down to the most comfortable repast I ever enjoyed. We were thankful to the Author of all bounty; which sense of gratitude to him is not the least of his best gifts.

During my absence at the fire, Eliza had not neglected to dispense some of the water I had reserved, amongst our thirsty ducks and fowls; the former of which were in great want of it; and as she had discovered the bread-locker, nearly half full of biscuit, and a bag in it, with Indian corn, that had been brought on board to feed the poultry with, she gave the poor things a good meal. Those which had been drowned, were now becoming putrid; so that I thought it best to throw them overboard, and I did so. This was a foolish act, for it drew some sharks into the creek next day: they soon devoured the dead poultry, but continued to haunt us for a good while, to our terror, as by some accident we might possibly fall between the vessel's side and the rocks, some time or other in passing; and then their jaws would speedily become our

executioners.

We sat below for a few hours, in the heat of the day, and took a survey of our situation: the discussion was too various to admit of being noted down here, but I proceeded to act upon the decisions we made. It appeared to me, that, as the vessel had taken the ground fore and aft where she lay, there was no hazard of her sinking from any leak in the bottom; but, nevertheless, if the water were not pumped out, it would continue to rise within her to the level of the sea, and thereby spoil much of the cargo; to which we looked in a great degree

for our future subsistence and comfort. I therefore fell to in the evening, and pumped for an hour; of which there was much need, for the water came up as fast as the pump would go. I resolved to pursue this every day, but instead of doing it in the evening, to make it my first occupation at break of day, when I was fresh, and the air cool. While I worked at the pump, my wife drew forth part of the fruits and vegetables from the steerage, and dried and aired them on the quarter-deck. I thought the empty coop a good place to put them in, and she arranged them there. The goats took care of themselves, as she was thus employed; even limpy had not lost her appetite, from the fracture. One of the water-melons, that had been bruised, was set aside for our refreshment, which we found cool and pleasant; but we only indulged in part of it, and, collecting the seeds with much care, reserved the remainder of its fruit for to-morrow. Not being accustomed to labour, we were sufficiently fatigued to remain quietly on deck until it was time to go to rest. The eventide is delightful in tropical climates: we sat on one of the hen-coops, until the stars appeared, enjoying the cool stillness of the air, and the varied prospect that surrounded us: we then retired to our devotions and to bed.

I arose with the dawn, and performed my task at the pump. I would gladly have bathed in the sea after it, to refresh myself; but I saw a couple of sharks, and I thought no more of the wished-for luxury. My kind helpmate did not slumber in bed after I arose, but got up, and, searching all the lockers, found where the saucepans were kept, and

many other things, as the salt, pepper, butter, &c., &c., which had been placed there for present use. She also discovered the harness cask, with the salt beef and pork in it, for the ship's company: it had been hid from me in the steerage passage by the ship's awning, that was thrown over it. I now took the tea-kettle, also a large tin cooking vessel with an arched handle, and, accompanied by my two faithful companions, not forgetting a musket, marched to the fountain and brought back a supply of water.

We soon got a tea breakfast, so congenial to our former habits.

It had been determined that one of our first objects should be to get some of the seeds of our fruits, and some of the roots, as our yams and coccos, into the ground, the late rains having rendered the soil favourable for their reception; but the spades, and shovels, and hoes were all among the cargo; and how to approach them I could not devise, with nothing but my own strength: to move the bulky casks, and other things, that filled the hold of the brig, were an herculean task: they had been shipped in England, and were therefore under what was taken in at Jamaica; but, being articles likely to suffer by pressure, on account of their shafts, I concluded they must be immediately below the lumber : however, there was nothing for it but to go to work with perseverance and a good will; so, after breakfast, I opened the main hatchway, and saw the boards and shingles stowed close up to the deck. I pulled out a great quantity of the shingles, throwing them on deck, and then got hold of some of the long planks, four of which I succceded to hoist on

deck. I placed these planks over the starboard gunwale of the brig; one end of each resting there, the other on the sandy beach, which was close to her side along these planks I slid all the boards down upon the beach as fast as I could get them up; and at intervals amused myself by throwing the shingles (small pieces of wood used in the West Indies instead of slates) as far as I could, beyond the boards let down by the slope. I worked hard till twelve o'clock, and was heartily tired.

My wife had kept up the fire on the rocks on the other side, and had made free with a shingle or two to help it she had put some coccos on to boil, and a couple of plantains to roast, and so far had endeavoured to provide a dinner for us. I was pleased with her care and industry; " but we will eat the iguana, dear," said I; "it is very good."-" I do not think I could taste it," she replied; it looks so hideous; yet, if you eat of it, I will certainly try to do so." I soon prepared the animal, which was not much bigger than a rabbit, and, getting a saucepan out of the locker, cut the creature in pieces, and, mixing a little pepper, salt, butter, and flour into small balls, stewed it excellently. We sat down to our iguana and vegetables; and she, as well as myself, admired my unexpected talent at cookery, while we found the dish even exquisite. After our repast we retired below for a few hours; and, in talking over matters, I lamented not knowing where the water-casks had been deposited. My wife thought they must be in the hold, if there were any; and asked me if I did not recollect that a large one, filled with water, had stood on the deck, and which, no doubt,

had been washed overboard in the hurricane; but probably, though the voyage was expected to be short, and many might not have been brought, yet some must be discovered after a search. I hoped so; for the fact is, I was desirous of putting my hand on water on board for our culinary purposes, without going for it across the isthmus, having so much other labour before me. In the afternoon I went down into the hold; and, having cleared away a considerable quantity of the lumber, I was enabled to discover what I wanted, and got at the watercasks; which, as Eliza suggested, were few, only two in number. I forced the bung out of one of them, and contrived to get the hand-pump into it; a great point gained, under our present circumstances. I pumped a bucket full of the water, and, bringing it up, poured some out for the poultry. As they hurried to drink, I was glad to observe on reconnoitring them attentively, that they were rightly assorted, — one gallant cock, poor fellow, now but in shabby attire, with three hens, looking little better. There were also two or three drakes among the ducks; and I was pleased in having thus assured myself of a prospect of their multiplication when we could trust them on shore to enjoy their liberty. We regaled ourselves at even with the remainder of the water-melon; and, as we had not yet entered upon a rigid economy of our delicacies, we boiled our kettle, and finished the day with tea.

Our rest this night was sound and refreshing; the noises of the storm had died away upon our ears; we had purchased sleep by the laborious ex