[51] This remark on the conduct of one of our companions whom we had known, under more favourable circumstances, had cost us some pain in the first edition:  therefore, we did not expressly name the person meant.  When we now name Mr. Griffon, we conceive ourselves to be fulfilling a duty, which his present sentiments impose on us.

A man of honor, especially, when in the state of weakness, and of mental and bodily infirmity to which we were reduced, might be misled for a moment; but when he repairs this involuntary error, with the generosity which dictated the following letter, we repeat it, there is no longer any crime in having thus erred, and it is justice, and a very pleasing duty for us to do homage to the frankness, to the loyalty of Mr. Griffon, and to congratulate ourselves, on having found again the heart of the companion of our misfortunes, such as we had known him, and with all his rights to our esteem.

The following is the letter which he has just written to Mr. Savigny, and which is a highly valuable proof of the truth of our accounts.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Griffon to Mr. Savigny.

At present, Sir, I owe you a testimony of gratitude for your attention in anticipating me.  I know, that in your eyes I could not merit so much generosity from you:  it is noble to forget the ills that have been done us, and to do good to those who have sought to injure us:  your conduct towards me is admirable; I confess, that, though my reclamations were just at the first, I have suffered myself to be carried too far by the first impulse of a weak and exalted imagination, which led me to decry my unhappy companion in misfortune, because I fancied, that the account which he had drawn up of our misfortunes might render us odious to all our relations and friends.[52] Such are the reasons which I alledged to you at Rochefort, and you must then have perceived, that I spoke to you with frankness, since I concealed nothing from you.  I am not at present without repentance, for not having waited for better information, before I acted against one, whose firmness did not a little contribute to save our lives.

Bourgneuf, January 7, 1818.  GRIFFON DUBELLAY.

[52] The same means were employed with Mr. Correard.

[53] I, the undersigned chief of the workmen under the command of Mr. Correard, engineer, geographer, one of the members of the commission appointed by his excellency the minister of the marine and the colonies, to examine Cape Verd and its environs, certify that, in the month of November, 1816, a memorial was presented me to sign, by order of the governor of Senegal; that, at this time, living in the hospital in the island of Goree, to be cured of an epidemic fever, which then raged on Cape Verd; it occasioned temporary fits of delirium; that consequently, this weakening of my moral faculties, and even the state of mental derangement, in which I was caused to sign this piece without reading