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is to operate, as rigidly tenacious and vigilant of life in one case, as it is indifferent and regardless in another; and I think it is a very strange contradiction in the human heart (although it often happens), that a man who has the most unbounded courage, in seeking death even in the cannon's mouth, should yet want the necessary resolution to make exertions to save his life in cases of ordinary danger. The unfortunate English Purser could not collect courage sufficient to make an effort to save himself; and yet I think it probable that he would have faced a battery of artillery, or exposed himself to a pistol-shot, if occasion required, as soon as any other man. Thus it appears at first view: but may not this seeming incongruity be explained by saying, that personal courage and fortitude are different qualities of the mind and body, and depend upon the exercise of entirely dif ferent functions?

Be that as it may, I argued with myself in the height of my calamitous situation, upon the subject of fortitude and dejection, courage and cowardice; and, notwithstanding the serious aspect of affairs, found myself listening to the suggestions of pride: "What a paltry thing to yield, while strength is left to struggle !" Vanity herself had her hint, and whispered, "Should I escape by an effort of my own, what a glorious theme of exultation!" There were, I confess, transitory images in my mind, which, co-operating with the natural attachment to self-preservation, made me persevere, and resolve to do so, while one vestige of hope was left for the mind to dwell on.

Observing, as I told you before, the people consulting together, and resolving to join them, I made an effort to get to the lee shrouds where they were standing, or rather clinging; but before I could accomplish it, I lost my hold, fell down the hatchway (the gratings having been carried away with the long-boat), and was for some minutes entangled there amongst a heap of packages, which the viclent fluctuations of the water had collected on the lee side. As the vessel moved with the sea, and the water flowed in, the packages and I were rolled together sometimes one, sometimes another, uppermost;

so that I began to be apprehensive I should not be able to extricate myself: by the merest accident, however, I grasped something that lay in my way, made a vigorous spring, and gained the lee shrouds. Mr. Hall, who followed me, in seizing the shrouds, came thump against me with such violence that I could scarcely retain my hold of the rigging. Compelled by the perilous situation. in which I stood, I called out to him for God's sake to keep off, for that I was rendered quite breathless and worn out he generously endeavored to make way for me, and, in doing so, unfortunately lost his hold, and went down under the ship's side. Never, never shall I forget my sensations at this melancholy incident-I would have given millions of worlds that I could have recalled the words which made him move; my mind was wound up to the last pitch of anguish: I may truly say, that this was the most bitter of all the bitter moments of my life, compared with which the other circumstances of the shipwreck seemed lessened-for I had insensibly acquired an unusual esteem and warm attachment for him, and was doubtful whether, after being even the innocent occasion of his falling, I ought to take further pains to preserve my own life. All those sensations were passing with the rapidity of lightning through my tho'ts, when, as much to my astonishment as to my joy, I saw him borne by a returning wave, and thrown among the very packages from which I had but just before, with so much labor and difficulty, extricated myself-In the end he proved equally fortunate, but after a much lönger and harder struggle, and after sustaining much more injury..

I once more changed my station, and made my way to the poop, where I found myself rather more shelter ed-I earnestly wished Mr. Hall to be with me, whatever might be my ultimate fate-and beckoned to him to come to me; but he only answered by shaking his head, in a feeble, desponding manner-staring at the same time wildly about him: even his spirit was subdued; and despair, I perceived, had begun to take possession of his mind.

Being a little more at ease in my new station than I had been before, I had more time to deliberate, and more power to judge. I recollected, that, according to the course of time, the day was far gone, and the night quickly approaching: I reflected, that for any enterprize whatsoever, day was much preferable to night; and above all I considered, that the vessel could not hold long together-I therefore thought, that the best mode I could adopt would be, to take to the water with the first buoyant thing I could see; and, as the wind and water both seemed to run to the shore, to take my chance in that way of reaching it. In pursuance of this resolution, I tore off my shirt, having before that thrown off the other parts of my dress I looked at my sleeve buttons, in which was set the hair of my departed children and by an involuntary act of the imagination, asked myself the question, "Shall I be happy enough to meet them where I am now about to go?-shall these dear last remains, too, become a prey to the devouring deep!"-In that instant, reason, suspended by the horrors of the scene, gave way to instinct; and I rolled my shirt up, and very carefully thrust it into a hole between decks, with the wild hopes that the sleeve buttons might yet escape untouched. Watching my opportunity, I saw a log of wood floating near the vessel, and, waving my hand to Mr. Hall as a last adieu, jumped after it. Here, again, I was doomed to aggravated hardships-I had scarcely touched the log when a great sea snatched it from my hold: still as it came near me, I grasped at it ineffectually, till at last it was completely carried away, but not before it had cut and battered and bruised me in several places, and in a manner that at any other time I should have thought dreadful.

