28 so miserable as I ; I have seen death very near me many times without fear. Death would be the end of misfortunes. But dying on that rock, six thousand miles from my country, with out a friend to close my eyelids ! D y i n g banished, disdained, calumniated, and aftewards to be food for shark; dying as forty-two died, the other day, and were thrown into the water ! What a strange fate is ours ! W h e n alive, they refuse us a stone for our pillow ; when dead, they refuse us six feet of ground for our tomb. D y i n g without a tomb, where a friendly hand might, every Spring, deposit a fresh flower, where a blue e y e might spare a tear ! N o , no, that would be too horrid ! N o , no, I cannot die here—I am not willing to d i e — I shall not die. " I must escape, then. Yes, I must escape; but I am unlucky in my attempts; I tried many times in France, many times in the three provinces of Northern Africa, many times in the islets of Southern America, and I never was for tunate enough to succeed. What matters it ? I must escape, and I shall escape. " S E P T E M B E R 1st,
1850.
" W e have resolved amongst us to make rafts for our escape. A t first the enterprise seemed to be almost impossible, but it is become easier. They intend to favor our island with gen darmes once m o r e ; but our poor looking cottages are not handsome enough for those lords, and they require us to erect a palace for their dwelling. W e affect to accept, and they will send us materials for that purpose; and among these materials will find something fit to make rafts with. Our enemies are blind or insane ; they believe we have forgotten their cruelties and our sufferings. W e will escape—we will escape ! " S E P T E M B E R 6th,
1856.
" They sent us two days ago, some long pieces of wood. W e have now sufficient materials to construct two rafts, from twenty to twenty-five feet in length. The wood is very heavy and could not float, but we have a large quantity of maize quite r i p e ; with the stalks of these plants we have made bundles and tried them on the sea; a bundle of thirty sticks can bear a man. W e will put on each raft a sufficient number of bundles to bear men, provisions, luggage and wood, and everything will be right. " Our materials are all ready, though remaining yet in their respective places ; in a feAV hours, all hands working, Ave can make the rafts. W e have no sails, but our shirts being sewn together will give us some; Ave have no ropes, but Ave can make some of the fibrous bark of the palm tree. W e should be able to run away to-night if these preliminary things were