To go to Surabaya without paying a visit to the Sultan of Madura, whose

reputation for hospitality had crossed the seas, would have been as

impossible as it is to visit Paris without going to see Versailles and

Trianon. After a comfortable lunch on shore, therefore, the staff of

the two vessels set out in open carriages and four; but the roads were

so bad and the horses so worn out that they would many a time have

stuck in the mud if men stationed at the dangerous places had not

energetically shoved at the wheels. At last they arrived at Bankalan,

and the carriages drew up in the third court of the palace at the foot

of a staircase, at the top of which the hereditary prince and the prime

minister awaited the arrival of the travellers. Prince Adden Engrate

belonged to the most illustrious family of the Indian Archipelago. He

wore the undress uniform of a Java chief, consisting of a long flowered

petticoat of Indian make, scarcely allowing the Chinese slippers to be

seen, a white vest with gold buttons, and a small skirted waistcoat of

brown cloth, with diamond buttons. A handkerchief was tied about his

head, on which he wore a visor-cap, his ease and dignity of bearing

alone saving him from looking like the grotesque figure of a carnival

amazon. The palace or "kraton" consisted of a series of buildings with

galleries, kept delightfully cool by awnings and curtains, whilst

lustres, tasty European furniture, pretty hangings, glass and crystal

ornaments decorated the vast halls and rooms. A suite of private

apartments, with no opening to the court, but with a view of the

gardens, is reserved for the "Ratu" (sovereign) and the harem.

The reception was cordial, and the repast, served in European style,

was delicious. "The conversation," says Bougainville, "was conducted in

English, and many toasts were proposed, the prince drinking our healths

in tea poured from a bottle, and to which he helped himself as if it

had been Madeira. Being head of the church as well as of the state, he

strictly obeys the precepts of the Koran, never drinking wine, and

spending a great part of his time at the mosque; but he is not the less

sociable, and his talk bears no trace of the austerity to be expected

in that of one who leads so regular a life. This life is not, however,

all spent in prayer, and the scenes witnessed by us would give a very

false impression if we did not know that great latitude is allowed on

this point to the followers of the prophet."

In the afternoon the Frenchmen visited several coach-houses, containing

very handsome carriages, some of which, built on the island, were so

well-made that it was absolutely impossible to distinguish them from

those which had been imported. Some archery was then witnessed, and

joined in, after which, on the return to the palace, the visitors were

welcomed by the sound of melancholy music, speedily interrupted,

however, by the barking and fantastical dancing of the prince's fool,

who showed wonderful agility and suppleness. To this dance, or rather

to these postures of a bayadere, succeeded the excitement of

vingt-et-un, followed by well-earned repose. Next day there were new

entertainments and new exercises; beginning with wrestling-matches for

grown men and for youths, and proceeding with quail-fights, and feats

performed by a camel and an elephant. After lunch Bougainville and his

party had a drive and some archery, and witnessed sack-races,

basket-balancing, &c. In this way, they were told, the sultan passed

all his time. Most striking is the respect and submission shown by all

to this sovereign. No one ever stands upright before him, but all

prostrate themselves before addressing him. All his subjects do but

"wait at his feet," and even his own little child of four years clasps

his tiny hands when he speaks to his father.

While at Surabaya, Bougainville took the opportunity of visiting the

volcano of Brumo, in the Tengger Mountains; and this excursion, in

which he explored the island for a hundred miles, from east to west,

was one of the most interesting undertaken by him. Surabaya contains

some curious buildings and monuments, most of them the work of a former

governor, General Daendels; such are the "Builder's Workshop," the

"Hotel de la Monnaie" (the only establishment of the kind in Java), and

the hospital, which is built on a well-chosen site, and contains 400

beds. The island of Madura, opposite to Surabaya, is at least 100 miles

in length, by fifteen or twenty in breadth, and does not yield produce

sufficient to maintain the population, sparse as it is. The sovereignty

of this island is divided between the sultans of Bankalan and Sumanap,

who furnish annually six hundred recruits to the Dutch, without

counting extraordinary levies.

On the 20th April, symptoms of dysentery showed themselves amongst the

crews. Two days later therefore the vessel set sail, and it took seven

good days to get beyond the straits of Madura. They returned along the

north coast of Lombok, and passed through the Allas Straits, between

Lombok and Sumbawa. The first of these islands, from the foot of the

mountains to the sea, presents the appearance of a green carpet,

adorned with groups of trees of elegant appearance, and upon its coast

there is no lack of good anchorage, whilst fresh water and wood are

plentiful. On the other side, however, there are numerous peaks of

barren aspect, rising from a lofty table-land, the approach to which is

barred by a series of rugged and inaccessible islands, known as Lombok,

the coral-beds and treacherous currents about which must be carefully

avoided. Two stoppages at the villages of Baly and Peejow, with a view

to taking in fresh provisions, enabled the officers to make a

hydrographical chart of this part of the coast of Lombok. Upon leaving

the strait, Bougainville made an unsuccessful search for Cloates

Island. That he did not find it is not very wonderful, as during the

last eight years many ships have passed over the spot assigned to it

upon the maps. The "Triads," on the other hand, i.e. the rocks seen in

1777 by the _Freudensberg Castle_, are, in Captain King's opinion, the

Montepello Islands, which correspond perfectly with the description of

the Danes.

Bougainville had instructions to survey the neighbourhood of the Swan

River, where the French Government hoped to find a place suitable for

the reception of the wretches then huddled together in their

convict-prisons; but the flag of England had just been unfurled on the

shores of Nuyts and Leuwin, in King George's Sound, Geographe Bay, the

little Leschenault inlet, and on the Swan River, so that there was no

longer any reason for a new exploration. Everything in fact had

combined to prevent it; the delays to which the expedition had been

subjected had indeed been so serious that instead of arriving in these

latitudes in April, they did not reach them until the middle of May,

there the very heart of winter. Moreover, the coast offers no shelter,

for so soon as the wind begins to blow, the waves swell tremendously,

and the memory of the trials which the _Geographe_ had undergone at the

same season of the year was still fresh in the minds of the French. The

_Thetis_ and the _Esperance_ were pursued by the bad weather as far as

Hobart Town, the chief English station upon the coast of Tasmania,

where the commander was very anxious to put in. He was, however, driven

back by storms to Port Jackson, which is marked by a very handsome

lighthouse, a granite tower seventy-six feet high, with a lantern lit

by gas, visible at a distance of nine leagues.

[Illustration: Entrance to Sydney Bay.]

Sir Thomas Brisbane, the governor, gave a cordial reception to the

expedition, and at once took the necessary steps to furnish it with

provisions. This was done by contract at low prices, and the greatest

good faith was shown in carrying out all bargains. The sloop had to be

run ashore to have its sheathing repaired, but this, with some work of

less importance necessary to the _Thetis_, did not take long. The delay

was also turned to account by the whole staff, who were greatly

interested in the marvellous progress of this penal colony. While

Bougainville was eagerly reading all the works which had as yet

appeared upon New South Wales, the officers wandered about the town,

and were struck dumb with amazement at the numberless public buildings

erected by Governor Macquarie, such as the barracks, hospital, market,

orphanages, almshouses for the aged and infirm, the prison, the fort,

the churches, government-house, the fountains, the town gates, and last

but not least, the government-stables, which are always at first sight

taken for the palace itself. There was, however, a dark side to the

picture. The main thoroughfares, though well-planned, were neither

paved nor lighted, and were so unsafe at night, that several people had

been seized and robbed in the very middle of George Street, the best

quarter of Sydney. If the streets in the town were unsafe, those in the

suburbs were still more so. Vagrant convicts overran the country in the

form of bands of "bushrangers," who had become so formidable that the

government had recently organized a company of fifty dragoons for the

express purpose of hunting them down. All this did not, however, hinder

the officers from making many interesting excursions, such as those to

Paramatta, on the banks of the Nepean, a river very deeply embanked,

where they visited the Regent Ville district; and to the "plains of

Emu," a government agricultural-station, and a sort of model farm. They

went to the theatre, where a grand performance was given in their

honour. The delight sailors take in riding is proverbial, and it was on

horseback that the French crossed the Emu plains. The noble animals,

imported from England, had not degenerated in New South Wales; they

were still full of spirit as one of the young officers found to his

cost, when, as he was saying in English to Sir John Cox, acting as

cicerone to the party, "I do love this riding exercise," he was

suddenly thrown over his horse's head and deposited on the grass before

he knew where he was. The laugh against him was all the more hearty as

the skilful horseman was not injured.

