them to have some regard to their own preservation.  All his efforts, however, were for some time in vain; but next day, the weather proving stormy, and there being great danger of the ship going to pieces, the refractory part of the crew began to be afraid of perishing, and were desirous of getting to land; and, in their madness, as the boat did not come to fetch them off so soon as they wished, they pointed a four-pounder from the quarter-deck, against the hut in which the captain resided on shore, and fired two shots, which passed just over its roof.

From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew, some idea may be formed of the disorder and anarchy which prevailed when they at length got all on shore.  For the men conceived that the authority of their officers was at an end, in consequence of the loss of the ship; and, as they were now upon an inhospitable coast, where scarcely any other provisions could be got beyond what could be saved from the wreck, this was another insurmountable source of discord:  for the working upon the wreck, and securing the provisions on shore, so that they might be preserved as much as possible for future exigencies, and that they might be sparingly and equally distributed for present subsistence, were matters, however important, that could not be brought about unless by means of discipline and subordination.  At the same time, the mutinous disposition of the people, stimulated by the immediate impulses of hunger, rendered every regulation attempted for these indispensable purposes, quite unavailing; so that there were continual frauds, concealments, and thefts, which animated every one against his neighbour, and produced infinite contentions and perpetual quarrels.  Hence a perverse and malevolent disposition was constantly kept up among them, which rendered them utterly ungovernable.

Besides these heart-burnings, occasioned by petulance and hunger, there was another important point which set the greatest part of the people at variance with the captain.  This was their difference in opinion from him, on the measures proper to be pursued on the present emergency; for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit out the boats in the best manner he could, and to proceed with them to the northward, as, having above two hundred men in health, and having saved some fire-arms and ammunition from the wreck, he had no doubt of being able to master any Spanish, vessel they might fall in with in these seas, and he thought that he could not fail of meeting with one in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when taken, he proposed to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandez.  He also insisted, should they even meet with no prize by the way, that the boats alone could easily carry them to Juan Fernandez.  But this scheme, however prudent and practicable, was by no means relished by the generality of the people; for, quite jaded and disgusted with the fatigues, dangers, and distresses they had already encountered,