they had been exposed for nearly three months to the horrors of a
situation almost unparalleled in the recorded sufferings of seafaring
men.

After being hospitably treated by Glass and his company for three
months, the survivors obtained a passage to the Cape, all except a young
sailor named White, who had formed an attachment to one of the servant
girls on board, and who, in all the miseries which had been endured, had
been her constant protector and companion; whilst gratitude on her part
prevented her wishing to leave him. Both chose to remain, and were
forthwith adopted as free citizens of the little community.




SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA.


On the 17th of June, 1816, the Medusa, French frigate, commanded by
Captain Chaumareys, and accompanied by three smaller vessels, sailed
from the island of Aix, for the coast of Africa, in order to take
possession of some colonies. The first accident she encountered was off
Cape Finisterre, when one of the crew fell into the sea; and from the
apathy of his companions, their want of promptitude in manoeuvring, with
the want of every precaution, he was left to perish. On the tenth day of
sailing, there appeared an error of thirty leagues in the reckoning. On
the 1st of July, they entered the tropics; and there, with a childish
disregard to danger, and knowing that she was surrounded by all the
unseen perils of the ocean, her crew performed the ceremony usual to the
occasion, while the vessel was running headlong on destruction. The