Extraordinary adventure.
On the first day we found a periagua, as it were deposited, and two huts, on the banks of a rivulet, at a mile’s distance from our camp. The periagua had an out-rigger, was very light, and in good order. Near it there were the remains of several fires, some great calcined shells, and some skeletons of the heads of animals, which M. de Commerçon said were wild boars. The savages had but lately been in this place; for some bananas were found quite fresh in the huts. Some of our people really thought they heard the cries of men towards the mountains; but we have since verified, that they have mistaken for such the plaintive notes of a large crested pigeon, of an azure plumage, and whichhas the name ofcrowned bird[119]in the Moluccas. We found something still more extraordinary on the banks of this river. A sailor, belonging to my barge, being in search of shells, found buried in the sand, a piece of a plate of lead, on which we read these remains of English words,
HOR’D HEREICK MAJESTY’s
HOR’D HEREICK MAJESTY’s
HOR’D HERE
ICK MAJESTY’s
There yet remained the mark of the nails, with which they had fastened this inscription, that did not seem to be of any ancient date. The savages had, doubtless, torn off the plate, and broke it in pieces.
Marks of an English camp.
This adventure engaged us carefully to examine all the neighbourhood of our anchorage. We therefore ran along the coast within the isle which covers the bay; we followed it for about two leagues, and came to a deep bay of very little breadth, open to the S. W. at the bottom of which we landed, near a fine river. Some trees sawed in pieces, or cut down with hatchets, immediatelystruck our eyes, and shewed us that this was the place where the English put in at. We now had little trouble to find the spot where the inscription had been placed. It was a very large, and very apparent tree, on the right hand shore of the river, in the middle of a great place, where we concluded that the English had pitched their tents; for we still saw several ends of rope fastened to the trees; the nails stuck in the tree; and the plate had been torn off but a few days before; for the marks of it appeared quite fresh. In the tree itself, there were notches cut, either by the English or the islanders. Some fresh shoots, coming up from one of the trees which was cut down, gave us an opportunity of concluding, that the English had anchored in this bay but about four months ago. The rope, which we found, likewise sufficiently indicated it; for though it lay in a very wet place, it was not rotten. I make no doubt, but that the ship which touched here, was the Swallow; a vessel of fourteen guns, commanded by captain Carteret, and which sailed from Europe in August 1766, with the Dolphin, captain Wallace. We have since heard of this ship at Batavia, where I shall speak of her; and where it will appear, that we from thence followed her track to Europe. This is a very strange chance, by which we, among so many lands, come to the very spot where this rival nation had left a monument of an enterprise similar to our’s.
Productions of the country.
The rain was almost continual to the 11th. There seemed to be a very high wind out at sea; but the port is sheltered on all sides, by the high mountains which surround it. We accelerated our works, as much as the bad weather would permit. I likewise ordered our longboat to under-run the cables, and to weigh an anchor, in order to be better assured concerning the nature of the bottom; we could not wish for a better. One of our first cares had been to search, (and certainly it was our interest to do so) whether the country could furnish any refreshments to our sick, and some solid food to the healthy. Our searches were fruitless. The fishery was entirely unsuccessful; and we only found in the woods a few thatch-palms, and cabbage-trees in very small number; and even these we were obliged to dispute with enormous ants, of which innumerable swarms forced us to abandon several of these trees, already cut down by us. It is true, we saw five or six wild boars; and, since that time, some huntsmen were always out in search of them; but they never killed one. They were the only quadrupeds we saw here.
Some people likewise thought they had seen the footsteps of a tyger-cat. We have killed some large pigeons of great beauty. Their plumage was green-gold; their neck and belly of a greyish-white; and they have a little crest on the head. Here are likewise turtle-doves,some widow-birds larger than those of the Brasils, parrots, crown-birds; and another kind, whose cry so well resembles the barking of a dog, that every one who hears it for the first time, must be deceived by it. We have likewise seen turtle in different parts of the channel; but this was not the season when they lay eggs. In this bay are fine sandy creeks, where I believe a good number of turtle could be caught at the proper time.
All the country is mountainous; the soil is very light, and the rocks are hardly covered with it. However, the trees are very tall, and there are several species of very fine wood. There we find the Betel, the Areca, and the fine Indian-reed, which we get from the Malays. It grows here in marshy places; but whether it requires a peculiar culture, or whether the trees, which entirely overshadow the earth, hinder its growth, and change its quality, or whether we were not here at the proper season when it is in maturity, so much is certain, that we never found any fine ones here. The pepper-tree is likewise common to this country; but it had neither fruit nor. flowers at this season. The country, upon the whole, is not very rich for a botanist. There remain no marks in it of any fixed habitation: it is certain that the Indians come this way from time to time; we frequently found places upon the sea-shore, where they hadstopped; the remnants of their meals easily betrayed them.
