sides having a little biscuit daily, we had either a bit of cheese, or a morsel of salt beef; and although we had to eat the latter raw, it did not prove unpalatable, when we reflected on the horrible means, to which others, similarly circumstanced, had been compelled to resort,—the dread of which being constantly in our minds, made us exceedingly frugal; so that, on our arrival, we had sufficient provisions to support life for nearly a month longer.
We had, as before mentioned, a little brandy in the boat, which, being issued daily after dinner, in the proportion of one third of a wine-glassful to each individual, lasted till the day before we made the land, and, small as the quantity was, it added comfort to our scanty fare. From our having pumped off a cask of water to lighten the boat, before receiving the jolly-boat's crew on board, it behoved us to be, and we were, exceedingly cautious in the expenditure of this important article; but the rain generally affording a supply, we suffered little or no inconvenience from thirst.
Perhaps it may not be out of place now to mention, that the ship was wrecked on a very small patch of coral, detached, and lying about two cables' length to the south-west of a reef whose position is accurately laid down, by Captain Flinders, in south latitude 10° 2', and east longitude 143° 21'.
It is a very common, but highly reprehensible practice, when a ship is lost on a reef or sand-bank, to account for the accident by affirming, either that the
