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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4222-h.zip b/4222-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0aa5b94 --- /dev/null +++ b/4222-h.zip diff --git a/4222-h/4222-h.htm b/4222-h/4222-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da5d36d --- /dev/null +++ b/4222-h/4222-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3217 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Laperouse, by Ernest Scott +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Laperouse, by Ernest Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Laperouse + +Author: Ernest Scott + +Posting Date: June 30, 2009 [EBook #4222] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 8, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAPEROUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Laperouse +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Ernest Scott +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DEDICATION +<BR> +To my friend T.B.E. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#foreword">FOREWORD</A></TD> +</TR> + + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE LOVE STORY OF LAPEROUSE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE EARLY PART OF THE VOYAGE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">LAPEROUSE IN THE PACIFIC.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">AT BOTANY BAY.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE MYSTERY, AND THE SECRET OF THE SEA.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CAPTAIN DILLON'S DISCOVERY.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE FAME OF LAPEROUSE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="foreword"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<P> +All Sydney people, and most of those who have visited the city, have +seen the tall monument to Laperouse overlooking Botany Bay. Many have +perhaps read a little about him, and know the story of his surprising +appearance in this harbour six days after the arrival of Governor +Phillip with the First Fleet. One can hardy look at the obelisk, and at +the tomb of Pere Receveur near by, without picturing the departure of +the French ships after bidding farewell to the English officers and +colonists. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, one can follow Laperouse +out to sea, with the eye of imagination, until sails, poops and hulls +diminish to the view and disappear below the hazy-blue horizon. We may +be sure that some of Governor Phillip's people watched the sailing, and +the lessening, and the melting away of the vessels, from just about the +same place, one hundred and twenty four years ago. What they saw, and +what we can imagine, was really the end of a romantic career, and the +beginning of a mystery of the sea which even yet has not lost its +fascination. +</P> + +<P> +The story of that life is surely worth telling, and, we trust, worth +reading; for it is that of a good, brave and high-minded man, a great +sailor, and a true gentleman. The author has put into these few pages +what he has gleaned from many volumes, some of them stout, heavy and +dingy tomes, though delightful enough to "those who like that +sort of thing." He hopes that the book may for many readers touch with +new meaning those old weatherworn stones at Botany Bay, and make the +personality of Laperouse live again for such as nourish an interest in +Australian history. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS. +</H2> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +(Not included in etext) +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Portrait of Laperouse, with Autograph<BR> + Laperouse's Coat of Arms<BR> + The Laperouse Family<BR> + Comte de Fleurieu<BR> + Louis XVI Giving Instructions to Laperouse<BR> + Australia as known at the time of Laperouse's visit<BR> + The BOUSSOLE and ASTROLABE<BR> + Chart of Laperouse's Voyage in the Pacific<BR> + Massacre of Captain de Langle's Party<BR> + Tomb of Pere Receveur<BR> + Monument to Laperouse at Botany Bay<BR> + Admiral Dentrecasteaux<BR> + Map of Vanikoro Island<BR> + Relics of Laperouse<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Life of Laperouse +</H1> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES +</H3> + +<P> +Jean-Francois Galaup, Comte De Laperouse, was born at Albi, on August +23, 1741. His birthplace is the chief town in the Department of Tarn, +lying at the centre of the fruitful province of Languedoc, in the south +of France. It boasts a fine old Gothic cathedral, enriched with much +noble carving and brilliant fresco painting; and its history gives it +some importance in the lurid and exciting annals of France. From its +name was derived that of a religious sect, the Albigeois, who professed +doctrines condemned as heretical and endured severe persecution during +the thirteenth century. +</P> + +<P> +But among all the many thousands of men who have been born, and have +lived, and died in the old houses of the venerable city, none, not even +among its bishops and counts, has borne a name which lives in the +memory of mankind as does that of the navigator, Laperouse. The sturdy +farmers of the fat and fertile plain which is the granary of France, +who drive in to Albi on market days, the patient peasants of the +fields, and the simple artisans who ply their primitive trades under +the shadow of the dark-red walls of St. Cecile, know few details, +perhaps, about the sailor who sank beneath the waters of the Pacific +so many years ago. Yet very many of them have heard of Laperouse, and +are familiar with his monument cast in bronze in the public square of +Albi. They speak his name respectfully as that of one who grew up +among their ancestors, who trod their streets, sat in their cathedral, +won great fame, and met his death under the strange, distant, southern +stars. +</P> + +<P> +His family had for five hundred years been settled, prominent and +prosperous, on estates in the valley of the Tarn. In the middle of the +fifteenth century a Galaup held distinguished office among the citizens +of Albi, and several later ancestors are mentioned honourably in its +records. The father of the navigator, Victor Joseph de Galaup, +succeeded to property which maintained him in a position of influence +and affluence among his neighbours. He married Marguerite de +Resseguier, a woman long remembered in the district for her qualities +of manner and mind. She exercised a strong influence over her +adventurous but affectionate son; and a letter written to her by him at +an interesting crisis of his life, testifies to his eager desire to +conform to his mother's wishes even in a matter that wrenched his +heart, and after years of service in the Navy had taken him far and +kept him long from her kind, concerning eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Jean-Francois derived the name by which he is known in history from the +estate of Peyrouse, one of the possessions of his family. But he +dropped the "y" when assuming the designation, and invariably +spelt the name "Laperouse," as one word. Inasmuch as the final +authority on the spelling of a personal name is that of the individual +who owns it, there can be no doubt that we ought always to spell this +name "Laperouse," as, in fact, successors in the family who have borne +it have done; though in nearly all books, French as well as English, it +is spelt "La Perouse." In the little volume now in the reader's hands, +the example of Laperouse himself has been followed. +</P> + +<P> +On this point it may be remarked concerning another navigator who was +engaged in Australian exploration, that we may lose touch with an +interesting historical fact by not observing the correct form of a +name. On maps of Tasmania appears "D'Entrecasteaux Channel." It was +named by and after Admiral Bruny Dentrecasteaux, who as commander of +the RECHERCHE and ESPERANCE visited Australian waters. We shall have +something to say about his expedition towards the close of the book. +Now, Dentrecasteaux sailed from France in 1791, while the Revolution +was raging. All titles had been abolished by a decree of the National +Assembly on July 19th, 1790. When he made this voyage, therefore, the +Admiral was not Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, a form which implied a +territorial titular distinction; but simply Citizen Dentrecasteaux. The +name is so spelt in the contemporary histories of his expedition +written by Rossel and Labillardiere. It would not have been likely to +be spelt in any other way by a French officer at the time. Thus, +the Marquis de la Fayette became simply Lafayette, and so with all +other bearers of titles in France. Consequently we should, by observing +this little difference, remind ourselves of Dentrecasteaux' period and +circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +That, however, is by the way, and our main concern for the present is +with Laperouse. +</P> + +<P> +As a boy, Jean-Francois developed a love for books of voyages, and +dreamt, as a boy will, of adventures that he would enjoy when he grew +to manhood. A relative tells us that his imagination was enkindled by +reading of the recent discoveries of Anson. As he grew up, and himself +sailed the ocean in command of great ships, he continued to read all +the voyaging literature he could procure. The writings of Byron, +Carteret, Wallis, Louis de Bougainville, "and above all Cook," are +mentioned as those of his heroes. He "burned to follow in their +footsteps." +</P> + +<P> +It will be observed that, with one exception, the navigators who are +especially described by one of his own family as having influenced the +bent of Laperouse were Englishmen. He did not, of course, read all of +their works in his boyhood, because some of them were published after +he had embraced a naval career. But we note them in this place, as the +guiding stars by which he shaped his course. He must have been a young +man, already on the way to distinction as an officer, when he came +under the spell of Cook. "And above all Cook," says his relative. To +the end of his life, down to the final days of his very last +voyage, Laperouse revered the name of Cook. Every Australian reader +will like him the better for that. Not many months before his own life +ended in tragedy and mystery, he visited the island where the great +English sailor was slain. When he reflected on the achievements of that +wonderful career, he sat down in his cabin and wrote in his Journal the +passage of which the following is a translation. It is given here out +of its chronological order, but we are dealing with the influences that +made Laperouse what he was, and we can see from these sincere and +feeling words, what Cook meant to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Full of admiration and of respect as I am for the memory of that great +man, he will always be in my eyes the first of navigators. It is he who +has determined the precise position of these islands, who has explored +their shores, who has made known the manners, customs and religion of +the inhabitants, and who has paid with his blood for all the light +which we have to-day concerning these peoples. I would call him the +Christopher Columbus of these countries, of the coast of Alaska, and of +nearly all the isles of the South Seas. Chance might enable the most +ignorant man to discover islands, but it belongs only to great men like +him to leave nothing more to be done regarding the coasts they have +found. Navigators, philosophers, physicians, all find in his Voyages +interesting and useful things which were the object of his concern. All +men, especially all navigators, owe a tribute of praise to his memory. +How could one neglect to pay it at the moment of coming upon the +group of islands where he finished so unfortunately his career?" +</P> + +<P> +We can well understand that a lad whose head was full of thoughts of +voyaging and adventure, was not, as a schoolboy, very tame and easy to +manage. He is described as having been ardent, impetuous, and rather +stubborn. But there is more than one kind of stubbornness. There is the +stupid stubbornness of the mule, and the fixed, firm will of the +intelligent being. We can perceive quite well what is meant in this +case. On the other hand, he was affectionate, quick and clever. He +longed for the sea; and his father, observing his decided inclination, +allowed him to choose the profession he desired. +</P> + +<P> +It may well have seemed to the parents of Laperouse at this time that +fine prospects lay before a gallant young gentleman who should enter +the Marine. There was for the moment peace between France and England. +A truce had been made by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. But +everybody knew that there would be war again soon. Both countries were +struggling for the mastery in India and in North America. The sense of +rivalry was strong. Jealousies were fierce on both sides. In India, the +French power was wielded, and ever more and more extended, by the +brilliant Governor Dupleix; whilst in the British possessions the +rising influence was that of the dashing, audacious Clive. In North +America the French were scheming to push their dominion down the +Ohio-Mississippi Valley from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, in +the rear of the line of British colonies planted on the seaboard from +the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida. The colonists were determined to +prevent them; and a young man named George Washington, who afterwards +became very famous, first rose into prominence in a series of tough +struggles to thwart the French designs. The points of collision between +the two nations were so sharp, feeling on either side was so bitter, +the contending interests were so incapable of being reconciled, that it +was plain to all that another great war was bound to break out, and +that sea power would play a very important part in the issue. The young +Laperouse wanted to go to sea, and his father wanted him to distinguish +himself and confer lustre on his name. The choice of a calling for him, +therefore, suited all the parties concerned. +</P> + +<P> +He was a boy of fifteen when, in November, 1756, he entered the Marine +service as a royal cadet. He had not long to wait before tasting +"delight of battle," for the expected war was declared in May, and +before he was much older he was in the thick of it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER. +</H3> + +<P> +Laperouse first obtained employment in the French navy in the CELEBRE, +from March to November, 1757. From this date until his death, +thirty-one years later, he was almost continuously engaged, during +peace and war, in the maritime service of his country. The official +list of his appointments contains only one blank year, 1764. He had +then experienced close upon seven years of continuous sea fighting and +had served in as many ships: the CELEBRE, the POMONE, the ZEPHIR, the +CERF, the FORMIDABLE, the ROBUSTE, and the SIX CORPS. But the peace of +Paris was signed in the early part of 1763. After that, having been +promoted to the rank of ensign, he had a rest. +</P> + +<P> +It was not a popular peace on either side. In Paris there was a current +phrase, "BETE COMME LA PAIX," stupid as the peace. In England, the +great Pitt was so indignant on account of its conditions that, all +swollen and pinched with gout as he was, he had himself carried to the +House of Commons, his limbs blanketted in bandages and his face +contorted with pain, and, leaning upon a crutch, denounced it in a +speech lasting three hours and forty minutes. The people cheered him to +the echo when he came out to his carriage, and the vote favourable to +the terms of the treaty was carried by wholesale corruption. But +all the same, Great Britain did very well out of it, and both +countries—though neither was satisfied—were for the time being tired +of war. +</P> + +<P> +For Laperouse the seven years had been full of excitement. The most +memorable engagement in which he took part was a very celebrated one, +in November, 1759. A stirring ballad has been written about it by Henry +Newbolt:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "In seventeen hundred and fifty-nine<BR> + When Hawke came swooping from the West,<BR> + The French King's admiral with twenty of the line<BR> + Came sailing forth to sack us out of Brest."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Laperouse's ship, the FORMIDABLE, was one of the French fleet of +twenty-one sail. What happened was this. The French foreign minister, +Choiseul, had hatched a crafty plan for the invasion of England, but +before it could be executed the British fleet had to be cleared out of +the way. There was always that tough wooden wall with the hearts of oak +behind it, standing solidly in the path. It baffled Napoleon in the +same fashion when he thought out an invasion plan in the next century. +The French Admiral, Conflans, schemed to lure Sir Edward Hawke into +Quiberon Bay, on the coast of Brittany. A strong westerly gale was +blowing and was rapidly swelling into a raging tempest. Conflans, +piloted by a reliable guide who knew the Bay thoroughly, intended to +take up a fairly safe, sheltered position on the lee side, and hoped +that the wind would force Hawke, who was not familiar with the +ground, on to the reefs and shoals, where his fleet would be destroyed +by the storm and the French guns together. But Hawke, whose name +signally represents the bold, swift, sure character of the man, +understood the design, took the risk, avoided the danger, and clutched +the prey. Following the French as rapidly as wind and canvas could take +him, he caught their rearmost vessels, smashed them up, battered the +whole fleet successively into flight or splinters, and himself lost +only two vessels, which ran upon a shoal. Plodding prose does scant +justice to the extraordinary brilliancy of Hawke's victory, described +by Admiral Mahan as "the Trafalgar of this war." We cannot pass on +without quoting one of Mr. Newbolt's graphic verses:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Twas long past the noon of a wild November day<BR> + When Hawke came swooping from the west;<BR> + He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay,<BR> + But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast.<BR> + Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight,<BR> + Fiercely blew the storm wind, darkly fell the night,<BR> + For they took the foe for pilot and the cannon's glare for light,<BR> + When Hawke came swooping from the West."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"They took the foe for pilot:" that is a most excellent touch, both +poetical and true. +</P> + +<P> +The FORMIDABLE was the first to be disposed of in the fight. She was an +80-gun line-of-battle ship, carrying the flag of Admiral du +Verger. Her position being in the rear of the squadron, she was early +engaged by the RESOLUTION, and in addition received the full broadside +of every other British ship that passed her. The Admiral fell mortally +wounded, and two hundred on board were killed. She struck her colours +at four o'clock after receiving a terrible battering, and was the only +French ship captured by Hawke's fleet. All the others were sunk, burnt, +or beached, or else escaped. The young Laperouse was amongst the +wounded, though his hurts were not dangerous; and, after a brief period +spent in England as a prisoner of war, he returned to service. +</P> + +<P> +An amusing rhyme in connection with this engagement is worth recalling. +Supplies for Hawke's fleet did not come to hand for a considerable time +after they were due, and in consequence the victorious crews had to be +put on "short commons." Some wag—it is the way of the British sailor +to do his grumbling with a spice of humour—put the case thus:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Ere Hawke did bang<BR> + Monsieur Conflans,<BR> + You sent us beef and beer;<BR> + Now Monsieur's beat<BR> + We've nought to eat,<BR> + Since you have nought to fear."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An interesting coincidence must also be noted. Thirty-five years later, +only a few leagues from the place where Laperouse first learnt +what it meant to fight the British on the sea, another young officer +who was afterwards greatly concerned with Australasian exploration had +his introduction to naval warfare. It was in 1794 that Midshipman +Matthew Flinders, on the BELLEROPHON, Captain Pasley, played his +valiant little part in a great fleet action off Brest. Both of these +youths, whose longing was for exploration and discovery, and who are +remembered by mankind in that connection, were cradled on the sea +amidst the smoke and flame of battle, both in the same waters. +</P> + +<P> +During the next twenty-five years Laperouse saw a considerable amount +of fighting in the East and West Indies, and in Canadian waters. He was +commander of the AMAZON, under D'Estaing, during a period when events +did not shape themselves very gloriously for British arms, not because +our admirals had lost their skill and nerve, or our seamen their grit +and courage, but because Governments at home muddled, squabbled, +starved the navy, misunderstood the problem, and generally made a mess +of things. We need not follow him through the details of these years, +but simply note that Laperouse's dash and good seamanship won him a +high reputation among French naval officers, and brought him under the +eye of the authorities who afterwards chose him to command an +expedition of discovery. +</P> + +<P> +One incident must be recorded, because it throws a light on the +character of Laperouse. In 1782, whilst serving under Admiral +Latouche-Treville in the West, he was ordered to destroy the British +forts on the Hudson River. He attacked them with the SCEPTRE, 74 guns. +The British had been engaged in their most unfortunate war with the +American Colonies, and in 1781, in consequence of wretchedly bad +strategy, had lost command of the sea. The French had been helping the +revolted Americans, not for love of them, but from enmity to their +rivals. After the capitulation of the British troops at Yorktown, a +number of loyalists still held out under discouraging conditions in +Canada, and the French desired to dislodge them from the important +waterway of the Hudson. +</P> + +<P> +Laperouse found little difficulty in fulfilling his mission, for the +defence was weak and the garrisons of the forts, after a brief +resistance, fled to the woods. It was then that he did a thing +described in our principal naval history as an act of "kindness and +humanity, rare in the annals of war." Laperouse knew that if he totally +destroyed the stores as well as the forts, the unfortunate British, +after he had left, would perish either from hunger or under the +tomahawks of the Red Indians. So he was careful to see that the food +and clothing, and a quantity of powder and small arms, were left +untouched, for, as he nobly said, "An enemy conquered should have +nothing more to fear from a civilised foe; he then becomes a friend." +</P> + +<P> +Some readers may like to see the verses in which a French poet +has enshrined this incident. For their benefit they are appended:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Un jour ayant appris que les Anglais en fuite<BR> + Se cachaient dans un bois redoutant la poursuite,<BR> + Tu laissas sur la plage aux soldats affames,<BR> + Par la peur affoles, en haillons, desarmes,<BR> + Des vivres abondantes, des habits et des armes;<BR> + Tu t'eloignas apres pour calmer leurs alarmes,<BR> + Et quand on s'etonnait: 'Sachez qu' un ennemi<BR> + Vaincu n'a rien a craindre, et devient un ami.'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The passage may be rendered in English thus: "One day, having heard +that the fleeing English were hidden in a forest dreading pursuit, you +left upon the shore for those soldiers—famished, ragged, disarmed, +and paralysed by fear—abundance of food, clothes and arms; then, to +calm their fears, you removed your forces to a distance; and, when +astonishment was expressed, you said: 'Understand that a beaten enemy +has nothing to fear from us, and becomes a friend.'" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LOVE STORY OF LAPEROUSE. +</H3> + +<P> +"My story is a romance"—"Mon histoire est un roman"—wrote Laperouse +in relating the events with which this chapter will deal. We have seen +him as a boy; we have watched him in war; we shall presently follow him +as a navigator. But it is just as necessary to read his charming love +story, if we are to understand his character. We should have no true +idea of him unless we knew how he bore himself amid perplexities that +might have led him to quote, as peculiarly appropriate to his own case, +the lines of Shakespeare:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Ay me! for ought that ever I could read,<BR> + Could ever hear by tale or history,<BR> + The course of true love never did run smooth,"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +During the period of his service in the East Indies, Laperouse +frequently visited Ile-de-France (which is now a British possession, +called Mauritius). Then it was the principal naval station of the +French in the Indian Ocean. There he met a beautiful girl, the daughter +of one of the subordinate officials at Port Louis. Louise Eleonore +Broudou is said to have been "more than pretty"; she was distinguished +by grace of manner, charm of disposition, and fine, cultivated +character. The young officer saw her often, admired her much, +fell in love with her, and asked her to marry him. Mademoiselle loved +him too; and if they two only had had to be consulted, the happy union +of a well-matched pair might have followed soon. +</P> + +<P> +It signified little to Laperouse, in love, that the lady had neither +rank nor fortune. But his family in France took quite a different view. +He wrote to a favourite sister, telling her about it, and she lost no +time in conveying the news to his parents. This was in 1775. Then the +trouble began. +</P> + +<P> +Inasmuch as he was over thirty years of age at this time, it may be +thought that he might have been left to choose a wife for himself. But +a young officer of rank in France, under the Old Regime, was not so +free in these matters as he would be nowadays. Marriage was much more +than a personal affair. It was even more than a family affair. People +of rank did not so much marry as "make alliances"—or rather, submit +to having them made for them. It was quite a regular thing for a +marriage to be arranged by the families of two young people who had +never even seen each other. An example of that kind will appear +presently. +</P> + +<P> +The idea that the Comte de Laperouse, one of the smartest officers in +the French King's navy, should marry out of his rank and station, +shocked his relatives and friends as much as it would have done if he +had been detected picking pockets. He could not, without grave risk of +social and professional ruin, marry until he had obtained the +consent of his father, and—so naval regulations required—of his +official superiors. Both were firmly refused. Monsieur de Ternay, who +commanded on the Ile-de-France station, shook his wise head, and told +the lover "that his love fit would pass, and that people did not +console themselves for being poor with the fact that they were +married." (This M. de Ternay, it may be noted, had commanded a French +squadron in Canada in 1762, and James Cook was a junior officer on the +British squadron which blockaded him in St. John's Harbour. He managed +to slip out one night, much to the disgust of Colville, the British +Admiral, who commented scathingly on his "shameful flight.") +</P> + +<P> +The father of Laperouse poured out his forbidding warnings in a long +letter. Listen to the "tut-tut" of the old gentleman at Albi:— +</P> + +<P> +"You make me tremble, my son. How can you face with coolness the +consequences of a marriage which would bring you into disgrace with the +Minister and would lose you the assistance of powerful friends? You +would forfeit the sympathies of your colleagues and would sacrifice the +fruit of your work during twenty years. In disgracing yourself you +would humiliate your family and your parents. You would prepare for +yourself nothing but remorse; you would sacrifice your fortune and +position to a frivolous fancy for beauty and to pretended charms which +perhaps exist only in your own imagination. Neither honour nor probity +compels you to meet ill-considered engagements that you may have +made with that person or with her parents. Do they or you know that you +are not free, that you are under my authority?" He went on to draw a +picture of the embarrassments that would follow such a marriage, and +then there is a passage revealing the cash-basis aspect of the old +gentleman's objection: "You say that there are forty officers in the +Marine who have contracted marriages similar to that which you propose +to make. You have better models to follow, and in any case what was +lacking on the side of birth, in these instances, was compensated by +fortune. Without that balance they would not have had the baseness and +imprudence to marry thus." Poor Eleonore had no compensating balance of +that kind in her favour. She was only beautiful, charming and +sweet-natured. Therefore, "tut-tut, my son!" +</P> + +<P> +In the course of the next few months Laperouse covered himself with +glory by his services on the AMAZON, the ASTREE, and the SCEPTRE, and +he hoped that these exploits would incline his father to accede to his +ardent wish. But no; the old gentleman was as hard as a rock. He +"tut-tutted" with as much vigour as ever. The lovers had to wait. +</P> + +<P> +Then his mother, full of love for her son and of pride in his +achievements, took a hand, and tried to arrange a more suitable match +for him. An old friend of the family, Madame de Vesian had a +marriageable daughter. She was rich and beautiful, and her lineage was +noble. She had never seen Laperouse, and he had never seen her, +but that was an insignificant detail in France under the old Regime. If +the parents on each side thought the marriage suitable, that was +enough. The wishes of the younger people concerned were, it is true, +consulted before the betrothal, but it was often a consultation merely +in form, and under pressure. We should think that way of making +marriages most unsatisfactory; but then, a French family of position in +the old days would have thought our freer system very shocking and +loose. It is largely a matter of usage; and that the old plan, which +seems so faulty to us, produced very many happy and lasting unions, +there is much delightful French family history to prove. +</P> + +<P> +Laperouse had now been many months away from Ile-de-France and the +bright eyes of Eleonore. He was extremely fond of his mother, and +anxious to meet her wishes. Moreover, he held Madame de Vesian in high +esteem, and wrote that he "had always admired her, and felt sure that +her daughter resembled her." These influences swayed him, and he gave +way; but, being frank and honest by disposition, insisted that no +secret should be made of his affair of the heart with the lady across +the sea. He wrote to Madame de Vesian a candid letter, in which he +said:— +</P> + +<P> +"Being extremely sensitive, I should be the most unfortunate of men if +I were not beloved by my wife, if I had not her complete confidence, if +her life amongst her friends and children did not render her +perfectly happy. I desire one day to regard you as a mother, and to-day +I open my heart to you as my best friend. I authorise my mother to +relate to you my old love affair. My heart has always been a romance +(MON COEUR A TOUJOURS ETE UN ROMAN); and the more I sacrificed prudence +to those whom I loved the happier I was. But I cannot forget the +respect that I owe to my parents and to their wishes. I hope that in a +little while I shall be free. If then I have a favourable reply from +you, and if I can make your daughter happy and my character is +approved, I shall fly to Albi and embrace you a thousand times. I shall +not distinguish you from my mother and my sisters." +</P> + +<P> +He also wrote to Monsieur de Vesian, begging him not to interfere with +the free inclinations of his daughter, and to remember that "in order +to be happy there must be no repugnance to conquer. I have, however," +he added, "an affair to terminate which does not permit me to dispose +of myself entirely. My mother will tell you the details. I hope to be +free in six weeks or two months. My happiness will then be +inexpressible if I obtain your consent and that of Madame de Vesian, +with the certainty of not having opposed the wishes of Mademoiselle, +your daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope to be free"—did he "hope"? That was his polite way of putting +the matter. Or he may have believed that he had conquered his love for +Eleonore Broudou, and that she, as a French girl who understood his +obligations to his family, would—perhaps after making a few +handkerchiefs damp with her tears—acquiesce. +</P> + +<P> +So the negotiations went on, and at length, in May, 1783, the de Vesian +family accepted Laperouse as the fiance of their daughter. "My project +is to live with my family and yours," he wrote. "I hope that my wife +will love my mother and my sisters, as I feel that I shall love you and +yours. Any other manner of existence is frightful to me, and I have +sufficient knowledge of the world and of myself to know that I can only +be happy in living thus." +</P> + +<P> +But in the very month that he wrote contracting himself—that is +precisely the word—to marry the girl he had never seen, Eleonore, the +girl whom he had seen, whom he had loved, and whom he still loved in +his heart, came to Paris with her parents. Laperouse saw her again. He +told her what had occurred. Of course she wept; what girl would not? +She said, between her sobs, that if it was to be all over between them +she would go into a convent. She could never marry anyone else. +</P> + +<P> +"Mon histoire est un roman," and here beginneth the new chapter of this +real love story. Why, we wonder, has not some novelist discovered these +Laperouse letters and founded a tale upon them? Is it not a better +story even told in bare outline in these few pages, than nine-tenths of +the concoctions of the novelists, which are sold in thousands? Think of +the wooing of these two delightful people, the beautiful girl and the +gallant sailor, in the ocean isle, with its tropical perfumes and +colours, its superb mountain and valley scenery, bathed in +eternal sunshine by day and kissed by cool ocean breezes by night—the +isle of Paul and Virginia, the isle which to Alexandre Dumas was the +Paradise of the World, an enchanted oasis of the ocean, "all carpeted +with greenery and refreshed with cooling streams, where, no matter what +the season, you may gently sink asleep beneath the shade of palms and +jamrosades, soothed by the babbling of a crystal spring." +</P> + +<P> +Think of how he must have entertained and thrilled her with accounts of +his adventures: of storms, of fights with the terrible English, of the +chasing of corsairs and the battering of the fleets of Indian princes. +Think of her open-eyed wonder, and of the awakening of love in her +heart; and then of her dread, lest after all, despite his consoling +words and soft assurances, he, the Comte, the officer, should be +forbidden to marry her, the maiden who had only her youth, her beauty, +and her character, but no rank, no fortune, to win favour from the +proud people who did not know her. The author is at all events certain +of this: that if the letters had seen the light before old Alexandre +Dumas died, he would have pounced upon them with glee, and would have +written around them a romance that all the world would have rejoiced to +read. +</P> + +<P> +But while we think of what the novelists have missed, we are neglecting +the real story, the crisis of which we have now reached. +</P> + +<P> +Seeing Eleonore again, his sensitive heart deeply moved by her sorrow, +Laperouse took a manly resolution. He would marry her despite +all obstacles. He had promised her at her home in Ile-de-France. He +would keep his promise. He would not spoil her beautiful young life +even for his family. +</P> + +<P> +But there was the contract concerning Mademoiselle de Vesian. What of +that? Clearly Laperouse was in a fix. Well, a man who has been over +twenty-five years at sea has been in a fix many times, and learns that +a bold face and tact are good allies. Remembering the nature of his +situation, it will be agreed that the letter he wrote to his mother, +announcing his resolve, was a model of good taste and fine feeling: +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen Eleonore, and I have not been able to resist the remorse +by which I am devoured. My excessive attachment to you had made me +violate all that which is most sacred among men. I forgot the vows of +my heart, the cries of my conscience. I was in Paris for twenty days, +and, faithful to my promise to you, I did not go to see her. But I +received a letter from her. She made no reproach against me, but the +most profound sentiment of sadness was expressed in it. At the instant +of reading it the veil fell from my eyes. My situation filled me with +horror. I am no better in my own eyes than a perjurer, unworthy of +Mademoiselle de Vesian, to whom I brought a heart devoured by remorse +and by a passion that nothing could extinguish. I was equally unworthy +of Mademoiselle Broudou, and wished to leave her. My only excuse, +my dear mother, is the extreme desire I have always had to +please you. It is for you alone, and for my father, that I wished to +marry. Desiring to live with you for the remainder of my life, I +consented to your finding me a wife with whom I could abide. The choice +of Mademoiselle de Vesian had overwhelmed me, because her mother is a +woman for whom I have a true attachment; and Heaven is my witness +to-day that I should have preferred her daughter to the most brilliant +match in the universe. It is only four days since I wrote to her on the +subject. How can I reconcile my letter with my present situation? But, +my dear mother, it would be feebleness in me to go further with the +engagement. I have doubtless been imprudent in contracting an +engagement without your consent, but I should be a monster if I +violated my oaths and married Mademoiselle de Vesian. I do not doubt +that you tremble at the abyss over which you fear that I am about to +fall, but I feel that I can only live with Eleonore, and I hope that +you will give your consent to our union. My fortune will suffice for +our wants, and we shall live near you. But I shall only come to Albi +when Mademoiselle de Vesian shall be married, and when I can be sure +that another, a thousand times more worthy than I am, shall have sworn +to her an attachment deeper than that which it was in my power to +offer. I shall write neither to Madame nor Monsieur de Vesian. Join to +your other kindnesses that of undertaking this painful commission." +</P> + +<P> +There was no mistaking the firm, if regretful tone, of that +letter; and Laperouse married his Eleonore at Paris. +</P> + +<P> +Did Mademoiselle de Vesian break her heart because her sailor fiance +had wed another? Not at all! She at once became engaged to the Baron de +Senegas—had she seen him beforehand, one wonders?