimes added, when the 
 disorder grew worse. In this case, when the disease djd 
 not end in death, the fever was often succeeded by dysen- 
 tery, or those who believed themselves cured, were subject 
 to relapses. The second method, which Doctor Bergeron 
 employed with more success, was opposite to the former; 
 he vomited the patients but little, or not at all, endeavour- 
 ing to calm the symptoms, to strengthen the patient by bit- 
 ters, and at the last, he administered the bark.* 
 
 * It is to be observed that the author, in these two 
 uses the word Kina or Peruvian bark. T. 
 
352 NOTES. 
 
 The Negroes who, like all other people, have a mate- 
 ria medica, and pharmacopeia of their own, and who at 
 this season, are subject to the same disorders as the Euro- 
 peans, have recourse at the very beginning', to a more 
 heroic remedy, and such of our soldfers encamped at 
 Daccard, as made use of it, in general found benefit from 
 it. The Priest or Marabous, who often offered them the 
 assistance of his art, made them take a large 'glass of 
 rum-punch, very warm, with a slight infusion of cayenne 
 pepper. An extraordinary perspiration generally termi- 
 nated this fit. The patient then avoided, for some days, 
 walking in the sun, and eat a small quantity of roasted fish 
 and cous-cous, mixed with a sufficient quantity of cassia 
 leaves of different species, to operate as a gentle purga- 
 tive. In order to keep up the perspiration, or according 
 to the Negro Doctor, to strengthen the skin, he applied 
 from time to time, warm lotions of the leaves of the palraa 
 christi, and of cassia, (casse puantc.) The use of rum, 
 which is condemned by the Mahometan religion, and is a 
 production foreign to this country, gives reason to suppose 
 that the remedy is of modern date, among the Negroes. 
 
 XXIII. Page 2&3.On the Isle of St. Louis. 
 
 St. Louis is a bank of scorching sand, without drinka- 
 bie water or verdure, with a few tolerable houses towards 
 the South, and a great number of low smoky straw huts, 
 which, occupy almost all the North part. The houses 
 are of brick, made of a salt clay, ( argile salee ) which the 
 wind reduces to powder, unless they are carefully covered 
 with a layer of chalk or lime, which it is difficult to 
 procure, and the dazzling whiteness of which injures the 
 eyes. 
 
 Towards the middle of this town, if it may be so 
 
NOTES. 353 
 
 called, is a large manufactory in ruins, which is honored 
 with the name of a fort, and of which the English have 
 sacrificed a part, in order to make apartments for the go- 
 vernor, and to make the ground floor more airy, to quarter 
 troops in it. 
 
 Opposite is a battery of heavy cannon, the parapet of 
 which covers the square, on which are some trees, planted 
 in strait lines for ornament. These trees are oleaginous 
 Benjamins (Bens Oleferes) which give no shade, and 
 ought to be replaced by tamarinds, or sycamores, which 
 are common in this neighbourhood, and would thrive well 
 on this spot. None but people uncertain of their privilege 
 to trade on this river, merchants who came merely to make 
 a short stay, and indolent speculators would have con- 
 tented themselves with this bank of burning sand, and 
 not have been tempted by the cool shades and more fertile 
 lands, which are within a hundred toises, but which, in- 
 deed, labour alone could render productive. Every thing 
 is wretched in this situation. 
 
 Saint Louis is but a halting place in the middle of 
 the river, where merchants who were going up it to seek 
 slaves and gum, moored their vessels, and deposited their 
 provisions, and the goods they had brought with them to 
 barter. 
 
 What is said in the narrative of the means of attacking 
 this port, is correct. When the enemy have appeared, 
 the Negroes have always been those who have defended 
 it with the most effect. But unhappily, there, as in the 
 Antilles, persons are already to be found, who are inclined 
 to hold out their hands to the English. 
 
 At Louis there are some palm-trees, and the lantara 
 flabelliformis. Some little gardens have been made ; but 
 a cabbage, or a salad, are still of some value. Want, 
 
 A A 
 
354 NOTES. 
 
 the mother of industry, obliged some of the inhabitants, 
 during- the war, to turn their thoughts to cultivation, and 
 it should be the object of the government to encourage 
 them. 
 
