1914 - McNab, R. Historical Records of New Zealand, Vol. II. - RECORDS RELATING TO DE SURVILLE'S VOYAGE. MONNERON'S JOURNAL, p 230-295

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RECORDS RELATING TO DE SURVILLE'S VOYAGE. MONNERON'S JOURNAL.

No translation of De Surville's journals has ever been published, nor, so far as the Editor can ascertain, have the journals themselves ever been given to De Surville's countrymen. Even the smallest references to De Surville are rare.

In 1783 the Abbé Alexis Rochon drew up an account of the voyage of Marion du Fresne, and inserted therein one of the very few references to De Surville's voyage which the Editor is aware of. This work has since been translated into English by H. Ling Roth, and published in 1891, under the title of "Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, &c." The matter relative to De Surville will be found on pages 118 and 119. Mention will also be found of De Surville's visit to New Zealand in "The New Zealanders" (London, 1830), pages 35 to 40. Here much more detailed information is given, but it is all attributed to the Abbé Rochon's work above referred to and the later editions of 1791 and 1802. In the last-mentioned Rochon refers to the journals of M. Monneron, supercargo, and "M. Potier de l'Orne," another of the officers. From French sources another reference is found in M. Hombron's "Aventures des Voyageurs" (Paris, n. d.), pages 380 and 381. This reference is interesting from the fact that Hombron considers De Surville to be "Stivers," who, according to the Natives, had visited New Zealand before Cook.

As a source of information relating to De Surville, and never before published to the world, the value of these journals cannot be over estimated.

While the Editor was in Paris in 1910, engaged in searching the French records, he found these two journals in the office of the Minister of Marine, and a duplicate of Monneron's in the Bibliothèque Nationale. P. Monneron was, as has been stated, supercargo on board the "Saint Jean Baptiste," and his journal was copied in Paris, on the 4th October, 1771, from that kept on board the vessel during the voyage. By whom the original was kept is not stated, but the Editor inclines to the belief that it was M. Labé, the chief officer. M. Pottier de l'Horne, whose journal while on the New Zealand coast is also reproduced, was the first lieutenant.

Only the English translation is given of matter dealing with events prior to the Expedition reaching New Zealand, otherwise

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the usual plan is followed of giving the original and its translation on opposite pages. Unfortunately, the chart referred to in the narrative is not available.

The translation from the French was made by Mr. J. B. Pascal, of Palmerston North.

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE MADE ON THE SAILING-VESSEL "SAINT JEAN BAPTISTE" (CAPTAIN ME. DE SURVILLE, KNIGHT OF THE ROYAL AND MILITARY ORDER OF SAINT LOUIS, CAPTAIN OF THE VESSEL) OF THE COMPAGNIE DES INDES.

MM. LAW DE LAURISTON, Chevalier, and de Surville, having met at Bengal in 1765, formed the project of getting into partnership together. The two first gentlemen, thanks to their large credit, could undertake the largest enterprises, the interests of which could not be intrusted for execution to a better man than the last-named, whose talents for navigation were generally acknowledged.

The commerce from India to India, as it was known in 1765, offered great advantages in certain branches, but who could estimate the profits which would be derived from the opening of new routes. The field is vast in India. The object of new discoveries has something noble in itself, and it is no wonder that anybody who is able to undertake may possess the courage of doing.

M. de Surville, back in France, asked permission to equip a vessel to trade from India to India. The Compagnie des Indes, who had just shown him the greatest confidence, consented to grant his wish, subject to the same conditions imposed on other men who had obtained the same grant. M. de Surville had been selected as the King's Commissary for the recovering of the posessions in India, and Governor, in case of absence or death of M. Law de Lauriston.

The abbreviated account of the voyage of M. de Surville's vessel, called "Saint Jean Baptiste," being only interesting from the time of her equipment to go discovering, we will omit what preceded that departure.

MM. Law, Chevalier, and de Surville, who were the shipowners of the vessel, had intended her for the commerce of India to India, but they changed their intentions on hearing of the discovery of a new island in the South Seas by an English

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vessel. 1 What they heard about this island was so extraordinary that it deserved the whole of their attention, and, considering this business from a political point of view, they did not hesitate to arrange their equipment in order to prevent the English, if they intended making a second voyage, from taking possession of the island.

The invention and love of the marvellous, common enough to travellers, might have helped to exaggerate the advantages concerning the island, which the new ship-owners heard. But, even allowing a good deal for exaggeration, it was quite natural to presume that the island must be much richer than any of the other countries, as it is situated about 700 leagues west of the Coast of Peru and in a southern latitude of 27 to 28 degrees, which is the latitude of Capiazo, where the Spaniards get gold from in immense quantities.

Such an enterprise, however, would be subjected to many inconveniences, and one could not take too wise precautions in order to succeed. The expenses for the expedition could not but be very large. To make up for these expenses the shipowners put on board their vessel a rich cargo, which by being sold even at ordinary prices could not but remunerate them for all the advanced moneys which such equipment had necessitated.

The route M. de Surville was to follow to reach the island, although defined by his instructions, was not safe enough to allow him to promise that he would arrive there at a fixed period. It would have been exposing men and vessel to send the latter with an equipment similar to the one made for an ordinary voyage, and only to take the usual precautions to avoid, as much as possible, the disagreeable effects of events met with at sea.

The vessel "Saint Jean Baptiste" had hardly been launched a year when the project of refitting her was conceived. She had been entirely careened and provisioned for three years. In short, in the space of five months the repairs were finished, nothing was neglected to put her in such a state, as well as the crew, to endure the greatest fatigues. We will see further on how wise this foresight proved to be. As it was absolutely necessary to keep the object of this expedition secret, it was given out in India that the object of the voyage was only trading between Manilla, China, and Batavia, but such large preparations as the ones made pointed to an extraordinary voyage. The

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Captain alone knew the object of the equipment, and those who though they knew all about it found later on more than one opportunity to see the falsity of their conjectures. The details of the operations made by M. de Surville during the voyage have always conformed to the instructions given to him before his departure. In this journal we will rapidly pass over all that would not offer any utility to the progress of either geography or the marine, and all that would be uninteresting.

The vessel "Saint Jean Baptiste" set sail from the Bay of Ingely, in the Ganges, on the 3rd of March, 1769, to go to Yanaon, where she was to take some goods, part of her cargo; and she left Yanaon on the 29th of March, 1769, to go to Masulipotam to load some bales of handkerchiefs, also part of the cargo.

On the 17th of April the vessel set sail for Pondichery, which she only reached on the 5th of May. They there got the last of the cargo.

M. Law de Lauriston sent on board M. de St. Paul, captain of grenadiers, with a troop of twenty-four soldiers belonging to the Indian troops. It was a reinforcement for the crew, and absolutely necessary if, eventually, it was necessary to use force. Events justified the wisdom of this precaution.

On the 2nd of June M. de Surville set sail from Pondichery to fulfill his mission. 2 All that might be of advantage to France was included in the mission. On that account M. de Surville wished to pass between the Nicobar Islands and put in port there to obtain information about a colony that the Danes intended to form there, according to rumour. This project, however, could not be given effect to, because we sighted these Islands suddenly on the 10th of June at midnight, and M. de Surville, in order to keep clear of the dangers of the coast at night, had to go southwards, and consequently fell under the wind from the islands.

On the 12th we sighted the islands, which are situated on the point of Achem; and on the 19th the vessel dropped anchor near the little island of Varela in the Malacca Strait, by 28 fathoms, muddy sand bottom, near a sandy little cove situated at the N.E. 1/4 E. 2° N.

After having dropped anchor, M. de Surville sent the first officer, M. Labé, on land to look for a suitable place to get water from, he also sent a few soldiers with him, but soon recalled him on account of a report of one of the soldiers remaining on board. He told us that a Portuguese vessel had been attacked by the inhabitants of that island. The inhabitants are only some fisherman, who at certain periods of the year come to the island (they had seen some people on the island who must have been

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Malays, against whom too many precautions cannot he taken), and the said Portuguese vessel had a great deal of trouble to shake them off. We learned afterwards, from an English vessel that spent two days at the island, after us, that a Portuguese vessel having sent a boat to the land, had been surprised by the Malays who had killed one of them. This occurrence had been, according to the report of the English, engraved on a coco-tree. One can on this island get water and firewood, gather some coconuts, and capture a few turtles, but it is not easy to land with an ordinary boat. There are several sand-banks reaching rather far out to sea, near by the spot where the "Saint Jean Baptiste" had cast anchor.

We set sail again the following day at twelve at night, and nothing happened until the 29th of June, on which day we arrived at Malacca. The vessel saluted the fortress with nine guns and it only gave us seven. Many vessels have found themselves in a dilemma here, in either wanting to insist on a return of gun for gun or making no salute at all. In the last alternative the Dutchmen refuse you absolutely any help, but some wood and water. The best way is to bow with a grace to the necessity. During our stay at Malacca we very fortunately noticed that the head of the rudder was broken, and that the tiller did not act; we were detained for several days in that place in order to repair this damage.

On our arrival at Malacca M. de Surville was very well received by the Governor, and we had every facility to get the provisions of which we were in need. It is, however, to be thought that towards the end of our stay we would have had much more difficulty, as the Governor's dispositions towards us changed completely. Apparently he had some suspicion of our destination; he believed that its object was one of the Dutch possessions in the Malacca Archipelago. He said something about it to M. de Surville, who did his best to entirely disabuse him. After taking all the fresh provisions necessary, the vessel again put to sea, on the 14th of July. The same day we ran an evident danger through the carelessness of the steward, who let fall a lighted candle in a cask of rice brandy. The explosion was very violent, but fortunately the cask did not break, and we were able to put out the fire. I think I may here remark, that on board only lanterns, shut with a padlock, of which the key should be kept by one of the officers, should be used. Only a candle should be used too, and the extra expense should not prevent its use. Only one vessel saved from fire in a century would amply repay all that extra expense would have come to. We will not give any details of our journey through the Malacca Strait. M. Daprès, in his "Neptune

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Oriental," gives every instruction necessary to those who sail through it.

On the 19th of July we turned the white stone which is at the entrance of the strait. The Captain ordered the helm to be put on Pulotimon, where the vessel dropped anchor on the 22nd in the south-east part in a sandy cove, distance, about 11/2 leagues by 21 fathoms; muddy, sandy bottom. This anchorage is the one mentioned by M. Daprès in his "Neptune Oriental."

This island is seldom frequented by Europeans. Its products are wax, a great quantity of cabbage palm, coconuts in plenty and some swallows' nests, all mercantile goods. There are also found there some mangoes, figs, bananas, nuts, water-melons, and other Indian fruits, also some sugar, some betel, &c. The island is inhabited by Malays, who five there almost independent, chiefly in the centre of the island.

On the island we managed to get some hens and some fruit, which the inhabitants exchanged for some inferior Dutch knives.

The water is very easily got at in a little river, situated South of the cove, especially when the tide is high. The island is covered with bush. On the coast are seen some enormous trees. There are no wild beasts, but monkeys, rats, ichneumons, serpents, flying lizards, are very abundant. A kind of monkey is also found there, known under the name of "man of the woods," and which the inhabitants of Timon call "ourang outan."

The captain of a little vessel which we came across loading some cabbage palm, gave us some information about the island, where we were. We have no hesitation in believing his account to be correct as we found to be true everything he told us about a little anchorage on the east coast of Malay.

The Malays call the island "Timon Chioumasse." It is under the dependence, as are all the neighbouring islands, of the King of Tronganon, of whom we shall speak later on.

There is in the south-west part of this island a village called "Ouang-Tenga," which is the most important village of the island, and situated further north than the small island on the west coast of Timon. The firewood and water are got at very easily, and one can also procure there some kids and far more provisions than in the south-eastern part.

These two anchorages are very handy, on account of the monsoons. In the one situated north-east, one goes to the north-east part; in the one situated south-west the spot where we were anchored is the best. The provisions we were able to get in this island were not abundant enough to help the crew of the vessel, and that decided M. de Surville to go to the anchor-

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age indicated to us by the Malay captain. There we were to find every kind of provision.

We set sail from Timon on the 24th of July, after losing our anchor, as it was quite impossible for us to raise it. The captain was greatly affected by this loss, which did not appear of much consequence to those who did not know the object of the voyage.

We set our route to Tringan, situated 4° 58' of latitude N, thinking it was the same place as Tronganon of which the Malay captain had told us.

On the 26th we sighted an English vessel, and we came to anchor near her. She sent a boat at once to the vessel of M. de Surville, with an officer, who told us that the place we were looking for was further north of the 27 M.

The English vessel had been equipped in Calcutta, and was coming back from Tronganon; they had disposed of their cargo rather advantageously at that place. On the 27th we again set sail, and the day after we dropped our anchor near Tronganon, in 12 fathoms, big yellow bottom, at about 11/2 leagues from the mouth of the river.

The advantages offered to sailors by this anchorage induce us to give a special description of the country. The English are the only people to know it, and they every year place there the cargoes of five or six little vessels.

Tronganon is situated on the right bank of a river whose mouth is rather narrow, but after going up it some sixty fathoms it gets very large. There are several islands covered with coconut-trees and other trees, which give the country rather a pleasing appearance. The river is crowded with fishing-boats. Most of them set out every morning, and return in the evening loaded with fish.

The boats, which do not draw more than 12 ft. or 13 ft., can enter the river; near the point of the first island there is a place where one can anchor in 5 fathoms.

The arm of the river which passes to the south of the island forms a kind of straight channel, which would look well with a quay on each side. On entering the river one must keep near the southern point, on account of a reef which stretches and breaks towards the open sea on the right. The houses in Tronganon are of a very bad architecture. They are wooden, and roofed with leaves of palm-trees. There is no symmetry in the length or the arrangement of the streets. The street occupied by the Chinese is the only passable one. The houses in it are clean and the shops well stocked.

The bazaars or markets only open between 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, on account of the excessive heat, which lasts

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until that time. One can find some vegetables and an abundance of all the Indian fruits and a large quantity of fish. There is in the south of the river a small fortress or at least some walls made of planks 15 ft. high, and 1 1/2 in. thick. This fortress is not surrounded by any outside work, except a little hedge rather thick, and 3 ft. or 4 ft. feet distant from the wall.

On the left bank is seen another square wooden construction having three openings at each end. There is another similar further up, and on the same side of the river. These are all the fortifications of Tronganon, and they could hardly offer any serious resistance to the weakest artillery.

The King's palace is situated in the fortress, and no one is allowed to enter it during the absence of the King.

The Temple is between the fortress and the town. It is built regularly. The Temple and the King's palace are the only buildings of any pretence.

The King, who is called "Sultan Mank Souron," is the only merchant in his own kingdom. All business is transacted on his account; he himself deals with foreigners, and it seems that, from all we could hear, he is very careful in protecting the strangers who land in his dominions to do trade.

He had been absent for five months, and when we anchored, was in the north of Tronganon, where he had just finished a small war to his own advantage, which allowed him to add some territory to his kingdom.

The inhabitants of Tronganon who are owners of boats are obliged to freight them to the King, who sends them to Cambodia, Siam, China, and other places north of his estate. Some of them journey to Java, where they go to get some-rice to provide his people, who do not harvest enough for their own consumption, in spite of the resources offered to them by their own country, which appears most fertile.

In the island one finds some cayenne-pepper, wax, bamboo, and a little gold. One can bring in exchange some goods of which the sale is certain, such as opium, iron, red, green, or purple cloths, a little canvas, some fine handkerchiefs from Paliacta, some black woven stuffs fine and light, and which we call "voile" (the inhabitants use this last for mourning), some swivel guns from 1/2 lb. to 4 lb. in weight, some bullets, good guns, saltpetre, sulphur, and gunpowder. All these goods are of an advantageous sale. It is necessary to be careful in choosing these goods as the Malays do not at all appreciate goods of an inferior quality. They consider them of no value.

The estate was governed, in the absence of the King, by one of his uncles already well advanced in years. He administered

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justice, and only did that. We witnessed an execution during our stay there; it will not take long to tell about it, and it will give an idea of how these people rendered justice. A young Malay had disappeared for about a fortnight. Some of his possessions were found with a man who was at once arrested and brought before the chief of the village to explain how he was found in possession of the absent one's belongings. He said he had found them in a wood where the young Malay had been murdered; he denied having committed the crime; but by the answers he gave to different questions put to him he was found guilty of murdering the young Malay. The cause of the murder was one which sometimes pushes men to the most violent acts, especially the Malays, who are furiously jealous people. A woman having had some subject of quarrel with the young Malay, had not much trouble in creating a deep hatred in the heart of the man she wished to become a murderer. This man, for different reasons, attracted his rival into the wood and stabbed him in the chest with a dagger which he was carrying. This dagger is a kind of knife which the Malays carry on the side, and which is nearly always poisoned. The murderer was immediately after the examination condemned to death. Next day, the 30th of July, 1769, they put him in a boat, hands tied behind his back, with half a dozen lancers. In the forepart of the boat was a little fork to which was attached a little yellow flag. Now and then one of the lancers announced, with the accompaniment of tamtam, that any one who would commit a similar crime, either Malays or foreigners, would be submitted to the same fate. They then took him to an island reserved for these kind of executions, and put him to death by plunging into his belly the fork, which they call "King's iron."

