All the particulars of the wreck of this ill-fated vessel have been
given in the narrative. The whole of the crew and passengers, except
seventeen, escaped safe to land, to the number of one hundred and fifty.
In accordance with the proposal of the captain, they endeavoured to
make their way overland to Cape Town; but after a few days' travel,
during which they were harassed by the Kaffirs with repeated attacks, a
fresh consultation took place. Forty-three able-bodied men persevered
in the attempt. Of these, some three or four, after terrible perils and
hardships, succeeded in reaching Cape Town. What became of those who
were left has never been certainly known. Rumours, which are mentioned
by Le Vaillant and others, declare that some women at all events
survived, and were compelled to become the wives of native chiefs. An
expedition was even sent out to search for these, but failed, more
apparently from want of capacity in those conducting it than from
anything else. Under these circumstances the fate of those who remained
behind may, not unfairly, be made the subject of fiction.