UNDERTAKEN BY ORDER OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT,           COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT                  OF THE          Shipwreck of the Medusa,        THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW, AND THE VARIOUS OCCURRENCES ON BOARD THE RAFT,     IN THE DESERT OF ZAARA, AT ST. LOUIS,         AND AT THE CAMP OF DACCARD.           TO WHICH ARE SUBJOINED    OBSERVATIONS RESPECTING THE AGRICULTURE                  OF THE          WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA,  FROM CAPE BLANCO TO THE MOUTH OF THE GAMBIA.                    BY   

At the moment that we publish a Second Edition of our Narrative, we learn that Mr. Sevigny [A] is going to publish a pretended Account, by Mr. Richefort, an auxiliary Ex-Officer of the French Marine. Our readers will not have forgotten a certain pretended sea-officer who was partly the cause of our misfortunes, and who, when on board the Medusa, gave such unhappy advice to the captain, who still more unhappily, followed it too closely; well; this ex-officer , this fatal auxiliary , who conducted

The annals of the marine, record no example of a shipwreck so terrible as that of the Medusa frigate. Two of the unfortunate crew, who have miraculously escaped from the catastrophe, impose upon themselves the painful and delicate task, of describing all the circumstances which attended it. It was in the midst of the most cruel sufferings that we took the solemn resolution, to make known, to the civilized world, all the details of our unhappy adventure, if heaven permitted us again to see our de

The French settlements, situated on the western coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to the mouth of the river Gambia, have been alternately possessed by France and England, and have remained definitively in the hands of the French, whose ancestors laid the foundations of them previously to the fourteenth century, when they discovered this country. The English made themselves masters in 1758 of the Isle of St Louis, the seat of the general government of all the settlements which the French have on

The following Notes were communicated to the Authors, when the second edition was already so far advanced, as to render it impracticable to incorporate them with the body of the work, and they are therefore placed at the end. Some of them are extracted from the Journal of Mr. Bredif, who belonged to the expedition, and were communicated by his uncle, Mr. Landry; the others are by an officer of merit, whose modesty prevents the publication of his name. The Translator has thought it would be more

[A1] I.— On the Route to Africa . In going from Europe to the western coasts of Africa, situated to the north of the line, it is better still, to pass between the Azores and Madeira, and not to come within sight of the coast, till you have nearly reached the latitude of the point where you desire to land. Nothing but the necessity of procuring refreshments can authorise vessels, bound to the Cape of Good Hope, or to the south of America, to touch at the Canaries, or at the Cape Verd Islands. Not