Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/481

] the night on shore, without any other provisions than a few biscuits. Urged by thirst, they scrambled in a very dark night, above 1,000 toises, over rocks, in order to procure water, and, to add to their misfortune, they found it brackish.

Enormous sharks, of the most common species, the squalus carcharias, frequently appeared in the basin where we lay at anchor. On board the Esperance, they caught one which was about thirteen feet in length, and of more than proportionable bulk.

As every circumstance convinced us of the impossibility of renewing our stock of water, the officer second in command ordered, that each person should be allowed only three quarters of a bottle daily. At the same time he, as well as the Commander in Chief, used it without restriction. I thought, however, that water was one of those articles, the enjoyment or privation of which ought to have been extended to all, without distinction.

15th. The geographical engineer of the Recherche, set out at day-break, in the barge, to survey the little group of islands, to examine whether there was any passage to the eastward, between the rocks, and to look out for a proper watering place. I ardently wished to have joined this expedition; but as geographical operations have