Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

RETURN TO MOUNT MISERY. 173
for lining, and converted them into trowsers
and watch-coats. Upon further search, we
found, thrown aside in the bushes, at the
back of one of the huts, some pieces of seal,
in a very putrid condition; which, however,
our stomachs were far from loathing. The
next business, which the people set about
very seriously, was to proceed to Mount Mi¬
sery, and bury the corpse of the murdered
person, mentioned to have been discover¬
ed there some little time after our being cast
away; for to the neglect of this necessary
tribute to that unfortunate person, the men
assigned all their ill-success upon the late ex¬
pedition.
That common people in general are addicted
to superstitious conceits, is an observation
founded on experience ; and the reason is evi¬
dent : but I cannot allow that common seamen
are more so than others of the lower class. In
the most enlightened ages of antiquity, we
find it to have been the popular opinion, that
the spirits of the dead were not at rest till their
bodies were interred; and that they did not
cease to haunt and trouble those who had ne¬
glected this duty to the departed. This is
still believed by the vulgar, in most countries;