Death seemed inevitable: and all that occurred to me now to do, was to accelerate it, and get out of its pangs as speedily as possible; for, though I knew how to swim, the tremendous surf rendered swimming useless, and all hope from it would have been ridiculous. I therefore began to swallow as much water as possible; yet, still rising by the buoyant principle of the waves to the surface, my former thoughts began to recur; and whether

it was that, or natural instinct, which survived the temporary impressions of despair, I know not-but I endeavored to swim, which I had not done long, when I again discovered the log of wood I had lost floating near me, and with some difficulty caught it: hardly had it been an instant in my hands, when, by the same unlucky means, I lost it again. I had often heard it said in Scotland, that if a man will throw himself flat on his back in the water, lie quite straight and stiff, and suffer himself to sink till the water gets into his ears, he will continue to float so for ever; this occurred to me now, and I determined to try the experiment; so I threw myself on my back in the manner I have described and left myself to the disposal of providence: nor was it long till I found the truth of the saying-for I floated with hardly an effort, and began for the first time to conceive something like hopes of preservation.

After lying in this manner, committed to the discretion of the tides, I soon saw the vessel saw that it was at a considerable distance behind me. Liveliest hope began to play about my heart, and joy fluttered with a thousand gay fancies in my mind: I began to form the favorable conclusion, that the tide was carrying me rapidly to land from the vessel, and that I should soon once more touch terra firma.

This expectation was a cordial that revived my exhausted spirits: I took courage, and left myself still to the same all directing Power that had hitherto preserved me, scarcely doubting that I should soon reach the land. Nor was I mistaken; for, in a short time more, without effort, or exertion, and without once turning from off my back, I found myself strike against the sandy beach. Overjoyed, as you may well suppose, to the highest pitch of transport at my providential deliverance, I made a convulsive spring, and ran up a little distance on the shore; but was so weak and worn down by fatigue, and so unable to clear my stomach of the salt water with which it was loaded, that I suddenly grew deadly sick, and apprehended that I had only exchanged one death for another; and in a minute or two fainted away.

LETTER XLVII.

THAT admirable man and sagacious penetrating philosopher, Dr. Franklin, has left us, among innumerable instructions for the conduct of human life, and for remedying many of the grievances of it, directions for going a voyage at sea, and has particularly enforced the folly of quitting ships hastily, and yielding one's self up to despair. I am convinced, that nine tenths of the people who perish by shipwreck, perish from the want of presence of mind, and sufficient fortitude to bear them out. The unhappy purser, who sat deliberately in a chair, and suffered himself, without a struggle, to be carried overboard, is an instance in point. The feeble conduct of the captain and crew is another. Had he, instead of tearing of his hair, raving, and acting the part of a bedlamite, encouraged his men, and taken vigorous measures in time; and had they, instead of whimpering prayers on their knees, and whipping their images, made all clear, and prepared for the worst; in short, had they according to the moral of the old fable, put their shoulders to the wheel, instead of calling on Hercules, it is not impossible but the vessel might have been saved.

As for my part, the joy of escaping immediate death made me blind to the other miseries of my situation. Naked, moneyless and friendless, upon an unknown, and probably inhospitable coast, what reasonable cause had I to rejoice? Perhaps the reverse. But that remains to be

seen.

How long I continued in the swoon into which I had fallen, it is impossible for me to tell; but when I recovered, I found myself surrounded by a guard of armed soldiers, sepoys, and pikemen, I knew them immediately to be the troops of Hyder Alli, and almost wished myself back into the waves again. Looking round, I saw that the people and effects that had been saved from the wreck were collected all together along with me.

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