the soundings of it, and of the bay. [Sidenote: Its description.] The
anchorage is very good in the bay, from forty to twelve fathoms, bottom
of sand, small gravel and shells. It shelters you against all dangerous
winds. Its easterly point may be known by a very large cape, which we
called the _Dome_. To the westward is a little isle, between which and
the shore, no ship can go out of the bay; you come into the port by a
very narrow pass, and in it you find ten, eight, six, five, and four
fathoms, oozy bottom; you must keep in the middle, or rather come nearer
the east side, where the greatest depth is. The beauty of this anchoring
place determined us to give it the name of bay and port of _Beaubassin_.
If a ship waits for a fair wind, she need anchor only in the bay. If she
wants to wood and water, or even careen, no properer place for these
operations can be thought of than the port of _Beaubassin_.
I left here the chevalier de Bournand, who commanded the long boat, in
order to take down as minutely as possible all the information relative
to this important place, and then to return to the ships. For my part, I
went on board the Etoile’s barge with Mr. Landais, one of the officers
of that store-ship, who commanded her, and I continued my survey. We
proceeded to the westward, and first viewed an island, round which we
went, and found that a ship may anchor all round it, in twenty-five,
twenty-one, and eighteen fathoms, sand and small gravel. On this isle
there were some savages fishing. As we went along the coast, we reached
a bay before sun-set, which affords excellent anchorage for three or
four ships. [Sidenote: Bay de la Cormorandiere.] I named it bay _de la
Cormorandiere_, on account of an apparent rock, which is about a mile to
E. S. E. of it. At the entrance of the bay we had fifteen fathoms of
water, and in the anchoring place eight or nine; here we passed the
night.
On the 29th at day break we left bay _de la Cormorandiere_, and went to
the westward by the assistance of a very strong tide. We passed between
two isles of unequal size, which I named the two Sisters (_les deux
Soeurs_). They bear N. N. E. and S. S. W. with the middle of Cape
Forward, from which they are about three leagues distant. A little
farther we gave the name of Sugar-loaf (_Pain de sucre_) to a mountain
of this shape, which is very easy to be distinguished, and bears N. N.
E. and S. S. W. with the southern point of the same cape; and about five
leagues from the _Cormorandiere_ we discovered a fine bay, with an
amazing fine port at the bottom of it; a remarkable water-fall in the
interior part of the port, determined me to call them _Bay and Port of
the Cascade_. [Sidenote: Bay and Port of the Cascade.] The middle of
this bay bears N. E. and S. W. with Cape Forward. The safe and
convenient anchorage, and the facility of taking in wood and water, shew
that there is nothing wanting in it.
[Sidenote: Description of the country.]
The cascade is formed by the waters of a little river, which runs
between several high mountains; and its fall measures about fifty or
sixty toises, (_i. e._ 300 or 360 feet French measure): I have gone to
the top of it. The land is here and there covered with thickets, and has
some little plains of a short spungy moss; I have here been in search of
vestiges of men, but found none, for the savages of this part seldom or
never quit the sea-shores, where they get their subsistence. Upon the
whole, all that part of Terra del Fuego, reckoning from opposite
Elizabeth island, seems to me, to be a mere cluster of great, unequal,
high and mountainous islands, whose tops are covered with eternal snow.
I make no doubt but there are many channels between them into the sea.
The trees and the plants are the same here as on the coast of Patagonia;
and, the trees excepted, the country much resembles the Malouines.
[Sidenote: Usefulness of the three ports before described.]
I here add a particular chart which I have made of this interesting part
of the coast of Terra del Fuego. Till now, no anchoring place was known
on it, and ships were careful to avoid it. The discovery of the three
ports which I have just described on it, will facilitate the navigation
of this part of the straits of Magalhaens. Cape Forward has always been
a point very much dreaded by navigators. It happens but too frequently,
that a contrary and boisterous wind prevents the doubling of it, and has
obliged many to put back to Bay Famine. Now, even the prevailing winds
may be turned to account, by keeping the shore of Terra del Fuego on
board, and putting into one of the above-mentioned anchoring places,
which can be done almost at any time, by plying in a channel where there
is never a high sea for ships. From thence all the boards are
advantageous, and if one takes care to make the best of the tides, which
here begin to have more effect again, it will no longer be difficult to
get to Port Galant.
