"The officers," says Kerguelen, "insisted that the ordinary ration of biscuit was not enough, and that without more the crew could not possibly resist the cold and fog. I increased each man's rations by four ounces of biscuit daily."
Upon the 8th of January, 1774, theRolandsignalled the frigate at Re-union Island. Communication with her was opened, and M. Rosnevet declared that he had found an anchorage in a bay behind Cape Français, that he had sent a boat on the 6th to take soundings, and that, upon landing to take possession, the men had killed a sea-lion and some penguins.
Once again, the prostrate condition of the crew, the bad quality of the victuals, and the dilapidated state of the vessels, prevented Kerguelen from making a thorough investigation of this desolate archipelago. He was forced to return; but, instead of returning to Mauritius, he landed in Antongil Bay, Madagascar, where he was sure of obtaining lemons, limes, custard apples, and other anti-scorbutics, as well as fresh meat.
An adventurer named Beniowski, whose history is sufficiently curious, had just founded a French colony there. But he was in need of everything. Kerguelen gave him ammunition, bricks, iron implements, shirts, blankets, &c., and finally ordered his carpenters to build a store-shed for him.
Thirty-four of the crew of theRolandhad died since leaving the southern regions, and if Kerguelen had remained another week in these latitudes, he would have lost a hundred men! On his return to France, Kerguelen met with nothing but ill-will and calumny, in return for so much fatigue, so bravely born. The feeling against him was so strong that one of his officers was not ashamed to publish a memoir, in which all the facts were dressed up in the most unfavourable shape, and the failure of the enterprise thrown upon Kerguelen. We do not assert that he was entirely free from blame, but we consider the verdict of the council of war which deprived him of his rank, and condemned him to detention in the Château of Saumur, most unjust. No doubt the judgment was found to be excessive, and the government discerned more malice than justice in it, for a few months later Kerguelen was restored to liberty. The gravest charge against him was that of having abandoned his sloop and a portion of his crew, in the southern seas, who, but for the opportune arrival of theFortune, must have perished. Probably, however, even this was much exaggerated, for a letter exists from the abandoned officer, M. de Rosily (afterwards vice-admiral), in which he begs to serve again under Kerguelen. The account of these expeditions is an extract from the apology published by Kerguelen during his imprisonment, a work which was confiscated by government, and on that account is extremely rare.
We must now turn our attention to the account of expeditions which, although they did not result in discoveries, had an importance of their own. They contributed to the rectification of charts, to the progress of navigation and geography, but, above all, they solved a long-standing problem, the determination of longitude at sea.
To decide upon the position of a locality it is first necessary to obtain its latitude, that is to say, its distance N. or S. from the equator, and its longitude, or in other words its distance E. or W. from some known meridian.
At this period, no instrument for determining the position of a ship existed but the rope known as a log, which, thrown into the sea, measured the distance which the ship made every half minute; the proportionate speed of the vessel per hour was deduced from it. But the log is far from immoveable, and the speed of a vessel is not always the same, hence arose two important sources of error. The direction of the route was determined by the mariner's needle or compass. But every one knows that the compass is subject to variations, and that the vessel does not invariably follow the course it indicates, and it is no easy matter to determine the exact difference. These inconveniences once admitted, the question was to find a method exempt from them.
With Hadley's quadrant, latitude could be determined within a minute, that is to say, to the third of a league. But such an approximate exactitude was not possible in deciding longitudes. When once the different phenomena of the variations of the magnetic needle, either of declination or inclination, should be fully understood, it would be easy; but how to obtain this knowledge? It was well known that in the Indian Sea, between Bourbon, Madagascar, and Rodriguez, a variation of four degrees in the declination of the needle was equivalent to a variation of five degrees in the longitude, but it was equally admitted that the declination of the magnetic needle was subject to variations, in the same localities, for which no cause could be assigned.
Verdun de la Crenne, writing in 1778, says a declination of twelve degrees, from N. to W. twenty years ago, indicated a longitude of 61° W. of Paris, in any given latitude. It is very probable that within the last twenty years the declination has varied two degrees, which makes the longitude deduced from it wrong by two and a half degrees, or nearly fifty nautical miles.
If the right time is known on board, that is to say, the correct time by which the meridian could be computed at the moment of any given observation, and if at the same time, the exact time at the port from which the ship had started, or that if any known meridian could be ascertained, the difference of time would evidently give that of the meridians, at the rate of fifteen degrees per hour, or one degree per four minutes. The problem of the longitude could thus be reduced to a determination, at a given moment of the time at any given meridian.