Beyond Sir John Cox's plantations extends the unbroken "open forest,"

as the English call it, which can be crossed on horseback, and consists

chiefly of the eucalyptus, acacias of various kinds, and the

dark-leaved casuarinas. The next day, an excursion was made up the

river Nepean, a tributary of the Hawkesbury, on which trip many

valuable facts of natural history were obtained, Bougainville enriching

his collection with canaries, waterfowl, and a very pretty species of

kingfisher and cockatoos. In the neighbouring woods was heard the

unpleasant cry of the lyre-pheasant and of two other birds, which

feebly imitate the tinkling of a hand-bell and the jarring noise of the

saw. These are not, however, the only feathered fowl remarkable for the

peculiarity of their notes; we must also mention the "whistling-bird,"

the "knife-grinder," the "mocking-bird," the "coachman," which mimics

the crack of the whip, and the "laughing jackass," with its continual

bursts of laughter, which have a strange effect upon the nerves. Sir

John Cox presented the commander with two specimens of the water-mole,

also called the ornithorhynchus, a curious amphibious creature, the

habits of which are still little known to European naturalists, many

museums not possessing a single specimen.

Another excursion was made in the Blue Mountains, where the famous

"King's Table-land" was visited, from which a magnificent view was

obtained. The explorers gained with great difficulty the top of an

eminence, and an abyss of 1600 feet at once opened beneath them; a vast

green carpet stretching away to a distance of some twenty miles, whilst

on the right and left were the distorted sides of the mountain, which

had been rudely rent asunder by some earthquake, the irregularities

corresponding exactly with each other. Close at hand foams a roaring,

rushing torrent, flinging itself in a series of cascades into the

valley beneath, the whole passing under the name of "Apsley's

Waterfall." This trip was succeeded by a kangaroo hunt in the

cow-pastures with Mr. Macarthur, one of the chief promoters of the

prosperity of New South Wales. Bougainville also turned his stay at

Sydney to account by laying the foundation-stone of a monument to the

memory of La Perouse. This cenotaph was erected in Botany Bay, upon the

spot where the navigator had pitched his camp.

[Illustration: "Apsley's Waterfall."]

On September 21st the _Thetis_ and the _Esperance_ at last set sail;

passing off Pitcairn Island, Easter Island, and Juan Fernandez, now a

convict settlement for criminals from Chili, after having been occupied

for a half-century by Spanish vine-growers.

On the 23rd November the _Thetis_, which had been separated from the

_Esperance_ during a heavy storm, anchored off Valparaiso, where it met

Admiral de Rosamel's division. Great excitement prevailed in the

roadstead, for an expedition against the island of Chiloe, which still

belonged to Spain, was being organized by the chief director, General

Ramon Freire y Serrano, of whom we have already spoken.

Bougainville, like the Russian navigator Lutke, is of opinion that the

position of Valparaiso does not justify its reputation. The streets are

dirty and narrow, and so steep that walking in them is very fatiguing.

The only pleasant part is the suburb of Almendral, which, with its

gardens and orchards, would be still more agreeable but for the

sand-storms prevalent throughout nearly the whole of the year. In 1811,

Valparaiso numbered only from four to five thousand inhabitants; but in

1825 the population had already tripled itself, and the increase showed

no sign of ceasing. When the _Thetis_ touched at Valparaiso, the

English frigate, the _Blonde_, commanded by Lord Byron, grandson of the

explorer of the same name, whose discoveries are narrated above, was

also at anchor there. By a singular coincidence Byron had raised a

monument to the memory of Cook in the island of Hawaii, at the very

time when Bougainville, the son of the circumnavigator, met by Byron in

the Straits of Magellan, was laying the foundation-stone of the

monument to the memory of La Perouse in New South Wales.

Bougainville turned the delay necessary for the revictualling of his

division to account by paying a visit to Santiago, the capital of

Chili, thirty-three leagues inland. The environs of Chili are terribly

bare, without houses or any signs of cultivation. Its steeples alone

mark the approach to it, and one may fancy oneself still in the

outskirts when the heart of the city is reached. There is, however, no

lack of public buildings, such as the Hotel de la Monnaie, the

university, the archbishop's palace, the cathedral, the church of the

Jesuits, the palace, and the theatre, the last of which is so badly

lighted that it is impossible to distinguish the faces of the audience.

The promenade, known as La Canada, has now supplanted that of L'Alameda

on the banks of the river Mapocha, once the evening rendezvous. The

objects of interest in the town exhausted, the Frenchmen examined those

in the neighbourhood, visiting the Salto de Agua, a waterfall of 1200

feet in height, the ascent to which is rather arduous, and the Cerito

de Santa-Lucia, from which rises a fortress, the sole defence of the

town.

The season was now advancing, and no time was to be lost if the

explorers wished to take advantage of the best season for doubling Cape

Horn. On the 8th January, 1826, therefore, the two vessels once more

put to sea, and rounded the Cape without any mishap, though landing at

the Falklands was rendered impossible by fog and contrary winds. Anchor

was cast on the 28th March in the roadstead of Rio Janeiro, and, as it

turned out, at a time most favourable for the French to form an

accurate opinion alike on the city and the court.

"The emperor," says Bougainville, "was upon a journey at the time of

our arrival, and his return was the occasion of fetes and receptions

which roused the population to activity, and broke for a time the

monotony of ordinary life in Rio, that dullest and dreariest of towns

to the foreigner. Its environs, however, are charming; nature has in

them been lavish of her riches; and the vast harbour, the Atlantic,

rendezvous of the commercial world, presents a most animated scene.

Innumerable ships, either standing in or getting under weigh, small

craft cruising about, a ceaseless roar of cannon from the forts and

men-of-war, exchanging signals on the occasion of some anniversary or

the celebration of some festival of the church, whilst visits were

constantly being exchanged between the officers of the various foreign

vessels and the diplomatic agents of foreign powers at the court of

Rio."

The division set sail again on the 11th April, and arrived at Brest on

the 24th June, 1826, without having put into port since it left Rio

Janeiro. We must remember that if Bougainville did not make any

discoveries on this voyage, he had no formal instructions to do so, his

mission being merely to unfurl the flag of France where it had as yet

been rarely seen. None the less do we owe to this general officer some

very interesting, and in some cases new information on the countries

visited by him. Some of the surveys made by his expedition may be of

service to navigators, and it must be owned that the hydrographical

researches which alone could be undertaken in the absence of scientific

men were carefully made, and resulted in the obtaining of numerous and

accurate data. We can but sympathize with the commander of the

_Thetis_, in his expression of regret, in the preface to his journal,

that neither the Government nor the _Academie des Sciences_ had seen

fit to turn his expedition to account to obtain new results

supplementary of the rich harvest gleaned by his predecessors.

The expedition next sent out under the command of Captain Dumont

d'Urville was merely intended by the minister to supplement and

consolidate the mass of scientific data collected by Captain Duperrey

in his voyage from 1822 to 1824. As second in command to Duperrey, and

the originator and organizer of the new exploring expedition, D'Urville

had the very first claim to be appointed to its command. The portions

of Oceania he proposed to visit were New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, the

Loyalty Islands, New Britain, and New Guinea, all of which he

considered urgently to demand the consideration alike of the geographer

and the traveller. What he effected in this direction we shall

ascertain by following him step by step. An interest of another

character also attaches to this trip, but it will be well to quote on

this point the instructions given to the navigator.

"An American captain," writes the Minister of Marine, "said that he saw

in the hands of the natives of an isle situated between New Caledonia

and the Louisiade Archipelago a cross of St. Louis and some medals,

which he imagined to be relics of the wrecked vessel of the celebrated

La Perouse, whose loss is so deeply and justly regretted. This is, of

course, but a feeble reason for hoping that some of the victims of the

disaster still survive; but you, sir, will give great satisfaction to

his Majesty, if you are the means of restoring any one of the poor

shipwrecked mariners to their native land after so many years of misery

and exile."

The aims of the expedition were therefore manifold, and by the greatest

chance it was able to achieve them nearly all. D'Urville received his

appointment in December, 1825, and was permitted himself to choose all

who were to accompany him. He named as second in command Lieutenant

Jacquinot, and as scientific colloborateurs Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard,

who had been on board the _Uranie_, and as surgeon Primevere Lesson.

The _Coquille_, the excellent qualities of which were well known to

D'Urville, was the vessel selected; and the commander having named her

the _Astrolabe_ in memory of La Perouse, embarked in her a crew of

twenty-four men. Anchor was weighed on the 25th April, and the

mountains of Toulon with the coast of France were soon out of sight.

After touching at Gibraltar, the _Astrolabe_ stopped at Teneriffe to

take in fresh provisions before crossing the Atlantic, and D'Urville

took advantage of this delay to ascend the peak, accompanied by Messrs.