 XXIV. Page 303. On the. Islands of Gorce and 
 Cape Verd. 
 
 At the distance of 1200 toises from the Peninsula of 
 Cape Verd, a large black rock rises abruptly, from the' 
 surface of the sea. It is cut perpendicularly on one side, 
 inaccessible in two thirds of its circumference, and ter- 
 minates, towards the south, in a low beach which it com- 
 mands, and which is edged with large stones, against 
 which the sea dashes violently. This beach, which is the 
 prolongation of the base of the rock, bends in an arch, 
 and forms a recess, where people land as they ran. At 
 the extremity of this beach is a battery of two or three 
 guns; on the beac-h of tin- landing-place, is an rpaule- 
 inent, with embrasures which commands it. The town 
 stands on this sand bank, and a little fort, built on the 
 ridge of I he rock, commands and defends it. In its pre- 
 sent state, Goree could not resist a ship of the line. Its 
 road, which is only an anchoring place in ihe open sea, 
 is safe in the most stormy weather; but it is exposed to 
 all winds except those that blow from the island, which 
 then serves to shelter it. 
 
 The Europeans who desire to carry on the slave trade, 
 have preferred this arid rock, placed in the middle of a 
 raging rea, to the neighbouring continent, where they 
 Mould find water, wood, vegetables, and in short, the 
 necessaries of life. The same reason which has caused 
 the preference to be given to a narrow and barren sand 
 bank, in the middle of the Senegal to build St. Louis, has 
 also decided in favor of Goree ; it is, that both of them are 
 
NOTES. 355 
 
 but dens, or prisons, intended as a temporary confinement 
 for wretches who, in any other situation, would find means 
 to escape. To deal in men, nothing- is wanting but fetters 
 and jails, but as this kind of gain no longer exists, if it is 
 wished to derive other productions from these possessions, 
 and not to lose them entirely, it will be necessary to 
 change the nature of our speculations, and to direct our 
 views and our efforts to the continent, where industry and 
 agriculture promise riches, the production of which huma- 
 nity will applaud. 
 
 The point which seems most proper for an agricultu- 
 ral establishment, is Cape Belair, a league and a half to 
 the leward of Goree : its soil is a rich black mould, lying 
 on a bed of Lava, which seems to come from the Mamelles 
 It is there that other large vegetables, besides the Bao- 
 babs, begin to be more numerous, and which, farther on, 
 towards Cape Rouge, cover, like a forest, all the shores. 
 The wells of Ben, which supply Goree with water, are but 
 a short distance from it, and the lake of Tinguage, begins 
 in the neighbourhood. This lake, which is formed, in a 
 great measure, by the rain water of the Peninsula, contains 
 a brackish water, which it is easy to render potable ; it is 
 inhabited by the Guesiks, or Gnia-Sicks of the Yoloffes, 
 or Black Crocodiles of Senegal ; but it would be easy to 
 destroy these animals. In September, this lake seems 
 wholly covered with white nymphaea, or water-lilly, and 
 in winter time it is frequented by a multitude of water- 
 fowl, among which, are distinguished by their large size, 
 the great pelican, the fine crested crane, which has received 
 the name of the royal-bird, the gigantic heron, known in 
 Senegambia by the venerable name of Marabou, on account 
 of its bald head, with a few scattered white hairs, its lofty 
 stature, and its dignified gait. 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 NOTES, 
 
 Considered geologically, the island of Goree is a 
 group of basaltic columns still standing, but a part of 
 which seem to have experienced the action of the same 
 cause of destruction and overthrow, as the columns of the 
 same formation of Cape Verd, because they are inclined 
 and overthrown in the same direction. 
 
