The country hereabouts wears the most uncouth, desolate, and rugged aspect imaginable; it is so circumstanced as to discourage the most sanguine adventurers from attempts to settle in it:  Were it for no other reason than the constant heavy rains, or rather torrents, which pour down here, and the vast sea and surf which the prevailing westerly winds impel upon this coast, it must be rendered inhospitable.  All entrance into the woods is not only extremely difficult, but hazardous, not from any assaults you are likely to meet with from wild beasts, for even these could hardly find convenient harbour here, but from the deep swamp, which is the reigning soil of this country, and in which the woods may be said rather to float than grow; so that, except upon a range of deformed broken rocks which form the sea-coast, the traveller cannot find sound footing any where.  With this unpromising scene before us we were now setting out in search of food, which nothing but the most pressing instances of hunger could induce us to do:  We had, indeed, the young Indian servant to our cacique for our conductor, who was left by him to show us where the shell-fish was most plenty.  The cacique was gone with the rest of his family in the canoe, with a view of getting some seal, upon a trip which would detain him from us three or four days.

After searching the coast some time with very little success, we began to think of returning to the barge; but six of the men, with the Indian, having advanced some few paces before the officers, got into the boat first, which they had no sooner done than they put off and left us, to return no more.  And now all the difficulties we had hitherto endured seemed light in comparison of what we expected to suffer from this treachery of our men, who, with the boat, had taken away every thing that might be the means of preserving our lives.  The little clothes we had saved from the wreck, our muskets and ammunition, were gone, except a little powder, which must be preserved for kindling fires, and one gun which I had, and was now become useless for want of ammunition; and all these wants were now come upon us at a time when we could not be worse situated for supplying them.  Yet under these dismal and forlorn appearances was our delivery now preparing; and from these hopeless circumstances were we to draw hereafter an instance scarce to be paralleled, of the unsearchable ways of Providence.

It was at that time little suspected by us, that the barge, in which we founded all our hopes of escaping from this savage coast, would certainly have proved the fatal cause of detaining us till we were consumed by the labour and hardships requisite to row her round the capes and great headlands; for it was impossible to carry her by land as we did the boats of the Indians.  At present, no condition could be worse than we thought ours to be:  There ran at this time a very high sea, which breaking with great fury upon this coast,