JANUARY 27 continued.—Curtis, no doubt, was right. The discharge from the mouth of the Amazon is enormously large, but we had probably drifted into the only spot in the Atlantic where we could find fresh water so far from land. Yet land undoubtedly¹ was there, and the breeze was carrying us onward² slowly but surely to our deliverance.  
Miss Herbey's voice was heard pouring out fervent³ praise to Heaven, and we were all glad to unite our thanksgivings with hers. Then the whole of us (with the exception of Andre and his father, who remained by themselves together at the stern) clustered in a group, and kept our expectant gaze upon the horizon.
 
We had not long to wait. Before an hour had passed, Curtis leaped in ecstasy⁴ and raised the joyous⁵ shout of "Land ahoy!"
 
. . . . .
 
My journal has come to a close.
 
I have only to relate, as briefly⁶ as possible, the circumstances that finally brought us to our destination.
 
A few hours after we first sighted land the raft was off Cape⁷ Magoari, on the island of Marajo, and was observed by some fishermen, who, with kind-hearted alacrity⁸ picked us up and tended us most carefully. They conveyed us to Para, where we became the objects of unbounded sympathy.
 
The raft was brought to land in latitude⁹ 0 deg. 12' north, so that since we abandoned the Chancellor¹⁰ we had drifted at least fifteen degrees to the southwest. Except for the influence of the Gulf¹¹ Stream we must have been carried far, far to the south, and in that case we should never have reached the mouth of the Amazon, and must inevitably

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