Quoy, Gaimard, and several officers, a bad road, very arduous for

pedestrians, leading the first part of the way over fields of scoria,

though as Laguna is approached the scenery improves. This town, of a

considerable size, contains but a small, indolent, and miserable

population.

Between Matunza and Orotara the vegetation is magnificent, and the

luxuriant foliage of the vine enhances the beauty of the view. Orotara

is a small seaboard town, with a port affording but little shelter. It

is well-built and laid out, and would be comfortable enough if the

streets were not so steep as to make traffic all but impossible. After

three-quarters of an hour's climb through well-cultivated fields, the

Frenchmen reached the chestnut-tree region, beyond which begin the

clouds, taking the form of a thick moist fog, very disagreeable to the

traveller. Further on comes the furze region, beyond which the

atmosphere again becomes clear, vegetation disappears, the ground

becomes poorer and more barren. Here are met with decomposed lava,

scoria, and pumice-stones in great abundance, whilst below stretches

away the boundless sea of clouds.

Thus far hidden by clouds or by the lofty mountains surrounding it, the

peak at last stands forth distinctly, the incline becomes less steep,

and those vast plains of intensely melancholy appearance, called

Canadas by the Spanish, on account of their bareness, are crossed. A

halt is made for lunch at the Pine grotto before climbing the huge

blocks of basalt ranged in a circle about the crater, now filled in

with ashes from the peak, and forming its enceinte. The peak itself is

next attached, the ascent of which is broken one-third of the way up by

a sort of esplanade called the Estancia de los Ingleses. Here our

travellers passed the night, not perhaps quite so comfortably as they

would have done in their berths, but without suffering too much from

the feeling of suffocation experienced by other explorers. The fleas,

however, were very troublesome, and their unremitting attacks kept the

commander awake all night.

At four a.m. the ascent was resumed, and a second esplanade, called the

Alta Vista, was soon reached, beyond which all trace of a path

disappears, the rest of the ascent being over rough lava as far as the

Chahorra Cone, with here and there, in the shade, patches of unmelted

snow. The peak itself is very steep, and its ascent is rendered yet

more arduous by the pumice-stone which rolls away beneath the feet.

"At thirty-five minutes past six," says M. Dumont d'Urville, "we

arrived at the summit of the Chahorra, which is evidently a

half-extinct crater. Its sides are thin and sloping, it is from sixty

to eighty feet deep, and the whole surface is strewn with fragments of

obsidian, pumice-stones, and lava. Sulphureous vapour, forming a kind

of crown of smoke, is emitted from it, whilst the atmosphere at the

bottom is perfectly cool. At the summit of the peak the thermometer

marked 11 degrees, but in my opinion it was affected by the presence of

the fumerolles, for when at the bottom of the crater it fell rapidly

from 19 degrees in the sun to 9 degrees 5' in the shade."

The descent was accomplished without accident by another route,

enabling our travellers to examine the Cueva de la Nieve, and to visit

the forest of Aqua Garcia, watered by a limpid stream, and in which

D'Urville made a rich collection of botanical specimens.

In Major Megliorini's rooms at Santa Cruz the commander was shown,

together with a number of weapons, shells, animals, fish, &c., a

complete mummy of a Guanche, said to be that of a woman. The corpse was

sewn up in skins, and seemed to be that of a woman five feet four high,

with regular features and large hands. The sepulchral caves of the

Guanches also contained earthenware, wooden vases, triangular seals of

baked clay, and a great number of small discs of the same material,

strung together like chaplets, which may have been used by this extinct

race for the same purposes as the "quipos" of the Peruvians.

On the 21st June the _Astrolabe_ once more set sail and touched at La

Praya, and at the Cape Verd Islands, where D'Urville had hoped to meet

Captain King, who would have been able to give him some valuable hints

on the navigation of the coast of New Guinea. King, however, had left

La Praya thirty-six hours previously, and the _Astrolabe_ therefore

resumed her voyage the next day, i.e. on the 30th June.

On the last day of July the rocks of Martin-Vaz and Trinity Island were

sighted, and the latter appearing perfectly barren, a little dried-up

grass and a few groups of stunted trees, dotted about amongst the

rocks, being the only signs of vegetation.

D'Urville had been very anxious to make some botanical researches on

this desert island, but the surf was so rough that he was afraid to

risk a boat in it.

On the 4th August the _Astrolabe_ sailed over the spot laid down as

"Saxembourg" Island, which ought to be finally erased from French as it

has been from English charts; and after a succession of squalls, which

tried her sorely, she arrived off St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands,

finally anchoring on the 7th October in King George's Sound, on the

coast of Australia. In spite of the roughness of the sea, and constant

bad weather throughout his voyage of 108 days, D'Urville had carried on

all his usual observations on the height of the waves, which he

estimated at 80 and occasionally as much as 100 feet, off Needle Bank;

the temperature of the sea at various depths, &c.

Captain Jacquinot having found a capital supply of fresh water on the

right bank of Princess Royal Harbour, and at a little distance a site

suitable for the erection of an observatory, the tents were soon

pitched by the sailors, and several officers made a complete tour of

the bay, whilst others opened relations with the aborigines, one of

whom was induced to go on board, though it was only with the greatest

difficulty that he was persuaded to throw away his _Banksia_, a cone

used to retain heat, and to keep the stomach and the front part of the

body warm. He remained quietly enough on board for two days, however,

eating and drinking in front of the kitchen fire. In the meantime his

fellow-countrymen on land were peaceable and well-disposed, even

bringing three of their children into the camp.

During this halt a boat arrived manned by eight Englishmen, who asked

to be taken on board as passengers, and told such a very improbable

story of having been deserted by their captain, that D'Urville

suspected them of being escaped convicts; a suspicion which became a

conviction, when he saw the wry faces they made at his proposal to send

them back to Port Jackson. The next day, however, one took a berth as

sailor, and two were received as passengers; whilst the other five

decided to remain on land and drag out a miserable existence amongst

the natives.

All this time hydrographical and astronomical observations were being

made, and the hunters and naturalists were trying to obtain specimens

of new varieties of fauna and flora. The delays extending to October

24th enabled the explorers to regain their strength, after their trying

voyage, to make the necessary repairs, take in wood and water, draw up

a map of the whole neighbourhood, and to collect numerous botanical and

zoological specimens. His observations of various kinds made D'Urville

wonder that the English had not yet founded a colony on King George's

Sound, admirably situated as it is, not only for vessels coming direct

from Europe, but for those trading between the Cape and China, or bound

for the Sunda Islands, and delayed by the monsoons. The coast was

explored as far as West Port, preferred by D'Urville to Port Dalrymple,

the latter being a harbour always difficult and often dangerous either

to enter or to leave. West Port moreover, was as yet only known from

the reports of Baudin and Flinders, and it was therefore better worth

exploring than a more frequented district. The observations made in

King George's Sound were therefore repeated at West Port, resulting in

the following conclusions:--

"It affords," says D'Urville, "an anchorage alike easy to reach and to

leave, the bottom is firm, and wood is abundant and easily procurable.

In a word, when a good supply of fresh water is found, and that will

probably be soon, West Port will rise to a position of great importance

in a channel such as Bass's Straits, when the winds often blow strongly

from one quarter for several days together, the currents at the same

time rendering navigation difficult."

From November 19th to December 2nd the _Astrolabe_ cruised along the

coast, touching only at Jervis Bay, remarkable for its magnificent

eucalyptus forests.

[Illustration: Eucalyptus forest of Jervis Bay.]

The reception given to the French at Port Jackson, by Governor Darling

and the colonial authorities, was none the less cordial for the fact

that the visits made by D'Urville to various parts of New Holland had

greatly amazed the English Government.

During the last three years Port Jackson had increased greatly in size

and improved in appearance; though the population of the whole colony

only amounted to 50,000, and that in spite of the constant foundation

of new English settlements. The commander took advantage of his stay in

Sydney to forward his despatches to France, together with several cases

of natural history specimens. This done and a fresh stock of provisions

having been laid in, he resumed his voyage.

[Illustration: New Guinea hut on piles. (Fac-simile of early

engraving.)]

It would be useless to linger with Dumont d'Urville at New South Wales,

to the history of which, and its condition in 1826, he devotes a whole

volume of his narrative. We have already given a detailed account of

it, and it will be better to leave Sydney with our traveller, on the

19th December, and follow him to Tasman Bay, through calms, head-winds,

currents, and tempests, which prevented his reaching New Zealand before

the 14th January, 1827. Tasman Bay, first seen by Cook on his second

voyage, had never yet been explored by any expedition, and on the

arrival of the _Astrolabe_ a number of canoes, containing some score of

natives, most of them chiefs, approached. These natives were not afraid

to climb on board, some remaining several days, whilst later arrivals

drew up within reach, and a brisk trade was opened. Meanwhile several

officers climbed through the thick furze clothing the hills overlooking

the bay, and the following is D'Urville's verdict on the desolate scene

which met their view.

