20 A N .A C C O U N T O F
*®8S a u g u s t .
in cafe of need; arid as the;boats*'did not:return till tea
o’clock in the evening, it.fpread amongft their, companions
nauoh alarm for their fafety, as,the night cameipn with
.very heavy,-weather; nor indeed were- their- fpirits rendered
tranquil bytheirarrival,for theehiefmate andcrew,!wh©
returned with the pinnace, brought the melancholy -intelligence,
that they did not c^ceive, frcto:i;|^h^riS^s .of the
weather* that ;the thip could hold together till morning, as
Ihe was beginning to part, the bends, ov wales being flatted
out of their places. The ideas which-had been ,.fondly
nurfed, that when a calm fucceeded there .was a. poffibility
flie might be floated and repaired,.io.as to.return to/MAPAp,
or fome part of China, were by this account totally exti-m-
guiftiect, The prefpedt now darkened round them, fear
pictured ftrongly every danger, and hope could hardly .find
an inlet through which one ray of confolation might fhoots,
They knew nothing of the inhabitants pf that eopntry
where fate had thrown them; ignorant of then; manners
and difpofitions, as well as-of the hoftile feezes they might
have to encounter for their fafety; they found themfelyes,.
by this fudden accident, cut off at once from the reft of the
world, with little probability of their ever again getting
away. Each individual threw back his remembrance to
fome dear object that affedtion had .rivetted to his heart,
who might be in vain looking out anxioufly for the return,
of the father, the hufband, or the friend, whom there was
' fcarcely
T H E P E L E W I S L ANDS .
fcarcely diftant ehapee^pf, ttyew,<sev^ feeing any
more. Th|l|];Vi.'ec^io%(did;.pot contribute to make the
night corpfeftahlei. the weather was fajijaapre tempeftqpps-
than in ]the preceding! <u|e; but tile plqthesi ,t^hich the people"
ha^.;pjrpcured from tpe wreck j>rovetd<.^ g l^ t .comfort tp>
them all, wfho were thereby cnabledto. bavea change.
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C H A P T E R