Tuesday, 29th.—­Part of us recommenced labor on the boat, while myself and Mr. Bracket went and selected the highest clear spot of sand on the northern side of the island, where we dug Warren’s grave, and boxed it up with shooks, thinking it would be the most suitable spot for the rest of us—­whose turn would come next, we knew not.  At about ten o’clock, A.M. conveyed the corpse to the grave, followed by us survivers—­a scene, whose awful solemnity can never be painted.  We stood around the grave, and there I read the funeral prayer from the Rev. Mr. Brooks’s Family Prayer Book; and committed the body to the earth; covered it with some pieces of board and sand, and returned to our labor.  One of the Spaniards, an old man, named Manuel, who was partial to me, and I to him, made a cross and placed it at the head of the grave saying, “Jesus Christ hath him now.”  Although I did not believe in any mysterious influence of this cross, yet I was perfectly willing it should stand there.  The middle part of the day being very warm, our mouths parched with thirst, and our spirits so depressed, that we made but little progress during the remainder of this day, but in the evening were employed in picking oakum out of the bolt rope taken from the old sail.

Wednesday, 30th.—­Returned to labor on the boat with as much vigor as our weak and debilitated state would admit, but it was a day of trial to us all; for the Spaniards and we Americans could not well understand each other’s plans, and they being naturally petulant, would not work, nor listen with any patience for Joseph, our English fellow prisoner, to explain our views—­they would sometimes undo what they had done, and in a few minutes replace it again; however before night we began to caulk her seams, by means of pieces of hard mangrove, made in form of a caulking-iron, and had the satisfaction of seeing her in a form something like a boat.

Thursday, 31st.—­Went on with the work, some at caulking, others at battening the seams with strips of canvas, and pieces of pine nailed over, to keep the oakum in.  Having found a suitable pole for a mast, the rest went about making a sail from the one we had used for a covering, also fitting oars of short pieces of boards, in form of a paddle, tied on a pole, we having a piece of fishing line brought by one of the prisoners.  Thus, at three P.M. the boat was completed and put afloat.—­We had all this time confidently hoped, that she would be sufficiently large and strong to carry us all—­we made a trial and were disappointed!  This was indeed a severe trial, and the emotions it called up were not easy to be suppressed.  She proved leaky, for we had no carpenter’s yard, or smith’s shop to go to.—­And now the question was, “who should go, and how many?” I found it necessary for six; four to row, one to steer and one to bale.  Three of the Spaniards and the Frenchman claimed the right, as being best acquainted with the nearest inhabitants; likewise, they had when taken,