We passed a very disagreeable night in Port Cascade. It was very cold,
and rained without intermission. The rain continued throughout almost
the whole 30th day of December. At five o’clock in the morning we went
out of the port, and sailed across the strait with a high wind and a
great sea, considering the little vessel we were in. We approached the
coast nearly at an equal distance between Cape Holland and Cape Forward.
It was not now in question to view the coast, being happy enough to run
along it before the wind, and being very attentive to the violent
squalls, which forced us to have the haliards and sheets always in hand.
A false movement of the helm was even very near oversetting the boat, as
we were crossing Bay Françoise. At last I arrived on board the frigate,
about ten o’clock in the morning. During my absence, M. Duclos Guyot had
taken on board what we had on shore, and made every thing ready for
weighing; accordingly, we began to unmoor in the afternoon.
[Sidenote: Departure
from Bougainville Bay.]
The 31st of December at four of the clock in the morning we weighed, and
at six o’clock we left the bay, being towed by our boats. It was calm;
at seven a light breeze sprung up at N. E. which became more fresh in
the day; the weather was clear till noon, when it became foggy and
rainy. At half an hour past eleven, being in the middle of the
strait[80], we discovered, and set the Cascade bearing S. E. the Sugar
Loaf S. E. by E. ½ E. Cape Forward[81] E. by N. Cape Holland[82] W. N.
W. ½ W. From noon till six in the evening we doubled Cape Holland.
[Sidenote: Anchorage in Fortescue Bay.] It blew a light breeze, which
abating in the evening, and the sky being covered, I resolved to anchor
in the road of Port Galant, where we anchored in sixteen fathoms, coarse
gravel, sand and small coral; Cape Galant bearing S. W. 3° W[83]. We had
soon reason to congratulate ourselves on being in safety; for, during
the night, it rained continually, and blew hard at S. W.
[Sidenote: 1768.
January.]
We began the year 1768 in this bay, called Bay Fortescue, at the bottom
of which is Port Galant[84]. The plan of the bay and port is very exact
in M. de Gennes. We have had too much leisure to confirm it, having been
confined there for three weeks together, by such weather as one cannot
form any idea of, from the worst winter at Paris. [Sidenote: Account of
the obstacles we met with.] It is but just to let the reader partake in
some measure of the disagreeable circumstances on these unlucky days, by
giving the sketch of our stay in this place.
[Sidenote: Vestiges we found of the passage of English ships.]
My first care was to send out people to view the coast as far as Bay
Elizabeth, and the isles with which the straits of Magalhaens are full
in this part. From our anchoring-place we perceived two of these isles,
which Narborough[85] calls Charles and Monmouth. Those which are farther
off he calls the Royal Isles, and the westermost of all, he names Rupert
Island. The west winds preventing us from making sail, we moored with a
stream-anchor. The rain did not keep our people from going on shore,
where they found vestiges of the passage and touching of English ships;
viz. some wood, lately sawed and cut down; some spice-laurel trees[86],
lately stripped of their bark; a label of wood, such as in marine
arsenals, are generally put upon pieces of cloth, &c. on which we very
distinctly read the words, _Chatham, March, 1766_; they likewise found
upon several trees, initial letters and names, with the date of 1767.
[Sidenote: Astronomical and nautical observations.]
M. Verron, who had got all his instruments carried upon the peninsula
that forms the harbour, made an observation there at noon, with a
quadrant; and found 53° 40′ 41″ S. lat. This observation, and the
bearings of Cape Holland, taken from hence; and those of the same cape,
taken the 16th of December, upon the point from Cape Forward, determine
the distance of Port Galant to Cape Forward, to twelve leagues. Here he
likewise observed, by the azimuth-compass, the declination of the needle
22° 30′ 32″ N. E. and its inclination from the elevation of the pole 11°
11′. These are the only observations he was able to make, during almost
a whole month; the nights being as gloomy as the days. On the third of
January, there was a fine opportunity, of determining the longitude of
this bay; by means of an eclipse of the moon, which began here at 10
hours, 30′ in the evening; but the rain, which had been continual in the
day-time, lasted likewise through the whole night.
The 4th and 5th the weather was intolerable; we had rain, snow, a sharp
cold air, and a storm; it was such weather as the Psalmist describes,
saying, _Nix, grando, glacies, spiritus procellarum_. On the third I had
sent out a boat on purpose, to endeavour to find out an anchorage on the
coast of Terra del Fuego; and they found a very good one S. W. of the
isles Charles and Monmouth. I likewise gave them orders to observe the
direction which the tide took in that channel. With their assistance,
and the knowledge of anchoring-places, both to the northward and
southward, I would have made sail, even though the wind should be
contrary; but it was never moderate enough for me to do it. Upon the
whole, during our stay in this part of the straits, we observed
constantly, that the tides set in as in the part of the narrows or guts;
i. e. that the flood sets to the eastward, and the ebb to the westward.
[Sidenote: Interview with and description of the Pecherais.]
On the 6th, in the afternoon, we had some fair moments; and the wind too
seemed to blow from S. E. we had already unmoored; but the moment we
were setting sail, the wind came back to W. N. W. in squalls, which
obliged us to moor again immediately. That day some savages came to
visit us. Four periaguas appeared in the morning, at the point of Cape
Galant; and, after stopping there for some time, three advanced into the
bottom of the bay, whilst one made towards our frigate. After hesitating
for about half an hour, they at last brought her along-side of us, with
repeated shouts of _Pecherais_. In this boat were a man, a woman, and
two children. The woman remained to take care of the periagua; and the
man alone came on board, with much confidence, and with an air of
gaiety. Two other periaguas followed the example of the first; and the
men came on board the frigate with their children. Here they were soon
very happy and content. We made them sing, and dance, let them hear
music; and, above all, gave them to eat, which they did with much
appetite. They found every thing good; whether bread, salt meat, or fat,
they devoured what was offered to them. We found it rather difficult to
get rid of these troublesome and disgusting guests; and we could not
determine them to return to their periaguas, till we sent pieces of salt
flesh down into them, before their faces. They shewed no surprise,
neither at the sight of the ships, nor at the appearance of various
objects, that offered themselves to their eyes; this certainly shews,
that in order to be capable of being surprised at the work of art, one
must have some fundamental ideas of it. These unpolished men, considered
the master-pieces of human industry, in the same light as the laws of
nature and its phenomena. We saw them often on board, and on shore,
during several days which they stayed in Port Galant.
These savages are short, ugly, meagre, and have an insupportable stench
about them. They are almost naked; having no other dress than wretched
seal-skins, too little for them to wrap themselves in; these skins serve
them equally as roofs to their huts, and as sails to their periaguas.
They have likewise some guanaco-skins; but they are in small number.
Their women are hideous, and seemed little regarded by the men. They are
obliged to steer their periaguas, and to keep them in repair; often
swimming to them, notwithstanding the cold, through the sea-weeds, which
serve as a harbour to these periaguas, at a pretty distance from the
shore, and scooping out the water that may have got into them. On the
shore they gather wood and shells, without the men partaking in any
thing of their labour; nor are those women, who have children at their
breast, exempted from their task. They carry their children on their
backs, folded in the skins, which serve them as dresses.
Their periaguas are made of bark, ill connected with rushes, and caulked
with moss in the seams. In the middle of each is a little hearth of
sand, where they always keep up some fire. Their arms are bows and
arrows, made of the wood of a holly-leaved berberry-bush, which is
common in the straits; the bow-string is made of a gut, and the arrows
are armed with points of stone, cut with sufficient skill; but these
weapons are made use of, rather against game, than against enemies; for
they are as weak as the arms, which are destined to manage them. We
likewise saw amongst them, some bones of fish, about a foot long, sharp
at the end, and toothed along one side. This is, perhaps, a dagger; or
rather, as I think, an instrument for fishing: they fix it to a long
pole, and use it as a harpoon. These Indians, men, women, and children,
live promiscuously in their huts, in the middle of which they light a
fire. They live chiefly on shell-fish; however, they have likewise dogs,
and nooses, or springes, made of whalebone. I have observed, that they
had all of them bad teeth; and, I believe, we must attribute that to
their custom of eating the shell-fish boiling hot, though half raw.
Upon the whole, they seem to be good people; but they are so weak, that
one is almost tempted to think the worse of them on that account. We
thought we observed that they were superstitious and believed in evil
genii; and, among them, the same persons, who conciliate the influence
of those spirits, are their physicians and priests. Of all the savages I
ever saw, the Pecherais are those who are most deprived of every
convenience; they are exactly, in what may be called, a state of nature;
and, indeed, if any pity is due to the fate of a man, who is his own
master, has no duties or business to attend, is content with what he
has, because he knows no better, I should pity these men; who, besides
being deprived of what renders life convenient, must suffer the extreme
roughness of the most dreadful climate in the world. These Pecherais,
likewise, are the least numerous society of men I have met with in any
part of the world; however, as will appear in the sequel, there are
quacks among them: but as soon as more than one family is together, (by
family, I understand father, mother, and children) their interests
become complicated, and the individuals want to govern, either by force
or by imposture. The name of family then changes into that of society;
and though it were established amidst the woods, and composed only of
cousins-german, a skilful observer would there discover the origin of
all the vices, to which men, collected into whole nations, have, by
growing more civilized, given names; vices that caused the origin,
progress, and ruin of the greatest empires. Hence it follows, by the
same principle, that in civilized societies, some virtues spring up, of
which those who border on a state of nature are not susceptible.
The 7th and 8th the weather was so bad, that we could not by any means
go from on board; in the night we drove, and were obliged to let go our
sheet-anchor. At some intervals the snow lay four inches deep on the
deck; and, at day-break, we saw that all the ground was covered with it,
except the flat lands, the wetness of which melted the snow. The
thermometer was about 5° and 4°; but fell to two degrees below the
freezing-point. The weather was bad on the ninth in the afternoon. The
Pecherais set out in order to come on board us. They had even spent much
time at their toilet; I mean, they had painted their bodies all over,
with red and white spots: but seeing our boats go from the ships,
towards their huts, they followed them; but one periagua came on board
the Etoile. She stayed but a short time there, and joined the others;
who were very much the friends of our people. The women were, however,
all retired into one hut; and the savages seemed uneasy, whenever one of
our men attempted to go in. They invited them rather to come into the
other huts, where they presented our gentlemen with muscles, which they
sucked before they gave them away. They got some little presents, which
they gladly accepted. They sung, danced, and appeared more gay, than one
might expect from savages, whose outward behaviour is commonly serious.
[Sidenote: Unlucky accident,
which befalls one of them.]
Their joy was but of very short duration. One of their children, about
twelve years old, the only one in the whole troop whose figure engaged
our attention, was all at once seized with spitting of blood, and
violent convulsions. The poor creature had been on board the Etoile,
where the people had given him bits of glass not foreseeing the unhappy
effect, which this present might have. These savages have a custom of
putting pieces of talc into their throat and nostrils. Perhaps their
superstition combines some powers with this kind of talisman; or,
perhaps, they look on it as a preservative against some sickness they
are subject to. The child, probably, had made the same use of this
glass. His lips, gums, and palate, were cut in several places, and he
bled continually.
This accident spread consternation and mistrust amongst them. They
certainly suspected us of some bad action; for the first thing their
juggler did, was to strip the child immediately of a linen jacket, which
had been given him. He wanted to return it to the French; and upon their
refusing it, he threw it at their feet. However, another savage, who,
doubtless, loved clothes more than he feared enchantments, took it up
immediately.