"Not a bird, not an insect, not even a reptile to be seen, the solemn,

melancholy silence is unbroken by the voice of any living creature."

From the summit of these hills the commander saw New Bay, that known as

Admiralty, which communicates by a current with that in which the

_Astrolabe_ was anchored; and he was anxious to explore it, as it

seemed safer than that of Tasman, but the currents several times

brought his vessel to the very verge of destruction; and had the

_Astrolabe_ been driven upon the rocky coast, the whole crew would have

perished, and not so much as a trace of the wreck would have been left.

At last, however, D'Urville succeeded in clearing the passage with no

further loss than that of a few bits of the ship's keel.

"To celebrate," says the narrative, "the memory of the passage of the

_Astrolabe_, I conferred upon this dangerous strait the name of the

'Passe des Francais'" (French Pass), "but, unless in a case of great

necessity, I should not advise any one else to attempt it. We could now

look calmly at the beautiful basin in which we found ourselves; and

which certainly deserves all the praise given to it by Cook. I would

specially recommend a fine little harbour, some miles to the south of

the place, where the captain cast anchor. Our navigation of the 'Passe

des Francais' had definitively settled the insular character of the

whole of the district terminating in the 'Cape Stephens' of Cook. It is

divided from the mainland of Te-Wahi-Punamub[1] by the Current Basin.

The comparison of our chart with that of the strait as laid down by

Cook will suffice to show how much he left to be done."

[Footnote 1: Now "South Island."--_Trans._]

The _Astrolabe_ soon entered Cook's Strait, and sailing outside Queen

Charlotte's Bay, doubled Cape Palliser, a headland formed of some low

hills. D'Urville was greatly surprised to find that a good many

inaccuracies had crept into the work of the great English navigator,

and in that part of the account of his voyage which relates to

hydrography, he quotes instances of errors of a fourth, or even third

of a degree.

The commander then resolved to make a survey of the eastern side of the

northern island Ika-Na-Mawi. On this island pigs were to be found, but

no "_pounamon_" the green jade which the New Zealanders use in the

manufacture of their most valuable tools; strange to say, however, jade

is to be found on the southern island, but there are no pigs.

Two natives of the island, who had expressed a wish to remain on board

the corvette, became quite low-spirited as they watched the coast of

the district where they lived disappear below the horizon. They then

began to repent, but too late, the intrepidity which had prompted them

to leave their native shores; for intrepid they justly deserve to be

called, seeing that again and again they asked the French sailors if

they were not to be eaten, and it took several days of kind treatment

to dispel this fear from their minds.

[Illustration: New Zealanders. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

D'Urville continued to sail northward up the coast until the capes,

named by Cook Turn-again and Kidnappers, had been doubled, and Sterile

Island with its "Ipah" came in sight. In the Bay of Tolaga, as Cook

called it, the natives brought alongside the corvette pigs and

potatoes, which they readily exchanged for articles of little value. On

other canoes approaching, the New Zealanders who were on board the

vessel urged the commander to fire upon and kill their

fellow-countrymen in the boats; but as soon as the latter climbed up to

the deck, the first arrivals advanced to greet them with earnest

assurances of friendship. Conduct so strangely inconsistent is the

outcome of the compound of hatred and jealousy mutually entertained for

each other by these tribes. "They all desire to appropriate to

themselves exclusively whatever advantage may be obtained from the

visits of foreigners, and they are distressed at the prospect of their

neighbours getting any share." Proof was soon afforded that this

explanation is the right key to their behaviour.

Upon the _Astrolabe_ were several New Zealanders, but among them was a

certain "_Shaki_" who was recognized as a chief by his tall stature,

his elaborate tattooing, and the respectful manner in which he was

addressed by his fellow-islanders. Seeing a canoe manned by not more

than seven or eight men approaching the corvette, this "_Shaki_" and

the rest came to entreat D'Urville most earnestly to kill the new

arrivals, going so far as to ask for muskets that they might themselves

fire upon them. However, no sooner had the last comers arrived on board

than all those who were there already overwhelmed them with courtesies,

while the "_Shaki_" himself, although he had been one of the most

sanguinary, completely changed his tone and made them a present of some

axes he had just obtained. After the chief men of a warlike and fierce

appearance, with faces tattooed all over, had been a few minutes on

board, D'Urville was preparing to ask them some questions, with the aid

of a vocabulary published by the missionaries, when all at once they

turned away from him, leaped into their canoes and pushed out into the

open sea. This sudden move was brought about by their countrymen, who,

for the purpose of getting rid of them, slily hinted that their lives

were in danger, as the Frenchmen had formed a plot to kill them.

It was in the Bay of Tolaga, the right name of which is Houa-Houa, that

D'Urville found the first opportunity of gaining some information about

the "kiwi," by means of a mat decorated with the feathers of that bird,

such mats being articles of luxury among these islanders. The "kiwi" is

about the size of a small turkey, and, like the ostrich, has not the

power of flying. It is hunted at night by the light of torches and with

the assistance of dogs. It is this bird which is also known under the

name of the "apteryx." What the natives told D'Urville about it was in

the main accurate. The apteryx, with the tail of a fowl and a plumage

of a reddish-brown, has an affinity to the ostrich; it inhabits damp

and gloomy woods, and never comes out even in search of food except in

the evening. The incessant hunting of the natives has considerably

diminished the numbers of this curious species, and it is now very

rare.

D'Urville made no pause in the hydrographical survey of the northern

island of New Zealand, keeping up daily communication with the natives,

who brought him supplies of pigs and potatoes. According to their own

statements, the tribes were perpetually at war with one another, and

this was the true cause of the decrease in the population of these

islands. Their constant demand was for fire-arms; failing to obtain

these, they were satisfied if they could get powder in exchange for

their own commodities.

On the 10th February, when not far from Cape Runaway, the corvette was

caught in a violent storm, which lasted for thirty-six hours, and she

was more than once on the point of foundering. After this, she made her

way into the Bay of Plenty, at the bottom of which rises Mount

Edgecumbe; then keeping along the coast, the islands of Haute and Major

were sighted; but during this exploration of the bay, the weather was

so severe that the chart of it then laid down cannot be considered very

trustworthy. After leaving this bay, the corvette reached the Bay of

Mercury; surveyed Barrier Island, entered Shouraki or Hauraki Bay,

identified the Hen and Chickens and the Poor Knights Islands, finally

arriving at the Bay of Islands. The native tribes met with by D'Urville

in this part of the island were busy with an expedition against those

of Shouraki and Waikato Bays. For the purpose of exploring the former

bay, which had been imperfectly surveyed by Cook, D'Urville sailed back

to it, and discovered that that part of New Zealand is indented with a

number of harbours and gulfs of great depth, each one being safer, if

possible, than the other. Having been informed that by following the

direction of the Wai Magoia, a place would be reached distant only a

very short journey from the large port of Manukau, he despatched some

of his officers by that route, and they verified the correctness of the

information he had received. This discovery, observes Dumont d'Urville,

may become of great value to future settlements of Shouraki Bay; and

this value will be still farther increased should the new surveys prove

that the port of Manukau is accessible to vessels of a certain size,

for such a settlement would command two seas, one on the east and the

other on the west.

One of the "Rangatiras," as the chiefs of that quarter of the island

are called, Rangui by name, had again and again begged the commander to

give him some lead to make bullets with; a request which was always

refused. Just before setting sail, D'Urville was informed that the

deep-sea lead had been carried off; and he at once reproached Rangui in

severe terms, telling him that such petty larcenies were unworthy of a

man in a respectable position. The chief appeared to be deeply moved by

the reproach, and excused himself by saying that he had no knowledge of

the theft, which must have been committed by some stranger. "A short

time afterwards," the narrative goes on to say, "my attention was drawn

to the side of the ship by the sound of blows given with great force,

and piteous cries proceeding from the canoe of Rangui. There I saw

Rangui and Tawiti striking blow after blow with their paddles upon an

object resembling the figure of a man covered with a cloak. It was easy

to perceive that the two wily chiefs were simply beating one of the

benches of the canoe. After this farce had been played for some little

time, Rangui's paddle broke in his hands. The sham man was made to

appear to fall down, when Rangui, addressing me, said that he had just

killed the thief, and wished to know whether that would satisfy me. I

assured him that it would, laughing to myself at the artifice of these

savages; an artifice, for that matter, such as is often to be met with

among people more advanced in civilization."