The finances and commerce were in the hands of the Soug-dagar, a title given to the King's merchant. We cannot too highly praise his kind attentions to us; he took the greatest trouble to get us fresh provisions. We acknowledge in him a single way of trading and one parole only, which is not very common amongst the Asiatic merchants. This Sougdagar was rather well up in the political relations between France and England, he was quite open with us on a certain subject which he thought worthy of our attention. He told us that the Council of Calcutta had asked through Captain Jackson the concession of one of the Ridang Islands, or else permission to settle at Dongon, which is a day's journey from Tronganon. The King entirely refused them this last establishment, but had not yet decided about the Ridang Island, as he was anxious to ask the English to help him in a war against the Dutch. This

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King pretends that his ancestors had granted Malacca to the Portuguese to occupy it for a hundred years only. This term had expired long ago, and the King of Tronganon is very anxious to be in a position of retaking that place from the Dutch, to avenge his subjects for all the cruelties they have been subjected to.

The English, who know the importance of an establishment: on this coast, either on account of the possible trade or on account of the proximity of the Philippines and of China, will make every possible effort, without doubt, to obtain Ridang. There is in that island an excellent port where they could shelter during the winter; the Malays send there all their boats to pass the bad season. With the help of this island the English could remain all the year round in the seas of China, and in case of a rupture with Spain, they would be handy to carry on any enterprise against the Philippines.

The coins in use at Tronganon are the piaster and the rupee. The actual value of the latter is inferior to its intrinstic value. The piaster is subdivided in eight parts called "Coupons." of which three make a rupee. So that 100 piasters are worth as much as 266 3/4 rupees, which makes a loss of more tha 20 per cent. There is a little piece made of shells, and called "smale." Four hundred shells are worth a coupon, or 3,200 for a piaster.

The weights are the same as at Malacca. They weigh by feet and caltis. The coyang which weighs about 4,800 of Holland, is measured here with a half-sphere of which the diameter is not more than 6 in. Eight hundred of these measures make a coyang, and in order to protect oneself against fraud one must be careful to only use the measures acknowledged to be exact by the King's people.

The natives call "Pulo Braba" the island called "Pulo Capar" in the charts of M. Daprès, situated in 4° 58' north latitude, and they give to the village and river situated at the west of this island the name of "Palang" instead of "Tringan." They assured us that there was gold in this river. The island which is near land by 5° 15' north latitude is called by the natives "Pulo Capar." There are 6 fathoms of water in the channel, but it is always safer to keep out to sea when one wants to anchor in front of Tronganon. The eastern part of this island is very abrupt. There are nothing but rocks, on which neither trees nor green plants grow.

We have entered into many details relative to the anchorage of Tronganon, because the vessels who might touch there can find all kinds of fresh provisions. The buffaloes and the fowls are very abundant there. There are fewer bullocks and sheep; but one can get as many as one wants, when one can wait, for

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they bring them from inland. Besides, everything is cheap. To get fresh water one has to go up the river for two or three leagues, where it is quite fresh.

The Customs duty is 10 per cent., payable in nature.

During our stay we observed that the tides were south-east and north-west. The wind rises from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock A.M. from the S.E., and turns at 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. to the S.S.W., with squalls from this point.

We set sail from Tronganon on the 2nd of August, with rather fine weather. On the 6th we sighted Pulo Condor, and on the 7th Pulo Sapate. We found that the currents carried rather violently to the N.E., for we had every day differences to the north by observing the latitude, and when we sighted Pulo Sapate we had about a difference of 38 leagues to the east, which difference must be attributed to the currents which follow the monsoons. We were also able to find the bottom all the way. It was never deeper than 40 fathoms, and, when getting nearer the islands, never less than 20 fathoms.

We went on our way to get a sight of the Philippine Islands, which we sighted on the 17th of August, by the latitude about 18° 24'. We went along the coast as soon as the wind allowed us, and it was not long before we were sighting the Babuyannes Islands, which lie north of the Island of Luzon. There we got some very good observations of latitude. These islands are marked too much south by 18' to 20' on the chart of M. Daprès.

Our observations and our taking of bearings concorded rather well with the Spanish chart of Father Murillo de Velarde, corrected by M. Bellin in 1752.

The northern part of the Island of Luzon is full of very high mountains, and covered with bush; the Babuyannes Islands are low and densely wooded. The bearing of these islands amongst themselves appeared fairly correct to us, but taking bearing from the Cape Boyador 3 we believe them to be too much west by 3 or 4 leagues in M. Daprès's chart.

The little island that M. Bellin marks on the chart by 19° 45', and by longitude of 138° 18' to the east of the Iron Island meridian, cannot exist in that point, as we passed that parallel without seeing it. The chart of M. Daprès does not give it, and therefore we are inclined to believe that it is an error of Father Murillo de Velarde.

Continuing our way to the north we came across the Bachy Islands. We dropped anchor between the Island Bachy and Monmouth.

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We only know, up to now, the explorer Dampier who ever spoke of these islands. 4 They had no name in 1587, when he stopped there, and he called them collectively by the name of "Bachy," on account of a liquor that the natives call by that name. 5 The bachy is a drink made with the juice of the sugarcane, to which is added a land of black seed, and left fermenting for two or three days. This beverage sometimes produces intoxication; but we have never noticed that it had the same effects as wine, on the contrary, it puts the natives in a sweet humour.

M. de Surville was anxious to know himself this nation whose kindness Dampier praised so much.

Hardly had we dropped anchor than the natives came round us in their canoes, singing out, "Mapia, mapia," which expression they use when wanting to express their approbation. We showed these natives the greatest signs of friendship to get: them on board. They at first hesitated, but one of them, less nervous than the others, got on board, and all the others followed his example. We were not long in making out that these people were peaceful, and had good intentions. We gave them some little presents, and by that made them entirely friendly.

The Captain at once ordered a boat to be launched, and I got in it to go with him to the Island of Bachy, whose east coast is surrounded by breakers. The natives at once sent us a man to show us the channel. We landed, and they took us to a small spot five or six fathoms from the shore, and where there were five or six huts made of straw; they offered us some sweet potatoes and some yams which had been cooked by the women, and some bachy. The heat we had experienced coming up made us find this beverage good enough; we returned on board well satisfied with the reception we got from the natives.

The next day, the 21st, we went back to the island. I busied myself, with M. Charenton, one of the officers, in making the survey of the channel between Bachy and Monmouth Islands.

The difficulty in getting water on the Bachy Island made M. de Surville decide to send his first officer to try and find a watering-place on the Monmouth Island. He only could find a narrow passage at the point marked M on the chart, and that only with great difficulty; he nearly got drowned swimming to and from the land. We did not remain long enough to

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ascertain if in the western part of the Island of Monmouth there was no better watering-place.

The good will of the natives did not change during the whole time we spent in the islands; they always did all they could to procure for us all that we wanted.

The observations made by Dampier 6 agree in general with ours. We only notice a few slight differences, which could be explained by the more frequent relations of these natives with Europeans. The products of the islands we noticed were-- sugar-canes, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, guavas, coconuts, and a kind of millet, the use of which we ignore. They also have a kind of bean, which they boil before eating. There are many pigs and goats, whose flesh seemed to us superior in taste to the ones of other countries. We saw very few fowls, and almost no birds.

The soil of these islands seems very fertile, and the natives make much of it. The Island of Bachy can be compared to a garden of which the larger part is very well cultivated. There are comparatively few trees, and they never attain a great size. The Natives no longer go about bareheaded, as mentioned by Dampier; most of them wear a round hat made of a kind of rush. They still wear a cape down to their middle. The women also wear this cape above their head, and with it shelter their child, which they carry under their arm.

We have not seen any of the Natives with circlets of gold, as mentioned by Dampier, 7 although they know gold well, and their country produces a certain quantity.

We showed them some gold several times and they always gave us to understand that gold was in an island about ten leagues further north. It is probable that these peaceful people have preferred to give up gold as an ornament, which might have been fatal to them, rather than lose their liberty. They distinguish gold from other metals by the smell. It is quite likely that these people undertake sea journeys of a certain duration, as they possess boats capable of carrying twenty or twenty-five people. The construction of these boats seemed very good either for speed or strength, although not a single iron nail is used. The planks are so well tied together that it is quite probable that their boats last as long as ours. We bought one of these boats, and it was of great service to us during our journey, and required but little repairs.

What made us think that Europeans trade with these people was that we saw in their possession some scales, which they did not know at the time of Dampier's visit. We have seen, besides,

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one of these Natives wearing a blue shirt, and who could make the sign of the cross; he constantly repeated the name of "Gaspard." As these islands are situated near Luzon, it is probable that the Spaniards visit them now and then.

The inhabitants of these islands are, in general, of ordinary size. Their hair is very black and thick. The men cut it evenly round the head and the women wear it longer. Their colour is very dark, almost like red copper. Their features are soft, their face a little round, their hps and their eyes slanting but not as much as the eyes of the Chinese or Malays. Their legs are badly shaped, and seem swollen, which is most likely due to the little care they take to shelter themselves from dampness while sleeping.

The women, besides the cape mentioned above, and which they use to protect themselves against rain and cold, only wear a little apron which reaches down to their knees. They sometimes make of this apron, ornamented with glass beads of different colourings, a covering for nearly the whole leg. These women are very familiar, and mingled with us us easily as the men did. In general, they are ugly, their features are coarse, and they readily would pass for men if it was not for their breasts, which are uncovered.

I presume that Dampier gave to the word "cleanness" the same meaning it carries now. He praises the "cleanness" of these natives, and says it is wonderful. We found it quite the reverse, both in their clothes and in their way of eating. These people take refuge in the steepest hills, the foot of which rises from the sea. If they find natural rocks fit to use as walls they use them in preference, adding some stones if they are too low to form the enclosure of their houses and villages.

The town which I visited in the Island of Bachy is situated in the western part, facing the Island Cheires. It is quite surrounded by a wall 15 feet high. To get in the town they use a ladder, or steps, made in the wall.

From the foot to the top of the hill are houses divided in two or three by small enclosures, which probably have as their object the keeping up of the ground, which the rain would cause to slide to the lower ground.

Their houses are about 5 1/2 feet high by 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. All the furniture consists of a few gourds, three or four little boards, and some earthen pots, in which they keep their provisions.

Anybody wanting to attack the town without firearms could not succeed in capturing it on the sea side, where the hill is very abrupt, and surrounded by a high wall; but coming from the eastern part of the island one would easily get on the top of he

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mountain. But the assailing party would require to be much superior in number to overpower the inhabitants of Bachy in their stronghold.

It is not very clear why people who possess nothing worth exciting the covetousness of men seek shelter in such inaccessible places, but it is rather easily explained when you come to think they are neighbours of some Chinamen who reside at Founore, and who are too fond of acts of piracy to allow them full use of their liberty. One easily understands then that they do everything in their power to preserve their freedom.

We have never noticed amongst these people any distinction of rank. Nobody seems to hold more authority than the other; one would think they all belonged to one family which enjoys complete union and eternal peace.

It is wonderful that such a people, placed as they are between the Chinese and the Malays, possess none of these peoples' faults. We know the Chinese to be cunning, sharp, and greedy, and the others haughty, treacherous, and cruel. None of these vices exist amongst the Bachians.

They have always shown us the greatest goodwill in helping us to get our provisions, and they would never take any pay for their services: they lent us their boats to bring the provisions, and would not allow the sailors to work when they could do their task, always without any idea of gain.

The provisions there are very cheap. For 1 piastre and an inferior Dutch knife you could get a pig. For two or three of these knives you got a kid. We could have repurchased the piastres, or at least we thought so, at a value of 15 francs in knives.

The inhabitants possess a large quantity of fishing-boats. Fishing is the occupation of the men. We have seen only the women tilling the earth.

They know perfectly well the use of iron, but do not give it the same value as when Dampier visited them. They generally make it into small bill-hooks.

M. de Surville had every cause to be satisfied with the good faith of the natives of Bachy. The day before our departure he gave them several piastres and some knives in exchange for some pigs: Next day they were quite exact in fulfilling their part of the bargain. In short, we did not experience anything from these natives but very humane treatment.

Three of our sailors deserted in this island on the eve of our departure, probably attracted by the good reception the natives had given us, and what they could tell us about some sailors belonging to Dampier's vessel and who had remained for some time on the island. The inhabitants had furnished

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each of them with a wife, a plot of cultivated land, an axe, and some implements for working the soil.

We only noticed the absence of our sailors the next day, when going back on board. M. de Surville went back, and made the natives understand that three of his men had spent the night on shore. The poor natives did not understand him, and he came back on board, and ordered six of the ones who were on the vessel to be seized, with one of their boats, believing they had helped our sailors to desert. As soon as they saw the first of their men seized, they gave the alarm to the others, who were in different parts of the vessel trading in the greatest security for something or another. Then they all got on deck and threw themselves into the sea to swim ashore. Several of them were hurt while jumping into the sea. Although there were a great number of them, we did not see a single attempt to put themselves on the defensive, or try to make a resistance. We made about twenty prisoners, which we took, hands tied behind their back, to the council room. One of the prisoners was clever enough to pass into the gallery without being seen, and he had the pluck to throw himself, tied as he was, in the sea, and he managed to reach one of their boats, which had put a long distance between themselves and our vessel, in order not to be interfered with.

One of our soldiers, who had, with the Spaniards, been in a war in the Philippines against the natives of that country, had learnt a few words of their language, which the Bachians understand fairly well. We called this soldier to explain to the prisoners that what we had done was only in order to get news of our sailors, and that we would let them free as soon as the deserters were brought back to the boat. They appeared to understand the soldier, and asked for some rope, with which to tie up whatever they brought back. We gave them some, and, except six of them, we let them go free. They threw themselves into their boat, which was too small to hold them all. We signalled for one of their other boats to come alongside, and they all looked immensely pleased to leave our vessel.

We thought their minds would be quite at rest concerning their six comrades, but, judge our surprise when we saw them coming back with three pigs, well tied up. We were talking to them about men and they only answered babouris, which in their language means "pig." The one who had brought the pigs kept showing them to the captain while putting his head on the captain's shoulder, as if to ask if he was satisfied, and repeating the word mapia. M. de Surville made a sign that he was not satisfied, and put on such an angry look that the native went back to his boat in a great hurry. Several other boats

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came back loaded with provisions, which we took and paid for liberally. One of the natives had a pig, which he intended, without doubt for the ransom of one of his comrades, and he preferred to take it back rather than sell it at any price, having brought it for such a commendable object.

The above example, showing in a decided manner the good nature of the inhabitants of Bachy, must be our excuse for speaking so long about it.

M. de Surville, having waited twenty-four hours for the deserters, decided to set sail, as the tide was favourable, but before sailing he set free three of the Bachians, and sent them back after giving each of them 2 yards of calico. The other three, who were in the council chamber, gave signs of the greatest distress when they saw the high mountains of Monmouth Island disappear. Their grief, however, was short, and they lay down as if they wished to go to sleep. Shortly afterwards we gave them some shirts and drawers, which they accepted, laughing and making us understand that they were perfectly satisfied by using their expression mapia. Their hands, however, were kept tied, but they begged so hard from M. de Surville that he consented to let them go untied, and next day they looked as if they were the most contented on board. It is quite certain that at first M. de Surville thought that the natives of Bachy had helped the three sailors to desert, and, although in the end he felt quite sure they had had nothing to do with the deserters, he kept three of them with him in order to get from them the information about their country and their ways of living. Moreover, he had intended to put them back on their island on his way back, and they were to be treated on board with the greatest kindness. Two of these poor fellows died of scurvy and the third is still in Lima, with the balance of the crew. 8

During the voyage their conduct did in no way diminish the good opinion we had formed from the first of these people.

In the channel where we had anchored there are a few precautions to take to be in better security. We were a little too near the breakers, which are full of corals. By anchoring a little further north we would have found better bottom and more shelter. It is, in any case, necessary to have very strong cables, or, better still, to reinforce them with an iron chain a few fathoms in length. The whole of the east coast of the Island of Bachy is surrounded with breakers. The easiest pass is marked L on the chart.

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The west part of Monmouth Island is very high, and landing there appears very dangerous. That island, in common with Bachy Island, is very thinly wooded, hush only being found I in the valleys. Coming from the west, and when in sight of Cape Bojador, it is necessary to keep to the north to get to the Bachy Islands, in order to avoid the sea on the east of Cape Bojador (which is always rough), and not expose oneself to be thrown by the currents on the Babuyannes Islands, which are dangerous. We feared the latter on account of the calms.

We left the Bachy Islands on the 23rd of August. We got south of them, with west winds, and when we were about 4 leagues from them we took our course east J south-east. At 6 o'clock p.m. we were well in the channel between the islands Monmouth and Grafton. It seems to be a good league wide and very safe all through. The sea breaks very strongly on the northern point of Monmouth Island, and we could see a rock well forward in the sea. This part of Monmouth is quite different from the opposite side, which is low and treeless.

In his journal 9 M. Anson says they were prevented by the winds from passing north of the Bachy Islands, and were obliged to pass through the channel between Monmouth and Grafton, where they found the sea very fierce. They thought at first there were breakers, but soon found that this fierceness of the sea was caused by the tides. We experienced the same thing at Bachy Island, and even people used to the sea could hardly believe that tides could produce such a sight.

By what we could see of Grafton Island it is about a third larger than Monmouth Island. It is very hilly, and one peak especially seems to be of a considerable altitude.

As soon as we were a certain distance from the islands we found a very rough sea, although the winds were ordinary.

On the 24th the course was given to south-east.

On the 26th we, for the first time, saw a comet, which must have been visible for several days. It rose in the S. 1/4 S.E. at about 11 p.m.

Until the end of the month we had very changeable weather. Winds blew constantly from S.W. to W. rather fresh.

On the 1st of September the winds changed to the S.S.E. They afterwards constantly varied from S.S.E. to N. until the 2nd of the month. We experienced now and then some fine weather, some rain, and some thunder. We were then by 9° 44' north latitude and 128° 38' eastern longitude of the Paris meridian.

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Several charts give in that locality the Saavedra Islands 10 as well as the Martyrs 11, Matalotes, and Cafrisan Islands, hut we never sighted any of them in the Caroline Islands or New Philippines, which by some other charts are shown in the same locality.

The changeable weather and the squalls we experienced, and the sight of some birds which never wander far from land, gave us to believe that we were in the vicinity of the islands. The currents carried us constantly to the south from 13° to the 9° latitude north. On the 7th of September we estimated we were by 130° 46' of longitude and 8° 20' latitude. We observed for the first time a variation of 1° 40' N.E. We that day saw some birds which the sailors call "wing-beaters." The wind was very changeable.

The next day the winds were very changeable too, and varied from W. to S.E. rather weak; and we had a lot of rain. The comet, mentioned above, rose on the night of the 8th in the east 3° 12' at a quarter past 1 in the morning. From the 9th to the 12th of September we had constant signs of land. We saw many birds which never wander far away from land, some tide waves, and a large quantity of mangrove fruits. Our course lay much to the south. However, we did not get sight of land although we carefully kept sailors on the look-out.

During the night we only proceeded with short sails, and we were quite right in doing so, considering we were to attempt to reach the South Sea by that route. On the 13th of September we estimated our variation to be of 3° 30' N.E. I judged our position then to be 3° 19' northern latitude by 135° 19' eastern longitude. The route was given on that day to the east so as to avoid being driven on the coast of New Guinea. We kept that route until the 21st of September, with rather fine weather and winds from S.W. to W. We had reason more than ever to think we were close to the land. Every day we passed many trees with enormous trunks, much sea wreck, some bullrushes, and some birds of different kinds. We caught a little curlew.

On the 22nd the route was given to the S.E. J. The winds varied on that day from W.N.W. to N.N.E., and every time it blew from the latter quarter we could smell an odour of hay, which sometimes happens when near land situated in warm climates. On that day we even saw a larger quantity of timber, fruit, and small branches than we had seen previously. We caught a piece of wood, rather large, which appeared to us to

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1769

Land sighted, and named First Sight Island.

be a kind of spruce. It was quite worm-eaten. I estimated the position on that same day to be by 43° latitude N. and by 144° 54' eastern longitude. We observed a variation of 6° N.E.

On the 23rd we passed the line of the equator by an estimated longitude of 145° 32'. 12 M. de Surville's observation was more to the west than mine by 1°.

Until then the monsoon of the S.W. had constantly been with us except for the variations mentioned. As soon as we reached the line we were much bothered by the winds, the calms, and the rain. We remained, so to speak, under the line until the end of September. We saw several serpents and one small turtle.

I must here mention that the currents constantly carried us to the south since we had had signs of land, and not a day passed without us having considerable differences in the estimation of the latitude. We had reason to believe the currents to carry to the south-east, because we noticed several tide-ways of which the direction was S.E.-N.W.

From the 1st of October to the 6th we continued to get indications of close land; the winds were very changeable, and we had much rain. The currents changed, and we began to have slight differences north although our route was nearly always south-east.

We could not have any doubt of the proximity of land; everything pointed to it. Every one on board was wishing for land, in order to rest on it for some time, and recover from the hardships of the voyage, which had been very hard until then for the crew, for since our departure from Pondichery we had only put in port in places where the sailors had more hard work than on sea. That land for which we were all wishing so much was the cause of all our misfortunes.

On the 6th of October several on board thought they saw the land on the S.S.W. Next morning at daybreak there could be no doubt; we saw land between S.E. and W.S.W. on the compass. We sounded without finding bottom. The wind, which was from the east, obliged us to tack about shortly after.

At noon of the same day, 7th of October, we observed 6° 55' of southern latitude and 151° 29' eastern longitude of Paris. At this time we saw in the S. 1/2 S.E. of the compass an island which we named "First Sight Island." A little further up we saw a rather high mountain on the S. 5° W. which we called "Big Hill." From there started a chain of mountains extending to the W. 1/4 S.W. as far as one could see.

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According to the distance we estimated we were from this island, we put down its latitude at 7° 15', and therefore could consider ourselves the first to sight this land. Dampier fixes the most southern point of "New Britain" Island at 6° 30'. He kept sight of this island all the while he remained in the channel, which is named in our charts "Dampier's Strait."

We do not know of any explorer who has spoken of any land between New Britain Island and the Holy Ghost land, discovered by Quiros. We can therefore consider ourselves the first to sight the land we have spoken of above. We, however, find in the journal of M. de Bougainville that he sighted part of the same land.

We observed a variation of 12° N.E., but thought it too much. The subsequent observations in sight of all these lands did not give more than 9°.

We tacked about until the next day, trying to get under the wind from First Sight Island. In the morning we passed over a bank where we found 27 fathoms, bottom of red coral, mixed with shells and sand. We sounded again shortly afterwards, and found 31 fathoms, then we lost bottom. In the distance we could see the sea of a different shade, which made us think there was another bank.

We did not make any headway towards the east in spite of all our tacking about. On the contrary, we found by our observations that the currents had carried us towards the west.

At noon we could see land, very far away, from E.S.E. 3° to W. I N.W. 3° W. of the compass.

In the afternoon M. de Surville sent M. Labé, his first officer, with a few soldiers to visit the First Sight Island. M. Labé coasted right round it without finding a place fit to land. At 5 p.m. this island was lying to the S.E. 1/4 E. 2° of the compass.

Two leagues from the island we found 45 fathoms, bottom of shells, resembling shellfish, and other shells of a red colour. A little further south than the First Sight Island we could see four small islands and the big hill we spoke of above. This hill seems to be the western point of an immense bay.

The winds were very changeable, and we had much calm on that day. We noticed on that day at 9 p.m. that the sky was much brighter behind the big hill, which made us believe that it was a volcano.

On the 9th we advanced a little towards the east; we discovered some other very high lands, and in the south of the First Sight Island we saw very high mountains, about 15 leagues from the island.

It would be tiresome to give all the details concerning the different routes we followed along that coast. The reduced

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chart affixed to this journal will explain better than any writing. This chart was made, like the landscapes, by M. Charanton, one of our officers, who adds to his good qualities as a sailor a great geographical knowledge.

I shall only say that after advancing towards the east about 40m. of the First Sight Island (which took us up to the 13th of October) M. de Surville made up his mind to look for an anchorage on that coast, as the winds would not allow us to double it. He ordered a boat to be launched. M. Labé got on board with four soldiers and a sufficient number of sailors to man the boat. Shortly after we saw him enter a kind of port where he found a good anchorage. As soon as we saw the signal agreed upon M. de Surville put about, in order to reach that anchorage.

On the way, we saw coming out of a channel a boat in which was one man. He came as near as the voice would carry, and made us signs to come to him: On our side we tried to induce him to come on board. We kept showing him a little white flag, the sign of peace amongst most nations, but we could not persuade him.

M. Labé came back on board, and M. de Surville gave him the command of the vessel. We sounded several times without finding bottom. As soon as we got to the entrance of the port, which is formed by several islands, we first found bottom of coral at 55 fathoms. The western point of the island, which is on the left coming in, was then at our E. 1/4 N.E. We at last arrived in that port where we dropped anchor by 24 fathoms white sand bottom, too near the entrance, because all at once we were surprised by a dead calm. We had to drop another anchor on account of a reef which was very near us, and on which we were drifting.

This port appeared to us to be magnificent, and full of resources in the circumstances we were in. Sheltered from every wind, we purposed to spend several days there quietly. Since we had sighted land the scurvy had made great advances amongst the crew. There were then more than thirty suffering from it, and every day the evil was increasing. It was then with the greatest joy we saw that the land was inhabited. We were flattering ourselves that we would derive great advantages for our sick ones, but we will soon see that they suffered greatly by the landing, and that the ones then in good health had later on to blame it for all the inconveniences they suffered afterwards.

The entrance of the port is by 7° 25' of south latitude and by 151° 55' eastern longitude of the Paris meridian. M. de Surville named the port "Praslin Port."

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On the day we anchored there we loaded all our guns, and put in order all the firearms, in order to defend ourselves in case the natives attacked us. The attitude of these natives and the arms they carried made us think they were war-like.

As soon as our anchor was down, two or three canoes came to look us over. M. de Surville made some trifling presents to the natives, and showed them every sign of friendship. They only answered him by pointing to the far end of the port, making signs that we would find there food and drink.

One of them, however, more venturesome than the rest, put an arrow to his bow, and made a sign as if wanting to throw it against our vessel. He looked as if he wanted his comrades to do the same, if one could judge by his manners and the threatening tone of his voice. We showed him the white flag, and sent to him as well as to his companions some bottles and pieces of calico, which appeared to make him friendly towards us.

The canoes went back to pass the night on the island situated on the right coming into the port. We were so near the island that we could quite distinctly see and hear them. They spent all the night there, keeping up a large fire and, what appeared rather strange, repeating word for word all that they could hear from our vessel.

Next day, the 14th, we sent on a cable 40 fathoms from the vessel to get further inside the port. Several canoes came that day. Nothing we did escaped the notice of these natives; we tried everything to induce them to come on board. At last several of them came on board, carrying big clubs, made of a very heavy wood. We were careful, however, only to allow a few of them on board, as their number by far exceeded the number of our men in good health.

These natives presented us with some shells and a kind of almond very similar to the badame. One of them appeared more anxious than the others to be of use to us, which made M. de Surville more anxious to conciliate him by some small presents. He gave us to understand that he would show us to a place at the end of the port where we would find food and water.

Shortly before noon M. de Surville ordered two boats to be lowered, and put in command M. Labé, his first officer, in whom he had great confidence, both for his prudence and his courage. The sailors were provided with cutlasses, and the soldiers carried their guns and ammunition. M. de Surville, nephew of our captain, commanded one of the boats under the orders of M. Labé. Hardly had they left the vessel than all the canoes followed them, and kept with them to the end of the port. During the journey the natives kept going to and fro, and talking hard all the time. At first it did not seem unnatural

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to us, as our arrival was bound to cause great excitement amongst these people.

While M. Labé was at the top end of the port, M. de Surville, in company of some of his officers, was hunting on one of the islands. What was our surprise when we heard ourselves being loudly called. M. Labé had just landed on the island where we were, towing some native boats, and with several of his men severely wounded. He told us that when they got to a rather narrow place, thickly surrounded by scrub, the natives made signs to them that there was water there. The locality seemed to M. Labé rather suspicious, and he did not have his boats beached, as the natives seemed to want him to do; he only sent four men with some natives to have a look at the watering-place. He was getting rather anxious when the four men came back saying that they had been taken to a place where they only found water left there by the rain which had fallen about an hour ago. This event made M. Labé more wary. However, he was conducted to another place, where he met with the same difficulty. The sergeant in command of the four men he had sent was indeed taken to a place where there was a little water flowing from a rock. The natives deserted them there, and it was only with much difficulty that they found their way back to the boats by narrow passes through the scrub. During this time the natives did all in their power to induce M. Labé to beach his boats. They attempted to pull them ashore themselves, and wanted to tie them to trees. But M. Labé would not allow that. Besides this, the natives tried to separate our sailors by inducing them to go and gather some coconuts, which are there in great quantities. Our men were quite willing, but the officers prudently would not allow them. M. Labé was more than two and a half leagues from the vessel, and as it was getting rather late, and he did not think he could do more that day, he gave orders to everybody to re-embark.

As soon as the savages, who numbered at least 150, saw these preparations, they put themselves in an attitude of fight. Several of our men assured us that they began by a religious act. An old native raised his eyes to heaven, also his hands, muttering some words, and seeming to exhort them to do their best.

The first act of hostility was accomplished on one of the soldiers, who got his hat torn by a blow from a club while he was getting on board. M. Labé then gave orders to fire, but that did not prevent the natives from wounding several men, among whom was the sergeant, who received a blow from a lance above the hip. He died of that wound three days after. During his illness the surgeon was very perplexed by the cause of it. He

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could only see a slight wound, to which could not be attributed the great pain in which the soldier was. He suspected that some foreign matter had got into the wound, but could not find it with the probe. He opened the wound after the death of the man, and found a piece of lance six inches long embedded in the vertebra with such a force that in order to extract it he had to use pinchers and break the bone with a hammer.

The first discharge of firearms on the natives astonished them so much that they remained immovable. It was all the more murderous as they stood all together only a dozen yards away.

The astonishment produced by the discharge of firearms gave time to fire another volley, which the natives could not stand. They fled to the woods in a great hurry, leaving thirty or forty killed or wounded on the battlefield.

As soon as the natives had disappeared M. Labé took a few of the canoes, and had the others broken and set fire to. He ordered some arms and other things, which the natives had with them, to be gathered. We had three or four of our men wounded, M. Labé himself receiving a blow from a stone on the leg and two arrows in the thigh. Although his wounds were slight, ten months after this adventure they were still bleeding, which made us believe that the arrows were poisoned.

Coming back to the vessel we noticed on the little island in the north-west, situated at the entrance of the port, five or six natives. We thought we could make them prisoners on land, but, although we were quite near, they were clever enough to launch their canoe and embark. We manoeuvred so as to cut off their escape and were able to fire on them. One of them was wounded, and fell in the water, and after he got on shore we saw him crawling on all fours to the wood; the others also swam ashore, and we never found them again.

The intention of M. de Surville was to get hold of one of these natives and to get him to show us a place where to get water. Besides, he had recourse to that last act of hostility only to give these people an idea of our strength, and thus prevent them from attacking us again. They could very well have given us a great deal of trouble if they had known our real situation.

After that skirmish we saw two men in a canoe, who came to examine us attentively. We employed to attract them an expedient which was rather successful. We got two of our Kaffir sailors in one of the canoes previously captured; we arranged them somewhat like the natives; they kept making the same signs they had noticed the savages making, and were so successful that the natives in the canoe came much nearer the vessel. We at once sent two boats to give chase, but turning quickly they fled, gaining in speed on our boats. We tried to

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stop them by firing on the canoe. One savage was killed, and as he fell overboard the canoe was capsized. The second native tried to reach the nearer island, swimming; but before he got there we caught up to him. He fought with much courage, and having no weapon, he used his teeth, and bit any one coming near him. I will have occasion later on to speak about this native. Towards the middle of the night two canoes came to examine us; we fired on them and wounded several natives, judging by the cries of pain we could hear.

On the 15th we took our prisoner on the island situated in the east, so as he could show us a place to get some water. He took a rather long route, and, on the way, without anybody noticing it, he got hold of a piece of shell with which he managed to cut part of the ropes he was bound with. However, we noticed it in time, and afterwards kept a better watch on him. As he made us signs that we were near the water M. de Surville allowed him to guide us on, although still afraid to see him escape somehow. He was, however, really leading us to a watering-place, but one of our soldiers having found another proper place, we stopped there. The young prisoner was then taken back to the vessel, but, before, he kept rolling himself on the shore, making horrible cries to attract his companions, and biting the ground in a great rage.

We got all the water we wanted at that place, and were not troubled any more, on account of our firing on the canoes every time they put in an appearance.

It was impossible for us to get from that country anything but water, firewood, and some palm cabbages, which are very abundant there. The land near our anchorage was very swampy. The heavy rains which fell during our stay in that port, together with other difficulties we met with, made nearly all of us ill; several died of scurvy.

M. de Surville seeing he could not get anything but what has been mentioned from this anchorage, made up his mind to leave such an unwholesome place. Besides, the entrance of that port had a bad bottom. We drifted continually, which might have proved fatal.

We remained until the 21st of October in Port Praslin;. We drew up all the anchors except the small one, to which we fixed a side cable to bring the vessel to larboard. It was necessary to take these precautions as the entrance to the port is so narrow that two vessels can hardly enter it together. We left the long boat behind to raise the anchor, and she rejoined us at sea.

One can affirm that Port Praslin is one of the most beautiful in the world. It is formed by hundreds of small islands, which almost join the main land, and near which the bottom is deep

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enough to allow the vessels to be tied up to the trees. It stretches from 3 leagues from north to south, and nearly every part of it is sheltered from every wind. This country appears one of the most beautiful existing; it is very woody, and without doubt must abound with fresh provisions, but unfortunately we could not ascertain the latter. We only visited the land near the shore. Although the land is very swampy, there are many trees of many varieties. There are many palm-trees, wild-coffee trees, and we think we saw some ebony-trees. We also found there some tacamacas, and several other trees which produce resin and balm. But what surprised us most was that the wood we cut down for use on board, when thrown in the water, gave it a red tint, very striking. I heard later on that one of the sailors cut some bark and boiled it, and from it extracted some red dye, with which he dyed some pieces of calico.

The natives in general are of a well-proportioned height, and their complexion is good. Amongst them are some very black ones, and others are much lighter. Their hair is woolly and very soft to feel. Their forehead is narrow, their countenance rather sinister, and different from the Kaffirs, in that the nose is not so flat nor the lips so thick. They cut the hair only round the head; they powder it with lime, which gives the appearance of being yellow. They also powder their eyebrows.

The lobe of the ear is pierced, and of an exaggerated length. They fix in the lobe of the ear sometimes a ring, sometimes leaves of different trees, or some flowers. The nose is also pierced. They place a rather big peg in the hole when they are old enough.

They wear a bracelet above the elbow, and round the neck an ornamant which resembles a comb, made of a white stone, which they hold in great esteem, according to the young savage we captured. They possess several kinds of bracelets.

Several amongst us thought that these people were cannibals, because they wear round the neck, collars made with the teeth of several kinds of animals: some even have human teeth, but we have no proof that this conjecture is true. The young native we have on board showed a great horror when asked about these things, and he has always denied having ever seen his people commit this crime.

The weapons of these natives are the bow and arrow, the lance, and some clubs about 2 1/2 ft. long made of a very heavy wood. Their arrows are very dangerous, as they make them of several pieces joined together by a kind of very hard cement, and some fragments are bound to remain in the wound they make. The point is made of a bone which they sharpen to a

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fine point. They generally use the bone found in the tail of a fish called "sea devil." To guard themselves against arrows, they carry a shield made of Tantan cane.

At the end of their lances they put a bone about 6 in. long. It is impossible to withdraw this bone from the flesh without tearing it badly, on account of the notches they make in it.

Their boats are very well constructed, and of a wonderful speed. Both ends are very high, evidently to guard against the arrows. Some of their boats are very large. The day after our arrival one boat came to us which was 56 ft. in length by 3 1/2 ft. wide. The boards of the smaller boats are very thin and joined with a kind of cement, blackish, and very hard. On the boats one can sometimes see some incrusted mother-of-pearl.

The way we were received in this country induced us to find a name characteristic of this nation. Therefore we called the part we discovered Arsacides Coast. Arsacides, according to some authors, means "murderers."

The young black we took prisoner in Port Praslin gave us some information relative to his people. I believe what he told us (except what was dictated by prejudice), as I have always, during the two years he was with us, found him to be perfectly fair in everything. He is entirely guided by nature, if one can use such an expression about him, and his expressions were always dictated by his sensations.

The young man (his name is "Lova Saregua"--Lova in his own language means a small fish) could only have been thirteen or fourteen years of age when we captured him. Hardly had he been two months with us when we perceived the facility with which he could learn our language. But the progress he would otherwise have made in learning our language was made much slower on account of his two or three months sojourn with the Spaniards. After that space of time however, he managed quite well to make himself understood in both languages.

What astonished him most in Lima was the size of the houses. He could not imagine it, and, thinking that their solidity was but small, he tried to shake the walls. His surprise increased daily on seeing the occupations and works of Europeans, and he soon acknowledged these last to be superior to his own people.

During the whole journey from Port Praslin to the Peruvian coast M. de Surville had this young man always at his own table. The black acknowledged this as a favour, because the other blacks were treated quite differently. At the death of M. de Surville he withdrew on his own account, and offered to wait on us.

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We paid him every kind of attention, and without doubt he deserved them by his good qualities, and, far from abusing our kindness, he all the time acknowledged it as a real favour. The only fault we found in him was a slight movement of despair, caused by his too great susceptibility, but that gesture was always directed against himself and did not last. He has a sharp mind, and learns willingly whatever he is taught. He would certainly be able to read now if he had been taught.

I have to acknowledge his perfect honesty. He is rather fond of decorating himself, but by what I could see he could easily give that up. He knows the value of money, but does not seem to value it as much as that knowledge would warrant. After all, he is only anxious to satisfy his appetite. To end this description, which has lasted long enough, we can safely say this Native is of a most happy disposition, and will certainly avoid the faults common to most men.

We know from this young black that war is constantly raging in his country. The prisoners of war are made slaves, and wait on their conquerers. Plurality of wives is allowed.

The King's authority is absolute. Every one of his subjects must bring to him the products of his fishing, and other productions of the country, before taking any to his own dwelling-place; if they fail to do so, they are severely punished. If by chance it happened that some one walked on the King's shadow, he would instantly be put to death; however, added the young black, if it happened to be one of the chiefs, possessor of much wealth, he could obtain his pardon.

We could not get any satisfactory explanation about the religion of his country. He says, however, that men at their death are supposed to go to Heaven from where they come back every now and then to speak with their people. When we tried to make young Lova understand that it was absurd to believe in ghosts he replied that he was certain of their existence, and that he had heard some of them. They come, he said, always during the night, and mention the places where fishing will be most successful, and bring good and bad news. He maintains his opinion strongly when he is told that it is impossible, by declaring that nobody on board can know better than he what takes place in his own country.

The people most highly looked upon by the Arsacides are medicine-men. The calling of medicine-men belongs only to the old people. Lova has a much higher opinion of the medical men of his own country than of ours; he thinks the latter make the illness last too long.

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The young girls are destined from infancy for marriage; and they go to live in the house of the father of their husband until they become marriageable.

One custom usual after the death of rich people is rather peculiar. They build a scaffold, on which they place the corpse. Underneath they dig a hole. The rain or time causes all the greasy parts of the body to fall in the hole, which is then covered with earth, and they build on the grave a kind of a small house, or, rather, a mausoleum. If it is a child only flowers are deposited on the grave. They then take the skull and the bones and carry them to a place reserved for common burial.

The trading of the Arsacides cannot be very extensive, if we judge by the length of ten or twelve days of their voyages. They guide themselves at sea by the motion of the stars, of which they can distinguish several.

The young black told us that his father often made such voyages to a nation much less black than his own. He brought back from there some fine calico, with big patterns on it, and which was used for belts.

The productions of that country which young Lova mentioned are bananas, sugar-canes, yams, coconuts, aniseed, and a kind of almond, of which they are very fond. There is also a kind of fruit which he never could see in America, and of which we never could get a satisfactory description. The Arsacides for food principally use turtle flesh and eggs, which are in great quantity; they also have fish, and make great use of a certain plant which they call "binao," and which they eat instead of bread.

We showed Lova all the spices we made use of; he only knew in his country of one tree, very tall, and of which the bark tasted like cinnamon, but he prefers the bark which grows in his country. The natives make use of it mixed with betel, cabbage-palm, and lime.

They use for lighting purposes, during the night, resin extracted from the tree which produces the almond previously spoken of. The resin is greasy and oily, and while burning emits rather an agreeable odour.

The Arsacides do not know any metal. They use for cutting wood a stone axe, very hard, and of a slate colour, and for cutting their hair they use a stone similar to the gun-flint.

We only saw fishermen's huts, but Lova assured us that in the interior the Arsacides have some large villages. We did not see any four-footed animals, although, according to what Lova says, there are many wild pigs. The cockatoos, orioles, and wild pigeons are very numerous. The pigeons appeared to us to be much bieder than those elsewhere.

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On comparing what we saw of those people with ones of whom Dampier and other travellers who have travelled through those countries speak, we have no doubt about their belonging to the same race of men: they have the same arms, the same boats, the same bravery, everything seems to confirm that opinion.

We left several written notices of taking possession of that country in the name of His Most Christian Majesty in the place where we got our water, situated on the east of our anchorage. We also left several written notices to apprise anybody who might land in that country of the ways of the natives.

During our stay in Port Praslin the wind blew nearly constantly from N.E. to E. We had a lot of rain, to which we may attribute the fever which attacked most of the crew.

I have previously said that we left Port Praslin on the 21st of October, 1769. The south winds which we met with next day allowed us to go up a little in the east.

On the 23rd we picked up a little deserted boat made of banana roots, and on which was erected a little wooden hut.

On the 24th we had rather fine weather, but with easterly winds, which compelled us to tack about all day, and to keep in sight a coast which we much desired to lose sight of.

On the 26th we thought we were at the eastern point of the coast, as we had lost sight of land. In the morning, towards noon, we sighted a little island which we named "Unexpected." It is situated by 7° 54' of south latitude at about 4 leagues to the south-west of the compass. It resembled an arrow whose head would be the eastern point of the island. We noticed some small hills on it in the west. It was very low everywhere else, and covered with trees. Its distance from the coast might be about 9 leagues.

We had rather changeable winds on the 27th, 28th, and 29th; however, we could rise a little towards the east.

On the 30th we sighted another island, which we could not double as soon as we wished to on account of the currents and the calms. It was named "Contrariety Island." Its position is by 9° 46' of southern latitude and at 4° 52' east of First Sight Island. The aspect of it is charming, and it presents to the eye a beautiful scene. The island seems well cultivated in several places, and we believe it is thickly populated, judging by the number of boats which we saw coming from it, and of fires we discovered during the night in different parts of the

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island. One can see a view of this island on chart No. 8. It is hardly ten leagues distant from the coast.

During the three days we remained in sight of this island several canoes, manned by the same race of men we had seen at Port Praslin, came round us. We tried with signs to persuade them to come on board, but it was only after a lot of useless demonstrations that one of them, at last plucking up his courage, dared to come on board. He first got hold of some clothing belonging to a sailor, and we had great trouble to make him give it up. Then he jumped on the flag which was flying at the poop, brought it to, probably with the intention of appropriating it, but we made him give it up; he then climbed the mizzenmast with as much ease as the best sailor, and, after having at leisure overlooked the ship, he came down by himself on deck, and addressing all his companions, he exhorted them to come on board to him. Nothing could be more singular than the rapid gestures of this islander. One could have believed that all his gestures and high-toned voice were to make believe, but I think that there was more fear than courage in it. He made us understand that he was chief of all the people with him.

The vessel was surrounded by about thirty canoes, in most of which was a good supply of arrows, lances, and spears, whose points were notched. About a dozen men at last ventured to come on board at the invitation of the first islander, and by their signs they would have made us believe that we would be well treated on their island and would want for nothing, if the Natives at Port Praslin had not acted in the same way to us.

They remained on board about an hour. While they were going away one of these savages passed his hand through the porthole of the pantry, caught hold of a bottle, and threw himself into the sea before the keeper could prevent him. The beauty of this island induced M. de Surville to pay it a visit, and for that object he had a boat lowered and M. Labé with four soldiers got into it.

Hardly had he got away to half-gun range from the vessel than he was surrounded by four canoes. The savages were already fixing arrows to their bows, but M. Labé, well up in their tricks, did not give them time to proceed further, but ordered a volley to be fired on them. We saw it all from the vessel, and the discharge of a few big guns soon put the canoes to flight. M. Labé was recalled. This event took place at about 3 in the afternoon. At 6 p.m. a large quantity of canoes got

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together, and came in battle order, at about a long-gun carry of the vessel. We did not wait to further inquire their purpose; four discharges from the big guns loaded with grape shot dispersed that army. Seemingly a few of the islanders lost their lives. It was much against his will that M. de Surville gave up the project of anchoring near the island. The nearer we got to it the more we regretted having found such inhospitable people.

Young Lova several times assured us that he did not at all understand the language of the inhabitants of Contrariety Island. They tried to induce him to come to them, but he seemed to make little of their offer. He even asked by signs to be given a bow and some arrows, to let fly at these people, with a certain success.

The canoes of these islanders are far less ornamented than the ones belonging to the Natives of Port Praslin. The one belonging to the chief especially was the most curious and the best constructed. On the forepoint is fixed a kind of little flag made of several tufts of straw, dyed red. The back part is ornamented with some little sculptures, representing animals, without doubt belonging to the country, but especially dogs, which are there in a great quantity. A good many of these people wear in their nose a round ornament made of mother-of-pearl, on which are described several black circles; some have a triangle. On other parts of their body they wear a lot of aromatic plants. They go about perfectly naked. On the 3rd of November we sighted three other small islands, which we named the "Three Sisters," on account of their perfect similarity. They lay N.W. 1/4 N. 3° N. at about If leagues from one another. The one in the middle is about the same longitude as Contrariety Island by a southern latitude of 10° 16'.

On the 4th we had very changeable weather. The calms having come suddenly on us near the coast made us fear of drifting on it, because the currents carried us to it. Fortunately, in getting nearer, their direction changed to S.W. Several canoes came near us. The Natives made the same signs as the previous Natives had made, but would not hazard them selves on board.

Keeping on our way to the south-east we sighted two small islands at about 3 leagues from the coast. They were situated by the southern latitude of 10° 57', and more to the east by 5° 22' than the First Sight Island. These two islands are flat and woody. The coast, on the contrary, is very hilly, and forms

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in that locality a cape which has been named "Cape Oriental," and the two little islands were named "Deliverance Islands." The land after Cape Oriental must lie to the south-west, for in pursuing our route to the south-east we soon lost sight of it. The latitude of Cape Oriental is the same as that of the Deliverance Islands, its longitude being about 6' more to the west.

We at last left that land where most of our crew had fallen ill. There hardly passed a day without two or three of our men dying. In a very short time we lost about thirty men.

Here we must mention that the reduced chart of the Arsacides has been drawn from the observations of the vessel only, and therefore cannot be as accurate as could be wished, but one can be certain that the latitudes are correct, and the position determined correctly. enough. The longitude marked on it is an average longitude from every point of the vessel.

From First Sight Island to Cape Oriental we noticed that the currents carried us constantly to the south. All along that coast the land is covered with high mountains.

According to our young Arsacidian, these lands might only be a large agglomeration of islands. He assures us that one finds the sea on the other side of his country, and that it is without bottom.

We will not give in this extract the situation of all the maps added to it. It would be too long and too wearying, and besides one can find in M. de Surville's journal all that is required on the subject.

After leaving that coast our route was to the south-east from the 7th to the 12th of November, and when we got in latitude 14° we put our course to the south and to the S. 1/4 S.W., in order not to miss New Zealand, where it was absolutely necessary to go in order to get our crew well again. We had the fair winds which blow generally in the tropics, and the weather in general was rather fine.

On the 4th of December we noticed the sea changing. Some dry cuttle-fish, some seaweed, and some birds. These indications of land made us think that Diemen Land advances towards the east, and might adjoin New Guinea. I estimated our position on that day at a southern latitude of 36° 26' by an eastern longitude of 152° 12'. The variation was observed to be 9° 19' north-east. We continued our route to the south as far as the 35° of latitude, according to our estimation. The next day the route was given to the east.

[The journal is continued in French with the English translation on the opposite page.]

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Le 12, a 11he du matin, nous eumes connaissance de la Nouvelle-Zélande par la latitude de 35° 37 et par la longitude de 168° 50 ce qui me donnait une difference de 110 lieues plus ouest que cette terre n'est marquée sur la carte de M. Bellin.

Cette partie de Nouvelle-Zélande ne parait pas abordable elle doit être fort peuplée a en juger par la grande quantité de feux que nous avons apercu; le bord de la mer est rempli de dunes de sables, assez considerables. Les montagnes qui en sont éloignées de 3 ou 4 lieues sont fort élevées.

L'intention de M. de Surville était de doubler la Nouvelle-Zélande au N. mais les vents n'étaient pas favorables pour cela. On fut oblige de courir différentes bordées en cherchant toujours a, pouvoir donner dans quelque port les vents contraires durèrent jusqu'au 14, du Nord, ils passèrent à O.N.O. mais avec une telle force que nous craignimes a différentes reprises de faire naufrage. La mer était excessivement grosse et nous jetait sur cette côte qui ne nous présentait aucun endroit accessible. Par la position on nous nous trouvions, et le gissement des terres, il n'était pas possible de les doubler au N.; nous avions a peu prés les mêmes difficultés pour les doubler au Sud. Nous passâmes toute la nuit du 14 au 15 dans la plus cruelle perplexité, obliges de virer de bord fréquemment et de porter de la voile pour moins dériver. Le lendemain, le danger était tout aussi pressant, la mer et les vents étant toujours les mêmes. Nous eumes cependant une lueur d'espérance en nous apercevant que les courants nous avaient éloignés de la côte.

Dans l'après-midi, les vents devinrent moins violents en passant au S.O. ils permirent a M. de Surville de tenter une manoeuvre bardie, bien réfléchie, et la seule a mettre en usage pour nous écarter de la côte; malgré la force du vent il fit augmenter de voiles, en mettant la grande voile d'étay, elle fut emportée, mais les au tres voiles étant neuves, supportèrent tout l'effet des vents; il fallait absolument, ou doubler cette côte, ou s'exposer évidemment a périr. Nous étions alors par 35° 15 de latitude méridionale. On voit sur la carte dans eet endroit une pointe qui s'avance dans le N.N.O. Elle était le plus grand obstacle a vaincre, mais aussi en venant a bout de la doubler, nous pouvions de plus en plus nous eloigner des terres qui sont plus au Nord et dont le gissement nous était a peu prés connu. Nous n'avions pas la même espérance de réussir en portant notre route au Sud. Nous parvïnmes enfin a doubler cette pointe, et continuant toujours a nous élever dans le Nord, la mer et le vent s'apaisèrent, le temps nous favorisa au-delà de nos espérances.

Le 16 xbre, nous découvrimes le Cap qu'Abel Tasman a nommé Cap du Nord-Ouest. 13 Nous vïmes peu de temps après

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On the 12th, at 11 a.m., we sighted New Zealand by a latitude of 35° 37' and a longitude of 168° 50', which gave us a difference of 110 leagues more west than this land is marked on M. Bellin's map.

This part of New Zealand does not appear to be accessible, and must be thickly populated, judging by the large number of fires we saw. The shore is full of sand ridges, rather high. The mountains, which are some 3 or 4 leagues from the coast, are very high.

M. de Surville's intention was to double New Zealand in the north, but the winds were not favourable enough for that. We continued to tack about, constantly looking for some port. The contrary winds lasted from the north until the 14th, then changed to the W.N.W. with such violence that several times we thought we would get wrecked. The sea was very rough, and constantly took us towards the land, which offered no accessible landing-place. On account of the position we were in and the lay of the land, it was impossible to double it in the north, and we had about the same difficulties in doubling it in the south. We spent the whole of the night of the 14th until the 15th in great anxiety, obliged to tack about constantly, and to carry some sail, in order to drift less. The next day danger was just as great, the wind and the sea always being the same. We had, however, a glimpse of hope when we noticed that the currents had carried us away from the coast.

In the afternoon the winds became less violent; passing to the south-west they allowed M. de Surville to attempt a daring manoeuvre, well thought out, and the only one which could possibly take us away from the coast. In spite of the violence of the wind he set more sail, ordering the main sail to be set; it was carried away, but the other sails being new, resisted all the force of the wind. It was absolutely necessary to double the coast, or be in danger of perishing. We were then at a latitude of 35° 15' south. One can see in that position on the map a point which projects to the N.N.W. That point was the greatest obstacle to surmount, and if we could manage to double it we could get further and further from the land situated more to the north, and of which the situation was nearly known to us. We did not have the same good prospect by doubling it in the south. We at last succeeded in doubling that point, and kept constantly going up towards the north. The sea and the wind got quieter, and the weather became more favourable than we could possibly hope.

On the 16th of December we discovered the cape that Abel Tasman named the North West Cape. 14 We shortly after sighted

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les îles des trois Rois. A midi, la latitude fut observée de 34° 22. Jétais par mon estime a 168° 12 a l'Est du méridien de Paris. Nous fîmes les relèvements suivants non corrigés de la variation. Le Cap N.O. de Tasman formait les terres les plus Sud à notre vue, et nous restait au S.O. 1/4 S. 10° au Sud; ô 5 lieues de distance environ une pointe nous restait a l'Est 1/4 S.E. 3° S. ô 6 lieues un autre Cap formant les terres les plus Nord restait a l'Est a 8 1/2. Les officiers du vaisseau le nommèrent Cap Surville. 15 Les îles des Trois-Rois furent relevées a O. 1/4 N.O. 3° O. ô perte de vue.

La pointe B, qui est sur la carte réduite de la Nouvelle-Zélande, forme un enfoncement avec le Cap N.O. de Tasman, mais qui n'est pas assez considerable pour empécher de voir des terres basses et sablonneuses.

La couleur de la mer nous indiquait que l'on trouverait un mouillage a cette côte. On sonda a la distance d'environ 3 lieues de la pointe B lorsqu'elle nous restait a l'Est du monde, nous trouvâmes 40 brasses fond de sable roux.

Le même jour, nous doublames le Cap Surville. 16 A l'Est de ce cap il y a une pointe prés de laquelle on voit un brisant qui s'avance en mer.

Le Cap Surville est trés accore et assez élevé, il ressemble a une pyramide tronquée; sa base est fort considerable, on jeta par son travers une ligne de fond de 30 brasses sans trouver le fond.

Après avoir passé le Cap Surville, nous trouvâmes une baie trés vaste, mais comme il n'y paraissait aucun abri, on porta un peu plus dans le Sud ou nous en découvrimes une autre.

La manière dont Abel Tasman avait été reçu dans ce pays, nous faisait craindre d'y éprouver la même chose. 17 Nous fûmes étrangement surpris de voir arriver un bateau avec 5 ou 6 hommes. Ils donnèrent le peu de poisson et de coquillages qu'ils avaient, en échange, on leur remit un peu de toile de coton, en s'en allant ils nous montrèrent l'endroit de leur demeure.

Peu de temps après, trois autres grandes pirogues s'approchèrent du vaisseau, a la portee du fusil; de la, les sauvages nous montraient de temps en temps leur poisson, voyant qu'ils n'avançaient a rien par cette cérémonie, ils joignirent le vaisseau et passèrent sous la galerie pour traiter; ils donnèrent une quantité prodigieuse de poissons pour quelques petits morceaux de toile dont ils se couvrirent les épaules. 18

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the Three Kings Islands. At noon the latitude was observed to be 34° 22'. We were, by my estimation, at 168° 12' east of the Paris meridian. We made the following, not corrected, observations of variation: The North West Cape of Tasman formed the land the most southern to our sight, and it was lying to the S.W. 1/4 S. 10° in the south. About 5 leagues away we had a point on the E. 1/4 S.E. 3° S., and 6 leagues away another cape forming the most northern land was lying east 8 1/2°. The officers of the vessel named the last cape "Cape Surville." 19 We took the position of the Three Kings to be W. 1/4 N.W. 3° W., far away in the distance.

The point B which is on the reduced map of New Zealand forms a kind of bay with the Cape North West of Tasman, but not deep enough to prevent us from seeing some flat and sandy shores.

By the colour of the sea-water we expected to find anchorage on that coast. At a distance of about 3 leagues of the point B, lying east, we found, on sounding, 40 fathoms, with a red sandy bottom.

The same day we doubled Cape Surville. On the east of that cape there is a point near which there are breakers projecting to the sea.

Cape Surville is very abrupt, and rather high. It resembles a truncated pyramid; its base is very broad. We sounded opposite that cape, but 30 fathoms of line did not find bottom.

After passing Cape Surville we found a very large bay, but as there did not appear to be any shelter in it, we went further south, where we discovered another bay.

The way Abel Tasman had been received in this country made us fear to be treated likewise. 20 We were therefore very much surprised to see a boat with five or six men coming towards us. They gave us the little fish and shell-fish which they had, and in exchange we gave them a little calico. When leaving us they showed us where their habitations were.

Shortly after, three big canoes came within gun-range of the vessel. From that distance they showed us now and then their fish. Seeing that these demonstrations had no effect, they came alongside the vessel, and passed under the stern gallery to trade. They gave us a wonderful quantity of fish for some little pieces of calico, with which they covered their shoulders. 21

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Le chef de ces pirogues ayant témoigné de l'envie de venir a bord, on lui fit signe de monter. M. de Surville le reçut en l'embrassant. II avait une pelisse en peau de chien sur lui que l'on voulut examiner; s'imaginant apparemment qu'on en avait envie, il l'offrit sur le champ, mais on ne l'accepta pas. On le fit passer dans la chambre du Conseil ou M. de Surville lui donna une veste et une culotte rouge, il mit la veste, et garda la culotte sous son bras. En reconnaissance, il remit sa pelisse a M. de Surville. Ceux qui l'avaient accompagné, ne le voyant pas au bout d'un certain temps montrèrent de l'inquiétude, on entendit une certaine rumeur, il se fit voir a ses camarades et nous comprimés par ses gestes qu'il leur disait que sa personne était en sûreté; on lui fit présent d'une chemise dont il se servit dans le même moment. Plusieurs de ses gens montèrent a bord, nous connûmes bien leur caractère, ils s'annoncèrent dés les 1ers instants pour être grands voleurs; ils s'emparaient de tout ce qu'ils trouvaient sous la main; ils sortirent du vaisseau, chacun ayant sur les épaules son morceau de toile. Le chef voulut retirer sa chemise, mais ne se souvenant plus de quelle façon elle lui avait été passée c'était une chose assez risible de voir son embarras et l'empressement de ses gens a la tirer par les manches et de tous les côtés en même temps. Il vint a bout cependant de l'oter lorsqu'il se fut rappelé qu'on lui avait fait lever les bras.

Le 17, nous vïnmes mouiller dans une baie dont l'entrée est au S.E. 1/4 S. a 12 lieues de distance du Cap Surville, et par la latitude méridionale de 34° 49 le plan de cette baie est dans la planche 10.

A une lieue de l'entrée de cette baie, nous avons eu le ler fond par 34 brasses, sable et vase verte, le fond diminua ensuite jusqu'à 25 brasses, corail et coquillage pourri. On jeta l'ancre par ce dernier fond devant une anse de sable qui est au pied d'une petite montagne au sommet de laquelle il y a un village.

Le 18, on alla sonder près de cette petite anse le fond diminua successivement jusqu'à 9 brasses; la, on n'est éloigné de terre que d'environ 140 brasses n'ayant a craindre que les vents depuis l'E.N.E. jusqu'à l'Est. On ne se doutait point après avoir éprouvé les mauvais temps de la partie de l'Ouest que nous en essuierions de pareus dans la partie orientale.

II est aisé de s'imaginer la joie qu'eût notre malheureux équipage de se trouver chez des peuples qui nous avaient déjà traités avec humanité. Depuis notre depart du Port Praslin, 60 hommes avaient payé leur tribut, et le scorbut attaquait presque tout le reste, quelques jours de plus sans voir la terre,

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The chief of these natives having made signs that he wished to come on board, we made signs to him to come up. M. de Surville received him with a salute. He had a mantle of dogskin on him, which we started examining. Thinking we wished to have it he at once offered it to us, but we declined to accept it. We took him to the council room, where M. de Surville gave him a coat and a pair of red breeches; he put on the coat, and kept the breeches under his arm. In grateful exchange he presented M. de Surville with his dog-skin mantle. His people, not seeing him after a certain lapse of time, showed signs of anxiety, and began to murmur. He showed himself to his people and by his gestures we understood that he was telling them that he was in perfect security. We then gave him a shirt, which he put on immediately. Several of the natives got on board, and from the first we had a good idea of their real character, for they showed themselves to be great thieves. They took everything they came across. They left the vessel each of them wearing a piece of calico on their shoulders. The chief wanted to take off his shirt, but not remembering how he had got it on it was rather amusing to see him so embarrassed, and his people trying to help him by pulling on the sleeves and other parts at the same time. He at last succeeded in taking it off when he remembered that he had had to raise his arms to put it on.

On the 17th we came to anchor in a bay of which the entrance is to the S.E. 1/4 S., 12 leagues distant from Cape Surville, and by southern latitude 34° 19'. The map of this bay is on the chart 10.

At a distance of a league from the entrance of this bay we first touched bottom at 34 fathoms, sand and green-mud bottom, then we touched shallower coral and rotten-shell bottom. At 25 fathoms we dropped anchor in this last spot in front of a sandy cove situated at the foot of a little mountain on the top of which was a village.

The next day we went to sound near this little cove, and found the bottom getting shallower at each sounding until it was only 9 fathoms deep. There we were only 140 yards from the shore, having only the winds from the E.N.E. to the east to fear. We could not suppose, after the bad weather we experienced on the west coast, that we would get as bad on the east coast.

One can easily imagine the joy of our miserable crew to find themselves with people who had already treated us with humanity. Since our departure from Port Praslin sixty of our men had succumbed, and the scurvy had got hold of nearly all the rest of us; a few days more without landing and the vessel "St.

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le vaisseau Le St. Jean-Baptiste n'eut jamais pu quitter la Nouvelle-Zélande, a moins d'un miracle.

Ce jour-la, 18 xbre, M. de Surville descendit a terre. Le Chef du Village vint le recevoir sur le rivage; tous ses gens étaient épars ça et là et tenaient en main des peaux de chiens et des paquets d'herbes qu'ils levaient et baissaient continuellement, sans doute pour faire honneur a M. de Surville.

Le lendemain on retourna a terre, mais la reception fut bien différente; les habitants du pays étaient attroupés et armés. Le Chef qui était venu au-devant de M. de Surville dans une pirogue, lui fit signe de rester sur le bord du rivage; il paraissait intrigue, ou plutôt ses gens, de voir a terre une grande partie de l'Equipage. Il quitta M. de Surville pour aller leur parler, ce qu'il fit avec beaucoup de chaleur, il revint ensuite lui demander son fusil, dont il connaissait le bruit seulement. Voyant qu'on ne voulait pas le lui donner, il demanda l'épée. M. de Surville la lui prêta, il courut la montrer a ses gens, ce qui les apaisa entièrement.

II est certain que ce chef avait pris nos intérêts extrêmement a coeur auprès de ses sujets, et qu'il nous marqua toute la confiance possible. Ayant paru avoir envie de revenir a bord, on le lui accorda! Dès qu'il fut un peu au large, on entendit des cris qui marquaient sans doute de la crainte a son sujet, les femmes se mirent a pleurer; pour ne pas les alarmer, on ramena sur le champ le chef a terre.

M. de Surville nomma cette baie Lauriston 22 et l'anse dont j'ai parlé ci-dessus Chevalier. 23

Nous nous approchâmes de cette anse quelques jours après, nous y mouillâmes le 22 xbre par 18 brasses, fond de gravier et coquillages pourris; le village, dans cette position nous restait O.N.O. du monde, a 1/2 de lieue de distance.

Nous fûmes dans cette baie jusqu'au dernier jour de l'année 1769. Les gens de notre équipage s'y étaient passablement rétablis, mais pas aussi bien qu'on pouvait le désirer. Nous ne pouvions plus y rester avec quelque sûreté après la perte de nos ancres dans un coup de vent furieux. Cet événement mérite place ici, a cause de la sagacité et fermeté de M. de Surville; c'est dans les dangers que le marin sait choisir et employer avec habileté les ressources que l'art lui fournit pour résister aux efforts réunis des elements déchainés.

Les vents qui avaient soufflé au S.O. et du S.S.O. jusqu'au 27 du mois, passèrent a l'E.N.E. ce jour-la, trois de nos bateaux avaient été dans le fond de la baie pour y pêcher

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Jean Baptiste" would never have left New Zealand coasts except by a miracle.

On that day, the 18th of December, M. de Surville went on shore. The chief of the village came to receive him on the beach. All his people were scattered here and there, holding dog-skin mats and bundles of herbs, which they alternately raised and lowered, most likely to do M. de Surville honour.

The next day we again went ashore, but our reception was very different. The inhabitants of the country, well armed, were standing in groups. The chief, who had come in a canoe to meet M. de Surville, made a sign to him to remain on the beach. He seemed, or at least his people did, anxious on seeing a large party of our crew on shore. He left M. de Surville to go and speak to his people, which he did with great animation; he then came back and asked M. de Surville for his gun, of which he only knew the noise. Seeing that we would not let him have the gun, he asked for the sword. M. de Surville lent it to him, and he ran to show it to his people, who, seeing it, were quite pacified.

It is certain that this chief had taken our interest near his people quite at heart, and showed us every possible confidence. Having shown that he wished to come back on board, we allowed him to do so. As soon as we had put to sea a certain distance we heard cries, showing some anxiety about him. The women started to cry, and in order not to alarm them we at once brought him back to the shore.

M. de Surville named that bay "Lauriston" 24 and the cove which I mentioned above "Chevalier." 25

A few days later we got the vessel near the cove, and dropped our anchor, on the 22nd of December, in 18 fathoms gravel and rotten-shell bottom. The village was then W.N.W. at a distance of three quarters of a league.

We remained in that bay until the last day of the year 1769. The men of our crew had recruited well enough, but not as well as we wished. We could not remain there with any security after the loss of our anchor in a furious gale. This event deserves to be related here on account of the wiseness and firmness of M. de Surville. It is in such dangers that the good sailor chooses and makes use of the resources offered to him to resist the violence of the elements.

The winds, which had been blowing from the S.S.W. and from the S.W. until the 27th of the month, changed to the E.N.E. On that day three of our boats had gone to the top of the bay

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et ces vents ne permirent qu'a deux de ces bateaux de regagner le vaisseau. Dans la nuit le vent redoubla tellement que l'on fut oblige de mouiller une 3ème ancre, car nous chassions sur les deux premières. Le vaisseau soutint les efforts du vent jusqu'à 7h 1/2 du matin du 28 que l'un de nos cables se rompit. Le vaisseau chassait alors sans discontinuer quoique l'on filât le câble de notre 3ème ancre. Nous tombions visiblement dans la partie du S.O. de l'anse Chevalier, qui est une côte fort escarpée, bordée de récifs qui s'étendent fort au large et sur les quels la mer brisait horriblement. A peine en étions-nous éloignés de 150 toises, lorsque M. de Surville se détermina a appareiller, il donna l'ordre de couper les cables. Cette operation exigeait fort peu de temps, mais a chaque moment le danger devenait de plus en plus pressant, on ne peut pas voir la mort de plus pres. Nous étions peu éloignés des Rochers, de 20 pas, lorsque le vaisseau abattit heureusement sur le côté de Tribord, le seul par où il pouvait nous donner quelque espérance d'échapper au naufrage. Ce fut a l'habileté de M. de Surville que nous dûmes notre salut, et a la presence d'esprit qu'il conserva dans ce terrible moment. Il vit le seul bon parti a prendre et le fit exécuter; sa fermeté rassurait les matelots et les encourageait a un travail pénible pour des gens déjà épuisés par la maladie. On peut juger du risque évident que nous avons couru dans cette occasion par le sort d'un petit bateau qui était attaché a la poupe du vaisseau et qui fut submerge. Plusieurs personnes ont cru qu'il s'était fracassé sur les rochers, on fit couper la corde pour en débarrasser le vaisseau.

Pour avoir évité un naufrage presque certain dans ce moment, nous n'étions pas pour cela plus assures de ne pas périr au 1er instant. Nous ne pouvions pas sortir de la baie a cause des vents et nous ne pouvions pas mouiller n'ayant plus d'ancres entalinguèes.

Le petit nombre de Matelots qui restaient a bord était a peine suffisant pour venir a bout d'entalinguer une ancre, et ce ne fut qu'après 4 heures du travail le plus opiniatre de leur part qu'ils y réussirent. Pendant ce temps, le vaisseau était continuellement jeté sur la côté par la force des vagues et des vents. Nous n'avions plus que 6 brasses d'eau lorsque nous pûmes jeter l'ancre dans une petite anse qui, par la circonstance ou nous la trouvions, fut appelée anse du refuge. C'était la dernière ancre de poids qui nous restait. Pour tacher de maintenir le fond de 6 brasses, on fila la moitié du câble de 140 brasses que l'ou avait mis a cette ancre. On voulut aussi mouiller une ancre a iet, mais le câble ne put résister a l'impétuosité des vagues.

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fishing; and the wind only allowed two of these boats to come back to the vessel. During the night the wind got so strong that we were obliged to drop a third anchor, because we kept drifting in spite of the two we had dropped. The vessel resisted the efforts of the wind until half-past 7 a. m. of the 28th when one of the cables broke. The vessel then kept drifting continually in spite of our lengthening our third anchor's cable. We were distinctly drifting to the south-western part of the "Chevalier" Cove, which coast is very abrupt, and bordered with breakers stretching far out to sea, and on which the sea was breaking horribly. Hardly were we 150 yards from it when M. de Surville decided to set the sails, and gave the order to cut the cables. This operation did not take long but at each moment the danger increased. One cannot see death nearer than we did. We were very near the rocks, about 20 yards away, when the vessel happily fell on the starboard, the only side which could give us some hope of escaping shipwreck. We owed our salvation to the cleverness of M. de Surville, and to his coolness during those terrible moments. He saw the only way and took it. His firmness reassured our sailors, and encouraged them to do a work very hard for people already weakened by illness. One can have an idea of the evident danger we ran on that occasion by the fate of a small boat which we had in tow, and which was entirely submerged. Many thought it had been smashed on the rocks, and the order was given to cut the rope to free the vessel of it.

Although having then escaped an almost certain shipwreck, we were by no means certain of not perishing at any moment. We could not get out of the bay on account of the wind, and we could not anchor, having no more anchors ready.

The small number of sailors on board was hardly sufficient to succeed in getting a big anchor ready, and it was only after four hours of very hard work that they succeeded. During that time the vessel was constantly thrown on the coast by the wind and waves. We only had a depth of 6 fathoms when we succeeded in dropping an anchor in a small cove which, on account of the circumstances, we named "Refuge Cove." That was the only heavy anchor we had left. To maintain our selves on a 6 fathom bottom we let go half of the 140 yards of cable attached to the anchor. We also wanted to throw a small anchor, but the cable could not stand the strength of the waves.

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Nous n'osions pas nous flatter de tenir longtemps avec cette seule ancre et nous n'avions d'autre perspective que d'échouer d'un moment a l'autre, a la vérité avec un danger moins manifeste que dans l'anse Chevalier. On dégréa les Mâts de perroquet et ceux de hune pour soulager le vaisseau. Les inquietudes que nous avions sur notre sort ne diminuaient pas celles que nous causait le bateau que les vents avaient empêché la veille de regagner le vaisseau. Tous nos malades au nombre de 33, étaient dans ce bateau, il était en outre chargé d'eau; elles cessèrent en partie lorsque nous l'eûmes apercu mouillé dans l'anse du refuge, il ne lui était pas possible de venir nous rejoindre a cause de la grosse mer.

Si nos alarmes se calmaient d'un côté, de l'autre, nous éprouvions des accidents capables de nous en donner de nouvelles. La barre de notre gouvernail se rompit, on en remit une autre qui eut le même sort, un instant après on fut oblige d'en refaire une 3eme avec deux morceaux de bois, cette dernière résista; par ce moyen, nous n'étions pas encore sans ressource dans le cas ou le cable eût cassé ou si les vents nous eussent permis d'appareiller pour sortir de l'anse. Les vents restèrent N. E. pendant toute la nuit du 28 au 29 et soufflèrent avec la même violence.

Dans la matinee ils passèrent au N.O., avec ce vent nous pouvions, en cas de besoin, appareiller ce qui diminua un peu nos inquietudes. Notre bateau profita d'un seul instant on le vent fut moins vif pour venir nous rejoindre; cet intervalle ne fut pas long, il reprit bientôt toute sa force.

Les gens de ce bateau nous raconterent qu'ils avaient échappé au danger de périr par le plus grand des bonheurs; en revenant de l'anse du refuge pour gagner le vaisseau la veille, leur mât fut cassé, ce qui les obligea d'y retourner, non sans beaucoup de dangers. Ils échouèrent une fois, et touchèrent avec les rames plusieurs autres écueils, ils eurent enfin le bonheur de gagner un endroit ou ils se trouvèrent a l'abri. Nos pauvres malades passèrent la nuit dans le bateau sans pouvoir se garantir de la pluie qui tomba en abondance. Le lendemain, qui était le 28, ils purent descendre a terre. Très heureusement, pour eux le peu de poisson que l'on avait pêché la veille avait été mis dans leur bateau, ils en prirent une partie, réservant l'autre pour le lendemain, prévoyant bien que le temps ne leur permettrait pas de se rendre au vaisseau. Ce premier bonheur fut suivi d'un autre, le Chef de cette anse les surprit tres agréablement en leur portant du poisson sec qu'ils reçurent avec reconnaissance. On lui fit entendre qu'on ne pouvait rien lui donner en échange, il répondit par d'autres signes qu'il ne demandait rien, en montrant sa cabane il semblait marquer le plaisir

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We could not hope to hold for long with the only anchor, and our only prospective was to go ashore at any moment; in truth, with less danger than in Chevalier Cove. We unrigged the gallant and top masts to ease the vessel. The anxiety of our fate did not prevent us being very anxious about the boat, which had been prevented by the wind from coming back to the vessel the day before. Every one of our sick ones, thirty-three in number, were in that boat. She was, besides, loaded with water. Our anxiety, however, about her ceased when we saw her anchored in Refuge Cove, but it was impossible for her to come back to us on account of the heavy sea.

If our anxiety on one part was relieved we felt a much greater one on account of several accidents. The bar of our rudder broke. We rigged up another, which also broke shortly after. So we had to fix up a third with two pieces of wood; that last one held good; in this way we would not have been quite helpless if the cable had broken, or if the winds had allowed us to set sail to get out of the bay. The wind remained to the northeast during all the night of the 28th to the 29th, and blew with the same violence.

In the morning the wind changed to the north-west. With that wind we could, in case of necessity, set sail, which relieved our anxiety a little. Our boat took the opportunity of a short lull in the wind to come back to us. The quiet interval was not long, and the wind started blowing stronger than ever.

The people in the boat told us that they had only escaped death by the greatest luck. Coming back from Refuge Cove to get on board the vessel the day before, their mast broke, which forced them to go back there, not without great danger. They went aground once and several times touched reefs with their oars, but at last they had the good fortune to reach a spot where they were sheltered. Our poor sick ones spent the night in the boat without being able to shelter themselves from the rain, which fell very heavily. The next day, which was the 28th, they were able to go ashore. Fortunately, the little fish which had been caught the day before had been put in their boat; they consumed part of the fish, saving the remainder for the next day, as they anticipated not being able to return to the vessel on account of the bad weather. That piece of luck was followed by another: the chief of that part of the bay gave them an agreeable surprise by bringing them some dried fish, which they gratefully accepted. They made him understand that they could not give him anything in exchange; he answered by signs that he asked for nothing, and pointed to

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qu'il aurait qu'on l'acceptât. Ce bonhomme, touché du pitoyable état où étaient nos malades, les pressait de venir chez lui et leur donnait a comprendre qu'ils y seraient nourris et a convert du mauvais temps, une grande partie se rendit a ses invitations.

M. Dubucq, chirurgien-major du vaisseau, était dans ce même bateau. Il se remit en route avec 8 hommes armés pour aller dans l'anse Chevalier, se flattant qu'il pourrait trouver dans cet endroit quelque occasion de se rendre a bord et y demander des vivres pour les malades. Nous étions au moment du plus grand danger lorsqu'ils y arrivèrent; avant de nous voir ils se regardaient comme les plus malheureux du vaisseau, mais notre état les fit frémir et concevoir qu'ils étaient les moins a plaindre; ils croyaient a chaque instant que le vaisseau allait être englouti ou brisé sur les rochers; ce fut pour eux un spectacle d'horreur, ils se crurent bien alors pour jamais destines a finir leurs jours dans la Nouvelle-Zélande.

Le vent ne cessa point d'etre violent jusqu'au 31 xbre, mais sans aucun danger pour nous, le cable n'ayant point été endommagé.

Ce même jour nous aperçûmes au fond de la baie le petit bateau qui avait été submerge sur les récifs de L'Anse Chevalier. M. de Surville aussitôt fut pour le chercher et se munit de tout ce qui était nécessaire pour le mettre en état de tenir la Mer; mais en approchant du rivage, on fut bien surpris de ne trouver qu'un morceau de bois, cependant du vaisseau on avait très bien distingue notre petit bateau et il ne nous resta plus de doute que ce ne fut lui quand on eut trouvé la trace d'un bateau et une corde qui servait au nôtre. On suivit cette trace qui conduisit a une petite riviere, on eut beau la remouter et la descendre, on ne put jamais rien découvrir.

M. de Surville regarda cet enlevement comme un vol manifeste qu'il résolut de punir. Il vint dans cette intention près de la riviere marquee 6 dans le plan de la Baie Lauriston, planche 10. Il y trouva quelques sauvages qui étaient auprès de deux pirogues. M. de Surville les appela, un d'eux vint a nous qui fut arrété sur le champ par son ordre; tous les autres s'enfuirent; 26 on s'empara d'une de leurs pirogues, les autres furent brûlées. On mit égalemant le feu a des maisons de paille abandonnées qui furent consumées en un moment.

Nous revînmes a bord avec cet infortuné Zélandais; on ne peut s'empêcher de faire remarquer la bizarrerie du destin: ce même homme fut reconnu par le Chirurgien-Major pour celui

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his hut; he seemed to want to explain the pleasure it would give him if they would take possession of it. This good man, feeling pity for the pitiful state in which he saw our sick ones, pressed them to come to his hut, and made them understand that they would there be well taken care of and sheltered from the rough weather. A good many of them accepted his kind invitation.

M. Dubucq, chief surgeon on board, was in that boat. He started with eight armed men to go to Chevalier Cove, thinking that he could find an opportunity from there to get on board our vessel to get some provisions for the sick ones. We were then at the height of our peril when they got to Chevalier Cove. Before they saw us they though themselves the most unfortunate of the crew, but our situation made them shiver, and think themselves the least unfortunate; they thought that the vessel would at any moment founder, or get smashed on the rocks. It was for them a horrible spectacle, and they were then quite convinced that they would have to end their days in New Zealand.

The wind did not cease to blow violently until the 31st of December, but without any danger to us, as our cable held good.

The same day we saw at the top of the bay the little boat which had been wrecked on the reefs of Chevalier Cove. M. de Surville at once decided to go and secure her, and took with him all that was necessary to fit her for the sea. But in getting near to the shore we were much surprised to find only a piece of wood. However, from the vessel we had distinctly seen our little boat, and no doubt was possible when we found trace of a boat and a rope belonging to her. We followed the tracks, which took us to a little river, but we went up and down it in vain, as we could never discover anything of our boat.

M. de Surville looked upon her removal as a decided theft, which he resolved to punish. He came for that purpose near the river marked 6 in the chart of Lauriston Bay, map 10. He found there a few savages round two canoes. M. de Surville called them up to him: one of them advanced, and by M. de Surville's order was at once captured. 27 We seized one of their canoes, and burnt the others. We also set fire to some forsaken straw huts, which were destroyed in a moment.

We came back on board the vessel with the unfortunate native. One cannot forbear to point out the oddness of fate: that same native was recognized by our chief surgeon as the one

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qui leur avait offert si généreusement sa maison et qui leur avait donné des vivres.

Après une telle hostilité nous ne devions plus nous attendre à tirer des secours des habitants, il fallait donc en aller chercher ailleurs. M. de Surville assembla son Etat-Major pour tenir conseil sur le parti qu'il convenait mieux de prendre. Il ne nous parla que vaguement du but de son voyage pour nous décider il était bien indifférent d'en être parfaitement instruits.

Dans un pays aussi sujet aux ouragans que le paraît être la Nouvelle-Zélande, nous ne pouvions pas nous exposer à y demeurer plus longtemps sans courir le risque de perdre la seule ancre de poids suffisant qui nous restait. Nous nous trouvions alors à plus de 1,200 lieues de tout établissement européen au delà du Cap de Bonne Espérance. Mais, pour nous y rendre, il fallait nécessairement passer dans des détroits ou l'on est obligé de mouiller souvent, mais plusieurs fois dans un jour! Avec une seule ancre et un équipage réduit à moitié et fatigué, pouvait-on sans une imprudence extrême choisir de retourner sur nos pas ?

Le Pérou, quoique distant de 1,800 lieues de la Nouvelle-Zélande, nous offrait une relâche, à la vérité beaucoup plus éloignée, mais avec beaucoup moins d'inconvénients pour nous y rendre. Les vents devaient nous être presque toujours favorables et nous ne prévoyions pas à moins d'accident, de nous trouver obligés de mouiller qu'à notre arrivée dans le port. Dans la situation où nous nous trouvions, c'était le seul parti convenable à choisir, le seul prudent à suivre.

M. de Surville fut charmé que, par cette décision, il pût encore suivre une partie de ses instructions, il se flattait tout au moin de fixer la latitude de l'ile qui faisait le but de son voyage et qu'il y reviendrait plus sûrement après avoir mis son vaisseau en état de reprendre la mer, à quoi il espérait de réussir dans sa relâche au Pérou.

Pour terminer l'article de la Nouvelle-Zélande, il nous reste à parler de ses habitants, de ses productions, &c. &c.

Personne avant nous n'avait mis pied à terre dans ce pays; il fut découvert le 13 7me, 1642, par Abel Tasman qui éprouva à la côte occidentale le même temps que nous, il la suivit seulement depuis 42° 10 de latitude méridionale jusqu'à 34° 35. Ainsi tout ce que nous avons vu dans la partie orientale a été découvert par le St. Jean Baptiste. 28

Les habitants sont de bonne taille, mais leurs jambes sont si grosses qu'elles paraissent enflées, leur couleur est fort

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who had so generously offered his hut and provided our people with food.

After such a hostile act we could not expect to get any help from the natives. It was then necessary to go and get help somewhere else. M. de Surville summoned his staff to a council, in order to ascertain what was best to be done. He only spoke superficially about the real object of the voyage, for it was not necessary for us to know about it, to come to a decision.

In a country so much exposed to storms as New Zealand is, we could not possibly expose ourselves by remaining there longer--to lose the only heavy anchor we had left. We were then more than 1,200 leagues from any European settlement this side of the Cape of Good Hope. But to go there we would have to pass through some straits where we would often have to anchor, even several times a day. With but one anchor and a crew tired and reduced by half, could we without extreme imprudence decide to go back on our tracks?

Peru, although 1,800 leagues distant from New Zealand, offered us a port much more distant, it is true, but with far less inconveniences for us to get there. The winds would be almost constantly in our favour, and we did not foresee, except in case of accident, any necessity for us to anchor anywhere before we got to that port. In our situation it was the only decision to come to and the only prudent course to follow.

M. de Surville was delighted in that, thanks to this decision, he could yet follow out part of his instructions. He hoped anyhow to be able to fix the latitude of the island, which was the object of his voyage, and he could then come back to it under better circumstances after making the vessel more fit for the sea; which object he hoped to accomplish in a Peruvian port.

To terminate this article concerning New Zealand, we have to speak about its inhabitants, its products, &c, &c.

Nobody before us had set foot on that land: it was discovered on the 13th of September, 1642, by Abel Tasman, who met on the western coast the same bad weather as we did. He followed that coast from 42° 10' southern latitude until 34° 35', so all that we saw on the eastern coast was discovered by the "St. Jean Baptiste." 29

The inhabitants are of a fine stature, but their legs are so thick that they appear to be swollen. Their colour is very dark,

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basannée et leurs traits sont assez réguliers. Ils ont les cheveux longs qu'ils attachent sur le sommet de la tête et y mettent des plumes blanches. Ils ont sur le toupet une couleur rouge délayée dans de l'huile. Sur différentes parties du corps ils ont des dessins qu'ils se font avec du charbon, ils l'incrustent dans la chair et le fixent avec quelque caustique, de façon que l'empreinte ne s'efface jamais. C'est ordinairement aux cuisses où il y a le plus de dessins, ils y forment des spirales.

Les femmes sont, en général, fort laides, elles se peignent comme les hommes différentes parties du corps, à l'exception du visage dont elles ne peignent que la lèvre inférieure.

L'habillement le plus commun consiste en une grande natte faite de plusieurs autres petites qu'ils rapportent ensemble, elle leur descend jusqu'au gras de la jambe, on ne peut mieux la comparer qu'à une chappe; cet ajustement ne peut guère les couvrir entièrement et il parait qu'ils ne s'en mettent point du tout en peine, quelques uns cependant portent des ceintures.

Ou lien de natte, les Chefs se servent d'une pelisse faite avec plusieurs bandes de peau de chien, ils mettent le poil en dehors lorsqu'ils sont en cérémonie, mais pour se garantir du froid ils le mettent en dedans.

Leur manière de vivre en général est assez misérable, la base de leur nourriture est de la racine de fougère qui est très abondante, ils la font chauffer et la battent, elle leur sert de pain. Ils ont aussi beaucoup de poisson; pour le faire cuire, ils creusent un trou dans la terre qu'ils remplissent à moitié de cailloux et ils allument au-dessus un grand feu. Lorsqu'ils jugent que les cailloux ont acquis un degré de chaleur convenable, ils mettent alors leur poisson bien enveloppé dans deux feuilles sur ces cailloux et couvrent ensuite le tout de terre.

Les poissons que nous avons trouvé dans ce pays sont les plies, les maquereaux, les lubinis, les chabots, grondins, rougets, diables de mer, chiens de mer, &c, &c.

Les peuples se retirent comme ceux des Iles Bachy sur des montagnes fort escarpées. Peu de nous osèrent tenter d'y monter parce que le danger était trop grand à vouloir satisfaire un simple désir de curiosité, un faux pas coûterait infailliblement la vie sans doute ils ne choisissent une retraite aussi périlleuse que pour se mettre à l'abri des incursions de leurs ennemis, ils ont, malgré cela des cabanes dans la plaine, mais ils les abandonnèrent pendant notre séjour.

Un des habitants invita quelques uns de nous à monter sur le sommet de la montagne où est leur citadelle; lorsqu'on

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and their features rather regular. They have long hair, which they gather on top of the head, and arrange with white feathers. They dye their forelock red with a paint mixed with oil. On different parts of their body they have drawings made with coal-dust, and fixed with some kind of caustic, so that they never disappear. It is generally on the thighs they have most of these drawings, which are worked in spiral.

The women, as a rule, are very ugly. They paint, like the men, different parts of their body, except the face, of which only the lower lip is painted.

Their most common dress consists of a mat, made of several smaller mats sewed together. It reaches down to their calves, and it is very similar to a cape. These mats do not entirely cover the body, but they do not seem to mind that much; a few of them however wear belts.

Instead of mats, the chiefs wear a cloak made of several bands of dog-skins. They turn the hair outside on ceremonious occasions, but to protect themselves against the cold they wear the hair inside.

Their nourishment in general is very miserable. Their: chief food is the root of the fern, which is there in great quantity. They warm it, beat it, and use it instead of bread. They also have quantities of fish. To cook it they dig a hole in the ground, fill it half way with stones, and on top light a large fire; when they judge the stones are sufficiently heated they put their fish, well enveloped in leaves, on the top of the stones, and cover the whole with earth.

The fish we have seen in that country are the flounder, the mackeral, the cod, bull-head, red and ordinary gurnet, sea-devil, dog-fish, &c.

These people take shelter like the inhabitants of the Bachy Islands, on rather steep hills. Few of us attempted to go there, for it would have been running too great a danger to satisfy a mere curiosity. A mistake would certainly have been fatal to us. The natives, without doubt, selected these refuges, so perilous of access, so as to place themselves out of reach of their enemies, but besides these refuges, they possess huts on the flat ground, but during our stay in their country they abandoned them.

One of the natives asked several of us to go to the top of the hill where the citadel was. When we arrived at the top he took

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fut arrivé sur l'esplanade, il prit une lance pour montrer de quelle façon ils se défendaient. Il donnait à entendre que si quelques ennemis restaient sur le champ de battaille, ils les coupaient eu morceaux et les mangeaient. Celui que nous avons fait prisonnier nous a confirmé plusieurs fois qu'ils étaient anthropophages. Ce n'est qu'avec horreur que l'on rapporte la façon dont il nous a montré qu'ils en agissent avec ceux qu'ils peuvent faire prisonniers. Ils les saisissent par les cheveux et les tuent en leur donnant un coup sur la tempe avec une arme de pierre, ils séparent les 4 membres, ouvrent le ventre en croix pour en arracher les intestins, ils font ensuite des portions des membres du corps qu'ils distribuent à tous les assistants.

Nous n'avons vu chez ces barbares d'autres armes que leurs lances et l'assommoir de pierre dont la longueur est d'environ 12 à 14 pouces, ils ont de ces derniers faits avec des os qui, par leur grosseur, ne peuvent être que de baleine.

Ils portent au col, comme un ornement, une espère d'idole faite d'une pierre fort ressemblante au jade. Cette figure semble accroupie sur les talons; les yeux sont faits avec de la nacre qu'ils incrustent dans cette pierre; il est étonnant qu'ils puissent lui donner un aussi beau poli, la tailler et la percer sans faire usage de métaux; ils ont des pendants d'oreille de 3 pouces de longueur environ, de cette même pierre.

Nous pouvons croire avec raison que ces peuples ont un culte; en nous montrant cette idole, ils joignaient les mains et levaient les yeux au ciel.

Nous leur avons vu des instruments de musique, l'un est un coquillage au quel ils adaptent un tuyau cylindrique de 3 ou 4 pouces de long, ils en tirent des sons semblables à ceux de la cornemuse; c'est sans doute le même instrument dont parle Abel Tasman. L'autre a environ un pouce et demi de longueur, il est creux et n'a qu'un seul trou dont ils tirent 5 à 6 sons différents aussi doux que ceux d'un flageolet Ces peuples ont sans doute beaucoup de goût pour la musique. Nous les avons entendus quelquefois chanter en choeur, ils forment des accords parfaits. Ils paraissent aussi beaucoup aimer la danse. Trois jeunes filles, animées seulement par la voix et le bruit des mains d'une vieille femme, dansèrent devant M. de Surville et autres personnes du vaisseau; elles mirent en usage les gestes les plus indécents pour vaincre l'indifférence des spectateurs Européens. Une de ces filles, après leur danse finie, voyant que M. de Surville reprenait le chemin du vaisseau courut à lui, transportée, et le saisit par le corps, elle n'oublia rien pour le tenter et ce ne fut pas sans peine qu'il vint à bout de s'en débarrasser; elles en ont usé de la même façon avec nos matelots, il est impossible de voir des femmes plus déshonnêtes.

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hold of a lance and showed us how they defended themselves. He made us understand that if some of the enemies remained on the battlefield they cut them to pieces and ate them. The one we took prisoner several times assured us that his people were cannibals. It is only with horror that one can relate the way he told us they act towards their prisoners. They seize them by the hair and kill them with a blow from a stone weapon on the temple. They cut off the limbs and open the stomach with a cross-like incision. They pull out the intestines and cut the limbs and body in pieces, which they distribute amongst themselves.

We did not notice amongst the natives any other weapon than the lance and the stone weapon, the length of which might be 12 or 14 inches. Some of these weapons are made of bone, which, judging by the size, must be whales' bone.

They wear round their necks a kind of image made of stone, resembling a jade. This image seems to be squatting on its heels. The eyes are made of mother-of-pearl, incrusted in the stone. It is very wonderful that these natives are able to give these images such a polish, carve them and pierce them, without using any metal. They have stones hanging from the ears about 3 in. in length, and made of the same stone.

With reason we can presume that these people have a kind of religion, for while showing us these stone images they put their hands together and raised their eyes to heaven.

We saw amongst the New-Zealanders some musical instruments; one is made of shell, to which is adjusted a round tube, 3 in. or 4 in. long; they draw from it sounds similar to those of the bagpipes. It is without doubt the instrument of which Abel Tasman speaks. The other instrument is about 1 1/2 in. long, hollow, and with only one hole. They draw from it five or six sounds similar and as sweet as those of the piccolo. These natives evidently have a taste for music. We heard them singing in chorus, and they kept in perfect tune. They also seemed very fond of dancing. Three young girls, only excited by the voice and clapping of an old woman, danced before M. de Surville and some others from the vessel. They made use of the most indecent gestures to stimulate the indifference of the European spectators. After their dance was ended, one of the three girls, seeing that M. de Surville was going back to the vessel, ran to him, quite excitedly, put her arms round his body and did everything possible to entice him: and it was only with difficulty he managed to rid himself of her. They behaved in the same way with our sailors; it is impossible to meet more immoral women.

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Leur manière de saluer a quelque chose de bizarre; celui qui reçoit le salut s'assied par terre, et celui qui le fait vient appuyer son nez sur celui qui est assis. Ils restent sans se rien dire environ une demi-minute dans cette posture. M. de Surville en usait de même avec les barbares qui ne faisaient aucune façon de s'asseoir pour recevoir son salut.

Leurs bateaux sont fort longs en général. Le fond est d'une seule pièce; pour en relever les bords ils ajoutent quelquefois une planche on deux. Sur le devant et le derrière de leurs bateaux, il y a des morceaux de sculpture tels qu'on en voit la représentation dans la planche 12.

Ils se servent d'une pierre fort dure couleur d'ardoise pour couper le bois.

Leurs maisons sont comme celles de tous les sauvages, c'est-à-dire petites et sans ornaments; elles n'ont tout au plus que 5 ou 6 pieds de hauteur sur 10 de longueur et 4 ou 5 de large, celles qui ont des battants de porte ou des figures assez baroques sculptées au bas des portes.

Devant leur citadelle ils ont de grands pilliers de bois sur lesquels ils font sécher le poisson pour la provision de l'hiver; il doit être fort rigoureux, quoique le pays ne soit qu'à 200 lieues du Tropique, à en juger par le temps que nous y avons éprouvé dans un mois de la plus belle saison de l'année.

Pendant les 1ers jours de notre arrivée, les sauvages nous apportèrent du poisson, mais ils se lassèrent à la fin de nous en procurer. Nous fûmes obligés de nous en pourvoir nous-mêmes, c'était le seul mets dont ces peuples font usage, que nous pouvions employer.

Nous trouvâmes en abondance des anti-scorbutiques excellents: Tache et deux espèces de cresson. La 1ere est celle des prés, l'autre est la sauvage dont les feuilles sont longues et découpées; il est étonnant que ces herbes aient rétabli notre Equipage en aussi peu de temps. Le cresson faisait surtout un effet prodigieux sur quelques personnes. Après en avoir mangé en salade, elles se trouvaient presque sans respiration, une grande rougeur montait à leur visage, et, dans la bouche, elles sentaient un goût de sang; l'accès durait environ une heure, après en avoir eu 2 ou 3; elles n'y ont plus été sujettes.

L'usage de ces plantes rappela à la vie ceux de l'Equipage les plus dangereusement malades, ceux mêmes qui étaient hors d'état de se trainer; un matelot surtout qui était enflé partout le corps et dont la bouche était pourrie, se fit porter à terre 2 ou 3 fois; en mangeant seulement de ces herbes il se rétablit assez bien pour pouvoir continuer le voyage.

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Their way of saluting is rather peculiar. The person who is to receive the salute sits on the ground, and the one who is giving it comes forward and puts his nose on the nose of the person squatting on the ground. They remain thus without speaking for about half a minute. M. de Surville made use of this way of saluting with the native chief, who did not in any way object to squat down to receive his salute.

Their boats, as a rule, are very long. The bottom part is of one piece. To raise the boarding they sometimes make use of one or two planks. In the front and hind parts of the canoes are found some pieces of carving, such as can be seen on map 12.

They use a very hard stone of a slate colour, to work wood.

Their houses, like those of all savages, are very small, and without ornaments. They are about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high at most, 10 ft. long, and 4 ft. or 5 ft. wide. The houses which boast of a door have some very grotesque figures carved on the lower part of the door.

In front of their citadel they erect some high wooden posts, on which they dry the winter provision of fish. Winter there must be very severe, although the country only lies 200 leagues from the tropics, if we judge by the bad weather we experienced there in the month of the nicest season of the year.

During the first few days of our stay the Natives brought us some fish, but grew tired of providing us in the end. We then had to do our own fishing. Fish was the only food used by the Natives that we could eat.

We found in abundance some excellent anti-scorbutics--wild parsley and two kinds of cress. The first kind is the meadow cress, and the second the wild cress, whose leaves are long and notched. It is wonderful how these herbs made our crew convalescent in such a short time. The cress especially had a prodigious effect on certain persons. After eating some of it in a salad they were left almost breathless, their faces got quite flushed, and they had in their mouth a taste of blood. This attack lasted about an hour. After two or three of these attacks they ceased to suffer.

The use of these plants restored to health the members of our crew who were the most dangerously ill, even to the ones who could hardly crawl along. One sailor, in particular, whose body was swollen all over, and whose mouth was absolutely rotten, was carried on land two or three times, and by eating nothing but these herbs, he got well enough to go on the voyage.

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Nous n'avons vu dans ce pays d'autres quadrupèdes que des chiens; les naturels du pays ne les élèvent que pour les manger, ils ont le poil long et assez doux.

Parmi les oiseaux que nous avons vus, il y en a un de la grosseur et de la couleur du merle, qui, sous le bec, a de petits pendants rouges à peu près comme les poules; il y en a aussi un autre de la même grosseur et couleur qui, au lieu de ces petits pendants, à une petite houppe de plumes blanches.

Les oiseaux aquatiques, tels que les canards sauvages, courlieus, alouettes de mer, bécassines y sont en grande abondance; on en voit un surtout qui est de la même grosseur qu'un canard dont le bec et les pattes sont rouges, le bec est long comme celui d'une bécasse. Nous en avons vu d'autres qui ont le bec d'un jaune pâle, cette différence, peut-être, fait celle des sexes.

Il y avait quelques petits champs semés de patates, mais ce n'était pas encore le temps de la récolte, ces sauvages cultivent aussi des calebasses. Nous avons vu dans la Nouvelle-Zélande des cordes faites avec du très bon chanvre.

Sur le bord de la mer on trouve une résine transparente que les eaux y apportent, elle jette en brûlant une flamme claire et répand une odeur assez suave. 30

Nous avons donné aux habitants de ce pays du froment, du riz et des pois ronds, en tâchant de leur faire comprendre de quelle manière ils devaient s'y prendre pour les faire produire, on leur a laissé deux petits cochons de lait mâle et femelle et, enfin, un coq et une poule de Siam, les deux seules volailles qui restaient dans le vaisseau depuis très longtemps.

La partie de la Baie Lauriston qui forme l'entrée à main droite, est montagneuse, elle n'a guère d'autres arbres que de hautes bruyères; cependant à l'Anse du Refuge il y a un paysage assez agréable; les ruisseaux y sont bordés d'une grande quantité d'arbres; on ne trouve que de l'herbe sur le sommet des montagnes.

Le fond de la baie est un pays plat, il y a un étang assez considérable à une demi-lieue environ du rivage.

Les mauvais temps que nous avons essuyés dans cette baie nous ont empêché d'en prendre une parfaite connaissance. La partie orientale, à la simple vue, nous a paru offrir plus d'abri et de ressources que celle où nous étions mouillés.

Ce fut dans la nuit du 31 xbre 1769 que nous appareillâmes de la baie Lauriston pour aller chercher les Côtes du Pérou, que d'inquiétudes ne devions-nous pas avoir à parcourir un espace de 1,800 lieues dans une mer alors inconnue? On ne trouve

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We have not seen in this country any other quadrupeds but dogs. The Natives rear them only to use them as food. Their coat is long and rather smooth.

Amongst the birds we saw was one of the size and colour of the blackbird, and which had under the beak little red combs like our hens. There is another bird which is the same size and colour, but instead of these combs has a tuft of white feathers.

The water-fowls, such as wild ducks, curlews, sea-larks, snipes, are there in great numbers. We noticed one especially, the same size as the wild duck, and whose beak and legs were red. The beak is long like that of the woodcock. Some of these birds have the beak of a yellowish colour. The difference in colour might be on account of the sex.

There were some fields planted with sweet potatoes, but the time for gathering them had not yet arrived. These Natives also cultivate some calabashes. We saw in New Zealand some ropes made of excellent hemp.

On the sea-shore is found a transparent gum brought there by the sea: it shows while burning a bright flame, and emits a rather sweet odour. 31

We presented the Natives with some wheat, some rice, and some field-peas, trying to explain to them what they had to do to cultivate them. We also gave them two little pigs, male and female, a Siamese rooster and a hen, the only two fowls we had left on board for a considerable time.

The part of Lauriston Bay which forms the right-hand side of the entrance has no trees, but some high ferns. However, the scenery at Refuge Cove is rather pleasant. The banks of the streams are thickly covered with trees. There is only grass on top of the mountains.

The top end of the bay is flat country. There is a lagoon of rather considerable extent about half a league from the seashore.

The bad weather we experienced in that bay prevented us from making a perfect map of it. The eastern part of it, at first sight, seemed to us to offer better shelter and more resources than the spot where we were anchored.

It was on the night of the 31st of December, 1769, that we made ready to leave Lauriston Bay to try and reach the coast of Peru. What great anxiety we were to go through in sailing 1, 800 leagues across a sea then unknown! Nobody had ever

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1770

en effet aucun voyageur qui venant de l'Inde, ait tenté de se rendre à l'Amérique par l'hémisphère méridional; tous les vaisseaux jusqu'à présent y sont venus par l'hémisphère septentrional; leur route les mène à prendre connaissance de la Californie. On ne peut pas dire que les vaisseaux qui ont vu la Nouvelle-Guinée après avoir doublé le Cap Horn, aient fait en sens contraire le même chemin que nous devions faire, il est bien vrai qu'ils ont traversé cette mer immense de l'hémisphère méridional, mais ce n'est qu'entre les Tropiques où les vents sont éternellement favorables pour courir dans l'Ouest; notre route, au contraire, devait se faire bien au-delà du Tropique. Nous ignorions si quelque terre australe ne nous empêcherait pas de nous rendre au Pérou 32; malgré cet inconvénient, ou, pour mieux dire, cette incertitude, nous n'avions pas à choisir un autre parti, il n'était pas prudent de chercher à repasser la ligne pour nous retrouver dans les climats où notre équipage s'était si fort affaibli, nous eussions été perdus sans ressource, si, prenant cette résolution, les calmes et les orages nous avaient contrariés. Nous n'ignorions point que les traités défendent la relâche du Pérou, à moins de se trouver dans une nécessité urgente de la faire; nous étions malheureusement dans le cas de l'exception.

N'ayant trouvé aucunes choses dignes d'attention dans la Mer du Sud, je me bornerai à ne parler que des vents qui ont régné dans notre traversée et des variations de la boussole qui ont été observées; ces deux articles sont toujours intéressants pour les navigateurs.

Tout le monde sait qu'entre les Tropiques les vents régnent de la partie de l'Est pendant toute l'année; mais au-delà du 30^e parallèlle ils ont une direction contraire du N.O. au S.O. Il y a cependant une saison où ils passent quelquefois au S.E. jusqu'au N. E. et c'est ce qui facilite à doubler le Cap Horn en venant de l'Est, de même le Cap de Bonne-Espérance. Nous nous trouvâmes précisément dans la mer du Sud vers cette saison et nous y éprouvâmes ces variétés de vents. Elles nous ont obligé d'entretenir différentes latitudes et nous avons été jusqu'au 43^e parallèle lorsque nous avons en les vents d'Ouest. Par cette latitude en général nous eûmes de très gros temps; ils firent prendre à M. de Surville le parti de lier avec des cordages le corps du vaisseau sur le Gaillard pour l'empêcher de jouer, son artillerie l'avait tant fatigué que nous craignîmes pendant longtemps de ne pouvoir continuer le voyage.

Le temps a été assez beau pendant toute la traversée lorsque nous n'avons plus été par de fortes latitudes. Je joins ici une

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heard, indeed, of any traveller from India having attempted to reach America through the Southern Hemisphere. So far, every vessel going to America had journeyed through the Northern Hemisphere, their route tending to take them to California. It cannot be said that the vessels which sighted New Guinea, after doubling Cape Horn, had followed in the reverse way, the same route that we were to travel by; it is true that they went through that immense ocean of the Southern Hemisphere, but they did it between the tropics, where the winds are constantly favourable for running to the west. Our route, on the contrary, was to be well beyond the tropics. We did not know that some Austral land would not prevent us from reaching Peru. 33 In spite of this inconvenience, or rather uncertainty, we could not do otherwise; it was not prudent for us to try to recross the line, and find ourselves in the same climate where our crew had been in such a weak state. Without a doubt we would have been lost if, taking that resolution, the calms and storms had assailed us. We knew that treaties prohibited us from putting up in Peru unless one was absolutely in need of doing so. Unfortunately, our case was one of the exceptions.

Not having found anything interesting in the southern seas, I shall only speak of the winds we met with, and the variations of the compass we observed. These two items are always interesting to navigators.

Everybody knows that between the tropics the winds blow during the whole year from the east. But beyond the 30th parallel they blow in a contrary direction, from N.W. to S. W. There is, however, a season when they sometimes pass from the S.E. to the N. E. and that is what makes it easy to double Cape Horn coming from the east as well as the Cape of Good Hope. We were in the southern sea precisely during that season, and we experienced there these different winds. That forced us to keep in different latitudes as far as the 43rd parallel, when we had the west winds. By this latitude we experienced, in general, heavy weather, which decided M. de Surville to have the body of the vessel tied up with ropes on the quarter-deck to prevent it from getting loose. The big guns on it had put it in such a bad state that for a long time we feared we would not be able to go on with our voyage.

The weather was fine enough during all the time we were in the high latitudes. I join to this a chart of our route in these

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carte de notre route dans cette mer, où j'ai marqué les variations de la boussole qui ont été observées à la Nouvelle-Zélande. Elle était de 12° N. E. elle a diminué successivement jusqu'à 2°. Nous nous estimions alors à 122° à l'occident du méridien de Paris; elle a depuis augmenté insensiblement jusqu'à la vue des iles de Juan Fernandès qui sont environ par 94°, aussi à l'ouest de Paris; on l'observera dans cet endroit de 11° N. E.

Selon les instructions de M. de Surville, l'île qu'il devait chercher est située environ à 102° à l'occident du méridien de Paris. M. de Surville se trouvant à 109° de longitude, ce qui fait 7° au vent de l'île, chercha à se mettre par la latitude de 27° à 28° pour ne pas manquer l'île qui lui était indiquée, mais les vents d'Est qu'il rencontra sur ces parallèles ne lui permirent pas de persister à s'assurer de la véritable position de cette île.

Le scorbut commençait de nouveau ses ravages, l'eau nous manquait, car depuis plusieurs jours nous étions réduits à une chopine par homme. Dans cette circonstance, M. de Surville assembla le Conseil, le résultat fut, d'une commune voix, de gagner le plus tôt possible un port à la Côte du Pérou; il fallut retourner dans le Sud pour trouver les vents d'Ouest, nous étions au 6 mars 1770.

Nous avons cru cependant passer dans lé voisinage de quelque terre, et nos soupçons se fondèrent sur la quantité d'oiseaux que nous vîmes ainsi que des polypes, nous eûmes de plus des orages accompagnés d'éclairs et de tonnerre, il est plus ordinaire d'en avoir à l'approche des terres qu'en pleine mer.

Le 12 mars, nous eûmes connaissance d'un vaisseau par la longitude estimée de 107° et par la latitude de 34°. Nous ne pûmes nous assurer de quelle nation il était, on est porté à croire qu'il était espagnol, du moins nous le jugeâmes ainsi en nous trouvant une différence de 180° lieues Est à la vue des îles de Juan Fernandès, ce qui nous rapprochait de la côte. Ce vaisseau pouvait se rendre au Chili et, peut-être, avait été obligé de pousser plus au large qu'on ne le fait ordinairement.

Nous découvrîmes les îles de Juan Fernandès le 24 mars. C'est à la vue de ces iles que mourut le nommé Naquinovi que nous avions pris dans la Nouvelle-Zélande; le chagrin contribua beaucoup, sans doute, à sa mort, mais la disette d'eau que nous éprouvions depuis longtemps en fut la principale cause. On mit la route tout de suite au nord et le 5 avril suivant nous eûmes connaissance de la Côte du Pérou à l'endroit où sont les altes hiatiques, qui sont des montagnes fort élevées. Le 6 nous doublâmes l'ile Sangallan.

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seas, on which I marked the variations of the compass we observed in New Zealand. It was of 12° N. E., and had gradually-diminished until 2°. We estimated our position then at 122° west of the meridian of Paris. The variation then insensibly augmented as far as the Juan Fernandez Islands, which are at about 94° west of Paris, and it was there observed to be 11° N. E.

According to M. de Surville's instructions, the island he was to look for was situated about 102° west of the meridian of Paris. Therefore, finding himself 109° of longitude--that is, 7° from the island--he tried to reach the 27° or 28° of latitude, so as not to miss the island mentioned to him; but the winds from the east, which he met with on that parallel, did not allow him to persist in finding the exact position of the island.

The scurvy was beginning again to bother us, water was very scarce with us, and for several days we had been reduced to a pint a day for each man. In these circumstances M. de Surville convoked the council, with the result that it was unanimously decided to reach as soon as possible a port on the Peruvian coast. We had to go back in the south, so as to meet the winds from the west. It was then the 6th March, 1770.

We think, however, we passed close to land, judging by the quantity of birds and polyps we saw. Besides, we experienced storms with thunder and lightning, which are more frequent in the vicinity of land than in the open sea.

On the 12th we sighted a vessel by the estimated longitude of 107° and by the latitude of 34°. We could not ascertain her nationality. We were inclined to think she was Spanish; at least, we thought so when we found in our position a difference of 180 leagues in the east, and in sight of the Juan Fernandez Islands, which brought us nearer the coast. The vessel probably was going to Chili, and had been obliged to go further out to sea than usual.

On the 27th we sighted the Islands of Juan Fernandez. It is in sight of these islands that Naquinovi, the Native we had captured in New Zealand, died; sorrow, without doubt, contributed to his death, but the shortness of water that we had experienced for a long time was the principal cause. We set our route at once to the north, and on the 5th of April following we sighted the Peruvian coast opposite the Altes hiatiques, which are very high mountains. On the 6th we doubled the Sangallan Island.

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Le 7, au matin, nous crûmes voir des vaisseaux mouillés dans une baie, ce qui nous fit soupçonner que ce pouvait être le Callao, et que pendant la nuit les courants nous avaient portés dans le Nord. On arriva sur les vaisseaux, et bientôt après, on reconnut la méprise. M. de Surville fit reporter au large, mais nous ne pûmes jamais doubler une pointe qui nous restait au nord, les vents d'ouest que nous avions étant trop faibles. Le calme survint et les courants nous entraînaient à la Côte, nous n'en étions pas à 3/4 de lieues lorsque heureusement on trouva un bon fond où nous mouillâmes.

Nous passâmes la nuit dans cet endroit à avoir un temps favorable.

Le lendemain on fit des signaux de détresse, on tira du canon; mais personne ne vint à notre vaisseau. M. de Surville se détermina alors à écrire au Vice-Roi du Pérou, pour lui exposer la triste situation où nous nous trouvions, et le solliciter de nous accorder tous les secours dont nous avions besoin. Il donnait dans sa lettre un détail des différentes routes que nous avions tenues, et lui envoyait une copie de ses passeports et les procès-verbaux justificatifs de la relâche forcée de son vaisseau à cette côte. Il chargea M. Labé, son second, d'aller à terre porter ce paquet; ce dernier trouva la mer si grosse près du rivage, qu'à moins d'un péril évident, on ne pouvait essayer d'y débarquer, il revint à bord annoncer à M. de Surville qu'il était impossible de mettre à terre.

Dans une toute autre circonstance, et dans un autre pays, M. de Surville eût attendu que la mer fût devenue plus calme, ou cherché quelqu'endroit plus abordable pour faire porter sa lettre, mais dans la position 011 nous étions, le plus petit retardement était à craindre; il prit une résolution que l'on a taxé de témérité, cependant le caractère de M. de Surville eût dû le mettre à l'abri d'un pareil reproche. Il savait mieux que personne de quelle conséquence était sa lettre, il n'est donc pas surprenant qu'il ait voulu lui-même s'assurer qu'elle serait rendue au Vice-Roi; les précautions qu'il prit prouvent mieux que tout autre raisonnement que sa prudence ne l'a pas quitté dans cette occasion et si l'événement a été aussi funeste à sa personne, ce n'est pas une raison pour l'accuser de trop de confiance en lui-même, encore moins de douter qu'il pût en avoir dans un autre.

M. de Surville se persuadant que la barre de Chilca (c'est le nom de l'endroit devant lequel nous étions mouillés) ressemblait à celle de Pondichéry, ou de Madras à la côte Coromandel, fit embarquer dans son bateau un noir de Pondichéry, très bon nageur, et habitué à y passer la Barre dans les plus mauvais temps lorsqu'il y avait des raisons pour cela. La lettre au

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On the morning of the 7th we thought we saw some vessels anchored in a bay, and presumed it was Callao, and that during the night the currents had carried us to the north. We came near the vessels and soon after we found our mistake. M. de Surville gave the order to put out to sea, but we never could manage to double a point which was to our north, on account of the wind to the west being too feeble. The calm followed, and the currents were carrying us on the coast, from which we were only three quarters of a league distant, when fortunately we found a good bottom, where we dropped our anchor.

We spent the night there, with rather fine weather.

The next day we sent some distress signals, and fired our big guns; but nobody came near us. M. de Surville then decided to write to the Viceroy of Peru, to expose to him the sad situation we were in, and beg of him to give us every help we were in need of. He gave in his letter details of the different routes we had followed, and sent with it a copy of his passports and authentic written minutes justifying his anchoring near this coast. He ordered M. Labé, his first officer, to go ashore and carry the parcel. M. Labé found the sea so rough near the coast that it was impossible, except at great peril, to land. He came back on board to tell M. de Surville that landing was impossible.

In any other circumstances or in any other country M. de Surville would have waited until the sea got calmer or looked for another place easier of landing, so as to have his letter carried; but in the position we were in the slightest delay was dangerous. He took a resolution which has been thought foolhardy, but M. de Surville's well-known character deserves to have him put beyond such an accusation. He knew better than anyone else the importance of his letter; therefore it is not surprising that he wanted to assure himself of its transmission to the Viceroy. The precautions he took show better than any argument that his ordinary prudence did not forsake him on that occasion, and that if the event was fatal to himself, it is no reason to accuse him of having had too great a confidence in himself, and still less to doubt that he could place such a confidence in another.

M. de Surville, being sure that the bar of Chilca (that is the name of the place in front of which we were anchored) resembled that of Pondicherry or Madras, on the Coromandel Coast, got on board his boat a native of Pondicherry, an extra good swimmer, and one used to passing the bar there in the worst weather when necessary. The letter to the Viceroy was

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Vice-Roi du Pérou fut enfermée dans un flacon bien bouché. L'intention de M. de Surville n'était donc pas de descendre lui-même à terre si la mer n'était pas praticable, mais bien d'y envoyer à la nage le noir avec le flacon.

Lorsque le bateau fut arrivé à une certaine distance du rivage, M. de Surville reconnut toute l'impossibilité d'aller plus loin, il fit attacher le flacon au col du noir qui se jeta tout nu à l'eau. Ce flacon n'étant point assujetti frappait le visage du noir et le blessait fortement, il fut obligé de chercher à casser la corde et fut très heureux d'y réussir, sans cela il aurait péri indubitablement.

Cet homme qui n'avait pas cru s'exposer à un danger réel tourna ses regards du côté du bateau et le vit renversé, et M. de Surville avec les deux matelots à la nage faisant les plus grands efforts pour gagner la terre, malheureusement pour eux ils avaient leurs vêtements dont ils ne purent jamais se débarrasser, tous les trois périrent. Rien ne peut mieux faire l'éloge de M. de Surville que la part que le ministre a pris à sa perte et l'assurance qu'il a donné à sa veuve de reconnaître en ses enfants les services de leur père. Que pourrions nous ajouter de plus glorieux à sa mémoire ?

Achevons le triste récit de cette catastrophe. Le noir, après des peines infinies, eut enfin le bonheur de toucher le bord du rivage, les fatigues avaient épuisé ses forces, il tomba sans connaissance et fut plus d'une 1/2 heure à recouvrer ses sens, revenu à lui-même il trouva sur le bord de la mer le flacon qui contenait le paquet de lettres et le chapeau de M. de Surville, il porta le tout au village de Chilca et le remit au curé, celui-ci le fit conduire à Lima.

M. de Surville avait laissé l'ordre à M. Labé d'appareiller le lendemain, au cas qu'il ne vint pas a bord, ce qu'il fit le 9, mais avec des vents si faibles que nous ne pûmes arriver que le 10 au Port de Callao où nous mouillâmes à l'entrée de la nuit. Nous trouvâmes un joui de différence ainsi que nous devions nous y attendre, on ne comptait au Callao que le 9 du mois d'avril 1770.

Le corps de M. de Surville fut retrouvé et fut enterré avec grande pompe à Chilca. Le Vice-Roi renvoya à M. Labé la croix de St. Louis et les habits trouvés sur son corps avec une partie des ses cheveux pour servir, sans doute, de preuve de sa mort.

Nous n'entrerons dans aucun détail sur les événements qui ont suivi la fin de M. de Surville; cette matière n'est pas susceptible d'être traitée dans un Journal.

A Paris le 4 octobre 1771.

(Signé) P. MONNERON.

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put in a well-corked bottle. The intention of M. de Surville was not to land himself if the sea was not calm enough, but to send the blackfellow swimming to carry the bottle.

When the boat got within a certain distance of the shore M. de Surville acknowledged the impossibility of going any further. He got the bottle tied round the neck of the black fellow, who threw himself into the water perfectly naked. The bottle not being well secured kept knocking the swimmer on the face, and hurting him dreadfully. He had to try and break the string, and was lucky enough to succeed, or else he would undoubtedly have perished.

This man, who did not think he was exposed to any real danger, turned his gaze towards the boat, and saw her capsize, and M. de Surville and the two sailors swimming and trying with all their might to reach land. Unfortunately for them, they could not get rid of their clothing, and the three of them were drowned. Nothing better can be pointed out in praise of M. de Surville than the sympathy the Minister showed for his death, and his promising M. de Surville's widow that he would make up to the children for the loss of their father. Nothing that we could add would be more glorious to his memory.

Let us terminate this account of that sad catastrophe. The blackfellow, after much trouble, had at last the good fortune to land. Exhausted by fatigue, he fell fainting, and for over half an hour was unconscious. When he came back- to his senses he found on the shore the bottle which contained the letter and the hat of M. de Surville. He carried everything to the village, and gave it to the priest of Chilca. This priest had him guided to Lima.

M. de Surville had given orders to M. Labé to put to sea the next day if he, M. de Surville, did not return on board. This order was executed on the 9th, but the winds were so light that we could only manage to reach the port of Callao on the 10th. There we dropped anchor, just at nightfall. We found there a difference of one day, as we had to expect, for there it was only the 9th of April, 1770.

The body of M. de Surville was found and buried at Chilca. The Viceroy sent to M. Labé the Cross of Saint Louis and the clothing found on the body, as well as some of the hair, probably to serve as a proof of the death.

We shall not enter into any details on the events posterior to M. de Surville's death, these events not being suitable to be related in a journal.

Paris, the 4th of October, 1771.
(Signed) P. MONNERON.