The retreat was accomplished amongst crowds of natives, crying in

sinister tones, "Tacouri mate Marion," "Tacouri has killed Marion."

Two leagues were traversed in this manner, during which no aggression

was attempted against the sixty men who composed the detachment. Upon

their arrival at the sloop, the natives approached them; Crozet first

sent all the sailors who carried loads on board, then, tracing a line

on the ground, he made it understood that the first native who passed

it would immediately be fired upon. An order was then given to the

natives to seat themselves; and it must have been an imposing

spectacle to see thousands obeying unresistingly, in spite of their

desire to seize the prey which was escaping before their eyes.

Crozet embarked last, and no sooner had he set foot in the sloop than

the war-cry was uttered; whilst javelins and stones were thrown from

every direction. Hostilities had succeeded threats, and the savages

rushed into the water the better to aim at their foes. Crozet found

himself obliged to prove to these wretches the superiority of his

weapons, and gave orders to fire. The New Zealanders, seeing their

comrades fall wounded or dead, without their appearing to have been

touched, were quite amazed. They would all have been killed had not

Crozet stopped the firing. The sick were taken on board without

accident, and the encampment, reinforced and put on guard, was not

molested.

Next day, the natives, who had an important village upon Matuaro

Island, endeavoured to prevent the sailors from fetching the water and

wood they needed. The latter then marched against them, bayonet in

hand, and followed them up to their village, where they shut

themselves in. The voice of the chief inciting them to battle was

heard. Firing was commenced as soon as the village was within range,

and this was so well directed that the chiefs were the first victims.

As soon as they fell, the natives fled. Some fifty were killed, the

rest were driven into the sea, and the village was burned.

It was useless to dream of bringing to the shore the five masts, made

with great difficulty from the cedars which had been cut down, and the

carpenters were obliged to repair the mast with pieces of wood

collected on the ships. The provisioning of the ships with the seven

hundred barrels of water, and seventy loads of wood, necessary for the

voyage, would infallibly occupy at least a month, for there remained

only one sloop.

The fate of Marion, and the men who had accompanied him, was still

unknown. A well-armed detachment therefore started for the village of

Tacouri.

It was abandoned! Only men too old to follow the flight of their

companions remained, and were seated in the doors of their huts. An

effort was made to take them. One of them, without any apparent effort,

at once struck a soldier with a javelin he held in his hand. He was

killed, but no injury was inflicted upon the others who were left in

the village. All the houses were thoroughly searched. In Tacouri's

kitchen a man's skull was found which had been cooked some days before.

Some fleshy parts still remained which bore the impress of the

cannibal's teeth. On a wooden spit, a piece of a human thigh, three

parts eaten, was found. In another house, a shirt was recognized as

having belonged to the unfortunate Marion. The collar was soaked in

blood, and two or three holes were found in the side, also

blood-stained. In various other houses, portions of the clothes, and

the pistols belonging to young Vaudricourt, who had accompanied the

Captain, were brought to light. The boat's arms, and quantities of

scraps of the unfortunate sailors' clothing, were also discovered.

[Illustration: "A man's skull was found."]

Doubt was unfortunately no longer possible. An account of the death of

the victims was drawn up, and Chevalier Du Clesmeur searched Marion's

papers to discover his projects, and the plans for the prosecution of

the voyage. He found only the instructions given by the Governor of

Mauritius.

A council was held with the ship's officers, and, bearing in mind the

lamentable condition of the vessels, it was decided to abandon the

search for new lands, and to make for Amsterdam or Rotterdam Island,

then for the Mariana and Philippines, where there was a chance of

disposing of the cargo, before returning to Mauritius. On the 14th of

July, Du Clesmeur left Treason Port, as he named the bay of these

islands, and the vessels steered towards Amsterdam and Rotterdam

Islands, to the north of which they passed on the 6th of August.

Navigation was aided by splendid weather, a fortunate circumstance, as

scurvy had made such ravages among the sailors, that very few of them

were in a condition to work. At length, on the 20th of September,

Guaham Island, the largest of the Mariana group, was discovered. It

was impossible to cast anchor until seven days later.

The account published by Crozet contains very precise and

circumstantial details regarding this island, with its productions and

inhabitants. We will only transcribe from it one phrase, as explicit

as it is short.

"Guaham Island," he says, "appeared to us a terrestrial paradise. The

air was excellent, the water good, the vegetables and fruits were

perfect, the herds of cattle, goats, and pigs, innumerable; every

species of fowl abounded." Amongst the vegetable productions, Crozet

mentions "Rima," the fruit of which is good to eat, when it has

attained its full growth and is still green.

"In this condition," he says, "the natives gather it for food. They

remove the rough skin, and cut it in slices like bread. When they wish

to preserve it, they cut it in round pieces, and dry it in the sun or

in an oven, in the form of very small cakes. This natural biscuit

preserves its bread-like qualities for several years, and far longer

than our best ship's biscuits."

From Port Agana, Crozet reached the Philippine Islands, and anchored

off Cavite, in Manilla Bay. This was the spot where the _Castries_ and

_Mascarin_ parted, to go back to Mauritius separately.

Some years previously a gallant officer of the royal navy, Chevalier

Jacques Raymond de Geron de Grenier, who was one of that group of

distinguished men,--the Chazelles, the Bordas, the Fleuriens, the Du

Martz de Gormpy, the Chaberts, the Verduns de la Crenne, who

contributed so zealously to the progress of navigation and

geography--had employed his leisure, during a stay in the Isle of

France, in exploring the adjacent seas.

He had made a very profitable cruise in the corvette, the _Heure du

Berger_, during which he rectified the position of Saint Brandon's

rock, and of the Saya-de-Malha sandbank, examined separately Saint

Michael, Rocque-pire, and Agalega in the Seychelles archipelago, and

corrected the charts of Adu and Diego Garcia Islands. Convinced of the

connexion of the currents with the monsoon, which he had thoroughly

studied, he proposed a shortened route, always open, from the Isle of

France to the Indies. It would be a saving of eight hundred leagues,

and was well worth serious consideration.

The minister of Marine, who had seen Grenier's proposition well

received by the Naval Academy, decided to entrust its examination to a

ship's officer, who was accustomed to work of the kind.

He selected Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen. During two expeditions,

undertaken in 1767 and 1768, for the encouragement and protection of

the cod-fisheries on the coast of Iceland, this navigator had surveyed

a great number of ports and roadsteads, collected astronomical

observations, rectified the map of Iceland, and accumulated a mass of

particulars concerning this little-known country. It was he, indeed,

who gave the earliest authentic account of "geysers," those springs of

warm water which occasionally reach to such great heights, and he also

supplied curious details of the existence of fossil wood, which prove

that at an early geological period, Iceland, now entirely devoid of

trees, possessed enormous forests.

Kerguelen had at the same time published novel details of the manners

and customs of the inhabitants.

"The women," he said, "have dresses, jackets, and aprons made of a

cloth called 'wadmal' which is made in Iceland. They wear an ample

robe above their jackets, rather like that of the Jesuits, but not so

long as the petticoats, which they allow to be seen. These robes are

of different colours, but generally black; they are called 'hempe.'

They are trimmed with velvet or some other ornament. The head-dresses

look like pyramids or sugar-loaves, two or three feet high. The women

ornament the head with a large handkerchief of very coarse cloth,

which stands upright, and they cover it with another finer one, which

forms the shape of which I spoke." Lastly, Kerguelen had collected

very interesting documents, relating to Denmark, the Laplanders, the

Samoyedes, the Faroe Islands, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which

he had thoroughly explored.

Kerguelen, entrusted with the examination of the route proposed by

Grenier, asked permission of the minister to employ his ship to

explore all the southern lands discovered in 1739 by Bouvet de Lozier.

The Abbe Terray, who had just succeeded the Duke of Praslin, gave him

command of the ship _Le Berryer_, which brought 300 able-bodied seamen

and provisions for fourteen months from Lorient, together with some

ammunition for Mauritius. The Abbe Rochon was associated with

Kerguelen, for making astronomical observations. Upon reaching

Mauritius, on the 20th of August, 1771, Kerguelen exchanged the

_Berryer_ for the _La Fortune_, to which a small vessel, the

_Gros-ventre_, with sixteen guns and a crew of a hundred men, was

attached under command of M. de Saint Allouarn.

As soon as the two vessels were equipped, Kerguelen set sail and

steered northward in search of the Mahe Islands. During a great storm,

the sounding lines of the _Fortune_ gave an ever-decreasing depth,

first thirty, then twenty, and at last only fourteen fathoms. Anchor

was then cast, and it held fast throughout the tempest.

"Daybreak at last relieved our anxieties," says Kerguelen; "we

perceived neither land nor rock. The _Gros-ventre_ was three leagues

distant; her captain could not believe that I was at anchor, for the

noise of the thunder, and the dazzling lightning, prevented his

hearing or seeing my signals. This is the sole instance of a vessel

anchoring in the night in the open sea upon an unknown coast. I set

sail, and allowed the vessels to drift, taking constant soundings. I

at first found fourteen, then twenty, then twenty-five, at last

twenty-eight fathoms. Then I suddenly lost the bottom altogether,

proving that we had passed above a submarine mountain. This new bank,

which I called Fortune Bank, stretched, N.W. and S.E. It is situated

in 7 degrees 16 minutes S. lat. and 55 degrees 50 minutes E. long."

The _Fortune_ and the _Gros-ventre_ then made for 50 degrees S. lat.,

which was the route recommended by the Chevalier de Grenier. The two

captains were aware that the winds constantly blew from the east, at

this season of the year, and therefore went to the Maldives, and

coasted along Ceylon from Point de Galle, to Trincomalee. Upon their

return the monsoon had changed. The prevailing winds were W. and S.W.

as Grenier had predicted. The route suggested by him had undeniable

advantages, and these have been so amply confirmed by experience that

no other is now followed.

Returning to Mauritius on the 8th of December, Kerguelen hurried his

preparations for departure to such an extent that he was able to start

upon the 12th of January, 1772. He steered southwards, for, supposing

that he found land in that direction, the nearest would naturally be

the most useful for the French colony.

From the 1st of February, numbers of birds seemed to indicate the

proximity of land. Hail succeeded snow. The vessels experienced foul

weather, boisterous winds, and a heavy sea. The first land was sighted

upon the 12th. Next day a second was discovered, and shortly

afterwards a very lofty and extensive cape. The following day at seven

o'clock in the morning, the sun having dispelled the clouds, a line of

coast extending some twenty-five leagues was clearly seen. The vessels

were then in 49 degrees 40 minutes S. lat. and 61 degrees 10 minutes E.

long.

Unfortunately storm succeeded storm, and the two vessels with great

difficulty escaped being cast ashore. Kerguelen was driven northward

by currents, shortly after he had sent a boat to attempt a landing.

"Finding myself so far from land," says Kerguelen, "I reflected upon

the best course to be pursued. I remembered that the state of my mast

was too bad to allow me to crowd sail, and leave the coast, and that,

having no sloop to carry my anchors, I was exposed to extreme danger

whilst near the shore, that in the dense fog it was all but impossible

to find the _Gros-ventre_, from which I had been separated for several

days. It was the more difficult on account of the tempest we had

experienced, and the variable winds that prevailed. These reflections

and my conviction that the _Gros-ventre_ was an excellent sailer, and

that she was provisioned for seven months, determined me to return to

Mauritius, which I reached upon the 16th of March." Fortunately no

accident had happened to the _Gros-ventre_. Her boat had returned in

time; M. de Boisguehenneuc, who had landed, had taken possession of

the land with all the usual formalities, and left some writing in a

bottle, which was found by Captain Cook in 1776.

Kerguelen returned to France, but his successful enterprise had gained

him many enemies. When upon the 1st of January, 1772, the king

nominated him captain, and Chevalier de Saint Louis, the attacks upon

him increased. The most malignant slanders were circulated. They even

went the length of accusing him of having scuttled the _Gros-ventre_

in order to derive all the benefit accruing from the discovery which

he had made in concert with M. de Saint Allouarn.

The minister, however, was not influenced by these slanders, and

decided to entrust the command of a second expedition to Kerguelen.

The _Roland_, and the frigate _Oiseau_, left Brest upon the 26th of

March, 1772, the latter under command of M. de Saux de Rosnevet.

Upon reaching the Cape, Kerguelen was obliged to put in for forty days.

The entire crew was suffering from putrid fever, probably owing to the

dampness of the new vessel.

"This appeared the more probable," says the narrative, "because all

the dried vegetables, such as peas, beans, lentils, &c., together with

the rice, and a quantity of biscuits, were spoiled in the store-room.

The vegetables emitted a kind of steam which was infectious, and the

store-rooms became infested with numbers of white worms. The _Roland_

left the Cape upon the 11th of July, but she was almost immediately

overtaken by a frightful tempest, which carried away two topsails, the

jib, and the mizen mast. Finally Mauritius was reached by means of

jury-masts."

MM. de Roches and Poivre, who had contributed so essentially to the

success of the first expedition, had been succeeded by M. de Ternay

and the Intendant Maillard. They appeared determined to offer every

possible obstacle to the execution of Kerguelen's orders. They gave

him no fresh victuals, of which the crew had pressing need, and there

were no means of replacing the masts destroyed by the tempest. In lieu

of the thirty-four sailors who had to go to the hospital, he was

provided only with disgraced or maimed soldiers, of whom he was glad

to rid himself. An expedition to the southern seas, so equipped, could

only come to a disastrous end; and that was precisely what happened.

On the 5th of January, Kerguelen sighted the lands he had discovered

in his first voyage, and between that date and the 16th he recognized

various points, Croy Island, Re-union Island, Roland Island, which in

his estimation made more than eighty leagues of coast. The weather

continued extremely severe; thick fogs, snow, hail, and gales

succeeded each other. On the 21st, the vessels could only keep in

company by constant firing. Upon that day the cold was so severe that

several of the sailors fainted on deck.

[Illustration: Island discovered by M. Marion du Fresnes in 1772,

called Prince Edward's Island by Cook in 1776.]

"The officers," says Kerguelen, "insisted that the ordinary ration of

biscuit was not enough, and that without more the crew could not

possibly resist the cold and fog. I increased each man's rations by

four ounces of biscuit daily."

Upon the 8th of January, 1774, the _Roland_ signalled the frigate at

Re-union Island. Communication with her was opened, and M. Rosnevet

declared that he had found an anchorage in a bay behind Cape Francais,

that he had sent a boat on the 6th to take soundings, and that, upon

landing to take possession, the men had killed a sea-lion and some

penguins.

Once again, the prostrate condition of the crew, the bad quality of

the victuals, and the dilapidated state of the vessels, prevented

Kerguelen from making a thorough investigation of this desolate

archipelago. He was forced to return; but, instead of returning to

Mauritius, he landed in Antongil Bay, Madagascar, where he was sure of

obtaining lemons, limes, custard apples, and other anti-scorbutics, as

well as fresh meat.

An adventurer named Beniowski, whose history is sufficiently curious,

had just founded a French colony there. But he was in need of

everything. Kerguelen gave him ammunition, bricks, iron implements,

shirts, blankets, &c., and finally ordered his carpenters to build a

store-shed for him.

Thirty-four of the crew of the _Roland_ had died since leaving the

southern regions, and if Kerguelen had remained another week in these

latitudes, he would have lost a hundred men! On his return to France,

Kerguelen met with nothing but ill-will and calumny, in return for so

much fatigue, so bravely born. The feeling against him was so strong

that one of his officers was not ashamed to publish a memoir, in which

all the facts were dressed up in the most unfavourable shape, and the

failure of the enterprise thrown upon Kerguelen. We do not assert that

he was entirely free from blame, but we consider the verdict of the

council of war which deprived him of his rank, and condemned him to

detention in the Chateau of Saumur, most unjust. No doubt the judgment

was found to be excessive, and the government discerned more malice

than justice in it, for a few months later Kerguelen was restored to

liberty. The gravest charge against him was that of having abandoned

his sloop and a portion of his crew, in the southern seas, who, but

for the opportune arrival of the _Fortune_, must have perished.

Probably, however, even this was much exaggerated, for a letter exists

from the abandoned officer, M. de Rosily (afterwards vice-admiral), in

which he begs to serve again under Kerguelen. The account of these

expeditions is an extract from the apology published by Kerguelen

during his imprisonment, a work which was confiscated by government,

and on that account is extremely rare.

We must now turn our attention to the account of expeditions which,

although they did not result in discoveries, had an importance of

their own. They contributed to the rectification of charts, to the

progress of navigation and geography, but, above all, they solved a

long-standing problem, the determination of longitude at sea.

To decide upon the position of a locality it is first necessary to

obtain its latitude, that is to say, its distance N. or S. from the

equator, and its longitude, or in other words its distance E. or W.

from some known meridian.

At this period, no instrument for determining the position of a ship

existed but the rope known as a log, which, thrown into the sea,

measured the distance which the ship made every half minute; the

proportionate speed of the vessel per hour was deduced from it. But

the log is far from immoveable, and the speed of a vessel is not

always the same, hence arose two important sources of error. The

direction of the route was determined by the mariner's needle or

compass. But every one knows that the compass is subject to variations,

and that the vessel does not invariably follow the course it indicates,

and it is no easy matter to determine the exact difference. These

inconveniences once admitted, the question was to find a method exempt

from them.

With Hadley's quadrant, latitude could be determined within a minute,

that is to say, to the third of a league. But such an approximate

exactitude was not possible in deciding longitudes. When once the

different phenomena of the variations of the magnetic needle, either

of declination or inclination, should be fully understood, it would be

easy; but how to obtain this knowledge? It was well known that in the

Indian Sea, between Bourbon, Madagascar, and Rodriguez, a variation of

four degrees in the declination of the needle was equivalent to a

variation of five degrees in the longitude, but it was equally

admitted that the declination of the magnetic needle was subject to

variations, in the same localities, for which no cause could be

assigned.

Verdun de la Crenne, writing in 1778, says a declination of twelve

degrees, from N. to W. twenty years ago, indicated a longitude of 61

degrees W. of Paris, in any given latitude. It is very probable that

within the last twenty years the declination has varied two degrees,

which makes the longitude deduced from it wrong by two and a half

degrees, or nearly fifty nautical miles.

If the right time is known on board, that is to say, the correct time

by which the meridian could be computed at the moment of any given

observation, and if at the same time, the exact time at the port from

which the ship had started, or that if any known meridian could be

ascertained, the difference of time would evidently give that of the

meridians, at the rate of fifteen degrees per hour, or one degree per

four minutes. The problem of the longitude could thus be reduced to a

determination, at a given moment of the time at any given meridian.

To achieve this it was necessary to have a watch or clock which should

preserve a perfect isochronism, in defiance of the state of the sea or

differences of temperature.

Many attempts had been made. Besson in the sixteenth century, Huyghens

in the seventeenth century, and again Sully, Harrison, Dutertre,

Gallonde, Rivas, Le Roy, and Ferdinand Berthoud had attempted to solve

the problem.

The English and French Governments, moreover, convinced of the value

of a perfect instrument, had offered a high reward for its invention.

The Academy of Science had instituted a competition. In 1765 Le Roy

sent in two watches for competition, whilst Berthould, who was in the

king's service, was unable to do so. Le Roy's watches passed

successfully through the various trials to which they were subjected

on land. It remained to be proved whether they would be equally

trustworthy at sea.

The Marquis de Constanvaux had the frigate _Aurora_ built at his own

cost for this experiment. Le Roy, however, decided that a cruise, with

constant stoppages, at Calais, Dunkirk, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and

Boulogne, lasting only from the 25th of May to the 29th of August, was

far too short, and he demanded a second trial. This time his watches

were sent on board the frigate, the _Enjouee_, which, leaving Havre,

put in at St. Pierre near Teneriffe, at Salee in Africa, at Cadiz, and

finally, after a voyage of four months and a half, at Brest. The trial

had been a serious one, the latitudes and the state of the sea having

both changed constantly. If the watch had neither lost or gained, it

won the prize, which was in fact assigned to Le Roy.

The Academy, however, knew that many other scientific men had bestowed

their attention upon the subject, and for various causes had been

unable to exhibit. They therefore proposed the same subject for the

competition of 1771, and in 1773 they doubled the prize.

F. Berthould imagined that he had reached perfection, but his watch

had still to be tested by the trial of a long sea voyage.

The _Isis_, a frigate of eighteen guns, was equipped at Rochefort at

the latter end of 1768, and placed under command of Chevalier d'Eveux

de Fleurien, known later as Caret-de Fleurien. Fleurien, then a

midshipman, was already, though only thirty years of age, a well known

_savant_. We have already mentioned his name, and shall find further

occasion to do so. At this juncture, fascinated by mechanics, Fleurien

had assisted Berthould in his undertaking, but that his

disinterestedness might be above suspicion, he selected several

officers to assist him in observing the motions of the watch which was

entrusted to him.

Starting in November, 1768, the _Isis_ put in successively at Cadiz,

the Canary Islands, Goree, the Cape Verde Islands, Martinique, St.

Domingo, Terra Nuova, the Canaries, Cadiz again, and reached Aix

Island on the 31st of October, 1769.

The watches, carried through climates alternately cold, hot, and

temperate, had experienced every vicissitude of climate, and at the

same time had been exposed to all the variations of the sea, in the

roughest season of the year.

After this trial, which had redounded so much to his honour, Berthould

obtained the rank and pension of an inspector of nautical watches.

This expedition had other results which concern us more particularly.

Fleurien took a number of astronomical observations, and

hydrographical surveys, which resulted in a well-founded condemnation

of the maps of his country.

"For a long time," he says, in his account of his voyage, "I did not

attempt criticism of the maps belonging to the Society; I wished to

limit myself to giving new details by which they might be rectified;

but I found such numberless and dangerous mistakes, that I should have

considered myself culpable towards mariners if I had neglected fully

to point them out."

A little further on he justly criticizes the maps of a geographer who

had at one time been famous.

"I will not undertake," he says, "to enumerate all the errors which I

have found in M. Bellin's maps. Their number is infinite. I shall

content myself simply with proving the necessity for the work I did,

by indicating the more glaring faults, either by comparing the

positions of various places upon his maps, with the positions they

should have occupied if _M. Bellin had been willing to use the

astronomical observations which have been published at various times_;

or by comparing other positions with those which we have determined by

our own observations."

Lastly, after giving a long list of errors in the situation of the

most frequented places of Europe, of Africa and America, he winds up

with these judicious words:--

"Upon glancing at a list of the various errors I have discovered in M.

Bellin's maps, one is led to a reflection, sad but true and

inevitable--if the maps of the best known part of the globe, and on

which the greater number of observations have been taken, are so far

from correct, what exactitude can we hope to find in maps representing

less frequented shores and islands, drawn and arranged by guess-work?"

Up to this time the watches had been examined separately and by

different judges. Now arose the question of submitting them

simultaneously to the same test, and of seeing which would come out

victorious.

For this purpose the frigate _La Flore_ was equipped at Brest, and the

command was given to a most distinguished officer, Verdun de la Crenne,

who was to become vice-admiral in 1786. The various stages of the

expedition were Cadiz, Madeira, the Salvage Islands, Teneriffe, Goree,

Martinique, Terra Nuova, Iceland--which our explorers had some trouble

to find--the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Dunkerque. The narrative

published by Verdun de la Crenne, like that of Fleurien, abounds in

rectifications of every kind. It is easy to see how carefully and

exactly the soundings were taken, with what care the coasts were

surveyed; but not a little interesting also is that which is

altogether wanting in Fleurien's publication, descriptions of the

countries and critical reflections upon the manners and customs of the

different peoples visited.

Amongst the most interesting particulars contained in two large 4to

volumes, we must mention those relating to the Canary Islands and

their ancient inhabitants the Sereres and Yolof, on Iceland, and the

accurate remarks made by Verdun upon the subject of the meridian of

Faroe Islands.

"It was the most easterly meridian of these islands," he says, "that

Ptolemy chose for the first meridian. It would doubtless have been

easy for him to have selected Alexandria for the first meridian; but

this great man was aware that such a choice would bring no real honour

to his country, that Rome and other ambitious towns might covet this

imaginary glory, that every geographer, every narrator of voyages,

arbitrarily choosing his own meridian, would engender confusion or at

least embarrassment in the mind of the reader."

Clearly Verdun regarded the question of the first meridian from a high

standpoint, as all really disinterested minds still do. It gives him

yet another claim to our sympathy.

Let us conclude with a quotation from this author: "The watches came

out of the contest with honour. They had borne heat and cold, they had

been becalmed, they had endured shocks as well as the vessel which

carried them when it was wrecked at Antigua, and when it received

charges of artillery. In a word, they fulfilled the hopes we had

indulged, they deserve the confidence of navigators, and lastly they

are of great service in the determination of longitude at sea."

The solution of the problem was found!

II.

The Expedition of La Perouse--St. Catherine's Island--Conception

Island--The Sandwich Islands--Survey of the American coast--French

Port--Loss of two boats--Monterey and the Indians of California--Stay

at Macao--Cavite and Manilla--_En route_ for China and Japan--

Formosa--Quelpaert Island--The coast of Tartary--Ternay Bay--The

Tartars of Saghalien--The Orotchys--Straits of La Perouse--Ball at

Kamtchatka--Navigator Islands--Massacre of M. de Langle and several of

his companions--Botany Bay--No news of the Expedition--D'Entrecasteaux

sent in search of La Perouse--False News--D'Entrecasteaux Channel--The

coast of New Caledonia--Land of the Arsacides--The natives of Bouka--

Stay in Port Carteret--Admiralty Islands--Stay at Amboine--Lewin

Land--Nuyts Archipelago--Stay in Tasmania--Fete in the Friendly

Islands--Particulars of the stay of La Perouse at Tonga Tabou--Stay at

Balado--Traces of La Perouse in New Caledonia--Vanikoro--Sad fate of

the Expedition.

The result of Cook's voyage, except the fact of his death, was still

unknown, when the French government resolved to make use of the

leisure which the peace just concluded had secured to the navy. The

French officers, desirous of emulating the success of their old rivals

the English, were fired with a noble emulation to excel them in some

new field. The question arose as to the fittest person for the conduct

of an important expedition. There was no lack of deserving candidates.

Indeed, in the number lay the difficulty.

The Minister's choice fell upon Jean Francois Galaup de la Perouse,

whose important military services had rapidly advanced him to the rank

of captain. During the last war he had been intrusted with the

difficult mission of destroying the English posts in Hudson's Bay, and

in this task he had proved himself not only an able soldier and sailor,

but a man who could combine humanity with professional firmness.

Second to him in the command was M. de Langle, who had ably assisted

him in the expedition to Hudson's Bay.

[Illustration: Portrait of La Perouse. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

A large staff embarked upon the two frigates _La Boussole_ and

_L'Astrolabe_. On board the _Boussole_ were La Perouse; Clenard, who

was made captain during the expedition; Monneron, an engineer;

Bernizet, a geographer; Rollin, a surgeon; Lepante Dagelet, an

astronomer of the Academy of Sciences; Lamanon, a physicist; Duche de

Vancy and Prevost the younger, draughtsmen; Collignon, a botanist; and

Guery, a clock maker. The _Astrolabe_, in addition to her commander,

Captain de Langle, carried Lieutenant de Monte, who was made captain

during the voyage, and the celebrated Monge, who, fortunately for the

interests of science, landed at Teneriffe upon the 30th of August,

1785.

The Academy of Sciences and the Society of Medicine had drawn up

reports for the Minister of Marine, in which they called the attention

of the navigators to certain points. Lastly, Fleurien, the

superintendent of ports and naval arsenals, had himself drawn up the

maps for the service of the expedition, and added to it an entire

volume of learned notes and discussions upon the results of all known

voyages since the time of Christopher Columbus.

The two ships carried an enormous amount of merchandise for trade, as

well as a vast quantity of provisions and stores, a twenty-ton boat,

two sloops, masts, and reserve sets of sails and rigging.

[Illustration: Map of the journey of La Perouse, after the atlas

published by General Millet-Mureau.]

The two frigates sailed upon the 1st of August, 1785, and anchored off

Madeira thirteen days later.

The French were at once charmed and surprised at the kind and cordial

welcome accorded them by the English residents. Upon the 19th La

Perouse put into Teneriffe.

"The various observations," he says, "made by MM. de Fleurien, Verdun,

and Borda, upon Madeira, the Salvage Islands, and Teneriffe leave

nothing to be wished for. Our attention was therefore confined to

testing our instruments."

This remark proves that La Perouse was capable of doing justice to his

predecessors. And we shall have other opportunities of observing that

quality in him.

While the astronomers devoted themselves to estimating the regularity

of the astronomical watches, the naturalists, with several officers,

ascended the Peak, and collected some curious plants. Monneron

succeeded in measuring this mountain with much greater accuracy than

his predecessors, Herberdeen, Feuillee, Bouguer, Verdun, and Borda,

who calculated its height respectively at 2409, 2213, 2100, and 1904

fathoms. Unfortunately his work, which would have settled the

discussion, never reached France.

Upon the 16th of October, the isles, or rather rocks, of Marten Vas

were seen. La Perouse ascertained their position, and afterwards made

for the nearest, Trinity Island, which was only some nine leagues to

the west. The commander of the expedition sent a sloop on shore in

charge of an officer, in the hope of finding water, wood, and

provisions. The officer had an interview with the Portuguese governor,

whose garrison consisted of about two hundred men, fifteen of whom

wore uniforms, and the rest merely shirts. The poverty of the land was

obvious, and the French re-embarked without having obtained anything.

After a vain search for Ascension Island, the expedition reached Saint

Catherine's Island, off the coast of Brazil.

"After ninety-six days' navigation," we read in the narrative of the

voyage published by General Millet-Mureau, "we had not one case of

illness on board. The health of the crew had remained unimpaired by

change of climate, rain, and fog; but our provisions were of

first-class quality; I neglected none of the precautions which

experience and prudence suggested to me; and above all, we kept up our

spirits by encouraging dancing every evening among the crew, whenever

the weather permitted, from eight o'clock till ten."

Saint Catherine's Island, of which we have more than once had occasion

to speak in the course of this narrative, extends from 27 degrees 19

minutes 10 seconds S. lat. to 27 degrees 49 minutes. It is only two

leagues wide, and is divided in its narrowest part from the mainland

by a channel of two hundred fathoms. The town of Nostra Senora del

Desterra, the capital of the colony, where the governor resides, is

built at the point of this narrow entrance. The population amounts, at

the utmost, to three thousand, and there are about four hundred houses.

The appearance of the town is very pleasant. According to Frezier's

account, this island was a refuge in 1712 for the vagabonds who fled

there from different parts of Brazil. They were Portuguese subjects in

name only, and recognized no other authority. The country is so

fertile that the inhabitants can live quite independently of any

neighbouring colony. The ships in the harbour gave them shirts and

coats, of which they had absolutely none, in exchange for provisions.

This island is extremely fertile, and the soil could easily be made to

grow sugar-cane, but the inhabitants are so poor that they cannot buy

the needful slaves for the labour.

The French vessels found all that they needed in this spot, and their

officers were cordially received by the Portuguese authorities.

The following fact will give an idea of the hospitality of these

people. "My boat," says La Perouse, "having been upset in a creek

where I was having wood cut, the inhabitants, after assisting in

saving it, insisted on our shipwrecked sailors using their beds, and

themselves slept on mats upon the floor of the room where they

received them so hospitably. A few days later they brought to my

vessel the sails, mast, grapnel, and flag of the boat, which would

have been of great use to them for their pirogues."

The _Boussole_ and the _Astrolabe_ weighed anchor upon the 19th of

November, and directed their course to Cape Horn. After a violent

storm, during which the frigates behaved very well, and after forty

days' fruitless search for the large island discovered by a Frenchman,

Antoine de la Roche, and called Georgia by Captain Cook, La Perouse

crossed the Straits of Lemaire. Finding the winds favourable, he

decided not to remain in Good Success Bay at this advanced season of

the year, but immediately to double Cape Horn, in the hope of avoiding

a possible delay that would have exposed his ships to injury and his

crew to useless fatigue.

The friendly demonstrations of the Fuegians, the abundance of whales,

which had never before been disturbed, the immense flocks of albatross

and petrels, did not change his resolve. Cape Horn was rounded more

easily than could have been expected. Upon the 9th of February the

expedition was in the Straits of Magellan, and upon the 24th anchor

was cast in Concepcion Harbour, which La Perouse preferred to that of

Juan Fernandez, on account of the exhaustion of his provisions. The

robust health of the crews astonished the Spanish governor. Possibly

this was the first time a vessel had rounded Cape Horn and arrived in

Chili without any sick on board.

The town, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1757, had been

rebuilt three leagues from the sea, upon the shore of the river Biobio.

The houses are of one storey, and the town of La Concepcion contains

ten thousand inhabitants. The bay is one of the most commodious in the

world; the sea is smooth, and almost free from currents. This part of

Chili is wonderfully fertile. One ear of corn reproduces sixty; vines

are equally prolific; and the country teems with innumerable flocks,

which multiply beyond all credence.

In spite of these prosperous conditions the country made no progress,

on account of the prohibitive system which at this time prevailed.

Chili, with its productions, which might easily have fed the half of

Europe; its wool, which might have sufficed for the manufactures of

France and England; its meats, which might have been preserved--had no

commerce whatever. At the same time the duty upon imported goods was

excessive, so that living was very dear. The middle class, as the

"bourgeoisie" are now called, did not exist; the population consisted

of two classes, the rich and the poor, as the following passage

shows:--

"The dress of the women consists of a plaited skirt of the ancient

gold or silver tissues which were formerly manufactured at Lyons.

These petticoats, which are kept for grand occasions, are often

inherited like diamonds, and are handed down from generation to

generation. They are only worn by a small number of the higher class;

the others have scarcely the means of clothing themselves at all."

[Illustration: Costumes of the inhabitants of Conception.]

We will not follow La Perouse into his details of the enthusiastic

reception given to him, and we will pass over in silence his

description of balls and toilettes, which never for a moment induced

him to lose sight of the object of his voyage. So far the expedition

had only passed through regions often before visited by Europeans. It

was now about to penetrate to less-known realms. Anchor was raised

upon the 15th of March, and, after a voyage entirely free from

incident, the two frigates anchored upon the 9th of April in Cook's

Bay, Easter Island.

La Perouse affirms that Mr. Hodges, the painter, who accompanied the

celebrated English navigator, has given a very unjust representation

of the inhabitants. Generally their physiognomies are pleasing, but

they cannot be said to have much character.

This is by no means the only point upon which the French navigator

differs from Captain Cook. He believed the famous statues, of which

one of the draughtsmen made an excellent sketch, to have been the work

of the present generation, whose numbers he estimates at two thousand.

It appeared to him also that the absolute lack of trees, and therefore

of lakes and rivers, was due to the extravagant waste of wood by the

earlier races. No disagreeable incident occurred during the stay.

Robberies, it is true, were frequent; but as the French intended

remaining only one day on the island, they thought it superfluous to

give the population stricter ideas of honesty.

[Illustration: Inhabitants of Easter Island.]

After leaving Easter Island, upon the 10th of April, La Perouse

followed much the same route as Cook had done in 1777, when he sailed

from Tahiti to the American coast; but he was a hundred leagues

farther west. La Perouse indulged in the hope of making discoveries in

this little-known region of the Pacific Ocean, and he promised to

reward the sailor who should first sight land. Upon the 29th of May

the Hawaian archipelago was reached.

The naval watches proved of great assistance upon this occasion, and

justified the opinion entertained of them. Upon reaching the Sandwich

Islands La Perouse found a difference of five degrees between the

longitude given and that obtained by him. Without the watches he would

have placed this group five degrees too far east. This explains why

the islands discovered by the Spanish--Mendana, Queros, &c.--are much

too near the American coast, and also the non-existence of the group

called by the Spaniards La Mesa, Los Majos, and La Disgraceada, which

there is every reason to suppose was none other than the Sandwich

archipelago, as Mesa in Spanish means "table," and Captain King

compares the mountain called Mauna Loa to a plateau or table-land. He

did not, however, trust to conjecture; he crossed the reputed site of

Los Majos, and found not the slightest trace of land.

"The aspect of Monee," says La Perouse, "is delightful. We saw water

tumbling in cascades from the summit of the mountains, and reaching

the sea after watering the Indian plantations, of which there are so

many that each village extends over three or four leagues. All the

huts are, however, on the sea-shore; and the mountains are so close

that the habitable portion of the land appeared to me to be less than

half a league in depth. One must be a sailor, and, like us, have been

reduced to a bottle of water per day in a burning climate, to realize

the sensations we experienced. The trees which crowned the mountains,

the green fields, the banana-trees which surrounded the dwellings, all

combined to charm our senses with an inexpressible delight; but the

sea broke violently on the shore, and, like Tantalus, we were obliged

to devour with our eyes what was completely beyond our reach."

The two frigates had no sooner anchored than they were surrounded by

pirogues, full of natives, offering pigs, potatoes, bananas, "taro,"

&c. Clever traders, they attached most value to bits of old iron rings.

Their acquaintance with iron and its use, for which they were not

indebted to Cook, is another proof that this people had known the

Spaniards, to whom the discovery of the group is probably due.

The welcome accorded to La Perouse was most cordial, in spite of the

military force by which he had thought proper to protect himself.

Although the French were the first to land on Monee Island, La Perouse

did not think it his duty to take possession.

"The usual European custom in such matters," he says, "is perfectly

ridiculous. Philosophers may well sigh when they see men, simply

because they have guns and bayonets, thinking nothing of sixty

thousand of their fellow-men, and, without the least respect for the

most sacred rights, looking upon a land whose inhabitants have

cultivated it in the sweat of the brow, and whose ancestors lie buried

there, as an object fit for conquest."

La Perouse does not pause to give any details about the inhabitants of

the Sandwich Islands. He only passed a few hours there, whilst the

English remained for four months. He therefore rightly refers to

Captain Cook's narrative.

During their short stay the French bought more than a hundred pigs,

mats, fruits, a pirogue, ornaments made of feathers and shells, and

handsome helmets decorated with feathers.

The instructions furnished La Perouse before his departure enjoined

him to survey the American coast, of which a portion, extending to

Mount Elias had, with the exception of Nootka port, been merely

sighted by Captain Cook.

On the 23rd of June he reached 60 degrees N. lat., and, in the midst

of a long chain of snow-covered mountains, recognized the Mount Elias

of Behring. After skirting along the coast for some time, La Perouse

sent three boats, under command of one of his officers, M. de Monte,

who discovered a large bay, to which he gave his name.

Following the coast at a short distance, surveys were taken, which

were uninterrupted as far as an important river, which received the

name of Behring. Apparently it was that to which Cook had given this

name.

Upon the 2nd of July, in 58 degrees 36 minutes lat., and 140 degrees 3

minutes long., what appeared to be a fine bay was discovered. Boats,

under command of MM. de Pierrevert, de Flassan, and Boutevilliers,

were sent to examine it.

Their report being favourable, the two frigates arrived at the

entrance of the bay, but the _Astrolabe_ was driven back to the open

sea by a strong current, and the _Boussole_ was forced to join her. At

six o'clock in the morning, after a night passed under sail, the

vessels again approached the bay. "But," says the narrative, "at seven

in the morning, when we were close to it, the wind veered so suddenly

to W.N.W. and N.N.W., that we were forced to give way, and even to

bring our ships to the wind. Fortunately the tide carried our frigates

into the bay, and we escaped the rocks on the east by half a pistol's

range. I anchored in three and a half fathoms, with a rocky bottom,

half a cable's length from shore. The _Astrolabe_ had anchored in the

same depth, and upon a similar bottom. In all the thirty years I have

spent at sea, I have never seen two vessels in greater danger. Our

situation would have been safe had we not anchored upon a rocky bottom,

which extended several cables' length around us, and which was

different from what MM. de Flasson and Boutevilliers had reported. We

had no time to make reflections; it was above everything necessary to

get out of our dangerous anchorage, to which the rapidity of the

current was a great obstacle." However, by dint of much skilful

tacking, La Perouse succeeded.

Ever since their entry into the bay the vessels had been surrounded by

pirogues swarming with savages. The natives showed a decided

preference for iron, in exchange for fish and the skins of otters and

other animals. After a few days' stay their number increased rapidly,

and they became, if not dangerous, at least a nuisance.

La Perouse established an observatory upon one of the islands in the

bay, and set up tents for the sail makers and smiths. Although these

posts were most carefully watched, the natives, gliding along the

ground like snakes, scarcely stirring a leaf, managed in spite of our

sentinels to commit various thefts; and one night they were clever

enough to enter the tent where MM. de Launston and Darbaud (who were

in charge of the observatory) slept. They carried off a silver-mounted

gun, as well as the clothes belonging to the two officers, who had

placed them for safety under their pillows. They escaped the notice of

a guard of twelve men, and the two officers were not even awakened.

[Illustration: Typical native of the Port des Francais.]

But now the stay of the expedition in this port drew to a close. The

soundings, surveys, plans, and astronomical observations were

completed; but, before finally leaving the island, La Perouse wished

thoroughly to explore the depths of the bay. He imagined that some

large river must empty itself into it, which would enable him to

penetrate into the interior; but in all the openings he entered he

found only vast glaciers, which extended to the very summit of Fair

Weather Mount.

No accident or sickness marred the success which had so far attended

the expedition.

"We thought ourselves," says La Perouse, "the most fortunate of

navigators, for having reached so great a distance from Europe without

having had one invalid or a single sufferer from scurvy. But the

greatest misfortune, and one it was impossible to foresee, now awaited

us."

Upon the chart of the Port des Francais, drawn up by MM. Monneron and

Bernizet, the soundings alone remained to be indicated. The naval

officers were bound to accomplish the task, and three boats, under the

orders of MM. d'Escures, de Marchainville, and Boutin, were selected

for the undertaking. La Perouse, acquainted with the somewhat rash

zeal of M. d'Escures, advised him on the eve of departure to act with

most careful prudence, and only to attempt the soundings in the

channel if the sea were smooth.

The boats left at six o'clock in the morning. It was as much a party

of pleasure as of duty, as the crews were to hunt, and breakfast under

the trees.

"At ten in the morning," says La Perouse, "I saw our little boat

return. Somewhat surprised, for I had not expected it so soon, I asked

M. Boutin, before he came on deck, whether he had any news. At first I

feared an attack from the natives, and M. Boutin's expression was not

calculated to reassure me, for it was profoundly sad.

"He soon related to me the terrible disaster he had just witnessed,

and from which he had escaped by the presence of mind which enabled

him to see the best course to pursue in the dreadful peril. Carried,

whilst following his commander, into the midst of breakers caused by

the tide rushing with a speed of three or four leagues per hour out of

the channel, he thought he could place his boat stern on the breakers;

the boat yielding to their force, and being impelled by the tide,

would not fill, but would be carried safely outside.

"Soon, however, he saw breakers ahead of his boat, and found himself

in the open sea. More concerned for the safety of his companions than

for his own, he again approached the breakers, and in the hope of

saving some life he again braved them, but was repulsed by the tide;

finally, he mounted on M. Mouton's shoulder, in the hope of finding a

wider opening. All was in vain; everything had been swallowed up, and

M. Boutin returned with the ebb of the tide.

"The sea becoming quieter, this officer had still some hope of finding

the boat of the _Astrolabe_; he had only witnessed the loss of ours. M.

de Marchainville was now a quarter of a mile from the danger, that is

to say, in a sea as still as the quietest harbour; but, impelled by an

imprudent generosity--for all help was quite impossible under the

circumstances--this rash young officer, being too high-spirited and

too courageous to pause in presence of his friends' danger, flew to

their help, threw himself among the breakers, and, a victim to his

imprudence and disregard of his chief's orders, perished with him.

"M. de Langle shortly after came on board my ship, as much overcome as

myself, and informed me with tears that the misfortune was even

greater than I had supposed. We had always made a point, ever since

leaving France, of never allowing the two brothers, M. la Borde

Marchainville and M. la Borde Boutevilliers, to go on the same service,

but on this one occasion he had yielded, as they desired to hunt

together; and it was almost wholly on this account that we had, both

of us, directed our boats in the way we did, thinking there was as

little danger as there is in Brest Harbour in fine weather.

"Several boats were at once despatched in search of the shipwrecked

crew. Rewards were offered to the natives if they saved any one; but

the return of the sloops destroyed all hope. All had perished."

[Illustration: Shipwreck of French boats outside the Port des Francais.

(Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

Eighteen days after this catastrophe, the two frigates left the Port

des Francais. La Perouse erected a monument to the memory of his

unfortunate countrymen, in the middle of the bay, on an island which

he called the Cenotaph. It bore the following inscription:--

"At the entrance of this port, twenty-one brave sailors perished.

Whoever you are, mingle your tears with ours."

A bottle, containing an account of this deplorable accident, was

buried at the foot of the monument.

The Port des Francais, which is situated in 58 degrees 37 minutes N.

lat., and 139 degrees 50 minutes W. long., presents many advantages,

but also many inconveniences--foremost amongst them the currents of

the channel. The climate is much milder than in Hudson's Bay, which is

in the same latitude. The vegetation is vigorous; pines six feet in

girth, and a hundred and forty in height, are not rare. Celery, sorrel,

lupine, wild pea, chicory, and mimulus are met with in every direction,

as well as many pot-herbs, the use of which helped to keep the crews

in health.

The sea supplied abundance of salmon, trout, cod, and plaice.

In the woods are found black and brown bears, the lynx, ermine, weasel,

minever, squirrel, marmot, beaver, fox, elk, and the wild goat. The

most precious skins are those of the otter, wolf, and sea-bear.

"But if the vegetable and animal productions of this country," says La

Perouse, "are similar to those of many others, its aspect cannot be

compared with them, and I doubt whether the deep valleys of the Alps

and Pyrenees offer so terrible, and at the same time so picturesque, a

prospect. Were it not at one of the extremities of the world, it

should be visited by every one."

As to the inhabitants, La Perouse gives an account of them which is

worth preserving.

"The Indians in their pirogues surrounded our frigates, hovering about

for three or four hours before beginning to exchange a few fish, or

two or three otter skins; they seized every opportunity of robbing us;

they tore off all the iron which could be easily carried away, and

they took every precaution to elude our vigilance at night. I invited

some of the principal personages on board my frigate, and loaded them

with presents; and the very men I distinguished in this manner did not

scruple to steal a nail or an old pair of trousers. Whenever they

assumed a particularly lively and pleasant air, I was convinced that

they had committed a theft, and I often pretended not to see it."

The women make an opening in the thick part of the lower lip, the

whole length of the jaw. They wear a sort of wooden bowl without a

handle, which rests on the gums, "to which this split lip forms an

outer cushion, in such a way that the lower part of the mouth

protrudes some two or three inches."

The forced stay which La Perouse had just made in Port des Francais

prevented his stopping elsewhere and reconnoitring the indentations of

the coast, for at all hazards he was to reach China during the month

of February, in order to secure the following summer for the survey of

the coast of Tartary.

He successively reconnoitred, upon this coast, Cross Sound, where the

high snow-covered mountains cease, Cook's Island Bay, Engamio Cape,

low land partly submerged and containing Mount Hyacinthine, Mount

Edgecomb of Cook, Norfolk Sound, where the following year the English

navigator Dixon was to anchor, ports Necker and Guibert, Cape

Tschiri-Kow, Croyere Islands, so called after the brother of the

famous geographer Delisle, companion of Tschiri-Kow, the San Carlos

Islands, La Touche Bay, and Cape Hector.

La Perouse imagined that these various coast lines were formed by a

vast archipelago; and in this he was correct. They contained George

III.'s Island, Prince of Wales and Queen Charlotte's Islands--Cape

Hector forming the southern extremity of the latter.

The season was far advanced, and too short a time remained at La

Perouse's disposal to allow of his making detailed observations of

these countries; but his instinct had justly led him to imagine that

the series of points he had discovered indicated a group of islands,

and not a continent. Beyond Cape Fleurien, which formed the extremity

of an elevated island, he passed several groups, which he named

Sartines, and then returning, he reached Nootka Sound on the 25th of

August. He afterwards visited various parts of the continent which

Cook had been unable to approach, and which had left a blank on his

chart. This navigation was attended with a certain amount of danger,

on account of the currents, "which rendered it impossible to make more

than three knots an hour at a distance of five leagues from land."

Upon the 5th of September new islets were discovered, about a league

from Cape Blanco, to which the captain gave the name of Necker Islands.

The fog was very thick, and more than once the fear of running upon

some islet or rock, the existence of which could not be suspected,

obliged the vessels to deviate from the land. Until they reached

Monterey Bay the weather continued bad. At that port La Perouse found

two Spanish vessels.

At this time Monterey Bay abounded in whales, and the sea was

literally covered with pelicans, which were very common upon the

Californian coast.

A garrison of two hundred and eighty men was sufficient to keep in

order a population of fifty thousand Indians, wandering about this

part of America. It must be admitted that these Indians were usually

small and insignificant, and not endowed with that love of

independence which characterizes the northern tribes; and, unlike them,

they have no appreciation of art, and no industry.

"These Indians," says the narrative, "are very expert in the use of

the bow and arrow. They killed the smallest birds in our presence. It

is true that they approach them with wonderful patience, hiding

themselves, gliding, somehow, close to their prey, and aiming at them

only when within fifteen paces.

"Their skill in the capture of larger animals is even more wonderful.

We saw an Indian with a stag's head over his own, walking on all fours,

appearing to graze, and carrying out the pantomime with such truth to

life that our hunters would have fired at him at thirty paces had they

not been prevented. By this means the natives approach quite close to

a herd of deer, and then kill them with arrows."

[Illustration: "An Indian with a stag's head over his own."]

La Perouse gave many details of the presidency of Loretto and of the

Californian missions, but these are rather of historical interest, and

are out of place in a work of this kind. His remarks upon the

fertility of the country are more within our programme. "The harvest

of maize, barley, corn, and peas," he says, "is comparable only to

that of Chili. Our European husbandmen could not conceive of such

abundance. The most moderate yield of corn is at the rate of from

seventy and eighty to one, and the largest from sixty to a hundred."

Upon the 22nd of September the two frigates returned to sea, after a

cordial welcome from the Spanish governor and the missionaries. They

carried with them a quantity of provisions of all sorts, which would

be of the greatest value to them during the long trip to be taken

before reaching Macao.

The portion of the ocean now to be crossed by the French was almost

unknown. The Spaniards had navigated it previously, but their

political jealousy prevented their publishing the discoveries and

observations they had made. La Perouse wished to steer S.W. as far as

28 degrees lat., where some geographers had placed the island of

Nuestra Senora-de-la-Gorta.

But he looked for it in vain during a long and difficult cruise, with

contrary winds, which sorely tried the patience of the navigators.

"We were daily reminded," he says, "by the condition of our sails and

rigging, that we had been sixteen months at sea. Our ropes gave way,

and the sail makers could not repair the sails, which were fairly worn

out."

Upon the 6th of November a small island, or rather rock, some five

hundred fathoms long, upon which not a single tree grew, and which was

thickly covered with guano, was discovered. It was named Necker Island,

and is in 166 degrees 52 minutes long. W. of Paris, and 23 degrees 34

minutes N. lat.

Never had the expedition seen a more lovely sea, or a more exquisite

night, when suddenly, at about half-past one in the morning, breakers

were perceived two cable lengths ahead of the _Boussole_. The sea,

only broken here and there by a slight ripple, was so calm that it

scarcely made any sound. The ship's course was altered immediately;

but the manoeuvre took time, and when it was accomplished the vessel

was but a cable's length off the rocks.

"We had just escaped one of the most imminent dangers to which

navigators are subject," says La Perouse, "and I must do my crews the

justice to say that less disorder and confusion in such a position

would have been impossible. The slightest neglect in the execution of

the manoeuvres which were necessary to carry us from the breakers

would have been fatal."

These rocks were unknown; it was therefore needful to determine their

exact position, for the safety of succeeding navigators. La Perouse,

after fulfilling this duty, named them the "Reef of the French

Frigates."

Upon the 14th of December the _Astrolabe_ and the _Boussole_ sighted

the Mariana Islands. A landing was effected upon the volcanic island

of Assumption. Here the lava had formed ravines and precipices,

bordered by a few stunted cocoa-nut trees, alternately with tropical

creepers and a few shrubs. It was almost impossible to advance a

couple of hundred yards in an hour. Landing and re-embarkation were

difficult, and the few cocoa-nut shells and bananas, of a new variety,

which the naturalists obtained, were not worth the risk.

It was impossible to remain longer in this archipelago if China were

to be reached before the vessels returned to Europe. They were to take

back an account of the results of the expedition upon the American

coast, and of the crossing to Macao.

After taking the position of the Bashees, without stopping, La Perouse

sighted the coast of China, and next day cast anchor in the roadstead

of Macao.

Here La Perouse met with a small French cutter, commanded by M. de

Richery, midshipman, whose business it was to cruise about the eastern

coast, and protect French trade.

The town of Macao is so well known that it is needless for us to give

La Perouse's description of it. The constant outrages and humiliations

to which Europeans were daily subjected under the most despotic and

cowardly government in the world, aroused the indignation of the

French captain, and made him heartily wish that an international

expedition might put a stop to so intolerable a state of things.

The furs which had been collected upon the American coasts were sold

at Macao for ten thousand piastres. The sum produced should have been

divided among the crews, and the head of the Swedish company undertook

to ship it at Mauritius; but the unfortunate sailors themselves were

never to receive the money.

Leaving Macao on the 5th of February, the vessels directed their

course to Manilla, and, after sighting the shoals of Pratas, Bulinao,

Manseloq, and Marivelle, wrongly placed upon D'Apres' maps, they were

forced to put into the port of Marivelle, to wait for better winds and

more favourable currents. Although Marivelle is only one league to

windward of Cavito, three days were consumed in reaching the latter

port.

"We found," says the narrative, "different houses where we could

repair our sails, salt our provisions, construct two boats, lodge the

naturalists and geographical engineers, and the governor kindly lent

us his own for the establishment of our observatory. We enjoyed as

much liberty as if we had been in the country; and in the market and

arsenal we found the same resources as in the best European ports."

Cavito, the second town of the Philippine islands, and the capital of

the province of the same name, was then but a miserable village, where

only Spanish military and government officers resided; but although

the town was nothing but a mass of ruins, it was none the less a port,

and afforded the French every possible resource. Upon the morrow of

his arrival La Perouse, accompanied by De Langle and his principal

officers, paid a visit to the governor, reaching Manila by boat.

"The environs of Manila are delightful," he says. "A most beautiful

river flows through it, separating into different canals, one of which

leads to the famous Bay Lake, which is distant seven leagues in the

interior, surrounded by more than a hundred Indian settlements in the

midst of a most fertile territory.

"Manila, built upon the shore of the bay of that name, which is more

than twenty-five leagues in circumference, is at the mouth of a river

navigable as far as the lake in which it rises. It is probably the

most fortunately situated town in the whole world. Provisions are

found there in the greatest profusion, and very cheap; but clothing,

European cutlery, and furniture fetch an enormous price.

"Want of competition, the prohibitive tariffs, and commercial

restrictions of every sort, tend to make the productions and

manufactured goods of India and China at least as dear as in Europe;

and although the various duties on imports bring to the treasury some

eight hundred thousand piastres, the colony costs the Spanish

government at least fifteen hundred thousand francs per annum, which

are sent from Mexico. The immense possessions of the Spanish in

America have prevented the government from bestowing much attention

upon the Philippines. They are still like the possessions of great

lords, which remain uncultivated, though they might provide fortunes

for many families.

"I do not hesitate to state, that a great nation with no colony but

the Philippine Islands, supposing that colony to be as well governed

as possible, need not envy all the European colonies in Africa and

America."

Upon the 9th of April--after having heard of the arrival at Macao of M.

d'Entrecasteaux, who had come from Mauritius with the contrary monsoon,

and received despatches from Europe by the frigate _La Subtile_, MM.

Guyet, midshipman, and Le Gobien, naval officer, and a reinforcement

of eight sailors--the two vessels set out for the coast of China.

Upon the 21st La Perouse sighted Formosa, and at once entered the

channel which separates that island from China. He discovered a very

dangerous bank unknown to navigators, and carefully examined the

soundings and approaches. Shortly afterwards he passed in front of the

bay of the ancient Dutch fort of Zealand, where the capital of the

island, Tai-wan, is situated.

The monsoon was unfavourable for ascending the channel, and La Perouse

therefore resolved to pass to the east of the island. He rectified the

position of the Pescadores Islands, a mass of rocks which assume

various shapes, reconnoitred the small island of Botol-Tabaco-Xima,

where no navigator had landed, coasted Kinin Island, which forms part

of the kingdom of Liken, whose inhabitants are neither Chinese nor

Japanese, but appear to be of both races, and sighted Hoa-pinsu and

Tiaoy-su Islands. The latter form part of the Liken Archipelago, known

only through the letters of Father Goubil, a Jesuit.

The frigates then entered the Eastern Sea, and directed their course

to the channel which divides China and Japan. La Perouse there

encountered fogs as thick as those which prevail upon the coast of

Labrador, with variable and violent currents. The first point of

interest before entering the Sea of Japan was Quelpaert Island, first

made known to Europeans by the shipwreck of the _Sparrow Hawk_ upon

its coast in 1635. La Perouse determined its southerly extremity, and

surveyed it for a distance of twelve leagues.

"It is scarcely possible," he says, "to find an island of pleasanter

aspect. A peak of about four thousand five hundred feet high, visible

at a distance of eighteen or twenty leagues, rises in the centre of

the island; the land slopes gently from thence to the sea, so that the

houses look like an amphitheatre. The soil seemed to be highly

cultivated. By the aid of our glasses we clearly made out the

divisions of the fields. They are in very small allotments, which

augurs a large population. The different shades of the various

cultivated patches give a very agreeable variety to the view."

The explorers had ample opportunity for taking the longitude and

latitude, which was the more important, as no European vessel had

navigated these seas, which were only indicated upon the maps in

accordance with the Chinese and Japanese maps published by the Jesuits.

Upon the 25th of May the frigates entered the channel of Corea, which

was minutely explored, and in which soundings were taken every half

hour.

As it was possible to keep close in shore, it was easy to observe some

fortifications in the European style, and to note all their details.

On the 27th an island was perceived which was not to be found upon any

map, and which seemed to be about twenty leagues distant from the

coast of Corea. It received the name of Dagelet Island.

The course was now directed towards Japan, but it was very slow, on

account of the contrary winds that prevailed.

On the 6th of June Cape Noto and the island of Tsus Sima were

discovered.

"Cape Noto, upon the Japanese coast," says La Perouse, "is a point on

which geographers may rely. Reckoning from it to Cape Kona on the

eastern coast, the position of which was determined by Captain King,

the width of the northern half of the empire may be ascertained. Our

observations have the greater value for geographers as they determine

the width of the Gulf of Tartary, to which I now directed my course."

[Illustration: Map of the coast of Asia, after the map of La Perouse's

voyage published by General Millet-Mureau.]

Upon the 11th of June La Perouse sighted Tartary. He made land

precisely at the boundary between the Corea and Manchuria. The

mountains appeared to be six or seven thousand feet high. A small

quantity of snow was visible on the summits. No trace of inhabitants

or cultivation could be seen; nor was any river's mouth found upon a

length of coast extending for forty leagues. A halt would have been

desirable, to enable the naturalists and lithologists to make

observations.

"Up to the 14th of June the coast had run to the N.E. by N. We were

now in 44 degrees lat., and had reached the degree which geographers

assign for the so-called Strait of Tessoy, but we were five degrees

farther west than the longitude given for this spot. These five

degrees should be taken from Tartary, and added to the channel which

separates it from the islands north of Japan."

Whilst coasting along this shore no sign of habitation had been

perceived--not a pirogue left the shore. The country, although covered

with magnificent trees and luxuriant vegetation, appeared to be

uninhabited.

On the 23rd of June the _Boussole_ and the _Astrolabe_ cast anchor in

a bay situated in 45 degrees 13 minutes N. lat. and 135 degrees 9

minutes E. long. It was named Ternay Bay.

"We burned with impatience," say La Perouse, "to reconnoitre this land,

which had occupied our imagination ever since we left France. It was

the only portion of the globe which had escaped the indefatigable

activity of Captain Cook; and perhaps we owe the small advantage of

having first landed there to the sad event which ended his days.

"This roadstead was formed of five little creeks, separated one from

the other by hillocks covered with trees of a more delicate and varied

green than is to be seen in France in the brightest spring. Before our

boats reached the shore, our glasses had been directed to the coast,

but we perceived nothing but stags and bears, quietly grazing. Our

impatience to disembark increased at the sight. The ground was

carpeted with plants similar to those of our climate, but more

vigorous and green; most of them were in flower. At every step we

found roses, red and yellow lilies, lilies of the valley, and almost

all our field flowers. The summits of the mountains were crowned with

pines, and oak-trees grew half way up, decreasing in size and vigour

as they neared the sea. The rivers and streams were planted with

willows, birches, and maples; and skirting the larger woods we saw

apple-trees and azaroles in full bloom, as well as clumps of nut-trees,

the fruit of which was beginning to form."

Upon returning from a fishing excursion the French met with a Tartar

tomb. Curiosity induced them to open it, and they found in it two

skeletons, lying side by side. The heads were covered with stuff caps,

the bodies were wrapped in bearskins, and from the waists hung several

little Chinese coins and copper ornaments. They also found

half-a-score of silver bracelets, an iron hatchet, a knife, and other

things, amongst which was a small bag of blue nankeen filled with rice.

Upon the morning of the 27th La Perouse left this solitary bay, after

depositing there several medals, with an inscription giving the date

of his arrival.

A little further on, more than eight hundred cod, which were at once

salted, were caught, and an immense quantity of oysters with superb

mother of pearl were also obtained.

After a stay in Saffren Bay, situated in 47 degrees 51 minutes N. lat.

and 137 degrees 25 minutes E. long., La Perouse discovered, upon the

6th of July, an island, which was no other than Saghalien. The shore

here was as wooded as that of Tartary. Lofty mountains arose in the

interior, the highest of which was called Lamanon peak. As huts and

smoke were seen, M. de Langle and several officers landed. The

inhabitants had recently fled, for the ashes of their fires were

scarcely cold.

Just as the French were re-embarking, after leaving some presents for

the natives, a pirogue landed seven natives, who showed no signs of

fear.

"Amongst them," says the narrative, "were two old men with long white

beards, dressed in stuff made from the bark of trees, very like the

cotton drawers worn in Madagascar. Two of the seven natives had coats

of padded nankeen, differing little in shape from those of the Chinese.

Others wore long gowns, which were fastened by means of a waist-belt

and some little buttons, so that they had no need of drawers. Their

heads were bare, but one or two of them wore bearskin bands. They had

their forelocks and faces shaven, but the back hair kept about eight

or ten inches long, in a different fashion from the Chinese, however,

who leave only a round tuft of hair, which they call 'pen-t-sec.' All

had sealskin boots with the feet artistically worked _a la Chinoise_.

"Their weapons were bows, spears, and arrows, tipped with iron. The

oldest of the natives, to whom the others showed the most respect, had

his eyes in a dreadful state; he wore a shade round his head, to

protect them from the sun. These natives were grave in manner, and

friendly."

M. de Langle appointed a meeting for the morrow. La Perouse and most

of his officers attended. The facts they learned about these Tartars

were important, and decided La Perouse to pursue his discoveries

further north.

"We succeeded in making them understand," he says, "that we wished

them to draw their country, and that of Manchuria. One of the old men

then arose, and with the point of his spear traced the coast of

Tartary westward, running nearly N. and S. To the east, _vis-a-vis_ in

the same direction, he represented his island, and, placing his hand

upon his breast, made us understand that he had indicated his own

country. He left an opening between his island and Tartary, and,

pointing to our vessels, showed us by signs that they could pass

through it. At the south island he delineated another, and left a

second opening, indicating that this too was a route for our ships.

"His quickness in understanding us was great, but not equal to that of

another islander, about thirty years of age, who, seeing that the

figures traced on sand were rubbed out, took one of our pencils and

some paper. He traced out his island, which he called Tchoka, and made

a line for the little river upon the shore of which we were--placing

it two-thirds of the length of the island from north to south. He then

drew Manchuria, leaving, as the old man had done, a strait at the

extreme end; and to our surprise he added the river Saghalien, the

name of which the natives pronounce like ourselves. He placed the

mouth of this river a little to the south of the northerly point of

his island.

"We afterwards wished to ascertain whether this strait was very wide.

We tried to make him understand our idea. He caught at it at once, and,

placing his two hands upright at a distance of three inches one from

the other, he made us understand that he meant to indicate the width

of the little river which formed our watering place; and then, holding

them wider apart, he indicated that the second width was to represent

that of the river Saghalien; and, separating them still more, he gave

the breadth of the strait which divides his country from Tartary.

"M. de Langle and I thought it of the greatest importance to ascertain

whether the island we were coasting was that to which geographers had

given the name of Saghalien, without guessing its extension southwards.

I ordered all hands on board, and prepared to sail in the morning. The

bay in which we had anchored received the name of Langle, from the

captain who discovered it, and was the first to put foot on land.

"In another bay upon the same shore, called Estaing Bay, the boats

landed close to ten or twelve huts. They were larger than those we

before had seen, and were divided into two rooms. That at the back

contained the stove, cooking utensils, and the bench running all round.

That in front was absolutely bare, and probably destined for the

reception of strangers. The women fled when they saw the French land.

Two of them, however, were caught, and, whilst they were being

re-assured, time was found to sketch them. Their faces were peculiar,

but pleasant; they had small eyes and thick lips, the upper one being

painted or tattooed."

[Illustration: He traced the coast of Tartary.]

M. de Langle found the natives gathered about four boats, that were

loaded with smoked fish, which they were helping to put in water. They

were Manchurians, from the shores of Saghalien River. In the corner of

the island was a kind of circus, planted with fifteen or twenty stakes,

each surmounted by the head of a bear. It was supposed, not without

some show of reason, that these trophies were intended to perpetuate

the memory of a victory over this wild beast.

Quantities of cod-fish were obtained upon this coast; and at the mouth

of the river a prodigious quantity of salmon was caught. After

reconnoitring the bay of La Jonquiere, La Perouse cast anchor in

Casters Bay. His water supply was nearly exhausted, and he had no more

wood. The further he penetrated into the strait which separates

Saghalien from the continent, the more the depth diminished. La

Perouse, recognizing that he could not double the island of Saghalien

by the north, and afraid of not being able to leave the defile in

which he now found himself excepting by the strait of Sangaar, which

was much further south, determined to remain only five days in Casters

Bay, a period which he absolutely needed to take in provisions.

The observatory was set up in a small island, while the carpenters cut

down wood, and the sailors filled the water-barrels.

"The huts of these islanders, who call themselves Orotchys," says the

narrative, "are surrounded by a drying ground for salmon, which were

exposed to the sun upon perches, after having been smoked for three or

four days at the stove which is in the centre of the hut. The women

who have charge of this operation take them, as soon as they are

smoked through, into the open air, where they become as hard as wood.

"The natives joined us in our fishing with nets or hooks, and we saw

them voraciously devouring the head, gills, and sometimes the skin, of

raw salmon, tearing it up very cleverly. They sucked out the mucilage,

much as we eat oysters. Their fish seldom reach the shore without

having first paid toll, unless the catch is very large; and the women

show the same eagerness to seize upon the whole fish, and in the same

ravenous way devour the mucilaginous parts, which appear to be their

tid-bits.

"These people are revoltingly dirty. It would be impossible to find a

race farther removed from our ideas of beauty. In height they are less

than four foot ten, their bodies are emaciated, their voices are weak

and shrill like children's. They have projecting cheek-bones, bleared

and sunken eyes, large mouths, flat noses, short and almost beardless

chins, and olive skins, shining with oil and smoke. They allow their

hair to grow long, and dress it somewhat in the European style. The

women wear it loose over their shoulders, and the description we have

given applies to them as well as to the men, from whom they are

scarcely to be distinguished, except for a slight difference in their

apparel. The women are not subject to any labour, which, as in the

case of the American Indians, might have accounted for the inelegance

of their appearance. All their time is occupied in cutting out and

making their clothes, in drying fish and nursing their children, whom

they suckle to the age of three or four years. It rather astonished me

to see a child of this age, who had been shooting with bow and arrows,

beating a dog, &c., throw himself upon his mother's bosom, and take

the place of an infant of five or six months who was lying asleep upon

her knees."

[Illustration: Typical Orotchys. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

The Bitchys and the Orotchys confirmed much of the information which

La Perouse had already obtained. From them he ascertained that the

northern point of Saghalien was connected with the continent merely by

a sand-bank, on which grew seaweed, and where there was but little

water.

This concurrence of testimony left no room for doubt, especially as he

never found more than six fathoms in the canal. There remained but one

point of interest to determine, and that was the survey of the

southern point of Saghalien, which he had only explored as far as

Langle Bay in 47 degrees 49 minutes.

Upon the 2nd of August the _Astrolabe_ and the _Boussole_ left Casters

Bay, and returned southwards, successively discovering and

reconnoitring Monneron Island and Langle Peak, doubling the southern

point of Saghalien called Cape Crillon, which led to a strait between

Oku-Jesso and Jesso; this they named after La Perouse. Hitherto the

geography of this part of the world had been most fanciful and

imaginary. Sansen was of opinion that Corea was an island, and that

Jesso, Oku-Jesso, and Kamtchatka existed only in imagination; whilst

Delisle insisted that Jesso and Oku-Jesso were merely an island,

ending at Sangaar Strait; and lastly, Buache, in his "Considerations

Geographiques," page 105, says, "Jesso, after being placed first in

the east, then in the south, and finally in the west, was at last

found to be in the north."

To this confusion the discoveries of the French expedition were

destined to put an end.

La Perouse had some intercourse with the natives of Crillon Cape, and

stated that they were handsome men, far more industrious than the

Orotchys of Casters Bay, but less liberal in their dealings.

"They have," he says, "one most important article of commerce--unknown

in the channel of Tartary--from which they derive their riches, namely,

whale oil. Of this they collect considerable quantities. They extract

it in a way which is far from economical. They cut the flesh into

pieces, and dry it upon a slope in the open air, by exposing it to the

sun. The oil which flows from it is caught in vessels made of bark, or

into bottles of dried sealskin."

After sighting the Cape Arniva of the Dutch, the vessels coasted along

the barren, treeless, uninhabited country in possession of the Dutch

Company, and shortly reached the Kurile Islands. They then passed

between Marikon Island and the Island of the Four Brothers, calling

the strait--the finest amongst the Kurile Islands, through which they

penetrated--La Boudeuse.

On the 3rd of September the coast of Kamtchatka was reached. This

coast was uninviting enough. "There the eyes rest painfully, and often

fearfully, upon enormous masses of rock, which are already covered

with snow in the beginning of September, and which never appear to

have had any vegetation."

Three days later Avatscha Bay, or the Bay of Saint Peter and Saint

Paul, was reached. The astronomers at once proceeded to take

observations; the naturalists made the perilous and arduous ascent of

a volcano, some eight leagues inland; whilst those of the crew who

were not engaged upon the vessels gave themselves up to hunting and

fishing. Thanks to the welcome accorded by the governor, their

pleasures were varied.

"We were invited," says La Perouse, "to a ball which the governor

wished to give to all the women, whether from Kamtchatka or Russia. If

the ball was not large, it was at least mixed. Thirteen females,

clothed in silk, ten of whom were natives of Kamtchatka, with large

faces, small eyes, and flat noses, were seated upon benches round the

room. Both they and the Russians wore silk handkerchiefs wrapped round

the head, in a way similar to those worn by mulattoes. The ball opened

with Russian dances, the airs for which were very lively, and like

those of the Cossack dances given a short time since in Paris. These

were followed by Kamtchatka dances, which were comparable only to the

convulsionists of the famous tomb of Saint Medard. The dancers of this

part of Asia scarcely require legs, they make such vigorous use of the

shoulders and arms. The impression made upon the spectators by the

convulsive and contorted movements of the Kamtchatka dancers is

painful, and is rendered more so by a pitiful cry which escapes them

at intervals, and which is the sole music by which they measure their

time. The exertions they made are so formidable that they are

completely covered with sweat, and at the conclusion they lie upon the

ground unable to move a limb. The exhalations from their bodies

permeate the atmosphere with the smell of fish and oil, so strong as

to be disagreeable to the unaccustomed nostrils of Europeans."

The arrival of a courier from Okotsk interrupted the ball. The news he

brought was pleasant for every one, but particularly for La Perouse,

who learned that he was promoted.

During their stay in this port, the navigators found the tomb of Louis

Delisle de la Croyere, Member of the Academy of Sciences, who died in

Kamtchatka in 1741, upon his return from an expedition undertaken by

command of the Czar for the survey of the American coast. His

fellow-countrymen honoured his memory by placing an engraved copper

slab over his grave. They paid the same homage to Captain Clerke,

Captain Cook's second in command, and successor.

"Avatscha Bay," says La Perouse, "is certainly the best, most

commodious, and safest to be found in any part of the world. The

entrance is narrow, and forts might easily be constructed to command

vessels entering it. The anchorage is excellent, the bottom muddy; and

two large harbours, one on the eastern shore and one on the west,

would hold all the vessels of the French and English navy."

The _Boussole_ and the _Astrolabe_ set sail upon the 29th of September,

1787. M. de Lesseps, Vice-Consul for Russia, who had accompanied La

Perouse thus far upon his expedition, was charged to return to France

by land (at that time a most perilous journey), and to convey

despatches from the expedition to the government.

The question now arose of finding land discovered in 1620 by the

Spaniards. The two frigates passed south of 37 degrees 30 minutes some

three hundred leagues, without finding any trace of it. Crossing the

line for the third time, they passed the site given by Byron as that

of the Dangerous Islands, without finding them; and, upon the 6th of

December, entered the Navigator Archipelago, the merit of discovering

which belongs to Bougainville. The vessels were at once surrounded by

pirogues. The natives who manned them did not give La Perouse a very

favourable idea of the beauty of the inhabitants.

"I saw but two women," he says, "and they had no delicacy of feature;

the younger, who may have been eighteen years of age, had a frightful

ulcer upon her leg. Many of these islanders were covered with sores,

which may have been the commencement of leprosy; for I noticed two men,

whose ulcerated and swollen legs left no doubt as to their malady.

They approached us fearlessly and unarmed, and appeared as peaceable

as the natives of the Society or Friendly Islands."

Upon the 9th of December anchor was cast off Maouna Island. Next day

the weather was so promising that La Perouse resolved to land to take

in water, and then set sail at once, as the anchorage was too bad to

admit of a second night's stay. Every precaution having been taken, La

Perouse landed, and proceeded to the spot where his sailors were

obtaining water. Captain Langle penetrated to a small creek about a

league from the watering place, "and this excursion, from which he

returned delighted with the beauty of the village he had seen, was, as

will be seen, the cause of our misfortunes."

Upon the shore, meantime, a brisk trade was going on. Men and women

sold hens, parrots, fruits, and pigs. At the same time a native,

getting into one of the sloops, possessed himself of a hammer, and

commenced dealing vigorous blows upon a sailor's back. He was speedily

seized by four strong fellows, and thrown into the sea.

La Perouse penetrated into the interior, accompanied by women, old men,

and children. He enjoyed a delightful excursion through a charming

country, which rejoiced in the double advantage of a soil which

required no culture, and a climate in which clothing was superfluous.

"Bread-fruits, cocoa-nuts, bananas, guavas, and oranges afforded a

wholesome and sufficient nourishment to the inhabitants; while

chickens, pigs, and dogs, which lived upon the surplus fruits,

afforded the necessary change of diet.

"The first visit passed over without serious danger. There were a few

quarrels, it is true; but, thanks to the prudence and reserve of the

French, who kept on their guard, they did not amount to anything

serious. La Perouse had given orders to re-embark, when M. de Langle

insisted upon sending for a few more casks of water.

"He had adopted Captain Cook's views: he thought fresh water

preferable to all other things which he had on board; and as some of

his crew showed signs of scurvy, he was right in thinking that every

help should be given them."

La Perouse from the first had a presentiment against consenting. But

he yielded when M. de Langle persisted that a captain is responsible

for the health of his crew, that the spot which he named was perfectly

safe, that he himself would command the expedition, and that three

hours would suffice for the work.

"M. de Langle," says the narrative, "was a man of so much judgment,

that his representation influenced my decision more than anything else.

"Next day two boats, under command of M. Boutin and M. Mouton,

conveying all the sufferers from scurvy, under charge of six armed

soldiers and a captain, in all twenty-eight men, left the _Astrolabe_,

to be under M. de Langle's orders. M. de Langle was accompanied in his

boat by M. de Lauranon and M. Collinet, who were invalids, and M. de

Varignas, who was convalescent. M. de Gobien commanded the sloop, M.

de la Martiniere, M. Lavant, and the elder Receveur, were amongst the

thirty-three persons sent by the _Boussole_. The entire force amounted

to sixty-one, and those the picked men of the expedition.

"M. de Langle ordered every one to be armed with guns, and six

swivel-guns were placed in the sloop. M. de Langle and all his

companions were greatly surprised when, instead of a large and

commodious bay, they found a creek filled with coral, which it was

only possible to reach through a tortuous channel, where the surf

broke violently. M. de Langle had only seen this bay at high tide, and

as soon as this new sight met his view his first idea was to regain

the former watering-place.

"But the friendly appearance of the natives, the number of women and

children he observed among them, the quantities of pigs and fruit they

offered for sale, put his prudent resolutions to flight.

"The water-casks of the four boats were landed quietly, the soldiers

keeping order upon the shore, and forming a barrier which left a free

space for the workers. But this peaceful condition of affairs did not

last long. Many of the pirogues, having disposed of their wares to our

vessels, returned to the shore, and, landing in the bay of our

watering-place, it was soon entirely filled by them. In place of the

two hundred natives, counting women and children, whom De Langle had

found an hour and a half previously, there were now, at the end of

three hours, a thousand or twelve hundred.

"M. de Langle's situation became more perilous every moment. He

succeeded, however, seconded by M. de Varignas, M. Boutin, M. Collier,

and Gobien, in embarking the water-casks. But the bay was almost dry,

and he could not hope to get his boats off before four o'clock in the

afternoon. However, followed by his detachment, he attempted it, and,

leading the way with his gun and the soldiers, he forbade firing until

he should give the order.

"He felt that he would soon be forced to fire. Already stones were

flying; and the Indians who were in shallow water surrounded the

sloops for a distance of at least two hundred yards. The soldiers who

were already in the boats tried in vain to drive them back.

"M. de Langle was anxious to avoid beginning hostilities, and fearful

of being accused of barbarity; otherwise he would, no doubt, have

ordered a general discharge, which would effectually have scattered

the multitude. But he believed he could subdue the natives without

bloodshed, and he was the victim of his humanity.

"Very soon a storm of stones, thrown at short distances with the force

of a sling, struck almost all who were in the sloop. M. de Langle had

only time to discharge his gun. He was thrown over, and unfortunately

fell outside the sloop. He was at once massacred by more than two

hundred Indians, who assailed him with clubs and stones. As soon as he

expired they fastened him by one arm to the sloop, no doubt with a

view to despoiling the body.

"The sloop of _La Boussole_, under M. Boutin, was run aground within

four yards of that of the _Astrolabe_, and parallel between them was a

narrow channel not yet occupied by the Indians. By this outlet, all

the wounded who were fortunate enough to avoid falling into the open

sea, escaped by swimming. They reached our boats, which fortunately

had remained afloat, and we succeeded in saving forty-nine out of the

sixty-one men who had composed the expedition.

"M. Boutin had imitated M. de Langle. He would not fire, and only gave

orders for a discharge after his commander's shot. Naturally, at the

short distance of four or five paces, every shot killed an Indian; but

there was no time to re-load. M. Boutin was knocked down by a stone,

and fortunately fell between the two stranded boats. Those who had

escaped by swimming towards the two boats had received many wounds,

mostly on the head; whilst those who, less fortunate, had fallen

overboard upon the side near the Indians, were killed instantaneously.

"The safety of forty-nine of the crew is due to the good order which M.

de Varignas was wise enough to maintain, and to the punctuality with

which M. Mouton, who commanded the boats of the _Boussole_, carried

out his orders.

"The boat belonging to the _Astrolabe_ was so overloaded that it

grounded. The natives at once decided to harass the wounded in their

retreat. They hastened in great numbers towards the reefs, within six

feet of which the boats must necessarily pass. The little ammunition

which remained was exhausted upon these savages, and the boats at last

emerged from the creek."

La Perouse's first idea was naturally to avenge the death of his

unfortunate companions; but M. de Boutin, who, although severely

wounded, retained all his faculties, begged him to desist,

representing to him that if by any mishap one of the boats ran aground,

the creek was so situated, being bordered with trees which afforded

secure shelter to the natives, that not a Frenchman would come back

alive. La Perouse remained for two days upon the scene of this

terrible disaster, without being able to gratify the vindictive

desires of his crew.

"No doubt," says La Perouse, "it will appear incredible that during

this time five or six pirogues left the shore, bringing pigs, pigeons,

and cocoa-nuts, and offering them in exchange. I was forced to control

myself, or I should have disposed of these natives summarily enough."

It may readily be supposed that an event which deprived La Perouse of

a large number of officers, and of thirty-two of his best sailors, was

calculated to upset the plans of the expedition. At the slightest

approach of danger it would now be necessary to destroy one frigate,

in order to arm the other. But one course remained for La Perouse--to

set sail for Botany Bay, reconnoitring the various islands he passed,

and taking their astronomical positions.

Upon the 14th of December, Oyolava, another island belonging to the

same group, and which Bougainville had seen from a distance, was

sighted. It was larger than Tahiti, and exceeded that island in beauty,

fertility, and in the number of its inhabitants.

The natives resembled those of Maouna in every particular, and quickly

surrounded the two frigates, offering the multifarious productions of

their island. It appeared that the French must have been the first to

trade with them, for they were quite unacquainted with the use or

value of iron, and preferred a single coloured bead to a hatchet, or a

nail six inches long.

Some of the women had pleasant features and elegant figures; their

eyes were gentle, and their movements quiet, whilst the men were wild

and fierce in appearance.

Pola Island, also belonging to the Navigator Archipelago, was passed

upon the 17th of December. Probably the news of the massacre of the

French had already reached this people, for no pirogue approached the

vessels.

Cocoa-nut Island and Schouten's Traitor Island were recognized upon

the 20th of December. The latter is divided by a strait, which the

navigators would not have perceived, had they not coasted close in

shore. About a score of natives appeared, bringing the finest

cocoa-nuts La Perouse had ever seen, with a few bananas and one small

pig.

These islands, which Wallis calls Boscawen and Keppel Islands, and

which he places 1 degree 13 minutes too far west, may also be

considered part of the Navigator Archipelago. La Perouse considers the

natives of this group as belonging to the finest Polynesian race. Tall,

vigorous, and well-formed, they are of finer type than those of the

Sandwich Islands, whose language is very similar to theirs. Under

other circumstances, the captain would have proceeded to explore

Oyolava and Pola Islands; but the memory of the disaster at Maouna was

too recent, and he dreaded another encounter which might end in

massacre.

"Painful associations," he says, "met us with every succeeding island.

In the Recreation Islands, east of the Navigator Archipelago,

Roggewein's crew had been attacked and stoned to death; at Traitor

Island, which was now in sight, Schouten's crew were the victims; and

in the south was Maouna Island, where we ourselves had met with so

shocking a calamity.

"These recollections affected our way of dealing with the Indians. We

now punished every little theft and injustice severely; we

demonstrated by force of arms that flight would not save them from our

vengeance; we refused to allow them to come on board, and threatened

to punish all who did so without permission with death."

These remarks prove that La Perouse was right in preventing all

intercourse between his crews and the natives. We cannot sufficiently

praise the prudence and humanity of the commander who, in the excited

condition of his men's minds, knew how to curb the desire for

vengeance.

From the Navigator Islands the route was directed to the Friendly

Archipelago, which Cook had been unable to explore entirely. Upon the

27th of December, Vavao Island was discovered, one of the largest of

the group, which had not been visited by the English navigator. As

large as Tonga Tabou, it is higher, and not wanting in fresh water. La

Perouse reconnoitred many of these islands, and entered into relations

with the natives, who, however, did not offer sufficient provisions to

make it worth his while to trade. He therefore resolved upon the 1st

of January, 1788, to go to Botany Bay, following a route not yet

attempted by any navigator.

Pilstaart Island, discovered by Tasman--or rather, the rock of

Pilstaart, for its entire length is but a quarter of a

league--presents but a steep and broken appearance, and serves only as

a resting-place for sea birds. On this account La Perouse, having no

reason for remaining, wished to hasten on to New Holland; but there

was another power to be consulted--the wind, and by it La Perouse was

detained for three days before Pilstaart.

Norfolk Island and its two islets were sighted upon the 13th of

January. La Perouse cast anchor within easy distance of shore,

intending to allow the naturalists to land, and inspect the

productions of the island; but the waves broke with such violence upon

the beach that landing was impossible. Yet Cook had landed there with

the greatest facility.

An entire day was passed in vain attempts, and was quite unproductive

of scientific results.

Next day La Perouse started afresh, and upon entering the roadstead of

Botany Bay encountered an English vessel, under command of Commodore

Phillip, who was engaged in constructing Port Jackson, the embryo of

that powerful colony which in our day, after only a quarter of a

century's growth, has attained to such a height of civilization and

prosperity.

Here the journal kept by La Perouse terminates. A letter, written by

him from Botany Bay, upon the 5th of February, to the Naval Minister,

informs us that he intended building two sloops, to replace those

which had been destroyed at Maouna. All his wounded, amongst them M.

Lavaux, the surgeon of the _Astrolabe_, who had been trepanned, were

perfectly recovered. M. de Clenard had assumed command of the

_Astrolabe_, and had been succeeded upon the _Boussole_ by M. de Monti.

In a letter of two days' later date, giving particulars of his

intended route, La Perouse says,--

"I shall regain the Friendly Islands, and carry out the instructions I

have received with regard to the northern portion of New Caledonia, to

Santa Cruz de Mendana, to the land south of the Arsacides of Surville,

and to the Louisiade of Bougainville, and also ascertain, if possible,

whether the latter constitutes a portion of New Guinea, or is a

separate continent. At the end of July, 1788, I shall pass between New

Guinea and New Holland by some other channel than the Endeavour; that

is to say, if there be another. During September, and the early part

of October, I propose to visit the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the

eastern coast of New Holland, as far as Van Diemen's Land, so as to

allow of my return to the north in time to arrive at Mauritius in the

beginning of December, 1788."

Not only did La Perouse fail to keep the rendezvous he himself

appointed, but two entire years passed away, and no news whatever of

his expedition were received.

Although at that epoch France was passing through a terrible crisis,

the interest of the public in the fate of La Perouse was so intense

that it found vent in an appeal to the National Assembly from the

members of the Society of Natural History in Paris. Upon the 9th of

February, 1791, a decree was passed enjoining the fitting out of two

or more armed vessels, to be sent in search of La Perouse. It was

argued, that had shipwreck overtaken the expedition a number of the

crews might still survive, and that it was only just to carry help to

them as soon as possible. Men of science, naturalists, and draughtsmen,

were to take part in the expedition, with the view to obtaining

valuable information for navigation, geography, and commerce, as well

as for the arts and sciences. Such were the terms of the decree to

which we have alluded.