D'Urville next surveyed the lovely island of Wai-hiki, and thus

terminated the survey of the Astrolabe Channel and Hauraki Bay. He then

resumed his voyage in a northerly direction towards the Bay of Islands,

sailing as far as Cape Maria Van Diemen, the most northerly point of

New Zealand, where, say the Waidonas, "the souls of the departed gather

from all parts of Ika-Na-Mawi, to take their final flight to the realms

of light or to those of eternal darkness."

The Bay of Islands, at the time when the _Coquille_ put in there, was

alive with a pretty considerable population, with whom the visitors

soon became on friendly terms. Now, however, the animation of former

days had given place to the silence of desolation. The Ipah, or rather

the Pah of Kahou Wera, once the abode of an energetic tribe, was

deserted, war had done its customary destructive work in the place. The

Songhui tribe had stolen the possessions, and dispersed the members of

the tribe of Paroa.

The Bay of Islands was the place chosen for their field of effort by

the English missionaries, who, notwithstanding their devotion to their

work had not made any progress among the natives. The unproductiveness

of their labours was only too apparent.

The survey of the eastern side of New Zealand, a hydrographical work of

the utmost importance, terminated at this point. Since the days of Cook

no exploration of anything like such a vast extent of the coast of this

country had been conducted in so careful a manner, in the face of so

many perils. The sciences of geography and navigation were both

signally benefited by the skilful and detailed work of D'Urville, who

had to give proof of exceptional qualities in the midst of sudden and

terrible dangers. However, on his return to France, no notice was taken

of the hardships he had undergone, or the devotion to duty he had

shown; he was left without recognition, and duties were assigned to

him, the performance of which could bring no distinction, for they

could have been equally well discharged by any ordinary ship's captain.

Leaving New Zealand on the 18th of March, 1827, D'Urville steered for

Tonga Tabou, identified to begin with the islands Curtis, Macaulay, and

Sunday; endeavoured, but without success, to find the island of Vasquez

de Mauzelle, and arrived off Namouka on the 16th of April. Two days

later he made out Eoa; but before reaching Tonga Tabou he encountered a

terrible storm which all but proved fatal to the _Astrolabe_. At Tonga

Tabou he found some Europeans, who had been for many years settled on

the island; from them he received much help in getting to understand

the character of the natives. The government was in the hands of three

chiefs, called _Equis_, who had shared all authority between them since

the banishment of the _Toni Tonga_, or spiritual chief, who had enjoyed

immense influence. A Wesleyan mission was in existence at Tonga; but it

could be seen at a glance that the Methodist clergy had not succeeded

in acquiring any influence over the natives. Such converts as had been

made were held in general contempt for their apostasy.

When the _Astrolabe_ had reached the anchorage, after her fortunate

escape from the perils from contrary winds, currents, and rocks, which

had beset her course, she was at once positively overwhelmed with the

offer of an incredible quantity of stores, fruits, vegetables, fowls,

and pigs, which the natives were ready to dispose of for next to

nothing. For equally low prices D'Urville was able to purchase, for the

museum, specimens of the arms and native productions of the savages.

Amongst them were some clubs, most of them made of casuarina wood,

skilfully carved, or embossed in an artistic manner with

mother-of-pearl or with whalebone. The custom of amputating a joint or

two of the fingers or toes, to propitiate the Deity, was still

observed, in the case of a near relative being dangerously ill.

From the 28th of April the natives had manifested none but the most

friendly feelings; no single disturbance had occurred; but on the 9th

of May, while D'Urville, with almost all his officers, went to pay a

visit to one of the leading chiefs, named Palou, the reception accorded

to them was marked by a most unusual reserve, altogether inconsistent

with the noisy and enthusiastic demonstrations of the preceding days.

The distrust evinced by the islanders aroused that of D'Urville, who,

remembering how few were the men left on board the _Astrolabe_, felt

considerable uneasiness. However, nothing unusual happened during his

absence from the ship. But it was only the cowardice of Palou which had

caused the failure of a conspiracy, aiming at nothing less than the

massacre, at one blow, of the whole of the staff, after which there

would have been no difficulty in prevailing over the crew, who were

already more than half-disposed to adopt the easy mode of life of the

islanders. Such at least was the conclusion the commander came to, and

subsequent events showed that he was right.

These apprehensions determined D'Urville to leave Tonga Tabou as

quickly as possible, and on the 13th every preparation was made to set

sail on the following day. The apprentice Dudemaine was walking about

on the large island, whilst the apprentice Faraquet, with nine men, was

engaged on the small island, Pangai Modou, in getting fresh water, or

studying the tide, when Tahofa, one of the chiefs, with several other

islanders, then on board the _Astrolabe_, gave a signal. The canoes

pushed off at once and made for the shore. On trying to discover the

cause of this sudden retreat, it was observed that the sailors on the

island Pangai Modou were being forcibly dragged off by the natives.

D'Urville was about to fire off a cannon, when he decided that it would

be safer to send a boat to shore. This boat took off the two sailors

and the apprentice Dudemaine, but was fired upon when despatched

shortly afterwards to set fire to the huts, and to try to capture some

natives as hostages. One native was killed and several others were

wounded, whilst a corporal of the marines received such severe bayonet

wounds, that he died two hours later.

[Illustration: Attack from the natives of Tonga Tabou.]

D'Urville's anxiety about the fate of his sailors, and of Faraquet, who

was in command of them, knew no bounds. Nothing was left for him to do

but to make an attack upon the sacred village of Mafanga, containing

the tombs of several of the principal families. But on the following

day a crowd of natives so skilfully surrounded the place with

embankments and palisades, that it was impossible to hope to carry it

by an attack. The corvette then drew nearer to the shore, and began to

cannonade the village, without, however, doing any other damage than

killing one of the natives. At length the difficulty of obtaining

provisions, the rain, and the continual alarm in which the firing of

the Frenchmen kept them, induced the islanders to offer terms of peace.

They gave up the sailors, who had all been very well treated, made a

present of pigs and bananas; and on the 24th of May the _Astrolabe_

took her final departure from the Friendly Islands.

It was quite time indeed that this was done, for D'Urville's situation

was untenable, and in a conversation with his boatswain he ascertained

that not more than half a dozen of the sailors could be relied on; all

the others were ready to go over to the side of the savages.

Tonga Tabou is of madreporic formation, with a thick covering of

vegetable soil, favourable to an abundant growth of shrubs and trees.

The cocoa-tree, the stem of which is slenderer than elsewhere, and the

banana-tree here shoot up with wonderful rapidity and vigour. The

aspect of the land is flat and monotonous, so that a journey of one or

two miles will give as fair an impression of the country as a complete

tour of the island. The number of the population who have the true

Polynesian cast of countenance may be put down at about 7000. D'Urville

says "they combine the most opposite qualities. They are generous,

courteous, and hospitable, yet avaricious, insolent, and always

thoroughly insincere. The most profuse demonstration of kindness and

friendship may at any moment be interrupted by an act of outrage or

robbery, should their cupidity or their self-respect be ever so

slightly roused."

In intelligence the natives of Tonga are clearly far superior to those

of Otaheite. The French travellers could not sufficiently admire the

astonishing order in which the plantations of yams and bananas were

kept, the excessive neatness of their dwellings, and the beauty of the

garden-plots. They even knew something of the art of fortification, as

D'Urville ascertained by an inspection of the fortified village of

Hifo, defended with stout palisades, and surrounded by a trench between

fifteen and twenty feet wide, and half filled with water.

On the 25th of May, D'Urville began the exploration of the Viti or Fiji

Archipelago. At the outset he was so fortunate as to fall in with a

native of Tonga who was living on the Fiji Islands for purposes of

trade, and had previously visited Otaheite, New Zealand, and Australia.

This man, as well as a Guam islander, proved most useful to the

commander in furnishing him with the names of more than 200 islands

belonging to this group, and in acquainting him beforehand with their

position, and that of the reefs in their neighbourhood. At the same

time, Gressier, the hydrographer, collected all the materials requisite

for preparing a chart of the Fiji Islands.

At this station a sloop was put under orders to proceed to the island

of Laguemba, where was an anchor which D'Urville would have been well

pleased to obtain, as he had lost two of his own while at Tonga. On

arrival at the island, Lottin, who was in command of the sloop,

observed on the shore none but women and children; armed men, however,

soon came running up, made the women leave the place, and were

preparing to seize the sloop and make the sailors prisoners. Their

intentions were too plain to leave room for any doubt on the subject,

so Lottin at once gave orders to draw up the grapnel, and got away into

the open sea before there was time for an encounter to take place.