To achieve this it was necessary to have a watch or clock which should preserve a perfect isochronism, in defiance of the state of the sea or differences of temperature.
Many attempts had been made. Besson in the sixteenth century, Huyghens in the seventeenth century, and again Sully, Harrison, Dutertre, Gallonde, Rivas, Le Roy, and Ferdinand Berthoud had attempted to solve the problem.
The English and French Governments, moreover, convinced of the value of a perfect instrument, had offered a high reward for its invention. The Academy of Science had instituted a competition. In 1765 Le Roy sent in two watches for competition, whilst Berthould, who was in the king's service, was unable to do so. Le Roy's watches passed successfully through the various trials to which they were subjected on land. It remained to be proved whether they would be equally trustworthy at sea.
The Marquis de Constanvaux had the frigateAurorabuilt at his own cost for this experiment. Le Roy, however, decided that a cruise, with constant stoppages, at Calais, Dunkirk, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Boulogne, lasting only from the 25th of May to the 29th of August, was far too short, and he demanded a second trial. This time his watches were sent on board the frigate, theEnjouée, which, leaving Havre, put in at St. Pierre near Teneriffe, at Salee in Africa, at Cadiz, and finally, after a voyage of four months and a half, at Brest. The trial had been a serious one, the latitudes and the state of the sea having both changed constantly. If the watch had neither lost or gained, it won the prize, which was in fact assigned to Le Roy.
The Academy, however, knew that many other scientific men had bestowed their attention upon the subject, and for various causes had been unable to exhibit. They therefore proposed the same subject for the competition of 1771, and in 1773 they doubled the prize.
F. Berthould imagined that he had reached perfection, but his watch had still to be tested by the trial of a long sea voyage.
TheIsis, a frigate of eighteen guns, was equipped at Rochefort at the latter end of 1768, and placed under command of Chevalier d'Eveux de Fleurien, known later as Caret-de Fleurien. Fleurien, then a midshipman, was already, though only thirty years of age, a well knownsavant. We have already mentioned his name, and shall find further occasion to do so. At this juncture, fascinated by mechanics, Fleurien had assisted Berthould in his undertaking, but that his disinterestedness might be above suspicion, he selected several officers to assist him in observing the motions of the watch which was entrusted to him.
Starting in November, 1768, theIsisput in successively at Cadiz, the Canary Islands, Goree, the Cape Verde Islands, Martinique, St. Domingo, Terra Nuova, the Canaries, Cadiz again, and reached Aix Island on the 31st of October, 1769.
The watches, carried through climates alternately cold, hot, and temperate, had experienced every vicissitude of climate, and at the same time had been exposed to all the variations of the sea, in the roughest season of the year.
After this trial, which had redounded so much to his honour, Berthould obtained the rank and pension of an inspector of nautical watches.
This expedition had other results which concern us more particularly. Fleurien took a number of astronomical observations, and hydrographical surveys, which resulted in a well-founded condemnation of the maps of his country.
"For a long time," he says, in his account of his voyage, "I did not attempt criticism of the maps belonging to the Society; I wished to limit myself to giving new details by which they might be rectified; but I found such numberless and dangerous mistakes, that I should have considered myself culpable towards mariners if I had neglected fully to point them out."
A little further on he justly criticizes the maps of a geographer who had at one time been famous.
"I will not undertake," he says, "to enumerate all the errors which I have found in M. Bellin's maps. Their number is infinite. I shall content myself simply with proving the necessity for the work I did, by indicating the more glaring faults, either by comparing the positions of various places upon his maps, with the positions they should have occupied ifM. Bellin had been willing to use the astronomical observations which have been published at various times; or by comparing other positions with those which we have determined by our own observations."
Lastly, after giving a long list of errors in the situation of the most frequented places of Europe, of Africa and America, he winds up with these judicious words:—
"Upon glancing at a list of the various errors I have discovered in M. Bellin's maps, one is led to a reflection, sad but true and inevitable—if the maps of the best known part of the globe, and on which the greater number of observations have been taken, are so far from correct, what exactitude can we hope to find in maps representing less frequented shores and islands, drawn and arranged by guess-work?"
Up to this time the watches had been examined separately and by different judges. Now arose the question of submitting them simultaneously to the same test, and of seeing which would come out victorious.
For this purpose the frigateLa Florewas equipped at Brest, and the command was given to a most distinguished officer, Verdun de la Crenne, who was to become vice-admiral in 1786. The various stages of the expedition were Cadiz, Madeira, the Salvage Islands, Teneriffe, Goree, Martinique, Terra Nuova, Iceland—which our explorers had some trouble to find—the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Dunkerque. The narrative published by Verdun de la Crenne, like that of Fleurien, abounds in rectifications of every kind. It is easy to see how carefully and exactly the soundings were taken, with what care the coasts were surveyed; but not a little interesting also is that which is altogether wanting in Fleurien's publication, descriptions of the countries and critical reflections upon the manners and customs of the different peoples visited.
Amongst the most interesting particulars contained in two large 4to volumes, we must mention those relating to the Canary Islands and their ancient inhabitants the Serères and Yolof, on Iceland, and the accurate remarks made by Verdun upon the subject of the meridian of Faroe Islands.
"It was the most easterly meridian of these islands," he says, "that Ptolemy chose for the first meridian. It would doubtless have been easy for him to have selected Alexandria for the first meridian; but this great man was aware that such a choice would bring no real honour to his country, that Rome and other ambitious towns might covet this imaginary glory, that every geographer, every narrator of voyages, arbitrarily choosing his own meridian, would engender confusion or at least embarrassment in the mind of the reader."
Clearly Verdun regarded the question of the first meridian from a high standpoint, as all really disinterested minds still do. It gives him yet another claim to our sympathy.
Let us conclude with a quotation from this author: "The watches came out of the contest with honour. They had borne heat and cold, they had been becalmed, they had endured shocks as well as the vessel which carried them when it was wrecked at Antigua, and when it received charges of artillery. In a word, they fulfilled the hopes we had indulged, they deserve the confidence of navigators, and lastly they are of great service in the determination of longitude at sea."
The solution of the problem was found!
II.
II.
The Expedition of La Perouse—St. Catherine's Island—Conception Island—The Sandwich Islands—Survey of the American coast—French Port—Loss of two boats—Monterey and the Indians of California—Stay at Macao—Cavite and Manilla—En routefor China and Japan—Formosa—Quelpaert Island—The coast of Tartary—Ternay Bay—The Tartars of Saghalien—The Orotchys—Straits of La Perouse—Ball at Kamtchatka—Navigator Islands—Massacre of M. de Langle and several of his companions—Botany Bay—No news of the Expedition—D'Entrecasteaux sent in search of La Perouse—False News—D'Entrecasteaux Channel—The coast of New Caledonia—Land of the Arsacides—The natives of Bouka—Stay in Port Carteret—Admiralty Islands—Stay at Amboine—Lewin Land—Nuyts Archipelago—Stay in Tasmania—Fête in the Friendly Islands—Particulars of the stay of La Perouse at Tonga Tabou—Stay at Balado—Traces of La Perouse in New Caledonia—Vanikoro—Sad fate of the Expedition.
The result of Cook's voyage, except the fact of his death, was still unknown, when the French government resolved to make use of the leisure which the peace just concluded had secured to the navy. The French officers, desirous of emulating the success of their old rivals the English, were fired with a noble emulation to excel them in some new field. The question arose as to the fittest person for the conduct of an important expedition. There was no lack of deserving candidates. Indeed, in the number lay the difficulty.
The Minister's choice fell upon Jean François Galaup de la Perouse, whose important military services had rapidly advanced him to the rank of captain. During the last war he had been intrusted with the difficult mission of destroying the English posts in Hudson's Bay, and in this task he had proved himself not only an able soldier and sailor, but a man who could combine humanity with professional firmness. Second to him in the command was M. de Langle, who had ably assisted him in the expedition to Hudson's Bay.
A large staff embarked upon the two frigatesLa BoussoleandL'Astrolabe. On board theBoussolewere La Perouse; Clenard, who was made captain during the expedition; Monneron, an engineer; Bernizet, a geographer; Rollin, a surgeon; Lepante Dagelet, an astronomer of the Academy of Sciences; Lamanon, a physicist; Duché de Vancy and Prevost the younger, draughtsmen; Collignon, a botanist; and Guéry, a clock maker. TheAstrolabe, in addition to her commander, Captain de Langle, carried Lieutenant de Monte, who was made captain during the voyage, and the celebrated Monge, who, fortunately for the interests of science, landed at Teneriffe upon the 30th of August, 1785.
The Academy of Sciences and the Society of Medicine had drawn up reports for the Minister of Marine, in which they called the attention of the navigators to certain points. Lastly, Fleurien, the superintendent of ports and naval arsenals, had himself drawn up the maps for the service of the expedition, and added to it an entire volume of learned notes and discussions upon the results of all known voyages since the time of Christopher Columbus.
The two ships carried an enormous amount of merchandise for trade, as well as a vast quantity of provisions and stores, a twenty-ton boat, two sloops, masts, and reserve sets of sails and rigging.
The two frigates sailed upon the 1st of August, 1785, and anchored off Madeira thirteen days later.
The French were at once charmed and surprised at the kind and cordial welcome accorded them by the English residents. Upon the 19th La Perouse put into Teneriffe.
"The various observations," he says, "made by MM. de Fleurien, Verdun, and Borda, upon Madeira, the Salvage Islands, and Teneriffe leave nothing to be wished for. Our attention was therefore confined to testing our instruments."
This remark proves that La Perouse was capable of doing justice to his predecessors. And we shall have other opportunities of observing that quality in him.
While the astronomers devoted themselves to estimating the regularity of the astronomical watches, the naturalists, with several officers, ascended the Peak, and collected some curious plants. Monneron succeeded in measuring this mountain with much greater accuracy than his predecessors, Herberdeen, Feuillée, Bouguer, Verdun, and Borda, who calculated its height respectively at 2409, 2213, 2100, and 1904 fathoms. Unfortunately his work, which would have settled the discussion, never reached France.
Upon the 16th of October, the isles, or rather rocks, of Marten Vas were seen. La Perouse ascertained their position, and afterwards made for the nearest, Trinity Island, which was only some nine leagues to the west. The commander of the expedition sent a sloop on shore in charge of an officer, in the hope of finding water, wood, and provisions. The officer had an interview with the Portuguese governor, whose garrison consisted of about two hundred men, fifteen of whom wore uniforms, and the rest merely shirts. The poverty of the land was obvious, and the French re-embarked without having obtained anything.
After a vain search for Ascension Island, the expedition reached Saint Catherine's Island, off the coast of Brazil.
"After ninety-six days' navigation," we read in the narrative of the voyage published by General Millet-Mureau, "we had not one case of illness on board. The health of the crew had remained unimpaired by change of climate, rain, and fog; but our provisions were of first-class quality; I neglected none of the precautions which experience and prudence suggested to me; and above all, we kept up our spirits by encouraging dancing every evening among the crew, whenever the weather permitted, from eight o'clock till ten."
Saint Catherine's Island, of which we have more than once had occasion to speak in the course of this narrative, extends from 27° 19' 10" S. lat. to 27° 49'. It is only two leagues wide, and is divided in its narrowest part from the mainland by a channel of two hundred fathoms. The town of Nostra Señora del Desterra, the capital of the colony, where the governor resides, is built at the point of this narrow entrance. The population amounts, at the utmost, to three thousand, and there are about four hundred houses. The appearance of the town is very pleasant. According to Frezier's account, this island was a refuge in 1712 for the vagabonds who fled there from different parts of Brazil. They were Portuguese subjects in name only, and recognized no other authority. The country is so fertile that the inhabitants can live quite independently of any neighbouring colony. The ships in the harbour gave them shirts and coats, of which they had absolutely none, in exchange for provisions.
This island is extremely fertile, and the soil could easily be made to grow sugar-cane, but the inhabitants are so poor that they cannot buy the needful slaves for the labour.
The French vessels found all that they needed in this spot, and their officers were cordially received by the Portuguese authorities.
The following fact will give an idea of the hospitality of these people. "My boat," says La Perouse, "having been upset in a creek where I was having wood cut, the inhabitants, after assisting in saving it, insisted on our shipwrecked sailors using their beds, and themselves slept on mats upon the floor of the room where they received them so hospitably. A few days later they brought to my vessel the sails, mast, grapnel, and flag of the boat, which would have been of great use to them for their pirogues."
TheBoussoleand theAstrolabeweighed anchor upon the 19th of November, and directed their course to Cape Horn. After a violent storm, during which the frigates behaved very well, and after forty days' fruitless search for the large island discovered by a Frenchman, Antoine de la Roche, and called Georgia by Captain Cook, La Perouse crossed the Straits of Lemaire. Finding the winds favourable, he decided not to remain in Good Success Bay at this advanced season of the year, but immediately to double Cape Horn, in the hope of avoiding a possible delay that would have exposed his ships to injury and his crew to useless fatigue.
The friendly demonstrations of the Fuegians, the abundance of whales, which had never before been disturbed, the immense flocks of albatross and petrels, did not change his resolve. Cape Horn was rounded more easily than could have been expected. Upon the 9th of February the expedition was in the Straits of Magellan, and upon the 24th anchor was cast in Concepcion Harbour, which La Perouse preferred to that of Juan Fernandez, on account of the exhaustion of his provisions. The robust health of the crews astonished the Spanish governor. Possibly this was the first time a vessel had rounded Cape Horn and arrived in Chili without any sick on board.
The town, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1757, had been rebuilt three leagues from the sea, upon the shore of the river Biobio. The houses are of one storey, and the town of La Concepcion contains ten thousand inhabitants. The bay is one of the most commodious in the world; the sea is smooth, and almost free from currents. This part of Chili is wonderfully fertile. One ear of corn reproduces sixty; vines are equally prolific; and the country teems with innumerable flocks, which multiply beyond all credence.
In spite of these prosperous conditions the country made no progress, on account of the prohibitive system which at this time prevailed. Chili, with its productions, which might easily have fed the half of Europe; its wool, which might have sufficed for the manufactures of France and England; its meats, which might have been preserved—had no commerce whatever. At the same time the duty upon imported goods was excessive, so that living was very dear. The middle class, as the "bourgeoisie" are now called, did not exist; the population consisted of two classes, the rich and the poor, as the following passage shows:—
"The dress of the women consists of a plaited skirt of the ancient gold or silver tissues which were formerly manufactured at Lyons. These petticoats, which are kept for grand occasions, are often inherited like diamonds, and are handed down from generation to generation. They are only worn by a small number of the higher class; the others have scarcely the means of clothing themselves at all."
We will not follow La Perouse into his details of the enthusiastic reception given to him, and we will pass over in silence his description of balls and toilettes, which never for a moment induced him to lose sight of the object of his voyage. So far the expedition had only passed through regions often before visited by Europeans. It was now about to penetrate to less-known realms. Anchor was raised upon the 15th of March, and, after a voyage entirely free from incident, the two frigates anchored upon the 9th of April in Cook's Bay, Easter Island.
La Perouse affirms that Mr. Hodges, the painter, who accompanied the celebrated English navigator, has given a very unjust representation of the inhabitants. Generally their physiognomies are pleasing, but they cannot be said to have much character.
This is by no means the only point upon which the French navigator differs from Captain Cook. He believed the famous statues, of which one of the draughtsmen made an excellent sketch, to have been the work of the present generation, whose numbers he estimates at two thousand. It appeared to him also that the absolute lack of trees, and therefore of lakes and rivers, was due to the extravagant waste of wood by the earlier races. No disagreeable incident occurred during the stay. Robberies, it is true, were frequent; but as the French intended remaining only one day on the island, they thought it superfluous to give the population stricter ideas of honesty.
After leaving Easter Island, upon the 10th of April, La Perouse followed much the same route as Cook had done in 1777, when he sailed from Tahiti to the American coast; but he was a hundred leagues farther west. La Perouse indulged in the hope of making discoveries in this little-known region of the Pacific Ocean, and he promised to reward the sailor who should first sight land. Upon the 29th of May the Hawaian archipelago was reached.
The naval watches proved of great assistance upon this occasion, and justified the opinion entertained of them. Upon reaching the Sandwich Islands La Perouse found a difference of five degrees between the longitude given and that obtained by him. Without the watches he would have placed this group five degrees too far east. This explains why the islands discovered by the Spanish—Mendana, Queros, &c.—are much too near the American coast, and also the non-existence of the group called by the Spaniards La Mesa, Los Majos, and La Disgraceada, which there is every reason to suppose was none other than the Sandwich archipelago, as Mesa in Spanish means "table," and Captain King compares the mountain called Mauna Loa to a plateau or table-land. He did not, however, trust to conjecture; he crossed the reputed site of Los Majos, and found not the slightest trace of land.
"The aspect of Monee," says La Perouse, "is delightful. We saw water tumbling in cascades from the summit of the mountains, and reaching the sea after watering the Indian plantations, of which there are so many that each village extends over three or four leagues. All the huts are, however, on the sea-shore; and the mountains are so close that the habitable portion of the land appeared to me to be less than half a league in depth. One must be a sailor, and, like us, have been reduced to a bottle of water per day in a burning climate, to realize the sensations we experienced. The trees which crowned the mountains, the green fields, the banana-trees which surrounded the dwellings, all combined to charm our senses with an inexpressible delight; but the sea broke violently on the shore, and, like Tantalus, we were obliged to devour with our eyes what was completely beyond our reach."
The two frigates had no sooner anchored than they were surrounded by pirogues, full of natives, offering pigs, potatoes, bananas, "taro," &c. Clever traders, they attached most value to bits of old iron rings. Their acquaintance with iron and its use, for which they were not indebted to Cook, is another proof that this people had known the Spaniards, to whom the discovery of the group is probably due.
The welcome accorded to La Perouse was most cordial, in spite of the military force by which he had thought proper to protect himself. Although the French were the first to land on Monee Island, La Perouse did not think it his duty to take possession.
"The usual European custom in such matters," he says, "is perfectly ridiculous. Philosophers may well sigh when they see men, simply because they have guns and bayonets, thinking nothing of sixty thousand of their fellow-men, and, without the least respect for the most sacred rights, looking upon a land whose inhabitants have cultivated it in the sweat of the brow, and whose ancestors lie buried there, as an object fit for conquest."
La Perouse does not pause to give any details about the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands. He only passed a few hours there, whilst the English remained for four months. He therefore rightly refers to Captain Cook's narrative.
During their short stay the French bought more than a hundred pigs, mats, fruits, a pirogue, ornaments made of feathers and shells, and handsome helmets decorated with feathers.
The instructions furnished La Perouse before his departure enjoined him to survey the American coast, of which a portion, extending to Mount Elias had, with the exception of Nootka port, been merely sighted by Captain Cook.
On the 23rd of June he reached 60° N. lat., and, in the midst of a long chain of snow-covered mountains, recognized the Mount Elias of Behring. After skirting along the coast for some time, La Perouse sent three boats, under command of one of his officers, M. de Monte, who discovered a large bay, to which he gave his name.
Following the coast at a short distance, surveys were taken, which were uninterrupted as far as an important river, which received the name of Behring. Apparently it was that to which Cook had given this name.
Upon the 2nd of July, in 58° 36' lat., and 140° 3' long., what appeared to be a fine bay was discovered. Boats, under command of MM. de Pierrevert, de Flassan, and Boutevilliers, were sent to examine it.
Their report being favourable, the two frigates arrived at the entrance of the bay, but theAstrolabewas driven back to the open sea by a strong current, and theBoussolewas forced to join her. At six o'clock in the morning, after a night passed under sail, the vessels again approached the bay. "But," says the narrative, "at seven in the morning, when we were close to it, the wind veered so suddenly to W.N.W. and N.N.W., that we were forced to give way, and even to bring our ships to the wind. Fortunately the tide carried our frigates into the bay, and we escaped the rocks on the east by half a pistol's range. I anchored in three and a half fathoms, with a rocky bottom, half a cable's length from shore. TheAstrolabehad anchored in the same depth, and upon a similar bottom. In all the thirty years I have spent at sea, I have never seen two vessels in greater danger. Our situation would have been safe had we not anchored upon a rocky bottom, which extended several cables' length around us, and which was different from what MM. de Flasson and Boutevilliers had reported. We had no time to make reflections; it was above everything necessary to get out of our dangerous anchorage, to which the rapidity of the current was a great obstacle." However, by dint of much skilful tacking, La Perouse succeeded.
Ever since their entry into the bay the vessels had been surrounded by pirogues swarming with savages. The natives showed a decided preference for iron, in exchange for fish and the skins of otters and other animals. After a few days' stay their number increased rapidly, and they became, if not dangerous, at least a nuisance.
La Perouse established an observatory upon one of the islands in the bay, and set up tents for the sail makers and smiths. Although these posts were most carefully watched, the natives, gliding along the ground like snakes, scarcely stirring a leaf, managed in spite of our sentinels to commit various thefts; and one night they were clever enough to enter the tent where MM. de Launston and Darbaud (who were in charge of the observatory) slept. They carried off a silver-mounted gun, as well as the clothes belonging to the two officers, who had placed them for safety under their pillows. They escaped the notice of a guard of twelve men, and the two officers were not even awakened.
But now the stay of the expedition in this port drew to a close. The soundings, surveys, plans, and astronomical observations were completed; but, before finally leaving the island, La Perouse wished thoroughly to explore the depths of the bay. He imagined that some large river must empty itself into it, which would enable him to penetrate into the interior; but in all the openings he entered he found only vast glaciers, which extended to the very summit of Fair Weather Mount.
No accident or sickness marred the success which had so far attended the expedition.
"We thought ourselves," says La Perouse, "the most fortunate of navigators, for having reached so great a distance from Europe without having had one invalid or a single sufferer from scurvy. But the greatest misfortune, and one it was impossible to foresee, now awaited us."
Upon the chart of the Port des Français, drawn up by MM. Monneron and Bernizet, the soundings alone remained to be indicated. The naval officers were bound to accomplish the task, and three boats, under the orders of MM. d'Escures, de Marchainville, and Boutin, were selected for the undertaking. La Perouse, acquainted with the somewhat rash zeal of M. d'Escures, advised him on the eve of departure to act with most careful prudence, and only to attempt the soundings in the channel if the sea were smooth.
The boats left at six o'clock in the morning. It was as much a party of pleasure as of duty, as the crews were to hunt, and breakfast under the trees.
"At ten in the morning," says La Perouse, "I saw our little boat return. Somewhat surprised, for I had not expected it so soon, I asked M. Boutin, before he came on deck, whether he had any news. At first I feared an attack from the natives, and M. Boutin's expression was not calculated to reassure me, for it was profoundly sad.
"He soon related to me the terrible disaster he had just witnessed, and from which he had escaped by the presence of mind which enabled him to see the best course to pursue in the dreadful peril. Carried, whilst following his commander, into the midst of breakers caused by the tide rushing with a speed of three or four leagues per hour out of the channel, he thought he could place his boat stern on the breakers; the boat yielding to their force, and being impelled by the tide, would not fill, but would be carried safely outside.
"Soon, however, he saw breakers ahead of his boat, and found himself in the open sea. More concerned for the safety of his companions than for his own, he again approached the breakers, and in the hope of saving some life he again braved them, but was repulsed by the tide; finally, he mounted on M. Mouton's shoulder, in the hope of finding a wider opening. All was in vain; everything had been swallowed up, and M. Boutin returned with the ebb of the tide.
"The sea becoming quieter, this officer had still some hope of finding the boat of theAstrolabe; he had only witnessed the loss of ours. M. de Marchainville was now a quarter of a mile from the danger, that is to say, in a sea as still as the quietest harbour; but, impelled by an imprudent generosity—for all help was quite impossible under the circumstances—this rash young officer, being too high-spirited and too courageous to pause in presence of his friends' danger, flew to their help, threw himself among the breakers, and, a victim to his imprudence and disregard of his chief's orders, perished with him.
"M. de Langle shortly after came on board my ship, as much overcome as myself, and informed me with tears that the misfortune was even greater than I had supposed. We had always made a point, ever since leaving France, of never allowing the two brothers, M. la Borde Marchainville and M. la Borde Boutevilliers, to go on the same service, but on this one occasion he had yielded, as they desired to hunt together; and it was almost wholly on this account that we had, both of us, directed our boats in the way we did, thinking there was as little danger as there is in Brest Harbour in fine weather.
"Several boats were at once despatched in search of the shipwrecked crew. Rewards were offered to the natives if they saved any one; but the return of the sloops destroyed all hope. All had perished."
Eighteen days after this catastrophe, the two frigates left the Port des Français. La Perouse erected a monument to the memory of his unfortunate countrymen, in the middle of the bay, on an island which he called the Cenotaph. It bore the following inscription:—
"At the entrance of this port, twenty-one brave sailors perished.Whoever you are, mingle your tears with ours."
"At the entrance of this port, twenty-one brave sailors perished.Whoever you are, mingle your tears with ours."
A bottle, containing an account of this deplorable accident, was buried at the foot of the monument.
The Port des Français, which is situated in 58° 37' N. lat., and 139° 50' W. long., presents many advantages, but also many inconveniences—foremost amongst them the currents of the channel. The climate is much milder than in Hudson's Bay, which is in the same latitude. The vegetation is vigorous; pines six feet in girth, and a hundred and forty in height, are not rare. Celery, sorrel, lupine, wild pea, chicory, and mimulus are met with in every direction, as well as many pot-herbs, the use of which helped to keep the crews in health.
The sea supplied abundance of salmon, trout, cod, and plaice.
In the woods are found black and brown bears, the lynx, ermine, weasel, minever, squirrel, marmot, beaver, fox, elk, and the wild goat. The most precious skins are those of the otter, wolf, and sea-bear.
"But if the vegetable and animal productions of this country," says La Perouse, "are similar to those of many others, its aspect cannot be compared with them, and I doubt whether the deep valleys of the Alps and Pyrenees offer so terrible, and at the same time so picturesque, a prospect. Were it not at one of the extremities of the world, it should be visited by every one."
As to the inhabitants, La Perouse gives an account of them which is worth preserving.
"The Indians in their pirogues surrounded our frigates, hovering about for three or four hours before beginning to exchange a few fish, or two or three otter skins; they seized every opportunity of robbing us; they tore off all the iron which could be easily carried away, and they took every precaution to elude our vigilance at night. I invited some of the principal personages on board my frigate, and loaded them with presents; and the very men I distinguished in this manner did not scruple to steal a nail or an old pair of trousers. Whenever they assumed a particularly lively and pleasant air, I was convinced that they had committed a theft, and I often pretended not to see it."
The women make an opening in the thick part of the lower lip, the whole length of the jaw. They wear a sort of wooden bowl without a handle, which rests on the gums, "to which this split lip forms an outer cushion, in such a way that the lower part of the mouth protrudes some two or three inches."
The forced stay which La Perouse had just made in Port des Français prevented his stopping elsewhere and reconnoitring the indentations of the coast, for at all hazards he was to reach China during the month of February, in order to secure the following summer for the survey of the coast of Tartary.
He successively reconnoitred, upon this coast, Cross Sound, where the high snow-covered mountains cease, Cook's Island Bay, Engamio Cape, low land partly submerged and containing Mount Hyacinthine, Mount Edgecomb of Cook, Norfolk Sound, where the following year the English navigator Dixon was to anchor, ports Necker and Guibert, Cape Tschiri-Kow, Croyère Islands, so called after the brother of the famous geographer Delisle, companion of Tschiri-Kow, the San Carlos Islands, La Touche Bay, and Cape Hector.
La Perouse imagined that these various coast lines were formed by a vast archipelago; and in this he was correct. They contained George III.'s Island, Prince of Wales and Queen Charlotte's Islands—Cape Hector forming the southern extremity of the latter.
The season was far advanced, and too short a time remained at La Perouse's disposal to allow of his making detailed observations of these countries; but his instinct had justly led him to imagine that the series of points he had discovered indicated a group of islands, and not a continent. Beyond Cape Fleurien, which formed the extremity of an elevated island, he passed several groups, which he named Sartines, and then returning, he reached Nootka Sound on the 25th of August. He afterwards visited various parts of the continent which Cook had been unable to approach, and which had left a blank on his chart. This navigation was attended with a certain amount of danger, on account of the currents, "which rendered it impossible to make more than three knots an hour at a distance of five leagues from land."
Upon the 5th of September new islets were discovered, about a league from Cape Blanco, to which the captain gave the name of Necker Islands. The fog was very thick, and more than once the fear of running upon some islet or rock, the existence of which could not be suspected, obliged the vessels to deviate from the land. Until they reached Monterey Bay the weather continued bad. At that port La Perouse found two Spanish vessels.
At this time Monterey Bay abounded in whales, and the sea was literally covered with pelicans, which were very common upon the Californian coast.
A garrison of two hundred and eighty men was sufficient to keep in order a population of fifty thousand Indians, wandering about this part of America. It must be admitted that these Indians were usually small and insignificant, and not endowed with that love of independence which characterizes the northern tribes; and, unlike them, they have no appreciation of art, and no industry.
"These Indians," says the narrative, "are very expert in the use of the bow and arrow. They killed the smallest birds in our presence. It is true that they approach them with wonderful patience, hiding themselves, gliding, somehow, close to their prey, and aiming at them only when within fifteen paces.
"Their skill in the capture of larger animals is even more wonderful. We saw an Indian with a stag's head over his own, walking on all fours, appearing to graze, and carrying out the pantomime with such truth to life that our hunters would have fired at him at thirty paces had they not been prevented. By this means the natives approach quite close to a herd of deer, and then kill them with arrows."