 Cape Verd is a peninsula about five leagues and a 
 half long ; the breadth is extremely variable. At its junc- 
 tion, with the continent, it is about four leagues broad ; by 
 the deep recess which the Bay of Daccard forms, it is 
 reduced, near that village, to 600 toises, and becomes 
 broader afterwards. This promontory, which forms the 
 most western part of Africa, is placed, as it were, at the 
 foot of a long hill, which represents the ancient shore of 
 the continent. On the sea-shore, nnd towards the north- 
 east, there are two hills of unequal height, which serve as 
 a guide to mariners ; and which, from the substances col- 
 lected in their neighbourhood, evidently shew that they 
 are the remains of an ancient volcano. They have received 
 the name of Mamelles. From this place, to the western 
 extremity of the Peninsula, the country rises towards the 
 north-east, and terminates in a sandy beach on the oppo- 
 site side. 
 
 Almost the whole north-side is composed of steep 
 rocks, covered with large masses of oxyd of iron, or with 
 regular columns of basalt which, for the most part, still 
 preserve their vertical position. Their summits, which are 
 sometimes scorified, seem to prove that they hare been 
 exposed to a great degree of heat. The soil which covers 
 the plateau, formed by the summit of the Basaltic columns, 
 the sides of which assume towards the Mamelles, the ap- 
 pearance of walls of Trapp, but already, in a great degree, 
 changed into tuf, is arid and covered with briars. The- 
 
NOTES. 357 
 
 soil of the Mamelles, like almost all that of the middle of 
 the Peninsula, which appears to lie upon argillaceous lava, 
 in a state of decomposition, is much better. There are 
 even to be found, here and there, some spots that are very 
 fertile; this is the arable land of the inhabitants. Towards 
 the south, all resumes more or less, the appearance of a 
 desert ; and the sands, though less destitute of vegetable 
 mould, extend from thence to the sea-shore. It is by ma- 
 nuring the land, with the dung of their cattle, that the 
 Negroes raise pretty good crops of sorgho. The popula- 
 tion of this peninsula may be estimated at ten thousand 
 souls. It is entirely of the Yolotfe race, and shews much 
 attachment to all the ceremonies of Islamism. The Mara- 
 bous or Priests, sometimes mounted on the top of the Nests 
 of the Termites, or on the walls surrounding their mosque, 
 call the people several times a-day to prayer. 
 
 The social state of this little people, is a kind of re- 
 public governed by a senate, which is composed of the 
 chiefs of most of the villages. They have taken from the 
 the Coran the idea of this form of government, as is the 
 case with most of those, established among the nations who 
 follow that law. 
 
 At the time of the expedition of the Medusa this 
 senate was composed as follows : 
 
 Moctar, supreme chief resident of Daccard. 
 
 Diacheten, chief of the village of Sinkieur. 
 
 Phall Yokedieff. 
 
 Tjallow-Talerfour Graff. 
 
 Motiirn Bott. 
 
 Bayemour Kaye. 
 
 Modiann Ketdym. 
 
 Mamcthiar Symbodioun. 
 
 Ghameu . . , .Wockam. 
 
358 NOTES. 
 
 Diogheul, chief of the village of Gorr. 
 
 Baindonlz YofF. 
 
 iMofall Ben. 
 
 Schenegall Bambara. 
 
 This tribe was formerly subject to a Negro King in (he 
 neighbourhood ; but having revolted against him, though 
 very inferior in numbers, it defeated his army a few years 
 ago. The bones of the vanquished, that still lie scattered 
 on the plain, attest the victory. A wall, pierced with loop- 
 holes, which they erected in the narrowest part of the 
 Peninsula, and which the enemy was unable to force, 
 chiefly contributed to their success. The Yolloffes are in 
 general handsome and their facial angle has hardly any 
 thing of the usual deformity of the Negroes. Their common 
 food is cous-cous, with poultry, and above all fish; their 
 drink is brackish water, mixed with milk and sometimes 
 with palm wine. The poor go on foot, the rich on horseback, 
 and some ride upon bulls, which are always very docile, 
 for the Negroes are eminently distinguished by their good 
 treatment of all animals. Their wealth consists in land 
 and cattle; their dwellings are generally of reeds, their 
 beds are mats made of Asouman (maranta juncea) and 
 leopards' skins ; and their cloathing" broad pieces of cotton. 
 The women take care of the children, pound the millet, 
 and prepare the food ; the men cultivate the land, go a 
 hunting' and fishing, weave the stuff for their clothes, 
 and gather in the wax. 
 