During eighteen consecutive days, in the face of bad weather and a

rough sea, the _Astrolabe_ cruised through the Fiji Archipelago,

surveyed the islands of Laguemba, Kandabou, Viti-Levou, Oumbenga Vatou

Lele, Ounong Lebou, Malolo, and many others, giving special attention

to the southern islands of the group, which up to that period had

remained almost entirely unknown.

The population of this group, if we accept D'Urville's account, form a

kind of transition between the copper-coloured, or the Polynesian, and

the black or Melanesian races. Their strength and vigour are in

proportion to their tall figures, and they make no secret of their

cannibal propensities.

On the 11th of June the corvette set sail for the harbour of Carteret;

surveyed one by one the islands of Erronan and Annatom, the Loyalty

Islands, of which group D'Urville discovered the Chabrol and Halgan

Islands, the little group of the Beaupie Islands, the Astrolabe reefs,

all the more dangerous as they are thirty miles distant from the

Beaupie Islands, and sixty from New Caledonia. The island of Huon, and

the chain of reefs to the north of New Caledonia, were subsequently

surveyed. From this point D'Urville reached the Louisiade Archipelago

in six days, but the stormy weather there encountered determined him to

abandon the course he had planned out, and not to pass through Torres

Straits. He thought that an early examination of the southern coast of

New Britain, and of the northern coast of New Guinea, would be the most

conducive to the interests of science.

Rossel Island and Cape Deliverance were next sighted; and the vessel

was steered for New Ireland, with a view to obtaining fresh supplies of

wood and water. Arriving there on the 5th of July in such gloomy, rainy

weather, that it was with no small difficulty that the entrance of the

harbour of Carteret, where D'Entrecasteaux made a stay of eight days,

was made out; whilst there the travellers received several visits from

the score of natives, who seem to make up the total population of the

place. They were creatures possessed of scarcely any intelligence, and

quite destitute of curiosity about objects that they had not seen

before. Neither did their appearance lead to the slightest

prepossession in their favour. They wore no vestige of clothing; their

skin was black and their hair woolly; and the partition of the nostrils

had a sharp bone thrust through by way of ornament. The only object

that they showed any eagerness to possess was iron, but they could not

be made to understand that it was only to be given in exchange for

fruits or pigs. Their expression was one of sullen defiance, and they

refused to guide any one whatever to their village. During the

unprofitable stay of the corvette in this harbour, D'Urville had a

serious attack of enteritis, from which he suffered much for several

days.

On the 19th July the _Astrolabe_ went to sea again and coasted the

northern side of New Britain, the object of this cruise was frustrated

by rainy and hazy weather. Continual squalls and heavy showers

compelled the vessel to put off again as soon as it had succeeded in

nearing the land. His experience on this coast D'Urville thus

describes:--"One who has not had, as we have, a practical acquaintance

with these seas, is unable to form any adequate conception of these

incredible rains. Moreover, to obtain a just estimate of the cares and

anxieties which a voyage like ours entails, there must be a liability

to the call of duties similar to those which we had to discharge. It

was very seldom that our horizon lay much beyond the distance of 200

yards, and our observations could not possibly be other than uncertain,

when our own true position was doubtful. Altogether, the whole of our

work upon New Britain, in spite of the unheard of hardships that fell

to our lot and the risks which the _Astrolabe_ had to run, cannot be

put in comparison for a moment, as respects accuracy, with the other

surveys of the expedition."

As it was impracticable to fall back upon the route by the St. George's

Channel, D'Urville had to pass through Dampier's Strait, the southern

entrance to which is all but entirely closed by a chain of reefs, which

were grazed more than once by the _Astrolabe_.

The charming prospect of the western coast of New Britain excited

intense admiration both in Dampier and D'Entrecasteaux; an enthusiasm

fully shared by D'Urville. A safe roadstead enclosed by land forming a

semicircle, forests whose dark foliage contrasted with the golden

colour of the ripening fields, the whole surmounted by the lofty peaks

of Mount Gloucester, and this variety still further enhanced by the

undulating outlines of Rook Island, are the chief features of the

picture here presented by the coast of New Britain.

[Illustration: Lofty mountains clothed with dense and gloomy forests.]

On issuing from the strait the mountains of New Guinea rose grandly in

the distance; and on a nearer approach they were seen to form a sort of

half-circle shutting in the arm of the sea known as the Bay of

Astrolabe. The Schouten Islands, the Creek of the Attack (the place

where D'Urville had to withstand an onset of savages), Humboldt Bay,

Geelwinck Bay, the Traitor Islands, Tobie and Mysory, the Arfak

Mountains, were one after another recognized and passed, when the

_Astrolabe_ at length came to an anchor in Port Dorei, in order to

connect her operations with those accomplished by the _Coquille_.

Friendly intercourse was at once established with the Papuans of that

place, who brought on board a number of birds of paradise, but not much

in the shape of provisions. These natives, are of so gentle and timid a

disposition, that only with great reluctance will they risk going into

the woods through fear of the Arfakis, who dwell on the mountains, and

are their sworn enemies.

One of the sailors engaged in getting fresh water was wounded with an

arrow shot by one of these savages, whom it was impossible to punish

for a dastardly outrage prompted by no motive whatever.

The land here is everywhere so fertile that it requires no more than

turning over and weeding, in order to yield the most abundant harvests;

yet the Papuans are so lazy and understand so little of the art of

agriculture, that the growth of food plants is often allowed to be

choked with weeds. The inhabitants belong to several races. D'Urville

divides them into three principal varieties: the Papuans, a mixed

breed, belonging more or less to the Malay or Polynesian race; and the

Harfous or Alfourous, who resemble the common type of Australians; New

Caledonians and the ordinary black Oceanic populations. These latter

would appear to be the true indigenous people of the country.

On the 6th September the _Astrolabe_ again put to sea, and after an

uninteresting stay at New Guinea, in the course of which scarcely any

specimens of natural history were obtained, except a few mollusca, and

still less exact information regarding the customs, religion, or

language of its diversified population, steered for Amboyna, which was

reached without any accident on the 24th September. The governor, M.

Merkus, happened to be on circuit; but his absence was no obstacle to

the supply of all the stores needed by the commander. The reception

given by the authorities and the society of the place was of a very

cordial kind, and everything was done to compensate the French

explorers for the hardships undergone in their long and troublesome

voyage.

From Amboyna D'Urville proceeded to Hobart Town in Tasmania, a place

not visited by any French vessel since the time of Baudin, arriving on

the 27th December, 1827. Thirty-five years previously D'Entrecasteaux

had met on the shores of this island only a few wretched savages; and

ten years later Baudin found it quite deserted. The first piece of news

that Dumont d'Urville learnt on entering the river Derwent, before even

casting anchor at Hobart Town, was that Captain Dillon, an Englishman,

had received certain information, when at Tucopia, of the shipwreck of

La Perouse at Vanikoro; and that he had brought away the hilt of a

sword which he believed to have belonged to that navigator. On his

arrival at Calcutta Dillon communicated his information to the

governor, who without delay despatched him with instructions to rescue

such of the shipwrecked crew as might still be alive, and collect

whatever relics could be found of the vessels. To D'Urville this

intelligence was of the highest interest, seeing that he had been

specially instructed to search for whatever might be calculated to

throw any light upon the fate of the unfortunate navigator, and he had

while at Namouka obtained proof of the residence for a time of La

Perouse at the Friendly Islands.

In the English colony itself there was some difference of opinion as to

the credit which Captain Dillon's story was entitled to receive; but

the report which that officer had made to the Governor-General of

India, quite removed any doubt from the mind of D'Urville. Abandoning,

therefore, all further plans with reference to New Zealand, he decided

upon proceeding at once in the _Astrolabe_, in the track of Dillon, to

Vanikoro, which he then knew only by the name of Mallicolo.

[Illustration: Natives of Vanikoro. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]

The following is the statement of the circumstances as made by Dillon.

During a stay made by the ship _Hunter_ at the Fiji Islands, three

persons, a Prussian named Martin Bushart, his wife, and a Lascar,

called Achowlia, were received on board, endeavouring to escape from

the horrible fate awaiting them, which had already befallen the other

European deserters settled in that archipelago, that of being devoured

by the savages; this unhappy trio merely begged to be put on shore at

the first inhabited island which the _Hunter_ might touch at.