Cruel faminewhich we suffer.
On the 10th, a sailor died on board the Etoile, of a complication of disorders, without any mixture of the scurvy. The three following days were fine, and we made good use of them. We refitted the heel of our mizen-mast, which was worm-eaten in the step; and the Etoile shortened hers, the head of it being sprung. We likewise took in, from on board the store-ship, the flour and biscuit which still belonged to us, in proportion to our number. There were fewer pulse than we at first thought, and I was obliged to cut off above a third part of the allowance of the (gourganes) pease or caravanses for our soup: I say ours, for every thing was equally distributed. The officers and the sailors had the same nourishment; our situation, like death, rendered all ranks of men equal. We likewise profited of the fair weather, to make good observations.
Observation of longitude.
On the 11th, in the morning, M. Verron brought his quadrant and pendulum on shore, and employed them the same day, to take the sun’s altitude at noon. The motion of the pendulum was exactly determined by several corresponding altitudes, taken for two days consecutively. On the 13th, there was an eclipse of the sun visible to us, and we got every thing in readiness to observe it, if the weather permitted. It was very fair; andwe saw both the moment of immersion, and that of emersion. M. Verron observed with a telescope of nine feet; the chevalier du Bouchage with one of Dollond’s acromatic telescopes, four feet long; my place was at the pendulum. The beginning of the eclipse was to us, on the 13th, at 10h. 5′ 45″ in the morning, the end at 00 h. 28′ 16″ true time, and its magnitude 3′ 22″. We have buried an inscription under the very spot where the pendulum had been; and we called this harbourPort Praslin.
This observation is so much the more important, as it was now possible, by its means, and by the astronomical observations, made upon the coast of Peru, to determine, in a certain fixed manner, the extent of longitude of the vast Pacific Ocean, which, till now, had been so uncertain. Our good fortune, in having fair weather at the time of the eclipse, was so much the greater, as from that day to our departure there was not a single day but what was dreadful. The continued rains, together with the suffocating heat, rendered our stay here very pernicious to us. On the 16th, the frigate had completed her works, and we employed all our boats to finish those of the Etoile. This store-ship was quite light, and as there were no stones proper for ballast, we were obliged to make use of wood for that purpose; this was a long troublesome labour, which in these forests,where an eternal humidity prevails, is likewise unwholesome.
Description of two insects.
Here we daily killed snakes, scorpions, and great numbers of insects, of a singular sort. They are three or four inches long, and covered over with a kind of armour; they have six legs, projecting points on the sides, and a very long tail. Our people likewise brought me another creature, which appeared extraordinary to us all. It is an insect about three inches long, and belongs to the Mantis genus. Almost every part of its body is of such a texture, as one would take for a leaf, even when one looks closely at it. Each of its wings is one half of a leaf, which is entire when the two wings are closed together; the under side of its body resembles a leaf, of a more dead colour than the upper one. The creature has two antennæ and six legs, of which the upper joints are likewise similar to parts of leaves. M. de Commerçon has described this singular insect; and I placed it in the king’s cabinet, preserved in spirits.
Here we found abundance of shells, many of them very fine. The shoals offered treasures for the study of Conchology. We met with ten hammer-oysters in one place, and they are said to be a scarce species[120]. The curiosityof some of our people was accordingly raised to a great pitch; but an accident happening to one of our sailors abated their zeal.|Sailor bit by a water-snake.|He was bit in the water by a kind of snake as he was hauling the seine. The poisonous effects of the bite appeared in half an hour’s time. The sailor felt an excessive pain all over his body. The spot where he had been bit, which was on the left side, became livid, and swelled visibly. Four or five scarifications extracted a quantity of blood, which was already dissolved. Our people were obliged to lead the patient walking, to prevent his getting convulsions. He suffered greatly for five or six hours together. At last the treacle (theriaque) and flower de luce water which had been given him, brought on an abundant perspiration, and cured him.