 Revenge and idleness seem to be the only vices of 
 these people ; their virtues are charity, hospitality, so- 
 briety, and love of their children. The young women are 
 licentious, but the married women are generally chaste and 
 attached to their husbands. Their diseases among the 
 children, are worms, and umbilical hernia ; among the old 
 
NOTES. 359 
 
 people, and particularly those who have travelled much, 
 blindness and optfealanua ; and among' the ftdult, affec- 
 tions of the heart, obstructions, sometimes leprosy, and 
 rarely elephantiasis. Among the whole population of the 
 Peninsula, there is only one person with a hunch back, and 
 two or three who are lame. During the day they work or 
 rest; but the night is reserved for dancing- and conversa- 
 tion. As soon as the sun has set, the tambourine is heard, 
 the women sing; the whole population is animated; love 
 and the ball set every body in motion. " Jlfrica dances 
 all the night," is an expression which has become pro- 
 verbial among the Europeans who have travelled there. 
 
 There is not an atom of calcareous stone in the whole 
 country: almost all the plants are twisted and thorny. The 
 Monbins are the only species of timber that are met with. 
 The thorny asparagus, A. retrofractus,is found in abundance 
 in the woods; it tears the clothes, and the centaury of 
 Egypt pricks the legs. The most troublesome insects of 
 the neighbourhood are gnats, bugs, and ear-wigs. The 
 monkey, called cynocephalus, plunders the harvests, the 
 vultures attack the sick animals, the striped hyoena and 
 the leopard prowl about the villages during the night; but 
 the cattle are extremely beautiful, and the fish make the sea 
 on this coast boil, and foam by their extraordinary num- 
 bers. The hare of the Cape and the gazell are frequently 
 met with. The porcupines, in the moulting season, cast 
 their quills in the fields, and dig themselves holes under 
 the palm trees. The guinea-fowl (Pintada), the turtle- 
 dove, the wood-pigeon are found every where. In winter 
 immense flocks of plovers of various species, are seen on 
 the edges of the marshes, and also great numbers of 
 wild ducks. Other species frequent the reeds, and the 
 surface of the water is covered with geese of different 
 
3(50 NOTES. 
 
 kinds, among which is that whose head bears a fleshy 
 tubercle like that of the cassowary. The fishing- nets are 
 made of date leaves; their upper edge is furnished, in- 
 stead of cork, with pieces of the light wood of the Ascle- 
 pias. The sails of the canoes are made of cotton. 
 
 Several shrubs, and a large number of herbaceous 
 plants of this part of Africa, are found also in the Antilles. 
 But among the indigenous plants, are the Cape Jessamine, 
 the Amaryllis Kubannee, the Scarlet Hoemanthus, the Glo- 
 riosa Superba, and some extremely beautiful species of 
 Nerions. A new species of Calabash, (Crescentia) with 
 pinnated leaves is very common. Travellers appear to 
 have confounded it with the Baobab, on account of the 
 shape of its fruits, the thickness of its trunk, and the way 
 in which its branches grow. Its wood, which is very 
 heavy and of a fallow colour, has the grain and smell of 
 ebony : its Yoloffe name is Bonda, the English have cut 
 down and exported the greatest part of it. 
 
 In short, Africa, such as we have seen it either on the 
 banks of the Senegal or the Peninsula of Cape Verd, is a 
 new country, which promises to the naturalist an ample 
 harvest of discoveries, and to the philosophical observer 
 of mankind, a vast field for research and observation. 
 May the detestable commerce in human flesh, which the 
 Negroes abhor, and the Moors desire, cease to pollute 
 these shores ! It is the only means which the Europeans 
 have left to become acquainted with the interior of this 
 vast continent, and to make this great portion of the family 
 of mankind, by which it is inhabited, participate in the 
 benefits of civilization. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : Printed by Schulze and Dean, 13, Poland-Street. 
 
U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES