RENEWAL OF THE STORM.

Just as the last man had failed, the wind, which had hitherto been from the south-east, shifted instantaneously to the north-west.  We all quailed or fell before it, for it came with sudden and indescribable violence; the boat appeared to hesitate for one moment, in the next she came dancing wildly in on the shore.  The men reached her as well as they could and we dragged her up.  The storm now became so violent that even Mr. Walker, who was a heavy man, was blown about by it like a child; there was not a tree on the island, but the bushes were stripped from the ground, and I found it impossible to keep my legs.

The sea all this time kept rising, being heaped up by the wind against the shore, but whenever a momentary lull came we took advantage of it to drag the boat a little further up; indeed the sea gained on us so much that I had made up my mind it would sweep away the intervening sandhills and once more wash the face of the cliffs.  In this case we should to a certainty have all perished.

DISTRESS FOR WATER.

At two P.M. the storm lulled considerably, and I immediately despatched men in all directions to collect water from holes in the rocks, and made the native and an old bushman try to light a fire; for those of us who had been all the night and morning in the pelting rain, with nothing but our shirts on, were benumbed and miserable from cold.

March 1.

The men who had gone out for water soon returned and reported that they had been able to find very little which was not brackish from the spray having dashed over the island; I therefore again reduced the allowance to one pint a day and proceeded to inspect damages.  Yesterday we had started in good boats, with strong men, plenty of provisions, everything in the best order; today I found myself in a very different position, all the stores we had with us, with the exception of the salt provisions, were spoilt; our ammunition damaged; the chronometers down; and both boats so stoved and strained as to be quite beyond our powers of repairing them effectually.  Moreover from want of water we were compelled to make for the main before we could return back to Bernier Island to recruit from our ample stores there.

REPAIR OF THE BOATS.

Nothing however could be done but to have the boats rendered as seaworthy as possible and, having given this order, the want the men experienced for water was the best guarantee that they would execute this task with the utmost diligence.  As soon as I saw them at their work I started with a party in search of water whilst another party under Mr. Smith dug for it; and Mr. Walker superintended the rearrangement of the stores and the digging up the seaweed for the purpose of recovering lost articles.  I returned just before nightfall from a vain search; Mr. Smith had been equally unsuccessful in his digging operations, and we thus had to lie down upon the sand parched with thirst, our only chance of forgetting our misfortunes being a few minutes sleep.