This accident made every one more circumspect and careful in going into the water. Our Taiti-man curiously observed the patient during the whole course of his sickness. He let us know that in his country were snakes along the sea-shore, which bit the people in the sea, and that every one who was thus bit died of the wound. They have a kind of medicinal knowledge, but I do not believe it is extensive at all. The Taiti-man was surprised to see the sailor return to his work, four or five days after the accident had happened to him. When he examined the productions of our arts,and the various means by which they augment our faculties, and multiply our forces, this islander would often fall into an extatic fit, and blush for his own country, saying with grief,aouaou Taiti, fy upon Taiti. However, he did not like to express that he felt our superiority over his nation. It is incredible how far his haughtiness went. We have observed that he was as supple as he was proud; and this character at once shews that he lives in a country where there is an inequality of ranks, and points out what rank he holds there.
Bad weather which persecutes us.
On the 19th in the evening we were ready to sail, but it seemed the weather always grew worse and worse. There was a high south wind, a deluge of rain, with thunder and tempestuous squalls, a great sea in the offing, and all the fishing birds retired into the bay.|Earthquake.|On the 22d in the morning, towards half an hour past ten o’clock, we sustained several shocks of an earthquake. They were very sensibly felt on board our ships, and lasted about two minutes. During this time the sea rose and fell several times consecutively, which greatly terrified those who were fishing on the rocks, and made them retreat to the boats. It seems upon the whole, that during this season the rains are uninterrupted here. One tempest comes on before the other is gone off, it thunders continually, and the nightsare fit to convey an idea of chaotic darkness. Notwithstanding this, we daily went into the woods in search of thatch palms and cabbage trees, and endeavouring to kill some turtle doves.|Unsuccessful endeavours to find provisions.|We divided into several bodies, and the ordinary result of these fatiguing caravans, was, that we returned wet to the skin, and with empty hands. However, in these last days, we found some mangle-apples, and a kind of fruit calledPrunes de Monbin[121]. These would have been of some service to us, had we discovered them sooner. We likewise found a species of aromatic ivy, in which our surgeons believed they had discovered an antiscorbutic quality; at least, the patients who used an infusion of it, and washed with it, found themselves better.
Description of a fine cascade.
We all went to see a prodigious cascade, which furnished the Etoile’s brook with water. In vain would art endeavour to produce in the palaces of kings, what nature has here lavished upon an uninhabited spot. We admired the assemblage of rocks, of which the almost regular gradations precipitate and diversify the fall of the waters; with admiration we viewed all these masses, of various figures, forming an hundred different basons, which contain the limpid sheets of water, coloured andshaded by trees of immense height, some of which have their roots in the very reservoirs themselves. Let it suffice that some men exist, whose bold pencil can trace the image of these inimitable beauties: this cascade deserves to be drawn by the greatest painter.
Our situation grows worse every day.
Mean while our situation grew worse every moment of our stay here, and during all the time which we spent without advancing homeward. The number of those who were ill of the scurvy, and their complaints encreased. The crew of the Etoile was in a still worse condition than ours. Every day I sent boats out to sea, in order to know what kind of weather there was. The wind was constantly at south, blowing almost a storm with a dreadful sea. Under these circumstances it was impossible to get under sail, especially as this could not be done without getting a spring upon an anchor that was to be slipped all at once; and in that case it would have been impossible in the offing to hoist in the boats that must have remained to weigh the anchor, which we could not afford to leave behind us. These obstacles determined me to go on the 23d to view a passage between Hammer island and the main land. I found one, through which we could go out with a south wind, hoisting in our boats in the channel. This passage had indeed great inconveniences, and happily we were not obliged to make use of it.|We leavePort Praslin.|It rained without intermissionall the night between the 23d and 24th. At day-break the weather became fair and calm. We immediately weighed our small bower, fastened a warp to some trees, bent a hawser to a stream-anchor, and hove a-peek on the off-anchor. During the whole day we waited for the moment of setting sail; we already despaired of it, and the approach of night would have obliged us to moor again, when at half past five o’clock a breeze sprung up from the bottom of the harbour. We immediately slipt our shore-fast, veered out the hawser of the stream-anchor, from which the Etoile was to set sail after us, and in half an hour’s time we were got under sail. The boats towed us into the middle of the passage, where there was wind enough to enable us to proceed without their assistance. We immediately sent them to the Etoile to bring her out. Being got two leagues out to sea, we lay-to in order to wait for her, holding in our long-boat and small boats. At eight o’clock we began to see the Etoile which was come out of port; but the calm did not permit her to join us till two hours after midnight. Our barge returned at the same time, and we hoisted her in.
During night we had squalls and rain. The fair weather returned at day break. The wind was at S. W. and we steered from E. by S. to N. N. E. turning tonorthward with the land. It would not have been prudent to endeavour to pass to windward of it: we suspected that this land was New Britain, and all the appearances confirmed us in it. Indeed the lands which we had discovered more to the westward came very close to this, and in the midst of what one might have taken for a passage, we saw separate hummocks, which doubtless joined to the other lands, by means of some low grounds. Such is the picture Dampier gives of the great bay, which he calls St. George’s Bay, and we have been at anchor at the N. E. point of it, as we verified on the first days after our leaving the port. Dampier was more successful than we were. He took shelter near an inhabited district, which procured him refreshments, and whereof the productions gave him room to conceive great hopes concerning this country; and we, who were as indigent as he was, fell in with a desart, which, instead of supplying all our wants, has only afforded us wood and water.
When I left Port Praslin, I corrected my longitude by that which we obtained from the calculation of the solar eclipse, which we observed there; my difference was about 3°, which I was to the eastward. The thermometer during the stay which we made there, was constantly at 22° or 23°; but the heat was greater than it seemed to shew. I attribute the cause of thisto the want of air, which is common here; this bason being closed in on all sides, and especially on the side of the reigning winds.
Run from Port Praslin to the Moluccas; stay at Boero.
Run from Port Praslin to the Moluccas; stay at Boero.
Run from Port Praslin to the Moluccas; stay at Boero.
We put to sea again after a stay of eight days, during which time, as we have before observed, the weather had been constantly bad, and the wind almost always southerly. The 25th it returned to S. E. veering round to E. and we followed the direction of the coast at about three leagues distance. It rounded insensibly, and we soon discovered in the offing a succession of islands, one after the other. We passed between them and the main, and I gave them the names of the principal officers. We now no longer doubted that we were coasting New Britain. This land is very high, and seemed to be intersected with fine bays, in which we perceived fires, and other marks of habitations.
Distribution of cloaths to the sailors.
The third day after our departure I caused our field-tents to be cut up, and distributed trowsers to the two ships companies. We had already, on several occasions,made the like distributions of cloathing of all kinds. Without that, how would it have been possible that these poor fellows should be clad during so long a voyage, on which they were several times obliged to pass alternately from cold to hot, and to endure frequent deluges of rain?|Extreme want of victuals.|I had, upon the whole, nothing more to give them, all was exhausted, and I was even forced to cut off another ounce of the daily allowance of bread. Of the little provisions that remained, part was spoiled, and in any other situation all our salt provisions would have been thrown over-board; but we were under the necessity of eating the bad as well as the good, for it was impossible to tell when our situation would mend. Thus it was our case to suffer at once by what was past, which had weakened us; by our present situation, of which the melancholy circumstances were every instant repeated before us; and lastly, by what was to come, the indeterminate duration of which was the greatest of all our calamities. My personal sufferings encreased by those of others. However, I must declare that not one suffered himself to be dejected, and that our patience under sufferings has been superior to the most critical situations. The officers set the example, and the seamen never ceased dancing in the evenings, as well in the time of scarcity, as in that of the greatestplenty. Nor has it been necessary to double their pay[122].
Description of the inhabitants of New Guinea.
We had New Britain constantly in sight till the 3d of August, during which time we had little wind, frequent rain, the currents against us, and the ships went worse than ever. The coast trenched more and more to the westward, and on the 29th in the morning, we found ourselves nearer it than we had yet been: this approach procured us a visit from some periaguas; two came within hail of the frigate, and five others went to the Etoile. They carried each of them five or fix black men, with frizled woolly hair, and some of them had powdered it white. They had pretty long beards, and white ornaments round their arms, in form of bracelets. Their nudities were but indifferently covered with the leaves of trees. They are tall, and appeared active and robust. They shewed us a kind of bread, and invited us by signs to go ashore. We desired them to come on board; but our invitations, and even the giftof some pieces of stuff which we threw over-board, did not inspire them with confidence sufficient to make them venture along-side. They took up what was thrown into the water, and by way of thanks one of them with a sling flung a stone, which did not quite reach on board; we would not return them evil for evil, so they retired, striking all together on their canoes, and setting up loud shouts. They without doubt carried their hostilities farther on board the Etoile, for we saw our people fire several muskets, which put them to flight. Their periaguas are long, narrow, and with out-riggers; they all have their heads and sterns more or less ornamented with sculptures, painted red, which does honour to their skill.
The next day there came a much greater number of them, who made no difficulty of coming along-side the ship. One of their conductors, who seemed to be the chief, carried a staff about two or three feet long, painted red, with a knob at each end, which, in approaching us, he raised with both hands over his head, and continued some time in that attitude. All these negroes seemed to be dressed out in their best, some had their woolly hair painted red, others had plumes on their heads, certain seeds in their ears by way of ear-rings, or large white round plates hanging to their necks; some had rings passed through the cartilage of the nose; but an ornament pretty commonto them all was bracelets, made of the mouth of a large shell, sawed asunder. We were desirous of forming an intercourse, in order to engage them to bring us some refreshments, but their treachery soon convinced us that we could not succeed in that attempt. They strove to seize what was offered them, and would give nothing in exchange. We could scarce get a few roots of yams from them; therefore we left off giving them, and they retired. Two canoes rowed towards the frigate at the beginning of night, but a rocket being fired for some signal, they fled precipitately.
They attack the Etoile.
Upon the whole, it seemed that the visits they made us these two last days had been with no other view than to reconnoitre us, and to concert a plan of attack; for the 31st, at day-break, we saw a swarm of periaguas coming off shore, a part of them passed athwart us without stopping, and all directed their course for the Etoile, which they had no doubt observed to be the smallest vessel of the two, and to keep astern. The negroes made their attacks with stones and arrows, but the action was short, for one platoon disconcerted their scheme, many threw themselves into the sea, and some periaguas were abandoned: from this time we did not see any more of them.
Description of the northern part of New Britain.
The coast of New Britain now ran W. by N. and W. and in this part it became considerably lower. It wasno longer that high coast adorned with several rows of mountains; the northern point which we discovered was very low land, and covered with trees from space to space. The five first days of the month of August were rainy, the weather thick and unsettled, and the wind squally. We discovered the coast only by piecemeal, in the clear intervals, without being able to distinguish the particulars of it: however, we saw enough of it to be convinced that the tides continued to carry us a part of the moderate run we made each day. I then steered N. W. and N. W. by W. to avoid a cluster of islands that ly off the northern extremity of New Britain.|1768.August.|The 4th in the afternoon we discovered two islands, which I take to be those that Dampier calls Matthias Island and Stormy or Squally Island. Matthias Island is high and mountainous, and extends to N. W. about eight or nine leagues. The other is not above three or four leagues long, and between the two lies a small isle. An island which we thought we perceived the 5th, at two o’clock in the morning, to the westward, caused us again to stand to the northward. We were not mistaken; for at ten o’clock the fog, which till then had been thick, being dissipated, we saw that island, which is small and low, bearing S. E. by S. The tides then ceased to set to the southward and eastward which seemed to arise from our having got beyond thenorthern point of New Britain, which the Dutch have called Cape Salomaswer. We were then in no more than 00° 41′ south lat. We had sounded almost every day without finding bottom.
Isle of Anchorets.
We steered west till the 7th, with a pretty fresh gale and fair weather, without seeing land. The 7th in the evening, the sky being very hazy, and appearing at sun-set to be a horizon of land from W. to W. S. W. I determined to steer S. W. by S. for the night; at daylight we steered west again. In the morning we saw a low land, about five or six leagues a-head of us. We steered W. by S. and W. S. W. to pass to the southward of it, and we ranged along it at about a league and a half distance. It was a flat island, about three leagues long, covered with trees, and divided into several parts, connected together by breakers and sand-banks. There are upon this island a great quantity of cocoa-nut trees, and the sea-shore is covered with a great number of habitations, from which it may be supposed to be extremely populous. The huts were high, almost square, and well covered. They seemed to us larger and handsomer than the huts built with reeds generally are, and we thought we again beheld the houses of Taiti. We discovered a great number of periaguas employed in fishing all round the island; none of them seemed to be disturbed at seeing us pass, from which we judged that thesepeople, who were not curious, were contented with their fate. We called this island the Isle of Hermits, or Anchorets. Three leagues to the westward of this, we saw another low island from the mast-head.
Archipelago; by us called theEchiquier.
