My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 153the hold, which extended halfway under the fore partof the cabin. Attempts were then made to breakdown this bulkhead, but it resisted all efforts, thesmoke being so suffocating as to prevent any onestopping in it more than a minute at a time. A holewas then cut in the cabin floor, and while the carpenterwas doing this, the rest of the crew were employedgetting out the boats, the captain looked after hischronometer, sextant, books, charts and compasses,and I got up a small tin box containing a few shirts,and put in it my drawings of fishes and palms, whichwere luckily at hand ;also my watch and a pursewith a few sovereigns. Most of my clothes werescattered about the cabin, and in the dense suffocatingsmoke it was impossible to look about after them.There were two boats, the long-boat and the captain'sgig, and it took a good deal of time to get the merestnecessaries collected and put into them, and to lowerthem into the water. Two casks of biscuit and a caskof water were got in, a lot of raw pork and some ham,a few tins of preserved meats and vegetables, andsome wine. Then there were corks to stop the holesin the boats, oars, masts, sails, and rudders to belooked up, spare spars, cordage, twine, canvas, needles,carpenter's tools, nails, etc. The crew brought uptheir bags of clothes, and all were bundled indiscriminatelyinto the boats, which, having been so longin the sun, were very leaky, and soon became halffull of water, so that two men in each of them hadto be constantly baling out the water with buckets.Blankets, rugs, pillows, and clothes were all soaked,and the boats seemed overloaded, though there wasreally very little weight in them. All being nowprepared, the crew were again employed pouringwater in the cabin and hatchway.