Accordingly, they were left on one of the Charlotte Islands, Tucopia,

in 12 degrees 15 minutes S. lat, and 169 degrees W. long. In the month

of May, 1836, Dillon, who had been one of the crew of the ship

_Hunter_, paid a visit to the island of Tucopia, with a view of

ascertaining what had become of the people put on shore in 1813. There

he found the Lascar and the Prussian; the former of whom sold him a

silver sword-hilt. As might have been expected, Dillon was curious to

know how the natives of that island had come into possession of such an

article. The Prussian then related that on his arrival at Tucopia he

had found many articles of iron, such as bolts, axes, knives, spoons,

and other things, which he was told had come from Mallicolo, a group of

islands situated about two days canoe sail to the east of Tucopia. By

further interrogatories, Dillon learnt that two vessels had been thrown

upon the coasts many years previously, one of which had perished

entirely with all on board, whilst the crew of the second had

constructed out of the wreck of their ship a little boat, in which they

had put to sea, leaving some of their number at Mallicolo. The Lascar

said he had seen two of these men, who had acquired a well-merited

influence through services rendered to chiefs.

Dillon tried in vain to persuade his informant to take him to

Mallicolo, but was more successful with the Prussian, who took him

within sight of the island, called Research by D'Entrecasteaux, on

which, however, Dillon was unable to land on account of the dead calm

and his want of provisions.

On hearing his account, on his arrival at Pondicherry, the governor

entrusted him with the command of a boat specially constructed for

exploring purposes. This was in 1827. Dillon now touched at Tucopia,

where he obtained interpreters and a pilot, and thence went to

Mallicolo, where he learnt from the natives that the strangers had

stayed there five months to build their vessel, and that they had been

looked upon as supernatural visitors, an idea not a little confirmed by

their singular behaviour. They had been seen, for instance, to talk to

the moon and stars through a long stick, their noses were immense, and

some of them always remained standing, holding bars of iron in their

hands. Such was the impression left on the minds of the natives by the

astronomical observations, cocked hats, and sentinels of the French.

Dillon obtained from the natives a good many relics of the expedition,

and he also saw at the bottom of the sea, on the coral reef on which

the vessel had struck, some bronze cannons, a bell, and all kinds of

rubbish, which he reverently collected and carried to Paris, arriving

there in 1828, and receiving from the king a pension of 4000 francs as

a reward for his exertions. All doubt was dispelled when the Comte de

Lesseps, who had landed at Kamtchatka from La Perouse's party,

identified the cannons and the carved stern of the _Boussole_, and the

armorial bearings of Colignon, the botanist, were made out on a silver

candlestick. All these interesting and curious facts, however,

D'Urville did not know until later; at present he had only heard

Dillon's first report. By chance, or perhaps because he was afraid of

being forestalled, the captain had not laid down the position of

Vanikoro or the route he followed on the way from Tucopia, which island

D'Urville supposed to belong to the Banks or Santa Cruz group, each as

little known as the other.

Before following D'Urville, however, we must pause with him for awhile

at Hobart Town, which he looked upon even then as a place of remarkable

importance. "Its houses," he says, "are very spacious, consisting only

of one story and the ground-floor, though their cleanness and

regularity give them a very pleasant appearance. Walking in the

streets, which are unpaved, though some have curb stones, is very

tiring; and the dust always rising in clouds is very trying to the

eyes. The Government house is pleasantly situated on the shores of the

bay, and will be greatly improved in a few years if the young trees

planted about it thrive. Native timber is quite unsuitable for

ornamental purposes."

The stay at Hobart Town was turned to account to complete the stock of

provisions, anchors, and other very requisite articles, and also to

repair the vessel and the rigging, the latter being sorely dilapidated.

On the 5th January the _Astrolabe_ once more put to sea, surveyed

Norfolk Island on the 20th, Matthew Volcano six days later, Erronan on

the 28th, and the little Mitre Island on the 8th February, arriving the

next day off Tucopia, a small island three or four miles in

circumference with one rather pointed peak covered with vegetation. The

eastern side of Tucopia is apparently inaccessible from the violence of

the breakers continually dashing on to its beach. The eagerness of all

was now great, and was becoming unbounded when three boats, one

containing a European, were seen approaching. This European turned out

to be the Prussian calling himself Bushart, who had lately gone with

Dillon to Mallicolo, where the latter remained a whole month, and where

he really obtained the relics of the expedition as D'Urville had heard

at Hobart Town. Not a single Frenchman now remained on the island; the

last had died the previous year. Bushart at first consented, but

declined at the last moment, to go with D'Urville or to remain on the

_Astrolabe_.

Vanikoro is surrounded by reefs, through which, not without danger, the

_Astrolabe_ found a passage, casting anchor in the same place as Dillon

had done, namely in Ocili Bay. The scene of the shipwreck was on the

other side of the bay. It was not easy to get information from the

natives, who were avaricious, untrustworthy, insolent, and deceitful.

An old man, however, was finally induced to confess that the whites who

had landed on the beach at Vanon had been received with a shower of

arrows, and that a fight ensued in which a good many natives had

fallen; as for the _maras_ (sailors) they had all been killed, and

their skulls buried at Vanon. The rest of the bones had been used to

tip the arrows of the natives.

A canoe was now sent to the village of Nama, and after considerable

hesitation the natives were induced by a promise of some red cloth to

take the Frenchmen to the scene of the shipwreck about a mile off, near

Paion and opposite Ambi, where amongst the breakers at the bottom of a

sort of shelving beach anchors, cannons, and cannonballs, and many

other things were made out, leaving no doubt as to the facts in the

minds of the officers of the _Astrolabe_. It was evident to all that

the vessel had endeavoured to get inside the reefs by a kind of pass,

and that she had run aground and been unable to get off. The crew may

then have saved themselves at Paion, and according to the account of

some natives they built a little boat there, whilst the other vessel,

which had struck on the reef further out, had been lost with all on

board.

Chief Moembe had heard it said that the inhabitants of Vanon had

approached the vessel to pillage it, but had been driven back by the

whites, losing twenty men and three chiefs. The savages in their turn

had massacred all the French who landed, except two, who lived on the

island for the space of three months.

Another chief, Valiko by name, said that one of the boats had struck

outside the reef opposite Tanema after a very windy night, and that

nearly all its crew had perished before they could land. Many of the

sailors of the second vessel had got to land, and built at Paion a

little boat out of the pieces of the large ship wrecked. During their

stay at Paion quarrels arose, and two sailors with five natives of

Vanon and one from Tanema were killed. At the end of five months the

Frenchmen left the island.

Lastly, a third old man told how some thirty sailors belonging to the

first vessel had joined the crew of the second, and that they had all

left at the end of six or seven months. All these facts, which had so

to speak to be extracted by force, varied in their details; the last,

however, seemed most nearly to approach the truth. Amongst the objects

picked up by the _Astrolabe_ were an anchor weighing about 1800 pounds,

a cast-iron cannon, a bronze swivel, a copper blunderbuss, some pig

lead, and several other considerably damaged articles of little

interest. These relics, with those collected by Dillon, are now in the

Naval Museum at the Louvre.

D'Urville did not leave Vanikoro without erecting a monument to the

memory of his unfortunate fellow-countrymen. This humble memorial was

placed in a mangrove grove off the reef itself. It consists of a

quadrangular prism, made of coral slabs six feet high, surmounted by a

pyramid of Koudi wood of the same height, bearing on a little plate of

lead the following inscription,--

A la Memoire

DE LA PEROUSE,

ET DE SES COMPAGNONS

L'ASTROLABE

14 _Mars_, 1828.

As soon as this task was accomplished, D'Urville prepared to set sail

again, as it was time he did, for the damp resulting from the torrents

of rain had engendered serious fevers, prostrating no less than

twenty-five of the party. The commander would have to make haste if he

wished to keep a crew fit to execute the arduous manoeuvres necessary

to the exit of the vessel from a narrow pass strewn with rocks.

The last day passed by the _Astrolabe_ at Vanikoro would have shown the

truth to D'Urville had he needed any enlightening as to the true

disposition of the natives. The following is his account of the last

incidents of this dangerous halt.

"At eight o'clock, I was a good deal surprised to see half a dozen

canoes approaching from Tevai, the more so, that two or three natives

from Manevai who were on board showed no uneasiness, although they had

told me a few days before that the people of Tevai were their mortal

enemies. I expressed my surprise to the Manevaians, who merely said,

with an evident air of equivocation, that they had made their peace

with the Tevaians, who were only bringing some cocoa-nuts. I soon saw,

however, that the new comers were carrying nothing but bows and arrows

in first rate condition. Two or three of them climbed on board, and in

a determined manner came up to the main watch to look down into the

orlop-deck to find out how many men were disabled, whilst a malignant

joy lit up their diabolical features. At this moment some of the crew

told me that two or three of the Manevai men on board had done the same

thing during the last three or four days, and M. Gressien, who had been

watching their movements since the morning, thought he had seen the

warriors of the two tribes meet on the beach and have a long conference

together. Such behaviour gave proof of the most treacherous intentions,

and I felt the danger to be imminent. I at once ordered the natives to

leave the vessel and return to the canoes, but they had the audacity to

look at me with a proud and threatening expression, as if to defy me to

put my order into execution. I merely had the armoury, generally kept

jealously closed, opened, and with a severe look I pointed to it with

one hand, whilst with the other I motioned the savages to the canoes.