The night was very dark, and some fixed clouds to the southward made us suppose there was land; and, in fact, at day-light we discovered two small isles, bearing S. S. E. ¾ E. at eight or nine leagues distance. We had not yet lost sight of them, at half past eight o’clock, when we discovered another low island, bearing W. S. W. and a little after, an infinite number of little islands extending to W. N. W. and S. W. of this last, which might be about two leagues long; all the others, properly speaking, are nothing but a chain of little flat isles, or keys, covered with wood; which, indeed, was a very disagreeable discovery to us. There was, however, an island separated from the others, and more to the southward, which seemed to us more considerable. We shaped our course between that and the Archipelago of isles, which I called the Chess-board, (l’Echiquier) and which I wanted to leave to the northward. We were not yet near getting clear of it, This chain discovered, ever since the morning, extended much farther to the south-westward, than we were at that time able to determine.
Danger which we run there.
We endeavoured, as I have observed before, to double it to the southward; but in the beginning of thenight, we were still engaged with it, without knowing precisely how far it extended. The weather being continually squally, had never shewn us at once, all that we had to fear; to add to our embarrassment, it became calm in the beginning of the night, and the calm scarce ended at the return of day. We passed the night under continual apprehensions of being cast ashore by the currents. I ordered two anchors to be got clear, and the cables bitted with a range along the deck, which was almost an unnecessary precaution; for we sounded several times without finding bottom. This is one of the greatest dangers of these coasts; for you have not the resource of anchoring at twice the ship’s length from the ledges, by which they are bounded. The weather fortunately continued without squalls; and about midnight a gentle breeze sprung up from the northward, which enabled us to get a little to the south-eastward. The wind freshened in proportion as the sun ascended, and carried us from these low islands; which, I believe, are uninhabited; at least, during the time we were carried near enough to discern them, we distinguished neither fires, nor huts, nor periaguas. The Etoile had been, during the night, in still greater danger than us; for she was a very long time without steerage-way, and the tide drew her insensibly towards the shore, when the wind sprung up to her relief. At two o’clock, in theafternoon, we doubled the westermost of the islands, and steered W. S. W.
We get sight of New Guinea.
The 11th, at noon, being in 2° 17′ south latitude, we perceived, to the southward, a high coast, which seemed to us to be that of New Guinea. Some hours after, we saw it more distinctly. The land is high and mountainous, and in this part extends to the W. N. W. The 12th, at noon, we were about ten leagues from the nearest land; it was impossible to observe the coast minutely at that distance there: it appeared to us only a large bay, about 2° 25′ south latitude; in the bottom of which, the land was so low, that we only saw it from the mast-head. We also judged from the celerity with which we doubled the land, that the currents were become favourable to us; but in order to determine with any exactness, the difference they occasioned in our estimated run, it would have been necessary to sail at a less distance from the coast. We continued ranging along it, at ten or twelve leagues distance; its direction was constantly W. N. W. and its height immense. We remarked particularly two very high peaks, neighbours to each other, which surpassed all the other mountains in height. We called them the Two Cyclops. We had occasion to remark, that the tides set to the N. W. The next day we actually found ourselves further off from the coast of New Guinea; which here tended away west.The 14th, at break of day, we discovered two islands and a little isle or key, which seemed to be between them, but more to the southward. Their corrected bearings are E. S. E. and W. N. W. They are at about two leagues distance from each other, of a middling height, and not above a league and a half in extent each.
Direction of the winds and currents.
We advanced but little each day. Since our arrival on the coast of New Guinea, we had pretty regularly a light breeze from east to N. E. which began about two or three o’clock in the afternoon, and lasted till about midnight; this breeze was succeeded with a longer or shorter interval of calm, which was followed by the land-breeze, varying from S. W. to S. S. W. and that terminated also towards noon, in two or three hours calm. The 15th, in the morning, we again saw the westmost of the two islands we had seen the preceding evening. We discovered at the same time other land, which seemed to us to be islands, extending from S. E. to W. S. W. very low, over which, in a distant point of view, we perceived the high mountains of the continent. The highest, which we set at eight o’clock in the morning, bearing S. S. E. by compass, detached from the others, we called theGiant of Moulineau, and we gave the name ofla Nymphe Aliceto the westmost of the low islands, to the N. W. of Moulineau. At ten in the morning we fell into a race of a tide, where the current seemed tocarry us with violence to N. and N. N. E. It was so violent, that till noon it prevented our steering; and as it carried us much into the offing, it became impossible for us to fix a positive judgment of its true direction. The water, in the first tide-line, was covered with the trunks of drift trees, sundry fruits and rock-weeds; it was at the same time so agitated, that we dreaded being on a bank; but sounding, we had no bottom at 100 fathom. This race of a tide seems to indicate either a great river in the continent, or a passage which would here divide New Guinea; a passage whose entrance would be almost north and south. According to two distances, between the sun and moon, observed with an octant, by the chevalier du Bouchage and M. Verron, our longitude, the 15th at noon, was 136° 16′ 30″ east of Paris.|Observations compared with the reckoning.|My reckoning continued from the determined longitude of Port Praslin; differed from it 2° 47′. We observed the same day 1° 17′ south latitude.
