As some doubts have existed in the minds of those interested in the fate of our shipmates who took to the boat in the manner just described, it is deemed advisable here to state my reasons for entertaining the opinion above expressed. Far would it be from me to desire to extinguish any well-founded hopes of their having survived; but a knowledge of the following facts renders it too certain, that they must all have perished, soon after their departure from the ship. The next morning the remains of a boat in every respect similar to that in which they embarked, were distinctly seen on the rocks, at the distance of about fifty yards from the ship, bottom up, and with her sides stove in. The water being clear and shallow, we could see that she was held there by a harpoon and lance, which constituted a part of the fishing implements, or crafts, in the boat when she left. These were apparently stuck into the crevices of the coral rock (of which the whole reef is composed) either by accident or design; and the presumption is, that she became fast in that place, and that the waves swept that portion of our companions in suffering into a watery grave. But this, though a melancholy subject of reflection, is not without some circumstances of consolation; for, admitting that they thus met their fate, they were saved from that extremity of suffering which some of the ship's crew were destined to experience. Were such a death, or the pains of captivity endured by my associates and myself, to be the only alternatives, I have doubted whether I should not prefer the former. To be far from kindred and friends, among a people but one grade above the most ferocious beasts, sick at heart, and deprived of necessary food, stripped of our clothing, and subjected to unheard-of severities,--to endure all this, was to purchase a continuance of life at a dear rate.