That common people in general are addicted to superstitious conceits, is an observation founded on experience; and the reason is evident: but I cannot allow that common seamen are more so than others of the lower class. In the most enlightened ages of antiquity, we find it to have been the popular opinion, that the spirits of the dead were not at rest till their bodies were interred; and that they did not cease to haunt and trouble those who had neglected this duty to the departed. This is still believed by the vulgar, in most countries; and in our men, this persuasion was much heightened by the melancholy condition they were reduced to; and was farther confirmed by an occurrence which happened some little time before we went upon our last expedition. One night we were alarmed with a strange cry, which resembled that of a man drowning. Many of us ran out of our huts towards the place from whence the noise proceeded, which was not far off shore; where we could perceive, but not distinctly (for it was then moonlight), an appearance like that of a man swimming half out of water. The noise that this creature uttered was so unlike that of any animal they had heard before, that it made a great impression upon the men; and they frequently recalled this apparition at the time of their distresses, with reflections on the neglect of the office they were now fulfilling. We were soon driven again to the greatest straits for want of something to subsist upon, by the extreme bad weather that now set in upon us. Wild celery was all we could procure, which raked our stomachs instead of assuaging our hunger. That dreadful and last resource of men, in not much worse circumstances than ours, of consigning one man to death for the support of the rest, began to be mentioned in whispers; and indeed there were some among us who, by eating what they found raw, were become little better than cannibals. But fortunately for us, and opportunely to prevent this horrid proceeding, Mr. Hamilton, at this time, found some rotten pieces of beef, cast up by the sea at some miles distance from the huts, which he, though a temptation which few would have resisted in parallel circumstances, scorned to conceal from the rest; but generously distributed among us.