—and married him +in August! Laperouse was prompt to write his congratulations to her +parents, and it is diverting to find him saying, concerning the lady to +whom he himself had been engaged only a few weeks before, that he +regretted "never having had the honour of seeing her!" +</P> + +<P> +But there was still another difficulty to be overcome before Laperouse +and his happy young bride could feel secure. He had broken a regulation +of the service by marrying without official sanction. True, he had +talked of settling down at Albi, but that was when he thought he was +going to marry a young lady whom he did not know. Now he had married +the girl of his heart; and love, as a rule, does not stifle ambition. +Rather are the two mutually co-operative. Eleonore had fallen in love +with him as a gallant sailor, and a sailor she wanted him still to be. +Perhaps, in her dreams, she saw him a great Admiral, commanding +powerful navies and winning glorious victories for France. Madame la +Comtesse did not wish her husband to end his career because he had +married her, be sure of that. +</P> + +<P> +Here Laperouse did a wise and tactful thing, which showed that he +understood something of human nature. Nothing interests old +ladies so much as the love affairs of young people; and old ladies in +France at that time exercised remarkable influence in affairs of +government. The Minister of Marine was the Marquis de Castries. Instead +of making a clean breast of matters to him, Laperouse wrote a long and +delightful letter to Madame la Marquise. "Madame," he said, "mon +histoire est un roman," and he begged her to read it. Of course she +did. What old lady would not? She was a very grand lady indeed, was +Madame la Marquise; but this officer who wrote his heart's story to +her, was a dashing hero. He told her how he had fallen in love in +Ile-de-France; how consent to his marriage had been officially and +paternally refused; how he had tried "to stifle the sentiments which +were nevertheless remaining at the bottom of my heart." Would she +intercede with the Minister for him and excuse him? +</P> + +<P> +Of course she would! She was a dear old lady, was Madame la Marquise. +Within a few days Laperouse received from the Minister a most paternal, +good natured letter, which assured him that his romantic affair should +not interfere with his prospects, and concluded: "Enjoy the pleasure of +having made someone happy, and the marks of honour and distinction that +you have received from your fellow citizens." +</P> + +<P> +Such is the love story of Laperouse. Alas! the marriage did not bring +many years of happiness to poor Eleonore, much as she deserved them. +Two years afterwards, her hero sailed away on that expedition +from which he never returned. She dwelt at Albi, hoping until hope gave +way to despair, and at last she died, of sheer grief they said, nine +years after the waters of the Pacific had closed over him who had wooed +her and wedded her for herself alone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION. +</H3> + +<P> +King Louis XVI of France was as unfortunate a monarch as was ever born +to a throne. Had it been his happier lot to be the son of a farmer, a +shopkeeper, or a merchant, he would have passed for an excellent man of +business and a good, solid, sober, intelligent citizen. But he +inherited with his crown a system of government too antiquated for the +times, too repressive for the popular temper to endure, and was not +statesman enough to remodel it to suit the requirements of his people. +It was not his fault that he was not a great man; and a great man—a +man of large grasp, wide vision, keen sympathies, and penetrating +imagination—was needed in France if the social forces at work, the +result of new ideas fermenting in the minds of men and impelling them, +were to be directed towards wise and wholesome reform. Failing such +direction, those forces burst through the restraints of law, custom, +authority, loyalty and respect, and produced the most startling +upheaval in modern history, the Great French Revolution. Louis lost +both his crown and his head, the whole system of government was +overturned, and the way was left open for the masterful mind and strong +arm needed to restore discipline and order to the nation: Napoleon +Bonaparte. +</P> + +<P> +Louis was very fond of literature. During the sad last months of +his imprisonment, before the guillotine took his life, he read over 230 +volumes. He especially liked books of travel and geography, and one of +his favourite works was the VOYAGES of Cook. He had the volumes near +him in the last phase of his existence. There is a pleasant drawing +representing the King in his prison, with the little Dauphin seated on +his knee, pointing out the countries and oceans on a large geographical +globe; and he took a pride in having had prepared "for the education of +Monsieur le Dauphin," a History of the Exploration of the South Seas. +It was published in Paris, in three small volumes, in 1791. +</P> + +<P> +The study of Cook made a deep impression on the King's mind. Why, he +asked himself, should not France share in the glory of discovering new +lands, and penetrating untraversed seas? There was a large amount of +exploratory work still to be done. English navigators were always busy +sailing to unknown parts, but the entire world was by no means revealed +yet. There were, particularly, big blank spaces at the bottom of the +globe. That country called by the Dutch New Holland, the eastern part +of which Cook had found—there was evidently much to be done there. +What were the southern coasts like? Was it one big island-continent, or +was it divided into two by a strait running south from the head of the +Gulf of Carpentaria? Then there was that piece of country discovered by +the Dutchman Tasman, and named Van Diemen's Land. Was it an +island, or did it join on to New Holland? There were also many islands +of the Pacific still to be explored and correctly charted, the map of +Eastern Asia was imperfect, and the whole of the coastline of +North-Western America was not accurately known. +</P> + +<P> +The more Louis turned the matter over in his mind, the more he studied +his globes, maps and books of voyages, the more convinced he was that +France, as a maritime nation and a naval Power, ought to play an +important part in this grand work of unveiling to mankind the full +extent, form, nature and resources of our planet. +</P> + +<P> +He sent for a man whose name the Australian reader should particularly +note, because he had much to do with three important discovery voyages +affecting our history. Charles Claret, Comte de Fleurieu, was the +principal geographer in France. He was at this time director of ports +and arsenals. He had throughout his life been a keen student of +navigation, was a practical sailor, invented a marine chronometer which +was a great improvement on clocks hitherto existing, devised a method +of applying the metric system to the construction of marine charts, and +wrote several works on his favourite subject. A large book of his on +discoveries in Papua and the Solomon Islands is still of much +importance. +</P> + +<P> +As a French writer—an expert in this field of knowledge—has written +of Fleurieu, "he it was who prepared nearly all the plans for naval +operations during the war of 1778, and the instructions for the +voyages of discovery—those of Laperouse and Dentrecasteaux—for +which Louis XVI had given general directions; and to whose wise and +well-informed advice is due in large part the utility derived from +them." It was chiefly because of Fleurieu's knowledge of geography that +the King chose him to be the tutor of the Dauphin; and in 1790 he +became Minister of Marine. +</P> + +<P> +Louis XVI and Fleurieu talked the subject over together; and the +latter, at the King's command, drew up a long memorandum indicating the +parts of the globe where an expedition of discovery might most +profitably apply itself. +</P> + +<P> +The King decided (1785) that a voyage should be undertaken; two ships +of the navy, LA BOUSSOLE and L'ASTROLABE, were selected for the +purpose; and, on the recommendation of the Marquis de Castries—remember +Madame la Marquise!—Laperouse was chosen for the command. +</P> + +<P> +All three of the men who ordered, planned and executed the voyage, the +King, the scholar, and the officer, were devoted students of the work +and writings of Cook; and copies of his VOYAGES, in French and English, +were placed in the library of navigation carried on board the ships for +the edification of the officers and crews. Over and over again in the +instructions prepared—several times on a page in some places—appear +references to what Cook had done, and to what Cook had left to be done; +showing that both King Louis and Fleurieu knew his voyages and +charts, not merely as casual readers, but intimately. As for Laperouse +himself, his admiration of Cook has already been mentioned; here it may +be added that when, before he sailed, Sir Joseph Banks presented him +with two magnetic needles that had been used by Cook, he wrote that he +"received them with feelings bordering almost upon religious veneration +for the memory of that great and incomparable navigator." So that, we +see, the extent of our great sailor's influence is not to be measured +even by his discoveries and the effect of his writings upon his own +countrymen. He radiated a magnetic force which penetrated far; down to +our own day it has by no means lost its stimulating energy. +</P> + +<P> +In the picture gallery at the Palace of Versailles, there is an oil +painting by Mansiau, a copy of which may be seen in the Mitchell +Library, Sydney. It is called "Louis XVI giving instructions to +Monsieur de Laperouse for his voyage around the world." An Australian +statesman who saw it during a visit to Paris a few years ago, confessed +publicly on his return to his own country that he gazed long upon it, +and recognised it as being "of the deepest interest to Australians." So +indeed it is. A photograph of the picture is given here. +</P> + +<P> +The instructions were of course prepared by Fleurieu: anyone familiar +with his writings can see plenty of internal evidence of that. But +Louis was not a little vain of his own geographical knowledge, and he +gave a special audience to Laperouse, explaining the instructions +verbally before handing them to him in writing. +</P> + +<P> +They are admirably clear instructions, indicating a full knowledge of +the work of preceding navigators and of the parts of the earth where +discovery needed to be pursued. Their defect was that they expected too +much to be done on one voyage. Let us glance over them, devoting +particular attention to the portions affecting Australasia. +</P> + +<P> +The ships were directed to sail across the Atlantic and round Cape +Horn, visiting certain specified places on the way. In the Pacific they +were to visit Easter Island, Tahiti, the Society Islands, the Friendly +and Navigator groups, and New Caledonia. "He will pass Endeavour Strait +and in this passage will try to ascertain whether the land of Louisiade +(the Louisiade Archipelago), be contiguous to that of New Guinea, and +will reconnoitre all this part of the coast from Cape Deliverance to +the Island of St. Barthelomew, east-northeast of Cape Walsh, of which +at present we have a very imperfect knowledge. It is much to be wished +that he may be able to examine the Gulf of Carpentaria." +</P> + +<P> +He was then to explore the western shores of New Holland. "He will run +down the western coast and take a closer view of the southern, the +greater part of which has never been visited, finishing his survey at +Van Diemen's Land, at Adventure Bay or Prince Frederick Henry's, whence +he will make sail for Cook's Strait, and anchor in Queen +Charlotte's Sound, in that Strait, between the two islands which +constitute New Zealand." +</P> + +<P> +That direction is especially important, because if Laperouse had not +perished, but had lived to carry out his programme, it is evident that +he would have forestalled the later discoveries of Bass and Flinders in +southern Australia. What a vast difference to the later course of +history that might have made! +</P> + +<P> +After leaving New Zealand he was to cross the Pacific to the north-west +coast of America. The programme included explorations in the China Sea, +at the Philippines, the Moluccas and Timor, and contemplated a return +to France in July or August, 1789, after a voyage of about three years. +</P> + +<P> +But although his course was mapped out in such detail, discretion was +left to Laperouse to vary it if he thought fit. "All the calculations +of which a sketch is given here must be governed by the circumstances +of the voyage, the condition of the crews, ships and provisions, the +events that may occur in the expedition and accidents which it is +impossible to foresee. His Majesty, therefore, relying on the +experience and judgment of the sieur de Laperouse, authorises him to +make any deviation that he may deem necessary, in unforeseen cases, +pursuing, however, as far as possible, the plan traced out, and +conforming to the directions given in the other parts of the present +instructions." +</P> + +<P> +A separate set of instructions had regard to observations to be made by +Laperouse upon the political conditions, possibilities of commerce, and +suitability for settlement, of the lands visited by him. In the +Pacific, he was to inquire "whether the cattle, fowls, and other +animals which Captain Cook left on some of the islands have bred." He +was to examine attentively "the north and west coasts of New Holland, +and particularly that part of the coast which, being situated in the +torrid zone, may enjoy some of the productions peculiar to countries in +similar latitudes." In New Zealand he was to ascertain "whether the +English have formed or entertain the project of forming any settlement +on these islands; and if he should hear that they have actually formed +a settlement, he will endeavour to repair thither in order to learn the +condition, strength and object of the settlement." +</P> + +<P> +It is singular that the instructions contain no reference to Botany +Bay. It was the visit paid by Laperouse to this port that brought him +into touch with Australian history. Yet his call there was made purely +in the exercise of his discretion. He was not directed to pay any +attention to eastern Australia. When he sailed the French Government +knew nothing of the contemplated settlement of New South Wales by the +British; and he only heard of it in the course of his voyage. Indeed, +it is amazing how little was known of Australia at the time. "We have +nothing authentic or sufficiently minute respecting this part of the +largest island on the globe," said the instructions concerning the +northern and western coasts; but there was not a word about the eastern +shores. +</P> + +<P> +The reader who reflects upon the facts set forth in this chapter +will realise that the French Revolution, surprising as the statement +may seem, affected Australian history in a remarkable way. If Louis XVI +had not been dethroned and beheaded, but had remained King of France, +there cannot be any doubt that he would have persisted in the +investigation of the South Seas. He was deeply interested in the +subject, very well informed about it, and ambitious that his country +should be a great maritime and colonising Power. But the Revolution +slew Louis, plunged France in long and disastrous wars, and brought +Napoleon to the front. The whole course of history was diverted. It was +as if a great river had been turned into a fresh channel. +</P> + +<P> +If the navigator of the French King had discovered southern Australia, +and settlement had followed, it is not to be supposed that Great +Britain would have opposed the plans of France; for Australia then was +not the Australia that we know, and England had very little use even +for the bit she secured. Unthinking people might suppose that the +French Revolution meant very little to us. Indeed, unthinking people +are very apt to suppose that we can go our own way without regarding +what takes place elsewhere. They do not realise that the world is one, +and that the policies of nations interact upon each other. In point of +fact, the Revolution meant a great deal to Australia. This country is, +indeed, an island far from Europe, but the threads of her history are +entwined with those of European history in a very curious and +often intricate fashion. The French Revolution and the era of Napoleon, +if we understand their consequences, really concern us quite as much +as, say, the gold discoveries and the accomplishment of Federation. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EARLY PART OF THE VOYAGE. +</H3> + +<P> +The expedition sailed from Brest rather sooner than had at first been +contemplated, on August 1, 1785, and doubled Cape Horn in January of +the following year. Some weeks were spent on the coast of Chili; and +the remarks of Laperouse concerning the manners of the Spanish rulers +of the country cover some of his most entertaining pages. He has an eye +for the picturesque, a kindly feeling for all well-disposed people, a +pleasant touch in describing customs, and shrewd judgment in estimating +character. These qualities make him an agreeable writer of travels. +They are fairly illustrated by the passages in which he describes the +people of the city of Concepcion. Take his account of the ladies: +</P> + +<P> +"The dress of these ladies, extremely different from what we have been +accustomed to see, consists of a plaited petticoat, tied considerably +below the waist; stockings striped red, blue and white; and shoes so +short that the toes are bent under the ball of the foot so as to make +it appear nearly round. Their hair is without powder and is divided +into small braids behind, hanging over the shoulders. Their bodice is +generally of gold or silver stuff, over which there are two short +cloaks, that underneath of muslin and the other of wool of different +colours, blue, yellow and pink. The upper one is drawn over the +head when they are in the streets and the weather is cold; but within +doors it is usual to place it on their knees; and there is a game +played with the muslin cloak by continually shifting it about, in which +the ladies of Concepcion display considerable grace. They are for the +most part handsome, and of so polite and pleasing manners that there is +certainly no maritime town in Europe where strangers are received with +so much attention and kindness." +</P> + +<P> +At this city Laperouse met the adventurous Irishman, Ambrose O'Higgins, +who by reason of his conspicuous military abilities became commander of +the Spanish forces in Chili, and afterwards Viceroy of Peru. His name +originally was simply Higgins, but he prefixed the "O" when he +blossomed into a Spanish Don, "as being more aristocratic." He was the +father of the still more famous Bernardo O'Higgins, "the Washington of +Chili," who led the revolt against Spanish rule and became first +president of the Chilian Republic in 1818. Laperouse at once conceived +an attachment for O'Higgins, "a man of extraordinary activity," and one +"adored in the country." +</P> + +<P> +In April, 1786, the expedition was at Easter Island, where the +inhabitants appeared to be a set of cunning and hypocritical thieves, +who "robbed us of everything which it was possible for them to carry +off." Steering north, the Sandwich Islands were reached early in May. +Here Laperouse liked the people, "though my prejudices were +strong against them on account of the death of Captain Cook." A passage +in the commander's narrative gives his opinion on the annexation of the +countries of native races by Europeans, and shows that, in common with +very many of his countrymen, he was much influenced by the ideas of +Rousseau, then an intellectual force in France— +</P> + +<P> +"Though the French were the first who, in modern times, had landed on +the island of Mowee, I did not think it my duty to take possession in +the name of the King. The customs of Europeans on such occasions are +completely ridiculous. Philosophers must lament to see that men, for no +better reason than because they are in possession of firearms and +bayonets, should have no regard for the rights of sixty thousand of +their fellow creatures, and should consider as an object of conquest a +land fertilised by the painful exertions of its inhabitants, and for +many ages the tomb of their ancestors. These islands have fortunately +been discovered at a period when religion no longer serves as a pretext +for violence and rapine. Modern navigators have no other object in +describing the manners of remote nations than that of completing the +history of man; and the knowledge they endeavour to diffuse has for its +sole aim to render the people they visit more happy, and to augment +their means of subsistence." +</P> + +<P> +If Laperouse could see the map of the Pacific to-day he would find its +groups of islands all enclosed within coloured rings, indicating +possession by the great Powers of the world. He would be puzzled +and pained by the change. But the history of the political movements +leading to the parcelling out of seas and lands among strong States +would interest him, and he would realise that the day of feeble +isolation has gone. Nothing would make him marvel more than the +floating of the Stars and Stripes over Hawaii, for he knew that flag +during the American War of Independence. It was adopted as the flag of +the United States in 1777, and during the campaign the golden lilies of +the standard of France fluttered from many masts in co-operation with +it. Truly a century and a quarter has brought about a wonderful change, +not only in the face of the globe and in the management of its affairs, +but still more radically in the ideas of men and in the motives that +sway their activities! +</P> + +<P> +The geographical work done by Laperouse in this part of the Pacific was +of much importance. It removed from the chart five or six islands which +had no existence, having been marked down erroneously by previous +navigators. From this region the expedition sailed to Alaska, on the +north-west coast of North America. Cook had explored here "with that +courage and perseverance of which all Europe knows him to have been +capable," wrote Laperouse, never failing to use an opportunity of +expressing admiration for his illustrious predecessor. But there was +still useful work to do, and the French occupied their time very +profitably with it from June to August. Then their ships sailed down +the western coast of America to California, struck east across +the Pacific to the Ladrones, and made for Macao in China—then as now +a Portugese possession—reaching that port in January, 1787. +</P> + +<P> +The Philippines were next visited, and Laperouse formed pleasant +impressions of Manilla. It is clear from his way of alluding to the +customs of the Spanish inhabitants that the French captain was not a +tobacco smoker. It was surprising to him that "their passion for +smoking this narcotic is so immoderate that there is not an instant of +the day in which either a man or woman is without a cigar;" and it is +equally surprising to us that the French editor of the history of the +voyage found it necessary to explain in a footnote that a cigar is "a +small roll of tobacco which is smoked without the assistance of a +pipe." But cigars were then little known in Europe, except among +sailors and travellers who had visited the Spanish colonies; and the +very spelling of the word was not fixed. In English voyages it appears +as "seegar," "segar," and "sagar." +</P> + +<P> +Formosa was visited in April, northern Japan in May, and the +investigation of the north-eastern coasts of Asia occupied until +October. +</P> + +<P> +A passage in a letter from Laperouse to Fleurieu is worth quoting for +two reasons. It throws some light on the difficulties of navigation in +unknown seas, and upon the commander's severe application to duty; and +it also serves to remind us that Japan, now so potent a factor in the +politics of the East and of the whole Pacific, had not then emerged +from the barbarian exclusiveness towards foreigners, which she +had maintained since Europe commenced to exploit Asia. In the middle of +the seventeenth century she had expelled the Spaniards and the +Portugese with much bloodshed, and had closed her ports to all traders +except the Chinese and the Dutch, who were confined to a prescribed +area at Nagasaki. Intercourse with all other foreign peoples was +strictly forbidden. Even as late as 1842 it was commanded that if any +foreign vessel were driven by distress or tempestuous weather into a +Japanese port, she might only remain so long as was necessary to meet +her wants, and must then depart. Laperouse knew of this jealous +Japanese antipathy to foreign visitors, and, as he explains in the +letter, meant to keep away from the country because of it. He wrote:— +</P> + +<P> +"The part of our voyage between Manilla and Kamchatka will afford you, +I hope, complete satisfaction. It was the newest, the most interesting, +and certainly, from the everlasting fogs which enveloped the land in +the latitudes we traversed, the most difficult. These fogs are such +that it has taken one hundred and fifty days to explore a part of the +coast which Captain King, in the third volume of Cook's last voyage, +supposes might be examined in the course of two months. During this +period I rested only ten days, three in the Bay of Ternai, two in the +Bay de Langle, and five in the Bay de Castries. Thus I wasted no time; +I even forebore to circumnavigate the island of Chicha (Yezo) by +traversing the Strait of Sangaar (Tsugaru). I should have wished to +anchor, if possible, at the northern point of Japan, and would perhaps +have ventured to send a boat ashore, though such a proceeding would +have required the most serious deliberation, as the boat would probably +have been stopped. Where a merchant ship is concerned an event of this +kind might be considered as of little importance, but the seizure of a +boat belonging to a ship of war could scarcely be otherwise regarded +than as a national insult; and the taking and burning of a few sampans +would be a very sorry compensation as against the people who would not +exchange a single European of whom they were desirous of making an +example, for one hundred Japanese. I was, however, too far from the +coast to include such an intention, and it is impossible for me to +judge at present what I should have done had the contrary been the +case. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be difficult for me to find words to express to you the +fatigue attending this part of my voyage, during which I did not once +undress myself, nor did a single night pass without my being obliged to +spend several hours upon deck. Imagine to yourself six days of fog with +only two or three hours of clear weather, in seas extremely confined, +absolutely unknown, and where fancy, in consequence of the information +we had received, pictured to us shoals and currents that did not always +exist. From the place where we made the land on the eastern coast of +Tartary, to the strait which we discovered between Tchoka +(Saghalien) and Chicha, we did not fail to take the bearing of every +point, and you may rest assured that neither creek, port, nor river +escaped our attention, and that many charts, even of the coasts of +Europe, are less exact than those which we shall bring with us on our +return." +</P> + +<P> +"The strait which we discovered" is still called Laperouse Strait on +most modern maps, though the Japanese usually call it Soya Strait. It +runs between Yezo, the large northerly island of Japan, and Saghalien. +Current maps also show the name Boussole Strait, after Laperouse's +ship, between Urup and Simusir, two of the Kurile chain of small +islands curving from Yezo to the thumblike extremity of Kamchatka. +</P> + +<P> +At Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka the drawings of the artists and the +journals of the commander up to date were packed up, and sent to France +overland across Asiatic Russia, in charge of a young member of the +staff, J. B. B. de Lesseps. He was the only one of the expedition who +ever returned to Europe. By not coming to Australia he saved his life. +He published a book about his journey, a remarkable feat of land travel +in those days. He was the uncle of a man whose remarkable engineering +work has made Australia's relations with Europe much easier and more +speedy than they were in earlier years: that Ferdinand de Lesseps who +(1859-69) planned and carried out the construction of the Suez Canal. +The ships, after replenishing, sailed for the south Pacific, +where we shall follow the proceedings of Laperouse in rather closer +detail than has been considered necessary in regard to the American and +Asiatic phases of the voyage. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LAPEROUSE IN THE PACIFIC. +</H3> + +<P> +On the 6th December, 1787, the expedition made the eastern end of the +Navigator Islands, that is, the Samoan Group. As the ships approached, +a party of natives were observed squatting under cocoanut trees. +Presently sixteen canoes put off from the land, and their occupants, +after paddling round the vessels distrustfully, ventured to approach +and proffer cocoanuts in exchange for strings of beads and strips of +red cloth. The natives got the better of the bargain, for, when they +had received their price, they hurried off without delivering their own +goods. Further on, an old chief delivered an harangue from the shore, +holding a branch of Kava in his hand. "We knew from what we had read of +several voyages that it was a token of peace; and throwing him some +pieces of cloth we answered by the word 'TAYO,' which signified +'friend' in the dialect of the South Sea Islands; but we were not +sufficiently experienced to understand and pronounce distinctly the +words of the vocabularies we had extracted from Cook." +</P> + +<P> +Nearly all the early navigators made a feature of compiling +vocabularies of native words, and Cook devoted particular care to this +task. Dr. Walter Roth, formerly protector of Queensland aboriginals +a trained observer, has borne testimony as recently as last year +(in THE TIMES, December 29, 1911) that a list of words collected from +Endeavour Strait blacks, and "given by Captain Cook, are all more or +less recognisable at the present day." But Cook's spellings were +intended to be pronounced in the English mode. Laperouse and his +companions by giving the vowels French values would hardly be likely to +make the English navigator's vocabularies intelligible. +</P> + +<P> +The native canoes amused the French captain. They "could be of use only +to people who are expert swimmers, for they are constantly turned over. +This is an accident, however, at which they feel less surprise and +anxiety than we should at a hat's blowing off. They lift the canoe on +their shoulders, and after they have emptied it of the water, get into +it again, well assured that they will have the same operation to +perform within half an hour, for it is as difficult to preserve a +balance in these ticklish things as to dance upon a rope." +</P> + +<P> +At Mauna Island (now called Tutuila) some successful bargaining was +done with glass beads in exchange for pork and fruits. It surprised +Laperouse that the natives chose these paltry ornaments rather than +hatchets and tools. "They preferred a few beads which could be of no +utility, to anything we could offer them in iron or cloth." +</P> + +<P> +Two days later a tragedy occurred at this island, when Captain de +Langle, the commander of the ASTROLABE, and eleven of the crew were +murdered. He made an excursion inland to look for fresh water, +and found a clear, cool spring in the vicinity of a village. The ships +were not urgently in need of water, but de Langle "had embraced the +system of Cook, and thought fresh water a hundred times preferable to +what had been some time in the hold. As some of his crew had slight +symptoms of scurvy, he thought, with justice, that we owed them every +means of alleviation in our power. Besides, no island could be compared +with this for abundance of provisions. The two ships had already +procured upwards of 500 hogs, with a large quantity of fowls, pigeons +and fruits; and all these had cost us only a few beads." +</P> + +<P> +Laperouse himself doubted the prudence of sending a party inland, as he +had observed signs of a turbulent spirit among the islanders. But de +Langle insisted on the desirableness of obtaining fresh water where it +was abundant, and "replied to me that my refusal would render me +responsible for the progress of the scurvy, which began to appear with +some violence." He undertook to go at the head of the party, and, +relying on his judgment, the commander consented. +</P> + +<P> +Two boats left the ship at about noon, and landed their casks +undisturbed. But when the party returned they found a crowd of over a +thousand natives assembled, and a dangerous disposition soon revealed +itself amongst them. It is possible that the Frenchmen had, +unconsciously, offended against some of their superstitious rites. +Certainly they had not knowingly been provoked. They had +peacefully bartered their fruits and nuts for beads, and had been +treated in a friendly fashion throughout. But the currents of passion +that sweep through the minds of savage peoples baffle analysis. +Something had disturbed them; what it was can hardly be surmised. One +of the officers believed that the gift of some beads to a few, excited +the envy of the others. It may be so; mere envy plays such a large part +in the affairs even of civilised peoples, that we need not wonder to +find it arousing the anger of savages. Laperouse tells what occurred in +these terms:— +</P> + +<P> +"Several canoes, after having sold their ladings of provisions on board +our ships, had returned ashore, and all landed in this bay, so that it +was gradually filled. Instead of two hundred persons, including women +and children, whom M. de Langle found when he arrived at half past one, +there were ten or twelve hundred by three o'clock. He succeeded in +embarking his water; but the bay was by this time nearly dry, and he +could not hope to get his boats afloat before four o'clock, when the +tide would have risen. He stepped into them, however, with his +detachment, and posted himself in the bow, with his musket and his +marines, forbidding them to fire unless he gave orders. +</P> + +<P> +"This, he began to realise, he would soon be forced to do. Stones flew +about, and the natives, only up to the knees in water, surrounded the +boats within less than three yards. The marines who were in the +boats, attempted in vain to keep them off. If the fear of commencing +hostilities and being accused of barbarity had not checked M. de +Langle, he would unquestionably have ordered a general discharge of his +swivels and musketry, which no doubt would have dispersed the mob, but +he flattered himself that he could check them without shedding blood, +and he fell a victim to his humanity. +</P> + +<P> +"Presently a shower of stones thrown from a short distance with as much +force as if they had come from a sling, struck almost every man in the +boat. M. de Langle had only time to discharge the two barrels of his +piece before he was knocked down; and unfortunately he fell over the +larboard bow of the boat, where upwards of two hundred natives +instantly massacred him with clubs and stones. When he was dead, they +made him fast by the arm to one of the tholes of the long boat, no +doubt to secure his spoil. The BOUSSOLE'S long-boat, commanded by M. +Boutin, was aground within four yards of the ASTROLABE'S, and parallel +with her, so as to leave a little channel between them, which was +unoccupied by the natives. Through this all the wounded men, who were +so fortunate as not to fall on the other side of the boats, escaped by +swimming to the barges, which, happily remaining afloat, were enabled +to save forty-nine men out of the sixty-one." +</P> + +<P> +Amongst the wounded was Pere Receveur, priest, naturalist and +shoemaker, who later on died of his injuries at Botany Bay, and whose +tomb there is as familiar as the Laperouse monument. +</P> + +<P> +The anger of the Frenchmen at the treachery of the islanders was +not less than their grief at the loss of their companions. Laperouse, +on the first impulse, was inclined to send a strongly-armed party +ashore to avenge the massacre. But two of the officers who had escaped +pointed out that in the cove where the incident occurred the trees came +down almost to the sea, affording shelter to the natives, who would be +able to shower stones upon the party, whilst themselves remaining +beyond reach of musket balls. +</P> + +<P> +"It was not without difficulty," he wrote, "that I could tear myself +away from this fatal place, and leave behind the bodies of our murdered +companions. I had lost an old friend; a man of great understanding, +judgment, and knowledge; and one of the best officers in the French +navy. His humanity had occasioned his death. Had he but allowed himself +to fire on the first natives who entered into the water to surround the +boats, he would have prevented his own death as well as those of eleven +other victims of savage ferocity. Twenty persons more were severely +wounded; and this event deprived us for the time of thirty men, and the +only two boats we had large enough to carry a sufficient number of men, +armed, to attempt a descent. These considerations determined my +subsequent conduct. The slightest loss would have compelled me to burn +one of my ships in order to man the other. If my anger had required +only the death of a few natives, I had had an opportunity after the +massacre of sinking and destroying a hundred canoes containing +upwards of five hundred persons, but I was afraid of being mistaken in +my victims, and the voice of my conscience saved their lives." +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Laperouse resolved to sail to Botany Bay, of which he +had read a description in Cook's Voyages. His long-boats had been +destroyed by the natives, but he had on board the frames of two new +ones, and a safe anchorage was required where they could be put +together. His crews were exasperated; and lest there should be a +collision between them and other natives he resolved that, while +reconnoitring other groups of islands to determine their correct +latitude, he would not permit his sailors to land till he reached +Botany Bay. There he knew that he could obtain wood and water. +</P> + +<P> +On December 14 Oyolava (now called Upolu) was reached. Here again the +ships were surrounded by canoes, and the angry French sailors would +have fired upon them except for the positive orders of their commander. +Throughout this unfortunate affair the strict sense of justice, which +forbade taking general vengeance for the misdeeds of particular people, +stands out strongly in the conduct of Laperouse. He acknowledged in +letters written from Botany Bay, that in future relations with +uncivilised folk he would adopt more repressive measures, as experience +taught him that lack of firm handling was by them regarded as weakness. +But his tone in all his writings is humane and kindly. +</P> + +<P> +The speculations of Laperouse concerning the origin of these +peoples, are interesting, and deserve consideration by those who speak +and write upon the South Seas. He was convinced that they are all +derived from an ancient common stock, and that the race of +woolly-haired men to be found in the interior of Formosa were the +far-off parents of the natives of the Philippines, Papua, New Britain, +the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, the Carolines, Ladrones, and +Sandwich Groups. He believed that in those islands the interior of +which did not afford complete shelter the original inhabitants were +conquered by Malays, after which aboriginals and invaders mingled +together, producing modifications of the original types. But in Papua, +the Solomons and the New Hebrides, the Malays made little impression. +He accounted for differences in appearance amongst the people of the +islands he visited by the different degrees of Malay intermixture, and +believed that the very black people found on some islands, "whose +complexion still remains a few shades deeper than that of certain +families in the same islands" were to be accounted for by certain +families making it "a point of honour not to contaminate their blood." +The theory is at all events striking. We have a "White Australia +policy" on the mainland to-day; this speculation assumes a kind of +"Black Australasia policy" on the part of certain families of islanders +from time immemorial. +</P> + +<P> +The Friendly Islands were reached in December, but the commander +had few and unimportant relations with them. On the 13th January, 1788, +the ships made for Norfolk Island, and came to anchor opposite the +place where Cook was believed to have landed. The sea was running high +at the time, breaking violently on the rocky shores of the north east. +The naturalists desired to land to collect specimens, but the heavy +breakers prevented them. The commander permitted them to coast along +the shore in boats for about half a league but then recalled them. +</P> + +<P> +"Had it been possible to land, there was no way of getting into the +interior part of the island but by ascending for thirty or forty yards +the rapid stream of some torrents, which had formed gullies. Beyond +these natural barriers the island was covered with pines and carpeted +with the most beautiful verdure. It is probable that we should then +have met with some culinary vegetables, and this hope increased our +desire of visiting a land where Captain Cook had landed with the +greatest facility. He, it is true, was here in fine weather, that had +continued for several days; whilst we had been sailing in such heavy +seas that for eight day, our ports had been shut and our dead-lights +in. From the ship I watched the motions of the boats with my glass; and +seeing, as night approached, that they had found no convenient place +for landing, I made the signal to recall them, and soon after gave +orders for getting under way. Perhaps I should have lost much time had +I waited for a more favourable opportunity: and the exploring of +this island was not worth such a sacrifice." +</P> + +<P> +At eight in the evening the ships got under way, and at day-break on +the following morning sail was crowded for Botany Bay. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT BOTANY BAY. +</H3> + +<P> +When, in 1787, the British Government entrusted Captain Arthur Phillip +with a commission to establish a colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales, +they gave him explicit directions as to where he should locate the +settlement. "According to the best information which we have obtained," +his instructions read, "Botany Bay appears to be the most eligible +situation upon the said coast for the first establishment, possessing a +commodious harbour and other advantages which no part of the said coast +hitherto discovered affords." But Phillip was a trustworthy man who, in +so serious a matter as the choice of a site for a town, did not follow +blindly the commands of respectable elderly gentlemen thousands of +miles away. It was his business to found a settlement successfully. To +do that he must select the best site. +</P> + +<P> +After examining Botany Bay, he decided to take a trip up the coast and +see if a better situation could not be found. On the 21st January, +1788, he entered Port Jackson with three boats, and found there "the +finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may +ride in the most perfect security." He fixed upon a cove "which I +honoured with the name of Sydney." and decided that that was +there he would "plant." Every writer of mediaeval history who has had +occasion to refer to the choice by Constantine the Great of Byzantium, +afterwards Constantinople, as his capital, has extolled his judgment +and prescience. Constantine was an Emperor, and could do as he would. +Arthur Phillip was an official acting under orders. We can never +sufficiently admire the wisdom he displayed when, exercising his own +discretion, he decided upon Port Jackson. True, he had a great +opportunity, but his signal merit is that he grasped it when it was +presented, that he gave more regard to the success of his task than to +the letter of his instructions. +</P> + +<P> +While he was making the search, the eleven vessels composing the First +Fleet lay in Botany Bay. He returned on the evening of the 23rd, and +immediately gave orders that the whole company should as soon as +possible sail for Port Jackson, declaring it to be, in King's quaint +words, "a very proper place to form an establisht. in." +</P> + +<P> +To the great astonishment of the Fleet, on the 24th, two strange ships +made their appearance to the south of Solander Point, a projection from +the peninsula on which now stands the obelisk in memory of Cook's +landing. What could they be? Some guessed that they were English +vessels with additional stores. Some supposed that they were Dutch, +"coming after us to oppose our landing." Nobody expected to see any +ships in these untraversed waters, and we can easily picture the +amazement of officers, crews, and convicts when the white sails +appeared. The more timid speculated on the possibility of attack, and +there were "temporary apprehensions, accompanied by a multiplicity of +conjectures, many of them sufficiently ridiculous." +</P> + +<P> +Phillip, however, remembered hearing that the French had an expedition +of discovery either in progress or contemplation. He was the first to +form a right opinion about them, but, wishing to be certain, sent the +SUPPLY out of the bay to get a nearer view and hoist the British +colours. Lieutenant Ball, in command of that brig, after reconnoitring, +reported that the ships were certainly not English. They were either +French, Spanish or Portuguese. He could distinctly see the white field +of the flag they flew, "but they were at too great a distance to +discover if there was anything else on it." The flag, of course, showed +the golden lilies of France on a white ground. One of the ships, King +records, "wore a CHEF D'ESCADRE'S pennant," that is, a commodore's. +</P> + +<P> +This information satisfied Phillip, who was anxious to lose no time in +getting his people ashore at Sydney Cove. He, therefore, determined to +sail in the SUPPLY on the 25th, to make preliminary arrangements, +leaving Captain Hunter of the SIRIUS to convoy the Fleet round as soon +as possible. The wind, just then, was blowing too strong for them to +work out of the Bay. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Laperouse, with the BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE, was meeting +with heavy weather in his attempt to double Point Solander. The +wind blew hard from that quarter, and his ships were too heavy sailers +to force their passage against wind and current combined. The whole of +the 24th was spent in full sight of Botany Bay, which they could not +enter. But their hearts were cheered by the spectacle of the pennants +and ensigns on the eleven British vessels, plainly seen at intervals +within, and the prospect of meeting Europeans again made them impatient +to fetch their anchorage. +</P> + +<P> +The SIRIUS was just about to sail when the French vessels entered the +Bay at nine in the morning of January 26, but Captain Hunter +courteously sent over a lieutenant and midshipman, with his compliments +and offers of such assistance as it was in his power to give. "I +despatched an officer," records Laperouse, "to return my thanks to +Captain Hunter, who by this time had his anchor a-peak and his topsails +hoisted, telling him that my wants were confined to wood and water, of +which we could not fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels +intended to settle a colony at such a distance from Europe could not be +of any assistance to navigators." The English lieutenant, according to +Laperouse, "appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's +plan, and we did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him +on the subject." It was not the business of a junior officer to give +unauthorised information, but perhaps his manner made a greater mystery +of the Governor's plans than the circumstances required. +</P> + +<P> +It was at Kamchatka that the French had learnt that the British +were establishing a settlement in New South Wales; but Laperouse, when +he arrived at Botany Bay, had no definite idea as to the progress they +had made. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, he expected to find +a town built and a market established. Instead of that he found the +first colonists abandoning the site where it was originally intended +that they should settle, and preparing to fix their abode at another +spot. But after he had seen something of Botany Bay he expressed +himself as "convinced of the propriety and absolute necessity of the +measure." +</P> + +<P> +The later relations between the English and French were of the most +pleasant kind. It does not appear from the writings of those who have +left records that Phillip and Laperouse ever met, or that the latter +ever saw the beginnings of Sydney. His ships certainly never entered +Port Jackson. But we learn from Captain Tench that "during their stay +in the port" (i.e. in Botany Bay) "the officers of the two nations had +frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual regard by visits and +other interchanges of friendship and esteem;" and Laperouse gratified +the English especially "by the feeling manner in which he always +mentioned the name and talents of Captain Cook." +</P> + +<P> +Not only in what he wrote with an eye to publication, but in his +private correspondence, Laperouse expressed his gratification at the +friendly relations established. He spoke of "frequent intercourse" +with the English, and said that "to the most polite attentions +they have added every offer of service in their power; and it was not +without regret that we saw them depart, almost immediately upon our +arrival, for Port Jackson, fifteen miles to the northward of this +place. Commodore Phillip had good reason to prefer that port, and he +has left us sole masters of this bay, where our long-boats are already +on the stocks." +</P> + +<P> +The fullest account is given in the journal of Lieutenant King, +afterwards (1800-6) Governor of New South Wales. On February 1 Phillip +sent him in a cutter, in company with Lieutenant Dawes of the Marines, +to visit Laperouse, "and to offer him whatever he might have occasion +for." King relates that they were "received with the greatest +politeness and attention by Monsieur de Laperouse and his officers." He +accepted an invitation to remain during the day with the French, to +dine with the Commodore, and to return to Port Jackson next morning. +The complete history of the voyage was narrated to him, including of +course the tragic story of the massacre of de Langle and his +companions. +</P> + +<P> +After dinner on the BOUSSOLE, King was taken ashore, where he found the +French "quite established, having thrown round their tents a stockade, +guarded by two small guns." This defence was needed to protect the +frames of the two new longboats, which were being put together, from +the natives; and also, it would appear, from a few escaped convicts, +"whom he had dismissed with threats, giving them a day's +provision to carry them back to ye settlement." Laperouse himself, in +his history—in the very last words of it, in fact—complains that +"we had but too frequent opportunities of hearing news of the English +settlement, the deserters from which gave us a great deal of trouble +and embarrassment." +</P> + +<P> +We learn from King a little about the Pere Receveur—a very little, +truly, but sufficient to make us wish to know more. From the +circumstance that his quarters were on the ASTROLABE, and that, +therefore, he was not brought very much under the notice of Laperouse, +we read scarcely anything about him in the commander's book. Once +during the voyage some acids used by him for scientific purposes +ignited, and set fire to the ship, but the danger was quickly +suppressed. This incident, and that of the wounding of Receveur at +Manua, are nearly all we are told about him from the commander. But he +struck King as being "a man of letters and genius." He was a collector +of natural curiosities, having under his care "a great number of +philosophical instruments." King's few lines, giving the impression +derived from a necessarily brief conversation, seem to bring the Abbe +before us in a flash. "A man of letters and genius": how gladly we +would know more of one of whom those words could be written! Receveur +died shortly before Laperouse sailed away, and was buried at the foot +of a tree, to which were nailed a couple of boards bearing an +inscription. Governor Phillip, when the boards fell down, had +the inscription engraved on a copper plate. The tomb, which is now so +prominent an object at Botany Bay, was erected by the Baron de +Bougainville in 1825. The memorials to the celebrated navigator and the +simple scholar stand together. +</P> + +<P> +King, in common with Tench, records the admiring way in which Laperouse +spoke of Cook. He "informed me that every place where he has touched or +been near, he found all the astronomical and nautical works of Captain +Cook to be very exact and true, and concluded by saying, 'Enfin, +Monsieur Cook a tant fait qu'il ne m'a rien laisse a faire que d' +admirer ses oeuvres.'" (In short, Mr. Cook has done so much that he has +left me nothing to do but to admire his works). +</P> + +<P> +There is very little more to tell about those few weeks spent at Botany +Bay before the navigator and his companions "vanished trackless into +blue immensity," as Carlyle puts it. A fragment of conversation is +preserved by Tench. A musket was fired one day, and the natives +marvelled less at the noise than at the fact that the bullet made a +hole in a piece of bark at which it was aimed. To calm them, "an +officer whistled the air of 'Malbrook,' which they appeared highly +charmed with, and greeted him with equal pleasure and readiness. I may +remark here," adds the Captain of Marines, "what I was afterwards told +by Monsieur de Perousse" (so he mis-spells the name) "that the natives +of California, as throughout all the isles of the Pacific Ocean, +and in short wherever he had been, seemed equally touched and delighted +with this little plaintive air." It is gratifying to be able to record +Captain Tench's high opinion of the efficacy of the tune, which is +popularly known nowadays as "We won't go home till morning." One has +often heard of telling things "to the Marines." This gallant officer, +doubtless, used to whistle them, to a "little plaintive air." +</P> + +<P> +It was the practice of Laperouse to sow seeds at places visited by his +ships, with the object of experimenting with useful European plants +that might be cultivated in other parts of the world. His own letters +and journal do not show that he did so at Botany Bay; but we have other +evidence that he did, and that the signs of cultivation had not +vanished at least ten years later. When George Bass was returning to +Sydney in February, 1798, at the end of that wonderful cruise in a +whaleboat which had led to the discovery of Westernport, he was +becalmed off Botany Bay. He was disposed to enter and remain there for +the night, but his journal records that his people—the six picked +British sailors who were the companions of his enterprise—"seemed +inclined to push for home rather than go up to the Frenchman's Garden." +Therefore, the wind failing, they took to the oars and rowed to Port +Jackson, reaching home at ten o'clock at night. That is a very +interesting allusion. The Frenchman's Garden must have been somewhere +within the enclosed area where the Cable Station now stands, and it +would be well if so pleasant a name, and one so full of +historical suggestion, were still applied to that reserve. +</P> + +<P> +It may be well to quote in full the passage in which Laperouse relates +his experience of Botany Bay. He was not able to write his journal up +to the date of his departure before despatching it to Europe, but the +final paragraphs in it sufficiently describe what occurred, and what he +thought. Very loose and foolish statements have occasionally been +published as to his object in visiting the port. In one of the +geographical journals a few years ago the author saw it stated that +there was "a race for a Continent" between the English and the French, +in which the former won by less than a week! Nonsense of that sort, +even though it appears in sober publications, issued with a scientific +purpose, can emanate only from those who have no real acquaintance with +the subject. There was no race, no struggle for priority, no thought of +territorial acquisition on the part of the French. The reader of this +little book knows by this time that the visit to Botany Bay was not +originally contemplated. It was not in the programme. +</P> + +<P> +What would have happened if Laperouse had safely returned home, and if +the French Revolution had not destroyed Louis XVI and blown his +exploration and colonisation schemes into thin air, is quite another +question; but "ifs" are not history. You can entirely reconstruct the +history of the human race by using enough "ifs," but with that +sort of thing, which an ironist has termed "Iftory," and is often more +amusing than enlightening, more speculative than sound, we have at +present nothing to do. Here is the version of the visit given by +Laperouse himself:— +</P> + +<P> +"We made the land on the 23rd January. It has little elevation, and is +scarcely possible to be seen at a greater distance than twelve leagues. +The wind then became very variable; and, like Captain Cook, we met with +currents, which carried us every day fifteen minutes south of our +reckoning; so that we spent the whole of the 24th in plying in sight of +Botany Bay, without being able to double Point Solander, which bore +from us a league north. The wind blew strong from that quarter, and our +ships were too heavy sailers to surmount the force of the wind and the +currents combined; but that day we had a spectacle to which we had been +altogether unaccustomed since our departure from Manilla. This was a +British squadron, at anchor in Botany Bay, the pennants and ensigns of +which we could plainly distinguish. All Europeans are countrymen at +such a distance from home, and we had the most eager impatience to +fetch the anchorage; but the next day the weather was so foggy that it +was impossible to discern the land, and we did not get in till the +26th, at nine in the morning, when we let go our anchor a mile from the +north shore, in seven fathoms of water, on a good bottom of grey sand, +abreast of the second bay. +</P> + +<P> +"The moment I made my appearance in the entrance of the