crushed bodies almost drove us out of our minds, but other thousands
quickly filled their places, and the crustaceans continued to pour down
the hatches like black streams of evil-smelling water.

But this visitation, dreadful though it was, eventually proved our
salvation. The weed, now alive with marine life, lost its density, and
when, at length, the breeze came, we could feel we were making headway.
But had we not been able to force our passage into the open I verily
believe we would all have been devoured alive by black crabs, which
swarmed upon us. As it was, many of the men suffered severely from the
bites of these creatures, and weeks elapsed before the ship was clear
of them and the stench which they had brought aboard. But when the
breeze freshened from the right quarter, and we felt our vessel moving
toward the open sea, we were too thankful for our escape from a
horrible death to think of the lesser evils from which we suffered,
though the destruction of such a considerable quantity of our stores
was a serious loss, and set Hartog thinking as to whether our immediate
return to Amsterdam was not imperative.

"I had made up my mind for another year in these latitudes, Peter," he
said, "and I am loath to go back without setting foot upon the Island
of Gems, but man is but a straw in the hands of Destiny, and who am I
to set myself against the decrees of Fate?" So with mixed feelings of
disappointment and pleasure we once more found ourselves homeward
bound.

I had hoped that from this voyage I might return a rich man, able to
make honourable proposals to Count Holstein for his daughter's hand,
but it seemed now that fortune was not to be won so easily. My share of
the treasure found on Cortes' island might enrich me sufficiently to