The sudden apparition of twenty shining muskets, the powers of which

they understood, made them tremble, and relieved us of their ominous

presence."

[Illustration: "I merely had the armoury opened."]

Before leaving the scene of this melancholy story, we will glean a few

details from D'Urville's account of it. The Vanikoro, Mallicolo, or, as

Dillon calls it, the La Perouse group, consists of two islands,

Research and Tevai. The former is no less than thirty miles in

circumference, whilst the latter is only nine miles round. Both are

lofty, clothed with impenetrable forests almost to the beach, and

surrounded by a barrier of reefs thirty-six miles in circumference,

with here and there a narrow strait between them. The inhabitants, who

are lazy, slovenly, stupid, fierce, cowardly, and avaricious, do not

exceed twelve or fifteen hundred in number. It was unfortunate for La

Perouse to be shipwrecked amongst such people, when he would have

received a reception so different on any other island of Polynesia. The

women are naturally ugly, and the hard work they have to do, with their

general mode of life, render their appearance yet more displeasing. The

men are rather less ill-favoured, though they are stunted and lean, and

covered with ulcers and leprosy scars. Arrows and bows are their only

weapons, and, according to themselves, the former, with their very fine

bone tips, soldered on with extremely tenacious gum, inflict mortal

wounds. They therefore value them greatly, and the visitors had great

trouble to obtain any.

[Illustration: Reefs off Vanikoro.]

On the 17th March the _Astrolabe_ at length issued from amongst the

terrible reefs encircling Vanikoro. D'Urville had intended to survey

Tamnako, Kennedy, Nitendi, and the Solomon Islands, where he hoped to

meet with traces of the survivors from the shipwreck of the _Boussole_

and the _Astrolabe_. But the melancholy condition of the crew, pulled

down as they were by fever, and the illness of most of the officers,

with the absence of any safe anchorage in this part of Oceania, decided

him to make for Guam, where he thought a little rest might possibly be

obtained. This was a very grave dereliction from the instructions which

ordered him to survey Torres Straits, but the fact of forty sailors

being _hors de combat_ and on the sick-list, will suffice to prove how

foolish it would have been to make so perilous an attempt.

Not until the 26th April was Hogoley Archipelago sighted, where

D'Urville bridged over the gaps left by Duperrey in his exploration,

and only on the 2nd May did the coasts of Guam come in sight. Anchor

was cast at Umata, where a supply of fresh water was easily found, and

the climate much milder than at Agagna. On the 29th May, however, when

the expedition set sail again, the men were not by any means all

restored to health, which D'Urville attributed to the excesses in the

way of eating indulged in by the sick, and the impossibility of getting

them to keep to a suitable diet.

The good Medinilla, of whom Freycinet had such reason to speak

favourably, was still governor of Guam. He did not this time, it is

true, show so many kind attentions to the present expedition, but that

was because a terrible drought had just devastated the colony, and a

rumour had got afloat that the illness the crew of the _Astrolabe_ was

suffering from was contagious. Umata too was a good distance from

Agagna, so that D'Urville could not visit the governor in his own home.

Medinilla, however, sent the expedition fresh provisions and fruits in

such quantities as to prove he had lost none of his old generosity.

After leaving Guam D'Urville surveyed, under sail, the Elivi, the

Uluthii of Lutke, Guapgolo and the Pelew group of the Caroline

Archipelago, was driven by contrary winds past Waigiou, Aiou, Asia, and

Guebek, and finally entered Bouron Straits and cast anchor off Amboine,

where he was cordially received by the Dutch authorities, and obtained

news from France to the effect that the Minister of Marine had taken no

notice of all the work, fatigue, and perils of the expedition, for not

one officer had received advancement.

The receipt of this news caused considerable disappointment and

discouragement, which the commander at once tried to remove. From

Amboine the _Astrolabe_ steered, _via_ Banka Strait, for Uanado, with

its well-armed and equipped fort, forming a pleasant residence.

Governor Merkus obtained for D'Urville's natural history collections

some fine _barberosas_, a _sapioutang_--the latter a little animal of

the size of a calf, with the same kind of muzzle, paws, and turned-back

horns--serpents, birds, fishes, and plants.

According to D'Urville the people of the Celebes resemble in externals

the Polynesians rather than the Malays. They reminded him of the

natives of Otaheite, Tonga Tabou, and New Zealand, much more than of

the Papuans of Darei Harbour, the Harfous of Bouron, or the Malays,

with their square bony faces. Near Manado are some mines of auriferous

quartz, of which the commander was able to obtain a specimen, and in

the interior is the lake of Manado, said to be of immense depth, and

which is the source of the torrent of the same name that dashes in the

form of a magnificent waterfall over a basalt rock eighty feet high,

barring its progress to the sea. D'Urville, accompanied by the governor

and the naturalists of the expedition, explored this beautiful lake,

shut in by volcanic mountains, with here and there a few fumerolles

still issuing from them, and ascertained the depth of the water to be

no more than twelve or thirteen fathoms, so that in the event of its

ever drying up, its basin would form a perfectly level plain.

On the 4th August anchor was weighed at Manado, where the sufferers

from fever and dysentery had not got much better, and on the 29th of

the same month the expedition arrived at Batavia where it only remained

three days. The rest of the voyage of the _Astrolabe_ was in well-known

waters. Mauritius was reached in due course, and there D'Urville met

Commander Le Goarant, who had made a trip to Vanikoro in the corvette

_La Bayonnaise_, and who told D'Urville that he had not attempted to

enter the reef, but had only sent in some boats to reconnoitre. The

natives had respected the monument to the memory of La Perouse, and had

been reluctant even to allow the sailors of the _Bayonnaise_ to nail a

copper plate upon it.

On the 18th November the corvette left Mauritius, and after touching at

the Cape, St. Helena, and Ascension, arrived on the 25th March, 1829,

at Marseilles, exactly thirty-five months after her departure from that

port. To hydrographical science, if to nothing else, the results of the

expedition were remarkable, and no less than forty-five new charts were

produced by the indefatigable Messrs. Gressien and Paris. Nothing will

better bring before us the richness of harvest of natural history

specimens than the following quotation from Cuvier's report:--

"They (the species brought home by Quoy and Gaimard) amount to

thousands in the catalogues, and no better proof can be given of the

activity of our naturalists than the fact that the directors of the

Jardin du Roi do not know where to store the results of the expedition,

especially those now under notice. They have had to be stowed away on

the ground-floor, almost in the cellars, and the very warehouses are

now so crowded--no other word would do as well--that we have had to

divide them by partitions to make more stowage."

The geological collections were no less numerous; one hundred and

eighty-seven species or varieties of rock attest the zeal of Messrs.

Quoy and Gaimard, while M. Lesson, junior, collected fifteen or sixteen

hundred plants; Captain Jacquinot made a number of astronomical

observations; M. Lottin studied magnetism, and the commander, without

neglecting his duties as a sailor and leader of the expedition, made

experiments on submarine temperature and meteorology, and collected an

immense mass of information on philology and ethnography.

We cannot better conclude our account of this expedition than with the

following quotation from Dumont d'Urville's memoirs, given in his

biography by Didot:--

"This adventurous expedition surpassed all previous ones, alike in the

number and gravity of the dangers incurred, and the extent of the

results of every kind obtained. An iron will prevented me from ever

yielding to any obstacle. My mind once made up to die or to succeed, I

was free from any hesitation or uncertainty. Twenty times I saw the

_Astrolabe_ on the eve of destruction without once losing hope of her

salvation. A thousand times did I risk the very lives of my companions

in order to achieve the object of my instructions, and I can assert

that for two consecutive years we daily incurred more real perils than

we should have done in the longest ordinary voyage. My brave and

honourable officers were not blind to the dangers to which I daily

exposed them, but they kept silence, and nobly fulfilled their duty."

From this admirable harmony of purpose and devotion resulted a mass of

discoveries and observations in every branch of human knowledge, of all

of which an exact account was given by Rossel, Cuvier, Geoffrey St.

Hilaire, Desfontaines, and others, all competent and disinterested

judges.