THE RAFT.

A RAFT is a sort of float, consisting of boards fastened together side by side: this mode is adopted for conveying timber by water; but the raft in the picture has people upon it!

Yes;-they are shipwrecked persons, who, despairing of all other means of escape, committed themselves to a frail raft, which they hoped might survive the fury of the winds and waters, till some friendly sail should appear in sight. Poor things! There is a mother and her little ones in this most forlorn of all situations; and the brave tars are hoisting a tattered garment in the breeze, in the hope of attracting attention. What will become of them, if the people on board the brig do not observe their signal? Such was the frightful situation of fifteen or twenty persons, out of one hundred and fifty, who, in the year 1816, embarked in the Medusa, a vessel of forty-four guns. She was, with

three others, bound to the French possessions on the coast of Africa, after their restoration to the French on the peace of 1814. Many colonists, agriculturists, artizans, and men of science were on board, beside soldiers and sailors. The officers who commanded the Medusa being ignorant of the coast, the vessel ran aground on the bank of Arguin. Every effort was vainly tried to get her off; and when this was despaired of, it was resolved to quit her. The boats did not afford nearly sufficient accommodation for the whole of the crew and passengers; a raft was therefore hastily constructed; the boats carried the greater part of the provisions, while the majority of the people were on board the raft, and it was arranged that the boats should take the raft in tow.

But oh! how sad it is to contemplate the selfish deeds of which man is guilty in his unregenerate state! One after another the boats cast off the tow-lines and made for the shore, leaving the raft to its fate. Truly appalling was the situation of the forlorn beings who crowded it, with a very scanty

THE RAFT.

stock of provisions, threatened every instant with death from the overwhelming waters, (for the heavily laden raft sank so much below the surface that every one was immersed nearly to the middle,) in the midst of the wide ocean, without chart or compass. One of the seamen, indeed, had a pocketcompass; but in their anxiety to consult it, it dropt from the hands of him who held it, and was lost between the openings in the raft.

As night approached, the breeze increased to a storm, the waves broke over the poor creatures on the raft, and swept many into the sea, others were frightfully injured by being jammed between the gaping timbers. The next day was fair, and hope whispered to the poor sufferers that some of the boats' crew might return to their assistance : evening however came, and no help appeared. The gale also again freshened, and in crowding to the middle of the raft, many were crushed to death. And now comes the most distressing part of the narrative. Persuaded that all hope of escape was at an end, the soldiers and sailors abandoned themselves to despair; and, under the mistaken notion of

drowning their feelings of bodily pain and distress of mind, they bored a hole in a large wine-cask, and drank till they became deaf to the voice of reason, and in their frenzy openly declared their intention of murdering the officers: the revolt became general, and in the attempt to quell it many on both sides lost their lives. By-and-by the effects of the stimulating drink wore off, and then, with tears and supplications, the poor creatures on their knees begged for mercy and forgiveness. A third and a fourth night of horror and still augmenting misery were passed, till the survivors were reduced to the dreadful alternative of feeding on the dead bodies of their lost companions. Once some relief from this revolting food was experienced by the passing of a shoal of flyingfish, many of whom getting entangled in the spars, afforded a repast. At length, on the fifth day from their quitting the wreck, the miserable remnant were discovered by a brig which had been out in search of them. Fifteen only were received alive on board the brig, and of these six died shortly after their arrival at St. Louis.