Year: 1868

irons that SO firmly restrained hi


seizing the food which lay everywhel


around, and the clear, cold, col


water that stood SO near. and whit


together were his very life.


Think of that starving man sittir
; watching the rats at his feet gorgir


themselves on the food he was dyir
for want of, with the SUMS ray


streaming through the skylight upo


the decanter of ruby wine, maxim


liquid-looking purple lights dane


upon the table before him, as if |


mockery of his fearful thirst! Thin


of him dying with drought with h


longing upturned eyes eagerly fixe


on delicious sparkling water tn.


hung within a few feet Of those parcl


ed lips. Think of his last dyin


moments disturbed by the incessar


rafting and rolling of those cani.


ters Of food, touching him even q


they rolled backward and forwar


across the floor of the cabin wit


every motion OF the vessel. Thi1l


in short, Of the agony of man dyin


for the want of that which is at hi


feet. Those who have never know


real hunger or thirst, cannot conceiv


the suffsrings of that man thus starv
ing in the midst of plenty.


There were omnious sounds o


bursting Of pent-up air in the hold
of the vessel, which confirmed my
suspicious that the wreck could moi
float many minutes longer, so I hast
ened on deck. l hailed the cutter
which was lying Off at a little dis
tancs, to come alongside, and / hat
hardly done speaking when the bari
suddenly lurched over and fell or
her broad-side. This rendered il
impossible for the boat to come along
side, and while she was pulling round
to the stern, from whence l could
have dropped into her, 1 felt the
wrecked vessel stagger two or three
times there came the usual rush OF
wind bursting up the hatchways,
then, with a mighty plunge, she sank
to rise no more, and l found myself
struggling for life in the Kissing sea.
For an instant l battled with the
fierce waves that dashed in my face,
at the same time binding and chok-
ing me and then the whirlpool,
caused by the ships sudden submer-
sion, drew me with overwhelming
strengt into its angry, roaring vor-
tex.


As the world of waters closed over
my head, / felt sucked down and
down by this irresistible force. 1t
was an awfal moment. My brain
was in whirl, caused by the fright
full rapidity with which had revolv-
ed while being dragged down by this
eddy. I was painfully aware
of an overwhelming pressure that
exerted itself on all parts of my
body, but principally upon my eyes,
seeming to press them into my head,
As with the strong fingers of a giant.
In my ears there was q deafening
roar, like the lower notes of stipend
ous organs. 1 well remember, too,
3 strangely horrible feeling Of hav-
ing lost my way, for 1 could not by
any means tell which was up or down
Or sideways.


This crushed any little hope that
had, and was conscious of yet hav-
ing the power to swim, could but
be sure that wasswimming upwards,
and not wasting my little strength in
any other direction. Ideas like
these, though taking long to write,
flashed across my mind by hundreds
in O second. In such moments the
brain seems capable of marvellous
Iy vivid intensity Of action that it at
no other time possesses.


With difficulty / opened my eyes,
with the brine, but all was
Of uniform dark gray green, and
the pain made me quickly close
them again. AS the lungs filled
with water, and sufficatiOn superven-
ed, the sensation was horrible in the
extreme. Inever thought it would
be such an agony to die. The COM
mon belief that 20 drown is an easy
death, hold to be one of the great
est possible fallacies.


The climax Of pain at length reach.
I'D, and then / became insensible to
it, and felt only o vague sensation
Of re- enacting sceres in my past life,
MANY of which until then l had utter
" forgotten. On came these silent
phantoms of the past, without, /
.hink, any particular order, but with
hat intense distinctness of vivid
dream. Gradually it became lighter
and lighter, until there was q perfect
blaze Of white light; but this as grad
1ally died away again, and the cur
rent of my vision, which had been
broken, WAS resumed,
though now dimly.


There was throughout nothing
,pectre-like or appalling in the ap-
partitions these were simply friends,
20 whom 1 had no power to speak,
nor they to me. By degrees they
we're beginning to get fainter and
fainter and more confused, when the
light became brighter and brighter
and there came q blaze as before. 1t
was just again waning, when, for an
l felt a sharp pain in the
head, and the glaring light returned,
driving away all my ghostly friends.
and leaving in their stead nothing but
4 white blank. Then followed the
excruc,ating bodily sense Of bursting
and I knew nothing more, until two
days afterwards found myself very
weak and i'll, swinging in my cot on
board the Nonpariel.


1t seems that wher I disappeared
With the wreck, the boat, as soon Us
the dangerous whirlpool had subsid-
ed, continued to pull back over the
spot waiting for me 10 rise. They
had almost given me up for lost, when
ut length / rose to the surface, and
sank again before they were able to
reach me. The next time, fortu-
nately, they were more successful, for
then thew caught me by the hair iust