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(illegible text)me near me, I grasped it ineffectually, till at (illegible text) it was completely carried away, but not before (illegible text)d cut and battered and bruised me in several (illegible text)es, and in a manner that at any other time I (illegible text)ld have thought dreadful.
Death seemed inevitable; and all that occured to me now to do, was to accelerate it, and get (illegible text) of its pangs as speedily as possible; for, though (illegible text)ew how to swim; the tremendous surf rendered swimming useless, and all hope from it would have (illegible text) ridiculous. I therefore began to swallow as much water as possible; yet, still rising by the (illegible text)ant principle of the waves to the surface, my, (illegible text)er thoughts began to recur; and whether it (illegible text) that, of natural instinct, which survived the temporary impressions of despair, I know not; but endeavoured to swim, which I had not done long, (illegible text)n I again-discovered the log of wood I had lost (illegible text)ting near me, and with some difficulty caught (illegible text) hardly had it been an instant in my hands, (illegible text)n, by the same unlucky means I lost it again, I (illegible text) often heard it said in Scotland, that if a man throw himself flat on his back in the water, quite straight and stiff, and suffer himself to sink (illegible text) the water gets into his ears, he will continue to (illegible text)t so for ever: this occurred to me now, and I de(illegible text)termined to try the experiment; so I threw myself (illegible text) my back in the manner I have described, and (illegible text) myself to the disposal of Providence; nor was it (illegible text)g before I found the truth of the saying -for I (illegible text)ted with hardly an effort, and began for the first (illegible text)e to conceive something like hopes of preservation,
After lying in this manner, committed to the (illegible text)retion of the tides, I soon saw the vessel (illegible text) it was a considerable distance behind (illegible text) earliest hope began to play about my heart, and fluttered with a thousand gay fancies in my (illegible text)d: I began to form the favourable conclusion,