The 16th and 17th it was almost calm; the little wind that did blow, was variable. The 16th, we did not see the land till seven in the morning; and then only from the mast-head, extremely high and rugged. We lost all that day in waiting for the Etoile, who, overcome by the current, could not keep her course; and the 17th, as she was very far from us, I was obliged to bear down to join her; but this we did notaccomplish, till the approach of night, which proved very stormy, with a deluge of rain and frightful thunder. The six following days were all as unpropitious to us; we had rain and calms; and the little wind that did blow was right a-head. It is impossible to form an idea of this, without being in the situation we were then in. The 17th, in the afternoon, we had seen from S. by W. ½ W. to S. W. ½ W. by compass, at about sixteen leagues distance, a high coast, which we did not lose sight of till night came on. The 18th, at nine in the morning, we discovered a high island, bearing S. W. by W. distance about twelve leagues: we saw it again the next day; and at noon it bore from S. S. W. to S. W. at the distance of 15 or 20 leagues. During these three last days, the currents gave us ten leagues northing: we could not determine what they had helped us in longitude.
We cross the Equator.
The 20th we crossed the line, for the second time the voyage. The currents continued to set us from the land; and we saw nothing of it the 20th or 21st, although we had kept on those tacks by which we approached it most. It became, however, necessary to make the coast, and to range along it, near enough, so as not to commit any dangerous error, which might make us miss the passage into the Indian Sea, and carry us into one of the gulphs of Gilolo. The 22d, at break of day, wehad sight of a higher coast than any part of New Guinea that we had yet seen. We steered for it, and at noon we set it, when it bore from S. by E. ½ E. to S. W. where it did not seem to terminate. We passed the line for the third time.|Cross the line again.|The land ran W. N. W. and we approached it, being determined not to quit it any more till we arrived at its extremity, which geographers call Cape Mabo. In the night we doubled a point, on the other side of which the land, still very high, trenched away W. by S. and W. S. W. The 23d at noon, we saw an extent of coast, of about twenty leagues; the westmost part of which bore from us S. W. thirteen or fourteen leagues. We were much nearer two low islands, covered with wood, distant from each other about four leagues.|Unsuccessful attempt on shore.|We stood within about half a league; and whilst we waited for the Etoile, who was a great distance from us, I sent the chevalier de Suzannet, with two of our boats armed, to the northermost of the two islands. We thought we saw some habitations there, and were in hopes of getting some refreshments. A bank, which lies the length of the island, and extends even pretty far to the eastward, obliged the boats to take a large circuit to double it. The chevalier de Suzannet found neither dwellings, inhabitants, nor refreshments. What had seemed to us at a distance to form a village, was nothingbut a heap of rocks, undermined and hollowed into caverns by the sea. The trees that covered the island, bore no fruits proper to be eaten by man. We buried an inscription here. The boats did not return on board till ten o’clock at night, when the Etoile had joined us. The constant sight of the land shewed us that the currents set here to the N. W.
Continuation of New Guinea.
After hoisting in our boats, we strove to keep the shore on board, as well as the winds, which were constantly at S. and S. S. W. would permit us. We were obliged to make several boards, with an intent to pass to windward of a large island, which we had seen at sun-set, bearing W. and W. by N. The dawn of day surprised us, still to leeward of this island. Its eastern side, which may be about five leagues long, runs nearly N. and S. and off the south point lies a low island of small extent. Between it and the coast of New Guinea, which runs here nearly S. W. by W. there appeared a large passage, the entrance of which, of about eight leagues, lay N. E. and S. W. The wind blew out of it, and the tide set to the N. W. it was not possible to gain in turning to windward against wind and sea; but I strove to do it till nine in the morning. I saw with concern that it was fruitless, and resolved to bear away, in order to range the northern side of the island, abandoning with regret a passage, which I thought a fine one, to extricate me out of this everlasting chain of islands.
Hidden danger.
