Page:An account of a savage girl.djvu/58

30 to the surface of the water to gut and wash them, immediately afterwards eat them and then went in quest of more. It must therefore have been either in some river, or if in the sea, it could only be when the ship was at anchor in some port or road, that they fished in this manner: Of this I was persuaded by one of her adventures; for she told me, that having one day thrown herself into the water, not to fish, as it would seem, because she did not chuse to return again, but to make her escape, on account of some harsh usage, and having swam about a considerable time, she betook herself at last to a steep rock, on which she scrambled, as she says, like a cat; and having been pursued thither by a boat or canoe, she was retaken with much difficulty, being found concealed among some bushes. All this shows, that the ship was not far from land, though it is not unlikely that this escape may be the same with that mentioned above, of which M. de L was an eye-witness at Songi.

account of this flight, perhaps, or some other attempts of the same kind, the two little savages were confined to the hold of the ship; but this precaution had like to have proved fatal both to them and to the rest of the crew likewise. Perceiving themselves near the water, their favourite element, they formed a