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horror I was in could not prevent me from obſerving a very curious circumſtance, which at any ⟨other⟩ time would have excited laughter, though now ⟨it⟩ produced no other emotion than ſurpriſe. We happened to be in part laden with mangoes, of ⟨which⟩ the iſland of Goa is known to produce the finest ⟨in⟩ the world, ſome of them lay in baſkets on the po(illegible text), a little black boy in the moment of greateſt danger, had got ſeated by them, devouring them voraciouſly, and crying all the time moſt bitterly at ⟨the⟩ horrors of his ſituation!
"The veſſel now got completely water-logged and Mr. Hal and I were employed in forming conjectural calculations how many minutes ſhe ⟨could⟩ keep above water, and conſoling one another on ⟨the⟩ unfortunate circumſtances under which we met, lamenting that fate had thus brought us ⟨acquainted⟩ only to make us witneſſes of each other's ⟨miſery⟩ and then to ſee one another no more.
"As the larboard ſide of the veſſel was ⟨gradually⟩ going down, the deck, and of courſe the capſtern became too nearly perpendicular for us to continue on it: we therefore forſaw the neceſſity of quitting it, and got upon the ſtarboard ſide, holding faſt ⟨to⟩ the gunnel, and allowing our bodies and legs ⟨to⟩ yield to the ſea as it broke over us. Thus we continued for ſome time: at length the ſeverity of the labour ſo entirely exhauſted our ſtrength and ſpirit that our beſt hope ſeemed to be a ſpeedy concluſion to our painful death; and we began to have ſerious intentions of leting go our hold, and yielding ourſelves up at once to the fury of the waves.
"The veſſel, which all this time drifted with the ſea and wind, gradually approximated the ſhore and at length ſtruck the ground, which for an inſtant revived our almoſt departed hopes; but we ſoon found that it did not in the ſmallest degree