We had two successive alarms this morning. The first time they called from aloft, that they saw a long range of breakers a-head, and we immediately got the other tacks on board. These breakers, at length, more attentively examined, turned out to be the ripling of a violent tide, and we returned to our former course. An hour after, several persons called from the forecastle, that they saw the bottom under us; the affair was pressing; but the alarm was fortunately as short as it had been sudden. We should even have thought it false, if the Etoile, who was in our wake, had not perceived the same shoal for near two minutes. It appeared to them a coral-bank. Almost north and south of this bank, which may have still less water in some places, there is a sandy creek, in which are built some huts, surrounded with cocoa-trees. This mark may so much the better serve for a direction, as hitherto we had not seen any traces of habitations on this coast. At one o’clock in the afternoon, we doubled the N. E. point of the great island; which from thence extended W. and W. by S. near 20 leagues. We were obliged to hug our wind to coast it; and it was not long ere we perceived other islands, bearing W. and W. by N. We saw one at sun-set, which bore even N. E. by N. to which there joined a ledge, which seemed to extend as far as N. by W. thus were we once more hemmed in.
Loss of the master of the ship.
This day we lost our first master, called Denys, who died of the scurvy. He was a native of St. Malo’s, and aged about fifty years; most of them spent in the king’s service. The sentiments of honour, and extensive knowledge, that distinguished him in his important charge, caused him to be universally regretted among us. Forty-five other persons were afflicted with the scurvy; lemonade and wine only suspended its fatal progress.
Difficult course.
We spent the night upon our tacks; and the 25th, at day-light, found ourselves surrounded with land. Three passages presented themselves to us; one opened to the S. W. the second to W. S. W. and the third almost east and west. The wind was fair for none but the east; and I did not approve of it, as I did not doubt that it would carry us into the midst of the isles of Papua. It was necessary to avoid falling any farther to the northward; for fear, as I have before observed, we should be imbayed in one of the gulphs, on the east side of Gilolo. The essential means for getting out of these critical parts, was therefore to get into a southern latitude; for on the other side of the S. W. passage we observed to the southward an open sea, to the utmost extent of our view, therefore I resolved to ply to windward, in order to gain that outlet. All these islands, which inclosed us, are very steep, of a moderate height, and covered with trees. We did not perceive the least appearance of their being inhabited.
Fourth passage of the line.
At eleven o’clock in the afternoon, we sounded 45 fathom, a sandy bottom; this was one resource. At noon we observed in 00° 5′ N. latitude, having crossed the line a fourth time. At six in the evening we were so far to windward, as to be able to fetch the W. S. W. passage, having gained about three leagues by working the whole day. The night was more favourable, thanks to the moon-shine, which enabled us to turn to windward between the rocks and islands. The current, which had been against us whilst we were passing by the two first passages, likewise became favourable for us as soon as we opened the S. W. passage.
Description of the channel through which we pass.
The channel through which we at last passed out this night, may be about three leagues broad. It is bounded to the westward by a cluster of pretty high islands and keys. Its eastern side, which at first sight we took for the westmost point of the great island, is also nothing but a heap of small islands and rocks, which, at a distance, seemed to form only one body; and the separations between these islands shew at first the appearance of fine bays; this is what we discovered in each tack, that we made towards that shore. It was not till half past four o’clock in the morning, that we were able to double the southmost of the little islands of the new passage, which we called theFrench Passage. We deepened our water in the midst of this Archipelago of Islands,in advancing to the southward. Our soundings were from 55 to 75 and 80 fathom, grey sand, ooze, and rotten shells. When we were entirely out of the channel, we sounded and found no bottom. We then steered S. W.
Pass the line a fifth time.
The 26th, at break of day, we discovered an island, bearing S. S. W. and a little after another bearing W. N. W. At noon we saw no more of the labyrinth of islands we had left, and the meridian altitude gave us 00° 23′ south latitude. This was the fifth time of our passing the line. We continued close on a wind, with the larboard tacks on board, and in the afternoon we had sight of a small island in the S. E. The next day, at sun-rise, we saw it somewhat elevated, bearing N. E. about nine or ten leagues distance, seeming to extend N. E. and S. W. about two leagues. A large hummock, very steep, and of a remarkable height, which we named Big Thomas, (Gros Thomas) shewed itself at ten in the forenoon. At its southern point there is a small island, and there are two at the northern one. The currents ceasedsettingsettingus to the northward; we had, on the contrary, a difference to the southward. This circumstance, together with our observed latitude, which made us to the southward of Cape Mabo, totally convinced me that we were at length entered into the Archipelago of the Moluccas.