1. It was hot weather, so that as they had no shelter against the cold, if it had come, they had no cold to afflict them; but they rather wanted awnings to keep off the sun, than houses to keep off the cold.
2. The water of the lake was fresh and good; even when it looked white and thick, yet it was very sweet, wholesome, and good tasted; had it been salt water, and they thus in the middle of it, they must have perished with thirst.
3. They being now floating over the drowned lands only, the water was not very deep, so that they could reach ground, and set along their rafts with their poles, and this, to be sure, they failed not to do with the utmost diligence.
They had also the satisfaction to observe, though it was not without toiling in an inexpressible manner, that they gained upon the shore, and that there was a high land before them, which they were making for, though very slowly, and at a distance they hoped to overcome.
But soon after, they had another discouragement, namely, that they saw the day declining, and night coming on apace, and, in short, that it was impossible they could reach the high land, which they saw by daylight, nor did they know what to do or how to go on in the night.
At length two bold fellows offered themselves to strip and go off, either to wade or swim to the shore, which they had daylight to do, being, as they judged, about three miles, though they found it above four, and from thence to find means to make a fire or light to guide them to the shore in the dark.
This was, indeed, a desperate attempt, but the two fellows being good swimmers, and willing to venture, it was not impracticable. They had light linen drawers on, with pockets, and open at the knees, and their shirts; each of them took a little bottle with some gunpowder, close stopped, with other materials for kindling fire; weapons they had none, but each man a knife and a hatchet fastened round his waist in a little belt, and a light pole in his hands to help him when he waded, which it was expected they must do part of the way. They had no provisions with them, but a bottle with some good brandy in their pockets above mentioned.
When they went off, it was supposed the water to be about four feet to five feet deep, so they chose to swim rather than wade, and it was very seldom much deeper; they had often opportunity to stand on the firm ground to rest themselves.
In this posture they went on directly towards the land, and after they had, by swimming and wading together, advanced about a mile, they found the water grew shallower, which was a signal to them that they should reach the hard ground in a little time; so they walked cheerfully on in about three feet water, for near a mile more.
Their companions on board the rafts soon lost sight of them, for they being in white, and the water white too, and the light declining, they could not see them at a mile distance.