We will now proceed to describe the motions and fate of the other vessels.  At noon, after having proceeded some miles, the long-boat saw the other vessels, and endeavoured to fall in with them; but every one distrusted the other:  the long-boat did its utmost to rally them; but they employed all the means they could to avoid the meeting; even the officers assisted in working them, because some persons had asserted that the crew of the long-boat had mutinied, and had even threatened to fire on the other boats.[33] The long-boat, on the other hand, which had just landed a part of its people, advanced to inform the other boats that it was able to relieve them, in case they were too much loaded.  The captain’s boat and the pirogue, were the only ones that came within hail:  at five o’clock in the afternoon the sea became hollow, and the wind very high, when the pirogue, unable to hold out against it, asked the assistance of the long-boat, which tacked and took on board the fifteen persons which that frail boat contained.  At two o’clock in the afternoon, of the 8th,[B8] the men, tormented by a burning thirst, and a violent hunger which they could not appease, obliged the officer, by their reiterated importunities, to make the land, which was done the same evening.  His intention was to proceed to Senegal:  he would doubtless have succeeded; but the cries of the soldiers and sailors, who murmured loudly, induced the measure that was taken, and the crew landed about forty leagues from the Island of St. Louis.  The great-boat, which had approached very near the coast, and had not been able to resist the violence of the weather, being besides, destitute of provisions, had also been obliged to make the land on the 8th:  the first, at five in the afternoon; the second, at eleven in the morning.[B9] The officers joined their crews, ranged them in order, and proceeded towards Senegal; but they were in distress, destitute of resources of every kind:  without a guide, on a coast inhabited by barbarians:  hunger and thirst cruelly tormented them; the beams of a scorching sun, reflected from the immense sandy plains, aggravated their sufferings.  In the day, oppressed by excessive heat, they could scarcely move a step:  it was only in the cool of the morning and the evening, that they could pursue their painful march.  Having, after infinite pains, crossed the downs, they met with vast plains, where they had the good fortune to find water, by digging holes in the sand:  this refreshing beverage gave them fresh life and hope.

This manner of procuring water is mentioned by many travellers, and practised in various countries.  All along the coasts of Senegambia, and for some distance in land, they find, by digging in the sand to the depth of five or six feet, a white and brackish water, which is exclusively used in these countries, both for the ordinary beverage and domestic purposes; the water of the Senegal, may, however, be used at St. Louis at the time of the rise or inundation.