The juggler first laid the child down upon his back, in one of the huts;
and, kneeling down between his legs, he bent himself upon him, and with
his head and hands pressed the child’s belly as much as he could, crying
out continually, without our being able to distinguish any articulate
sounds in his cries. From time to time he got up, and seeming to hold
the disease in his joined hands, he opened them all at once into the
air, blowing as if he wanted to drive away some evil spirit. During this
ceremony, an old woman in tears, howled in the sick child’s ears, enough
to make him deaf. This poor wretch seemed to suffer as much from the
remedy, as from the hurt he had received. The juggler gave him some
respite, and went to fetch his habit of ceremony; after which, having
his hair powdered, and his head adorned with two white wings, like those
on Mercury’s cap, he began his rites again, with more confidence, but
with no better success. The child then appearing to be worse, our
chaplain administered baptism to him by stealth.
The officers returned on board, and told me what had happened on shore.
I went thither immediately with M. de la Porte, our surgeon, who brought
some milk and gruel with him. When we arrived, the patient was out of
the hut; the juggler, who had now got a companion in the same dress, had
begun again with his his operation on the belly, thighs, and back of the
child. It was a pity to see them torment the poor creature, who suffered
without complaining. His body was already bruised all over; and the
doctors still continued to apply their barbarous remedy, with abundance
of conjurations. The grief of the parents, their tears, the part which
the whole troop took in this accident, and which broke out in the most
expressive signs, afforded us a most affecting scene. The savages
certainly perceived that we partook of their distress; at least they
seemed to be less mistrustful. They suffered us to come near the
patient; and our surgeon examined his bloody mouth, which his father and
another Pecherais sucked alternately. We had much trouble to persuade
them to use milk; we were obliged to taste it before them several times;
and, notwithstanding the invincible objection of their jugglers, the
father at last resolved to let his son drink it; he even accepted a
pot-full of gruel. The jugglers were jealous of our surgeon; whom,
however, they seemed at last to acknowledge as an able juggler. They
even opened for him a leather bag, which they always wear hanging by
their side; and which contains their feathered cap, some white powder,
some talc, and other instruments of their art; but he had hardly looked
into it, when they shut it again. We likewise observed, that whilst one
of the jugglers was conjuring the distemper of the patient, the other
seemed to be busied solely in preventing, by his enchantments, the
effect of the bad luck, which they suspected we had brought upon them.
We returned on board, towards night, and the child seemed to suffer
less; however, he was plagued with almost continual puking, which gave
us room to fear that some glass was got down into his stomach. We had
afterwards sufficient reason to believe our conjectures had been true;
for about two o’clock in the morning, we on board heard repeated howls;
and, at break of day, though the weather was very dreadful, the savages
went off. They, doubtless, fled from a place defiled by death, and by
unlucky strangers, who they thought were come merely to destroy them.
They were not able to double the westermost point of the bay: in a more
moderate interval they set sail again; a violent squall carried them out
into the offing, and dispersed their feeble vessels. How desirous they
were of getting away from us! They left one of their periaguas, which
wanted a repair on the shore, _Satis est gentem effugisse nefandam_.
They are gone away, considering us as mischievous beings: but who would
not pardon their resentment on this occasion? and, indeed, how great is
the loss of a youth, who has escaped from all the dangers of childhood,
to a body of men so very inconsiderable in number!
[Sidenote: Continuation of bad weather.]
The wind blew east with great violence, and almost without intermission,
till the 13th, when the weather was mild enough in day-time; and we had
even conceived hopes of weighing in the afternoon. The night between the
13th and 14th was calm. At half an hour past two in the morning we had
unmoored, and hove a-peak. At six o’clock we were obliged to moor again,
and the day was dreadful. The 15th, the sun shone almost the whole day;
but the wind was too strong for us to leave the harbour.
[Sidenote: Danger which the frigate is exposed to.]