Bay, a +lieutenant and midshipman were sent aboard my vessel by Captain Hunter, +commanding the British frigate SIRIUS. They offered from him all the +services in his power; adding, however, that, as he was just getting +under way to proceed to the northward, circumstances would not allow +him to furnish us with provision, ammunition or sails; so that his +offers of service were reduced to good wishes for the future success of +our voyage. +</P> + +<P> +"I despatched an officer to return my thanks to Captain Hunter, who by +this time had his anchor a-peak, and his topsails hoisted; telling him +that my wants were confined to wood and water, of which we could not +fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels intended to settle a +colony at such a distance from Europe, could not be of any assistance +to navigators. +</P> + +<P> +"From the lieutenant we learnt that the English squadron was commanded +by Commodore Phillip, who had sailed from Botany Bay the previous +evening in the SUPPLY, sloop, with four transports, in search of a more +commodious place for a settlement further north. The lieutenant +appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's plan, and we +did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him on the +subject; but we had no doubt that the intended settlement must be very +near Botany Bay, since several boats were under sail for the place, and +the passage certainly must be very short, as it was thought unnecessary +to hoist them on board. The crew of the English boat, less discreet +than their officer, soon informed our people that they were only +going to Port Jackson, sixteen miles north of Point Banks, where +Commander Phillip had himself reconnoitred a very good harbour, which +ran ten miles into the land, to the south-west, and in which the ships +might anchor within pistol-shot of the shore, in water as smooth as +that of a basin. We had, afterwards, but too frequent opportunities of +hearing news of the English settlement, the deserters from which gave +us a great deal of trouble and embarrassment." +</P> + +<P> +Pieced together thus is nearly all we know about Laperouse during his +visit to Botany Bay. It is not much. We would gladly have many more +details. What has become of the letter he wrote to Phillip recommending +(according to King) the Pacific Islands as worthy of the attention of +the new colony, "for the great quantity of stock with which they +abound"? Apparently it is lost. The grave and the deep have swallowed +up the rest of this "strange eventful history," and we interrogate in +vain. We should know even less than we do were it not that Laperouse +obtained from Phillip permission to send home, by the next British ship +leaving Port Jackson, his journal, some charts, and the drawings of his +artists. This material, added to private letters and a few +miscellaneous papers, was placed in charge of Lieutenant Shortland to +be delivered to the French Ambassador in London, and formed part of the +substance of the two volumes and atlas published in Paris. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +It may be well to cite, as a note to this chapter, the books in +which contemporary accounts of the visit of Laperouse and his ships to +Botany Bay are to be found. Some readers may thereby be tempted to look +into the original authorities. Laperouse's own narrative is contained +in the third and fourth volumes of his "Voyage autour du Monde," edited +by Milet-Mureau (Paris, 1797). There are English translations. A few +letters at the end of the work give a little additional information. +Governor Phillip's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, 1789) contains a +good but brief account. Phillip's despatch to the Secretary of State, +Lord Sydney, printed in the "Historical Records of New South Wales," +Vol. I., part 2, p. 121, devotes a paragraph to the subject. King's +Journal in Vol. II. of the "Records," p. 543-7, gives his story. +Surgeon Bowes' Journal, on page 391 of the same volume, contains a +rather picturesque allusion. Hunter's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, +1793) substantially repeats King's version. Captain Watkin Tench, of +the Marines, has a good account in his "Narrative of an Expedition to +Botany Bay" (London, 1789), and Paterson's "History of New South Wales" +(Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1811) makes an allusion to the French expedition. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MYSTERY, AND THE SECRET OF THE SEA. +</H3> + +<P> +The BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE sailed from Botany Bay on March 10, +1788. After recording that fact we might well inscribe the pathetic +last words of Hamlet, "the rest is silence." +</P> + +<P> +We know what Laperouse intended to do. He wrote two letters to friends +in France, explaining the programme to be followed after sailing from +Botany Bay. They do not agree in every particular, but we may take the +last letter written to express his final determination. According to +this, his plan was to sail north, passing between Papua ( New Guinea) +and Australia by another channel than Endeavour Strait, if he could +find one. During September and October he intended to visit the Gulf of +Carpentaria, and thence sail down the west and along the south of +Australia, to Tasmania, "but in such a manner that it may be possible +for me to stretch northward in time to arrive at Ile-de-France in the +beginning of December, 1788." That was the programme which he was not +destined to complete—hardly, indeed, to enter upon. Had he succeeded, +his name would have been inscribed amongst the memorable company of the +world's great maritime explorers. As it is, the glint on his +brow, as he stands in the light of history, is less that of achievement +than of high promise, noble aims, romance and mystery. +</P> + +<P> +One of the letters sent from Sydney concluded with these words: "Adieu! +I shall depart in good health, as are all my ship's company. We would +undertake six voyages round the world if it could afford to our country +either profit or pleasure." They were not the last words he wrote, but +we may appropriately take them as being, not merely his adieu to a +friend, but to the world. +</P> + +<P> +Time sped on; the date given for the arrival at Ile-de-France was +passed; the year 1789 dawned and ticked off the tally of its days. But +nothing was heard of Laperouse. People in France grew anxious, one +especially we may be sure—she who knew so well where the ships would +anchor in Port Louis if they emerged out of the ocean brume, and who +longed so ardently that renewed acquaintance with scenes once sweetly +familiar would awaken memories meet to give wings to speed and spurs to +delay. Not a word came to sustain or cheer, and the faint flush of hope +faded to the wan hue of despair on the cheek of love. By 1791 all +expectation of seeing the expedition return was abandoned. But could +not some news of its fate be ascertained? Had it faded out of being +like a summer cloud, leaving not a trace behind? Might not some inkling +be had, some small relics obtained, some whisper caught, in those +distant isles, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Where the sea egg flames on the coral,<BR> + and the long-backed breakers croon<BR> + Their endless ocean legend to the lazy, locked lagoon."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +France was then in the throes of her great social earthquake; but it +stands to the credit of the National Assembly that, amidst many +turbulent projects and boiling passions, they found time and had the +disposition to cause the fitting out of a new expedition to search for +tidings of those whose disappearance weighed heavily on the heart of +the nation. The decree was passed on February 9, 1791. +</P> + +<P> +Two ships, the RECHERCHE and the ESPERANCE, were selected and placed +under the command of Dentrecasteaux. He had already had some experience +in a part of the region to be searched, had been a governor of +Ile-de-France, and during a South Sea voyage had named the cluster of +islands east of Papua now called the D'Entrecasteaux Group. The second +ship was placed under the command of Captain Huon Kermadec. The Huon +River in Tasmania, and the Kermadec Islands, N.E. of New Zealand, are +named after him. +</P> + +<P> +Fleurieu again drew up the instructions, and based them largely upon +the letter from Laperouse quoted above, pointing out that remains of +him would most probably be found in the neighbourhood of coasts which +he had intended to explore. It was especially indicated that there was, +south of New Holland, an immense stretch of coastline so far +utterly unknown. "No navigator has penetrated in that part of the sea; +the reconnaissances and discoveries of the Dutch, the English and the +French commenced at the south of Van Diemen's Land." +</P> + +<P> +Thus, for the second time, was a French navigator directed to explore +the southern coasts of Australia; and had Dentrecasteaux followed the +plan laid down for him he would have forestalled the discoveries of +Grant, Bass and Flinders, just as Laperouse would have done had his +work not been cut short by disaster. +</P> + +<P> +It has to be remembered that the instructions impressed upon +Dentrecasteaux that his business primarily was not geographical +discovery, but to get news of his lost compatriots. But even so, is it +not curious that the French should have been concerned with the +exploration of Southern Australia before the English thought about it; +that they should have had two shots at the task, planned with knowledge +and care, officially directed, and in charge of eminently competent +navigators; but that nevertheless their schemes should have gone awry? +They made a third attempt by means of Baudin's expedition, during the +Napoleonic Consulate, and again were unsuccessful, except in a very +small measure. It almost seems as if some power behind human endeavours +had intended these coasts for British finding—and keeping. +</P> + +<P> +The full story of Dentrecasteaux' expedition has not yet been told. Two +thick books were written about it, but a mass of unpublished +papers contain details that were judiciously kept out of those volumes. +When the whole truth is made known, it will be seen that the bitter +strife which plunged France in an agony of blood and tears was not +confined to the land. +</P> + +<P> +The ships did not visit Sydney. Why not? It might have been expected +that an expedition sent to discover traces of Laperouse would have been +careful to make Botany Bay in the first instance, and, after collecting +whatever evidence was available there, would have carefully followed +the route that he had proposed to pursue. But it would seem that an +European settlement was avoided. Why? The unpublished papers may +furnish an answer to that question. +</P> + +<P> +Neither was the south coast of Australia explored. That great chance +was missed. Some excellent charting—which ten years later commanded +the cordial admiration of Flinders—was done by Beautemps-Beaupre, who +was Dentrecasteaux' cartographer, especially round about the S.W. +corner of the continent. Esperance Bay, in Western Australia, is named +after one of the ships of this expedition. But from that corner, his +ships being short of fresh water, Dentrecasteaux sailed on a direct +line to Southern Tasmania, and thence to New Zealand, New Caledonia, +and New Guinea. Touch with the only European centre in these parts +was—apparently with deliberation—not obtained. +</P> + +<P> +Dentrecasteaux died while his ships were in the waters to the +north of New Guinea. He fell violently ill, raving at first, then +subsiding into unconsciousness, a death terrible to read about in the +published narrative, where the full extent of his troubles is not +revealed. Kermadec, commander of the ESPERANCE, also died at New +Caledonia. After their decease the ships returned to France as rapidly +as they could. They were detained by the Dutch at Sourabaya for several +months, as prisoners of war, and did not reach Europe till March, 1796. +Their mission had been abortive. +</P> + +<P> +Five French Captains who brought expeditions to Australia at this +period all ended in misfortune. Laperouse was drowned; de Langle was +murdered; Dentrecasteaux died miserably at sea; Kermadec, the fourth, +had expired shortly before; and Baudin, the fifth, died at Port Louis +on the homeward voyage. +</P> + +<P> +Nor is even that the last touch of melancholy to the tale of tragedy. +There was a young poet who was touched by the fate of Laperouse. Andre +Chenier is now recognised as one of the finest masters of song who have +enriched French literature, and his poems are more and more studied and +admired both by his own countrymen and abroad. He planned and partly +finished a long poem, "L'Amerique," which contains a mournful passage +about the mystery of the sea which had not then been solved. A +translation of the lines will not be attempted here; they are mentioned +because the poet himself had an end as tragic, though in a +different mode, as that of the hero of whom he sang. He came under the +displeasure of the tyrants of the Red Terror through his friends and +his writings, and in March, 1794, the guillotine took this brilliant +young genius as a victim. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + J'accuserai les vents et cette mer jalouse<BR> + Qui retient, qui peut-etre a ravi Laperouse<BR> +</P> + +<P> +so the poem begins. How strangely the shadow of Tragedy hangs over this +ill-starred expedition; Louis XVI the projector, Laperouse and de +Langle the commanders, Dentrecasteaux and Kermadec the searchers, Andre +Chenier the laureate: the breath of the black-robed Fury was upon them +all! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CAPTAIN DILLON'S DISCOVERY. +</H3> + +<P> +The navigators of all nations were fascinated by the mystery attaching +to the fate of Laperouse. Every ship that sailed the Pacific hoped to +obtain tidings or remains. From time to time rumours arose of the +discovery of relics. One reported the sight of wreckage; another that +islanders had been seen dressed in French uniforms; another that a +cross of St. Louis had been found. But the element of probability in +the various stories evaporated on investigation. Flinders, sailing +north from Port Jackson in the INVESTIGATOR in 1802, kept a sharp +lookout on the Barrier Reef, the possibility of finding some trace +being "always present to my mind." But no definite news came. +</P> + +<P> +A new French voyage of exploration came down to the Pacific in 1817, +under the command of Louis de Freycinet, who had been a lieutenant in +Baudin's expedition in 1800-4. The purpose was not chiefly to look for +evidence concerning Laperouse, though naturally a keen scrutiny was +maintained with this object in view. +</P> + +<P> +An extremely queer fact may be mentioned in connection with this +voyage. The URANIE carried a woman among the crew, the only one of her +sex amidst one hundred men. Madame de Freycinet, the wife of the +commandant, joined at Toulon, dressed as a ship's boy, and it was given +out in the newspapers that her husband was very much surprised when he +found that his wife had managed to get aboard in disguise. But Arago, +one of the scientific staff, tells us in his Memoirs, published in +1837, that—as we can well believe—Freycinet knew perfectly who the +"young and pretty" boy was, and had connived at her joining the ship as +a lad, because she wanted to accompany her husband, and the authorities +would have prevented her had they known. She continued to wear her +boy's dress until after the ships visited Gibraltar, for Arago informs +us that the solemn British Lieutenant-Governor there, when he saw her, +broke into a smile, "the first perhaps that his features had worn for +ten years." If that be true, the little lady surely did a little good +by her saucy escapade. But official society regarded the lady in +trousers with a frigid stare, so that henceforth she deemed it discreet +to resume feminine garments. It does not appear that she passed for a +boy when the expedition visited Sydney, and of course no hint of +Madame's presence is given in the official history of the voyage. +</P> + +<P> +We now reach the stage when the veil was lifted and the mystery +explained. In 1813 the East India Company's ship HUNTER, voyaging from +Calcutta to Sydney, called at the Fiji Islands. They discovered that +several Europeans were living on one of the group. Some had been +shipwrecked; some had deserted from vessels; but they had become +accustomed to the life and preferred it. The HUNTER employed a party of +them to collect sandal wood and beche-de-mer, one of her junior +officers, Peter Dillon, being in charge. A quarrel with natives +occurred, and all the Europeans were murdered, except Dillon, a +Prussian named Martin Bushart, and a seaman, William Wilson. After the +affray Bushart would certainly have been slain had he remained, so he +induced the captain of the HUNTER to give him a passage to the first +land reached. Accordingly Bushart, a Fiji woman who was his wife, and a +Lascar companion, were landed on Barwell Island, or Tucopia. +</P> + +<P> +Thirteen years later Peter Dillon was sailing in command of his own +ship, the ST. PATRICK, from Valparaiso to Pondicherry, when he sighted +Tucopia. Curiosity prompted him to stop to enquire whether his old +friend Martin Bushart was still alive. He hove to, and shortly after +two canoes put off from the land, bringing Bushart and the Lascar, both +in excellent health. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Dillon observed that the Lascar sold an old silver sword guard to +one of the ST. PATRICK'S crew in return for a few fish hooks. This made +him inquisitive. He asked the Prussian where it came from. Bushart +informed him that when he first arrived at the island he saw in +possession of the natives, not only this sword guard, but also several +chain plates, iron bolts, axes, the handle of a silver fork, some +knives, tea cups, beads, bottles, a silver spoon bearing a crest and +monogram, and a sword. He asked where these articles were +obtained, and the natives told him that they got them from the +Mannicolo (or Vanikoro) cluster of islands, two days' canoe voyage from +Tucopia, in the Santa Cruz group. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon examining the sword minutely" wrote Dillon, "I discovered, or +thought I discovered, the initials of Perouse stamped on it, which +excited my suspicion and made me more exact in my inquiries. I then, by +means of Bushart and the Lascar, questioned some of the islanders +respecting the way in which their neighbours procured the silver and +iron articles. They told me that the natives of Mannicolo stated that +many years ago two large ships arrived at their islands; one anchored +at the island of Whanoo, and the other at the island of Paiou, a little +distance from each other. Some time after they anchored, and before +they had any communication with the natives, a heavy gale arose and +both vessels were driven ashore. The ship that was anchored off Whanoo +grounded upon the rocks. +</P> + +<P> +"The natives came in crowds to the seaside, armed with clubs, spears, +and bows and arrows, and shot some arrows into the ship, and the crew +in return fired the guns and some musketry on them and killed several. +The vessel, continuing to beat violently against the rocks, shortly +afterwards went to pieces. Some of the crew took to their boats, and +were driven on shore, where they were to a man murdered on landing by +the infuriated natives. Others threw themselves into the sea; but if +they reached the shore it was only to share the fate of their +wretched comrades, so that not a single soul escaped out of this +vessel." +</P> + +<P> +The ship wrecked on Paiou, according to the natives' story, was driven +on a sandy beach. Some arrows were fired into her, but the crew did not +fire. They were restrained, and held up beads, axes, and toys, making a +demonstration of friendliness. As soon as the wind abated, an old chief +came aboard the wrecked ship, where he was received in friendly +fashion, and, going ashore, pacified his people. The crew of the +vessel, compelled to abandon her, carried the greater part of their +stores ashore, where they built a small boat from the remains of the +wreck. As soon as this craft was ready to sail, as many as could +conveniently be taken embarked and sailed away. They were never heard +of again. The remainder of the crew remained on the island until they +died. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the information collected by Captain Peter Dillon in 1826. He +took away with him the sword guard, but regretted to learn that the +silver spoon had been beaten into wire by Bushart for making rings and +ornaments for female islanders. +</P> + +<P> +When he reached Calcutta, Dillon wrote an account of his discovery in a +letter to the government of Bengal, and suggested that he should be +sent in command of an expedition to search the Vanikoro cluster in the +hope of finding some old survivor of Laperouse's unhappy company, or at +all events further remains of the ships. He had prevailed upon +Martin Bushart to accompany him to India, and hoped, through this man's +knowledge of the native tongue, to elicit all that was to be known. +</P> + +<P> +The Government of British India became interested in Dillon's +discovery, and resolved to send him in command of a ship to search for +further information. At the end of 1826 he sailed in the RESEARCH, and +in September of the following year came within sight of the high-peaked +island Tucopia. The enquiries made on this voyage fully confirmed and +completed the story, and left no room for doubt that the ships of +Laperouse had been wrecked and his whole company massacred or drowned +on or near Vanikoro. Many natives still living remembered the arrival +of the French. Some of them related that they thought those who came on +the big ships to be not men but spirits; and such a grotesque bit of +description as was given of the peaks of cocked hats exactly expressed +the way in which the appearance of the strangers would be likely to +appeal to the native imagination:—"There was a projection from their +foreheads or noses a foot long." +</P> + +<P> +Furthermore, Dillon's officers were able to purchase from the islands +such relics as an old sword blade, a rusted razor, a silver sauce-boat +with fleur-de-lis upon it, a brass mortar, a few small bells, a silver +sword-handle bearing a cypher, apparently a "P" with a crown, part of a +blacksmith's vice, the crown of a small anchor, and many other +articles. An examination of natives brought out a few further +details, as for example, a description of the chief of the strangers, +"who used always to be looking at the stars and the sun and beckoning +to them," which is how a native would be likely to regard a man making +astronomical observations. Dillon, in short had solved the forty years' +mystery. The Pacific had revealed her long-held secret. +</P> + +<P> +It happened that a new French expedition in the ASTROLABE, under the +command of Dumont-D'Urville, was in the southern hemisphere at this +time. While he lay at Hobart on his way to New Zealand, the captain +heard of Dillon's discoveries, and, at once changing his plans, sailed +for the Santa Cruz Islands. He arrived there in February, 1828, and +made some valuable finds to supplement those of the English captain. At +the bottom of the sea, in perfectly clear water, he saw lying, +encrusted with coral, some remains of anchors, chains, guns, bullets, +and other objects which had clearly belonged to the ships of Laperouse. +One of his artists made a drawing of them on the spot. They were +recovered, and, together with Dillon's collection, are now exhibited in +a pyramid at the Marine Museum at the Louvre in Paris, in memory of the +ill-fated commander and crew who perished, martyrs in the great cause +of discovery, a century and a quarter ago. +</P> + +<P> +It is interesting to note that descendants of Captain Dillon are +residents of Sydney to this day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FAME OF LAPEROUSE. +</H3> + +<P> +Intellectually, and as a navigator, Laperouse was a son of James Cook, +and he himself would have rejoiced to be so described. The allusions to +his predecessor in his writings are to be numbered by scores, and the +note of reverent admiration is frequently sounded. He followed Cook's +guidance in the management of his ships, paying particular attention to +the diet of his crews. He did not succeed in keeping scurvy at bay +altogether, but when the disease made its appearance he met it promptly +by securing fresh vegetable food for the sufferers, and was so far +successful that when he arrived in Botany Bay his whole company was in +good health. +</P> + +<P> +The influence of the example and experience of Cook may be illustrated +in many ways, some of them curious. We may take a point as to which he +really had little to fear; but he knew what had occurred in Cook's case +and he was anxious that the same should not happen to him. The +published story of Cook's first South Sea Voyage, as is well known, was +not his own. His journal was handed over to Dr. Hawkesworth, a +gentleman who tried to model his literary style on that of Dr. Johnson, +and evolved a pompous, big-drum product in consequence. Hawkesworth +garnished the manly, straightforward navigator's simple and direct +English with embellishments of his own. Where Cook was plain Hawkesworth +was ornate; where Cook was sensible Hawkesworth was silly; where Cook +was accurate, Hawkesworth by stuffing in his own precious observations +made the narrative unreliable, and even ridiculous. In fact, the +gingerbread Johnson simply spoiled Cook. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Johnson was by no means gratified by the ponderous prancings of his +imitator. We learn from Boswell that when the great man met Captain +Cook at a dinner given by the President of the Royal Society, he said +that he "was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that +celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as to many of the +exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth of his voyages." Cook +himself was annoyed by the decorating of his story, and resented the +treatment strongly. +</P> + +<P> +Laperouse knew this, and was very anxious that nobody in France should +Hawkesworthify him. He did not object to being carefully edited, but he +did not want to be decorated. He wrote excellent French narrative +prose, and his work may be read with delight. Its qualities of clarity, +picturesqueness and smoothness, are quite in accord with the fine +traditions of the language. But, as it was likely that part of the +history of his voyage might be published before his return, he did not +want it to be handed over to anybody who would trick it out in +finery, and he therefore wrote the following letter: +</P> + +<P> +"If my journal be published before my return, let the editing of it by +no means be entrusted to a man of letters; for either he will sacrifice +to the turn of a phrase the proper terms which the seaman and man of +learning would prefer, but which to him will appear harsh and +barbarous; or, rejecting all the nautical and astronomical details, and +endeavouring to make a pleasing romance, he will for want of the +knowledge his education has not allowed him to acquire, commit mistakes +which may prove fatal to those who shall follow me. But choose an +editor versed in the mathematical sciences, who is capable of +calculating and comparing my data with those of other investigators, of +rectifying errors which may have escaped me, and of guarding himself +against the commission of others. Such an editor will preserve the +substance of the work; will omit nothing that is essential; will give +technical details the harsh and rude, but concise style of a seaman; +and will well perform his task in supplying my place and publishing the +work as I would have done it myself." +</P> + +<P> +That letter is a rather singular effect of Laperouse's study of Cook, +which might be illustrated by further examples. The influence of the +great English sailor is the more remarkable when we remember that there +had been early French navigators to the South Seas before Laperouse. +There was the elder Bougainville, the discoverer of the Navigator +Islands; there was Marion-Dufresne, who was killed and eaten by Maoris +in 1772; there was Surville—to mention only three. Laperouse knew of +them, and mentioned them. But they had little to teach him. In short +and in truth, he belonged to the school of Cook, and that is an +excellent reason why English and especially Australian people should +have an especial regard for him. +</P> + +<P> +The disastrous end of Laperouse's expedition before he had completed +his task prevented him from adequately realising his possibilities as a +discoverer. As pointed out in the preceding pages, if he had completed +his voyage, he would in all probability have found the southern coasts +of Australia in 1788. But the work that he actually did is not without +importance; and he unquestionably possessed the true spirit of the +explorer. When he entered upon this phase of his career he was a +thoroughly experienced seaman. He was widely read in voyaging +literature, intellectually well endowed, alert-minded, eager, +courageous, and vigorous. The French nation has had no greater sailor +than Laperouse. +</P> + +<P> +De Lesseps, the companion of his voyage as far as Kamchatka, has left a +brief but striking characterisation of him. "He was," says this +witness, "an accomplished gentleman, perfectly urbane and full of wit, +and possessed of those charming manners which pertained to the +eighteenth century. He was always agreeable in his relations with +subordinates and officers alike." The same writer tells us that +when Louis XVI gave him the command of the expedition he had the +reputation of being the ablest seaman in the French navy. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly he was no common man to whose memory stands that tall +monument at Botany Bay. It was erected at the cost of the French +Government by the Baron de Bougainville, in 1825, and serves not only +as a reminder of a fine character and a full, rich and manly life, but +of a series of historical events that are of capital consequence in the +exploration and occupation of Australia. +</P> + +<P> +It will be appropriate to conclude this brief biography with a tribute +to the French navigator from the pen of an English poet. Thomas +Campbell is best remembered by such vigorous poems as "Ye Mariners of +England," and "The Battle of the Baltic," which express a tense and +elevated British patriotism. All the more impressive for that very +reason is his elegy in honour of a sailor of another nation, whose +merits as a man and whose charm as a writer Campbell had recognised +from his boyhood. The following are his. +</P> + +<P> +LINES WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF OF LAPEROUSE'S "VOYAGES" +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Loved Voyager! whose pages had a zest<BR> + More sweet than fiction to my wondering breast,<BR> + When, rapt in fancy, many a boyish day<BR> + I tracked his wanderings o'er the watery way,<BR> + Roamed round the Aleutian isles in waking dreams,<BR> + Or plucked the fleur-de-lys by Jesso's streams,<BR> + Or gladly leaped on that far Tartar strand,<BR> + Where Europe's anchor ne'er had bit the sand,<BR> + Where scarce a roving wild tribe crossed the plain,<BR> + Or human voice broke nature's silent reign,—<BR> + But vast and grassy deserts feed the bear,<BR> + And sweeping deer-herds dread no hunter's snare.<BR> + Such young delight his real records brought,<BR> + His truth so touched romantic springs of thought,<BR> + That, all my after life, his fate and fame<BR> + Entwined romance with Laperouse's name.<BR> + Fair were his ships, expert his gallant crews,<BR> + And glorious was the emprise of Laperouse—<BR> + Humanely glorious! Men will weep for him,<BR> + When many a guilty martial fame is dim:<BR> + He ploughed the deep to bind no captive's chain—<BR> + Pursued no rapine—strewed no wreck with slain;<BR> + And, save that in the deep themselves lie low,<BR> + His heroes plucked no wreath from human woe.<BR> + 'Twas his the earth's remotest bounds to scan,<BR> + Conciliating with gifts barbaric man—<BR> + Enrich the world's contemporaneous mind,<BR> + And amplify the picture of mankind.<BR> + Far on the vast Pacific, 'midst those isles<BR> + O'er which the earliest morn of Asia smiles,<BR> + He sounded and gave charts to many a shore<BR> + And gulf of ocean new to nautic lore;<BR> + Yet he that led discovery o'er the wave,<BR> + Still finds himself an undiscovered grave.<BR> + He came not back! Conjecture's cheek grew pale,<BR> + Year after year; in no propitious gale<BR> + His lilied banner held its homeward way,<BR> + And Science saddened at her martyr's stay.<BR> + An age elapsed: no wreck told where or when<BR> + The chief went down with all his gallant men,<BR> + Or whether by the storm and wild sea flood<BR> + He perished, or by wilder men of blood.<BR> + The shuddering fancy only guess'd his doom,<BR> + And doubt to sorrow gave but deeper gloom.<BR> + An age elapsed: when men were dead or gray,<BR> + Whose hearts had mourned him in their youthful day,<BR> + Fame traced on Vanikoro's shore at last,<BR> + The boiling surge had mounted o'er his mast.<BR> + The islesmen told of some surviving men,<BR> + But Christian eyes beheld them ne'er again.<BR> + Sad bourne of all his toils—with all his band<BR> + To sleep, wrecked, shroudless, on a savage strand!<BR> + Yet what is all that fires a hero's scorn<BR> + Of death?—the hope to live in hearts unborn.<BR> + Life to the brave is not its fleeting breath,<BR> + But worth—foretasting fame that follows death.<BR> + That worth had Laperouse, that meed he won.<BR> + He sleeps—his life's long stormy watch is done.<BR> + In the great deep, whose boundaries and space<BR> + He measured, fate ordained his resting place;<BR> + But bade his fame, like th' ocean rolling o'er<BR> + His relics, visit every earthly shore.<BR> + Fair Science on that ocean's azure robe<BR> + Still writes his name in picturing the globe,<BR> + And paints (what fairer wreath could glory twine?)<BR> + His watery course—a world-encircling line.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laperouse, by Ernest Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAPEROUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 4222-h.htm or 4222-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/2/4222/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Laperouse + +Author: Ernest Scott + +Posting Date: June 30, 2009 [EBook #4222] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 8, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAPEROUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +Laperouse + + +by + +Ernest Scott + + + + +DEDICATION + +To my friend T.B.E. + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES. + II. THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER. + III. THE LOVE STORY OF LAPEROUSE. + IV. THE VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION. + V. THE EARLY PART OF THE VOYAGE. + VI. LAPEROUSE IN THE PACIFIC. + VII. AT BOTANY BAY. + VIII. THE MYSTERY, AND THE SECRET OF THE SEA. + IX. CAPTAIN DILLON'S DISCOVERY. + X. THE FAME OF LAPEROUSE. + + + + +FOREWORD + + +All Sydney people, and most of those who have visited the city, have +seen the tall monument to Laperouse overlooking Botany Bay. Many have +perhaps read a little about him, and know the story of his surprising +appearance in this harbour six days after the arrival of Governor +Phillip with the First Fleet. One can hardy look at the obelisk, and at +the tomb of Pere Receveur near by, without picturing the departure of +the French ships after bidding farewell to the English officers and +colonists. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, one can follow Laperouse +out to sea, with the eye of imagination, until sails, poops and hulls +diminish to the view and disappear below the hazy-blue horizon. We may +be sure that some of Governor Phillip's people watched the sailing, and +the lessening, and the melting away of the vessels, from just about the +same place, one hundred and twenty four years ago. What they saw, and +what we can imagine, was really the end of a romantic career, and the +beginning of a mystery of the sea which even yet has not lost its +fascination. + +The story of that life is surely worth telling, and, we trust, worth +reading; for it is that of a good, brave and high-minded man, a great +sailor, and a true gentleman. The author has put into these few pages +what he has gleaned from many volumes, some of them stout, heavy and +dingy tomes, though delightful enough to "those who like that +sort of thing." He hopes that the book may for many readers touch with +new meaning those old weatherworn stones at Botany Bay, and make the +personality of Laperouse live again for such as nourish an interest in +Australian history. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +(Not included in etext) + + Portrait of Laperouse, with Autograph + Laperouse's Coat of Arms + The Laperouse Family + Comte de Fleurieu + Louis XVI Giving Instructions to Laperouse + Australia as known at the time of Laperouse's visit + The BOUSSOLE and ASTROLABE + Chart of Laperouse's Voyage in the Pacific + Massacre of Captain de Langle's Party + Tomb of Pere Receveur + Monument to Laperouse at Botany Bay + Admiral Dentrecasteaux + Map of Vanikoro Island + Relics of Laperouse + + + + + +Life of Laperouse + + + + +Chapter I. + +FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES + + +Jean-Francois Galaup, Comte De Laperouse, was born at Albi, on August +23, 1741. His birthplace is the chief town in the Department of Tarn, +lying at the centre of the fruitful province of Languedoc, in the south +of France. It boasts a fine old Gothic cathedral, enriched with much +noble carving and brilliant fresco painting; and its history gives it +some importance in the lurid and exciting annals of France. From its +name was derived that of a religious sect, the Albigeois, who professed +doctrines condemned as heretical and endured severe persecution during +the thirteenth century. + +But among all the many thousands of men who have been born, and have +lived, and died in the old houses of the venerable city, none, not even +among its bishops and counts, has borne a name which lives in the +memory of mankind as does that of the navigator, Laperouse. The sturdy +farmers of the fat and fertile plain which is the granary of France, +who drive in to Albi on market days, the patient peasants of the +fields, and the simple artisans who ply their primitive trades under +the shadow of the dark-red walls of St. Cecile, know few details, +perhaps, about the sailor who sank beneath the waters of the Pacific +so many years ago. Yet very many of them have heard of Laperouse, and +are familiar with his monument cast in bronze in the public square of +Albi. They speak his name respectfully as that of one who grew up +among their ancestors, who trod their streets, sat in their cathedral, +won great fame, and met his death under the strange, distant, southern +stars. + +His family had for five hundred years been settled, prominent and +prosperous, on estates in the valley of the Tarn. In the middle of the +fifteenth century a Galaup held distinguished office among the citizens +of Albi, and several later ancestors are mentioned honourably in its +records. The father of the navigator, Victor Joseph de Galaup, +succeeded to property which maintained him in a position of influence +and affluence among his neighbours. He married Marguerite de +Resseguier, a woman long remembered in the district for her qualities +of manner and mind. She exercised a strong influence over her +adventurous but affectionate son; and a letter written to her by him at +an interesting crisis of his life, testifies to his eager desire to +conform to his mother's wishes even in a matter that wrenched his +heart, and after years of service in the Navy had taken him far and +kept him long from her kind, concerning eyes. + +Jean-Francois derived the name by which he is known in history from the +estate of Peyrouse, one of the possessions of his family. But he +dropped the "y" when assuming the designation, and invariably +spelt the name "Laperouse," as one word. Inasmuch as the final +authority on the spelling of a personal name is that of the individual +who owns it, there can be no doubt that we ought always to spell this +name "Laperouse," as, in fact, successors in the family who have borne +it have done; though in nearly all books, French as well as English, it +is spelt "La Perouse." In the little volume now in the reader's hands, +the example of Laperouse himself has been followed. + +On this point it may be remarked concerning another navigator who was +engaged in Australian exploration, that we may lose touch with an +interesting historical fact by not observing the correct form of a +name. On maps of Tasmania appears "D'Entrecasteaux Channel." It was +named by and after Admiral Bruny Dentrecasteaux, who as commander of +the RECHERCHE and ESPERANCE visited Australian waters. We shall have +something to say about his expedition towards the close of the book. +Now, Dentrecasteaux sailed from France in 1791, while the Revolution +was raging. All titles had been abolished by a decree of the National +Assembly on July 19th, 1790. When he made this voyage, therefore, the +Admiral was not Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, a form which implied a +territorial titular distinction; but simply Citizen Dentrecasteaux. The +name is so spelt in the contemporary histories of his expedition +written by Rossel and Labillardiere. It would not have been likely to +be spelt in any other way by a French officer at the time. Thus, +the Marquis de la Fayette became simply Lafayette, and so with all +other bearers of titles in France. Consequently we should, by observing +this little difference, remind ourselves of Dentrecasteaux' period and +circumstances. + +That, however, is by the way, and our main concern for the present is +with Laperouse. + +As a boy, Jean-Francois developed a love for books of voyages, and +dreamt, as a boy will, of adventures that he would enjoy when he grew +to manhood. A relative tells us that his imagination was enkindled by +reading of the recent discoveries of Anson. As he grew up, and himself +sailed the ocean in command of great ships, he continued to read all +the voyaging literature he could procure. The writings of Byron, +Carteret, Wallis, Louis de Bougainville, "and above all Cook," are +mentioned as those of his heroes. He "burned to follow in their +footsteps." + +It will be observed that, with one exception, the navigators who are +especially described by one of his own family as having influenced the +bent of Laperouse were Englishmen. He did not, of course, read all of +their works in his boyhood, because some of them were published after +he had embraced a naval career. But we note them in this place, as the +guiding stars by which he shaped his course. He must have been a young +man, already on the way to distinction as an officer, when he came +under the spell of Cook. "And above all Cook," says his relative. To +the end of his life, down to the final days of his very last +voyage, Laperouse revered the name of Cook. Every Australian reader +will like him the better for that. Not many months before his own life +ended in tragedy and mystery, he visited the island where the great +English sailor was slain. When he reflected on the achievements of that +wonderful career, he sat down in his cabin and wrote in his Journal the +passage of which the following is a translation. It is given here out +of its chronological order, but we are dealing with the influences that +made Laperouse what he was, and we can see from these sincere and +feeling words, what Cook meant to him: + +"Full of admiration and of respect as I am for the memory of that great +man, he will always be in my eyes the first of navigators. It is he who +has determined the precise position of these islands, who has explored +their shores, who has made known the manners, customs and religion of +the inhabitants, and who has paid with his blood for all the light +which we have to-day concerning these peoples. I would call him the +Christopher Columbus of these countries, of the coast of Alaska, and of +nearly all the isles of the South Seas. Chance might enable the most +ignorant man to discover islands, but it belongs only to great men like +him to leave nothing more to be done regarding the coasts they have +found. Navigators, philosophers, physicians, all find in his Voyages +interesting and useful things which were the object of his concern. All +men, especially all navigators, owe a tribute of praise to his memory. +How could one neglect to pay it at the moment of coming upon the +group of islands where he finished so unfortunately his career?" + +We can well understand that a lad whose head was full of thoughts of +voyaging and adventure, was not, as a schoolboy, very tame and easy to +manage. He is described as having been ardent, impetuous, and rather +stubborn. But there is more than one kind of stubbornness. There is the +stupid stubbornness of the mule, and the fixed, firm will of the +intelligent being. We can perceive quite well what is meant in this +case. On the other hand, he was affectionate, quick and clever. He +longed for the sea; and his father, observing his decided inclination, +allowed him to choose the profession he desired. + +It may well have seemed to the parents of Laperouse at this time that +fine prospects lay before a gallant young gentleman who should enter +the Marine. There was for the moment peace between France and England. +A truce had been made by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. But +everybody knew that there would be war again soon. Both countries were +struggling for the mastery in India and in North America. The sense of +rivalry was strong. Jealousies were fierce on both sides. In India, the +French power was wielded, and ever more and more extended, by the +brilliant Governor Dupleix; whilst in the British possessions the +rising influence was that of the dashing, audacious Clive. In North +America the French were scheming to push their dominion down the +Ohio-Mississippi Valley from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, in +the rear of the line of British colonies planted on the seaboard from +the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida. The colonists were determined to +prevent them; and a young man named George Washington, who afterwards +became very famous, first rose into prominence in a series of tough +struggles to thwart the French designs. The points of collision between +the two nations were so sharp, feeling on either side was so bitter, +the contending interests were so incapable of being reconciled, that it +was plain to all that another great war was bound to break out, and +that sea power would play a very important part in the issue. The young +Laperouse wanted to go to sea, and his father wanted him to distinguish +himself and confer lustre on his name. The choice of a calling for him, +therefore, suited all the parties concerned. + +He was a boy of fifteen when, in November, 1756, he entered the Marine +service as a royal cadet. He had not long to wait before tasting +"delight of battle," for the expected war was declared in May, and +before he was much older he was in the thick of it. + + + + +Chapter II. + +THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER. + + +Laperouse first obtained employment in the French navy in the CELEBRE, +from March to November, 1757. From this date until his death, +thirty-one years later, he was almost continuously engaged, during +peace and war, in the maritime service of his country. The official +list of his appointments contains only one blank year, 1764. He had +then experienced close upon seven years of continuous sea fighting and +had served in as many ships: the CELEBRE, the POMONE, the ZEPHIR, the +CERF, the FORMIDABLE, the ROBUSTE, and the SIX CORPS. But the peace of +Paris was signed in the early part of 1763. After that, having been +promoted to the rank of ensign, he had a rest. + +It was not a popular peace on either side. In Paris there was a current +phrase, "BETE COMME LA PAIX," stupid as the peace. In England, the +great Pitt was so indignant on account of its conditions that, all +swollen and pinched with gout as he was, he had himself carried to the +House of Commons, his limbs blanketted in bandages and his face +contorted with pain, and, leaning upon a crutch, denounced it in a +speech lasting three hours and forty minutes. The people cheered him to +the echo when he came out to his carriage, and the vote favourable to +the terms of the treaty was carried by wholesale corruption. But +all the same, Great Britain did very well out of it, and both +countries--though neither was satisfied--were for the time being tired +of war. + +For Laperouse the seven years had been full of excitement. The most +memorable engagement in which he took part was a very celebrated one, +in November, 1759. A stirring ballad has been written about it by Henry +Newbolt:-- + + "In seventeen hundred and fifty-nine + When Hawke came swooping from the West, + The French King's admiral with twenty of the line + Came sailing forth to sack us out of Brest." + + +Laperouse's ship, the FORMIDABLE, was one of the French fleet of +twenty-one sail. What happened was this. The French foreign minister, +Choiseul, had hatched a crafty plan for the invasion of England, but +before it could be executed the British fleet had to be cleared out of +the way. There was always that tough wooden wall with the hearts of oak +behind it, standing solidly in the path. It baffled Napoleon in the +same fashion when he thought out an invasion plan in the next century. +The French Admiral, Conflans, schemed to lure Sir Edward Hawke into +Quiberon Bay, on the coast of Brittany. A strong westerly gale was +blowing and was rapidly swelling into a raging tempest. Conflans, +piloted by a reliable guide who knew the Bay thoroughly, intended to +take up a fairly safe, sheltered position on the lee side, and hoped +that the wind would force Hawke, who was not familiar with the +ground, on to the reefs and shoals, where his fleet would be destroyed +by the storm and the French guns together. But Hawke, whose name +signally represents the bold, swift, sure character of the man, +understood the design, took the risk, avoided the danger, and clutched +the prey. Following the French as rapidly as wind and canvas could take +him, he caught their rearmost vessels, smashed them up, battered the +whole fleet successively into flight or splinters, and himself lost +only two vessels, which ran upon a shoal. Plodding prose does scant +justice to the extraordinary brilliancy of Hawke's victory, described +by Admiral Mahan as "the Trafalgar of this war." We cannot pass on +without quoting one of Mr. Newbolt's graphic verses:-- + + "'Twas long past the noon of a wild November day + When Hawke came swooping from the west; + He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay, + But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast. + Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight, + Fiercely blew the storm wind, darkly fell the night, + For they took the foe for pilot and the cannon's glare for light, + When Hawke came swooping from the West." + + +"They took the foe for pilot:" that is a most excellent touch, both +poetical and true. + +The FORMIDABLE was the first to be disposed of in the fight. She was an +80-gun line-of-battle ship, carrying the flag of Admiral du +Verger. Her position being in the rear of the squadron, she was early +engaged by the RESOLUTION, and in addition received the full broadside +of every other British ship that passed her. The Admiral fell mortally +wounded, and two hundred on board were killed. She struck her colours +at four o'clock after receiving a terrible battering, and was the only +French ship captured by Hawke's fleet. All the others were sunk, burnt, +or beached, or else escaped. The young Laperouse was amongst the +wounded, though his hurts were not dangerous; and, after a brief period +spent in England as a prisoner of war, he returned to service. + +An amusing rhyme in connection with this engagement is worth recalling. +Supplies for Hawke's fleet did not come to hand for a considerable time +after they were due, and in consequence the victorious crews had to be +put on "short commons." Some wag--it is the way of the British sailor +to do his grumbling with a spice of humour--put the case thus:-- + + "Ere Hawke did bang + Monsieur Conflans, + You sent us beef and beer; + Now Monsieur's beat + We've nought to eat, + Since you have nought to fear." + + +An interesting coincidence must also be noted. Thirty-five years later, +only a few leagues from the place where Laperouse first learnt +what it meant to fight the British on the sea, another young officer +who was afterwards greatly concerned with Australasian exploration had +his introduction to naval warfare. It was in 1794 that Midshipman +Matthew Flinders, on the BELLEROPHON, Captain Pasley, played his +valiant little part in a great fleet action off Brest. Both of these +youths, whose longing was for exploration and discovery, and who are +remembered by mankind in that connection, were cradled on the sea +amidst the smoke and flame of battle, both in the same waters. + +During the next twenty-five years Laperouse saw a considerable amount +of fighting in the East and West Indies, and in Canadian waters. He was +commander of the AMAZON, under D'Estaing, during a period when events +did not shape themselves very gloriously for British arms, not because +our admirals had lost their skill and nerve, or our seamen their grit +and courage, but because Governments at home muddled, squabbled, +starved the navy, misunderstood the problem, and generally made a mess +of things. We need not follow him through the details of these years, +but simply note that Laperouse's dash and good seamanship won him a +high reputation among French naval officers, and brought him under the +eye of the authorities who afterwards chose him to command an +expedition of discovery. + +One incident must be recorded, because it throws a light on the +character of Laperouse. In 1782, whilst serving under Admiral +Latouche-Treville in the West, he was ordered to destroy the British +forts on the Hudson River. He attacked them with the SCEPTRE, 74 guns. +The British had been engaged in their most unfortunate war with the +American Colonies, and in 1781, in consequence of wretchedly bad +strategy, had lost command of the sea. The French had been helping the +revolted Americans, not for love of them, but from enmity to their +rivals. After the capitulation of the British troops at Yorktown, a +number of loyalists still held out under discouraging conditions in +Canada, and the French desired to dislodge them from the important +waterway of the Hudson. + +Laperouse found little difficulty in fulfilling his mission, for the +defence was weak and the garrisons of the forts, after a brief +resistance, fled to the woods. It was then that he did a thing +described in our principal naval history as an act of "kindness and +humanity, rare in the annals of war." Laperouse knew that if he totally +destroyed the stores as well as the forts, the unfortunate British, +after he had left, would perish either from hunger or under the +tomahawks of the Red Indians. So he was careful to see that the food +and clothing, and a quantity of powder and small arms, were left +untouched, for, as he nobly said, "An enemy conquered should have +nothing more to fear from a civilised foe; he then becomes a friend." + +Some readers may like to see the verses in which a French poet +has enshrined this incident. For their benefit they are appended:-- + + "Un jour ayant appris que les Anglais en fuite + Se cachaient dans un bois redoutant la poursuite, + Tu laissas sur la plage aux soldats affames, + Par la peur affoles, en haillons, desarmes, + Des vivres abondantes, des habits et des armes; + Tu t'eloignas apres pour calmer leurs alarmes, + Et quand on s'etonnait: 'Sachez qu' un ennemi + Vaincu n'a rien a craindre, et devient un ami.'" + + +The passage may be rendered in English thus: "One day, having heard +that the fleeing English were hidden in a forest dreading pursuit, you +left upon the shore for those soldiers--famished, ragged, disarmed, +and paralysed by fear--abundance of food, clothes and arms; then, to +calm their fears, you removed your forces to a distance; and, when +astonishment was expressed, you said: 'Understand that a beaten enemy +has nothing to fear from us, and becomes a friend.'" + + + + +Chapter III. + +THE LOVE STORY OF LAPEROUSE. + + +"My story is a romance"--"Mon histoire est un roman"--wrote Laperouse +in relating the events with which this chapter will deal. We have seen +him as a boy; we have watched him in war; we shall presently follow him +as a navigator. But it is just as necessary to read his charming love +story, if we are to understand his character. We should have no true +idea of him unless we knew how he bore himself amid perplexities that +might have led him to quote, as peculiarly appropriate to his own case, +the lines of Shakespeare:-- + + "Ay me! for ought that ever I could read, + Could ever hear by tale or history, + The course of true love never did run smooth," + +During the period of his service in the East Indies, Laperouse +frequently visited Ile-de-France (which is now a British possession, +called Mauritius). Then it was the principal naval station of the +French in the Indian Ocean. There he met a beautiful girl, the daughter +of one of the subordinate officials at Port Louis. Louise Eleonore +Broudou is said to have been "more than pretty"; she was distinguished +by grace of manner, charm of disposition, and fine, cultivated +character. The young officer saw her often, admired her much, +fell in love with her, and asked her to marry him. Mademoiselle loved +him too; and if they two only had had to be consulted, the happy union +of a well-matched pair might have followed soon. + +It signified little to Laperouse, in love, that the lady had neither +rank nor fortune. But his family in France took quite a different view. +He wrote to a favourite sister, telling her about it, and she lost no +time in conveying the news to his parents. This was in 1775. Then the +trouble began. + +Inasmuch as he was over thirty years of age at this time, it may be +thought that he might have been left to choose a wife for himself. But +a young officer of rank in France, under the Old Regime, was not so +free in these matters as he would be nowadays. Marriage was much more +than a personal affair. It was even more than a family affair. People +of rank did not so much marry as "make alliances"--or rather, submit +to having them made for them. It was quite a regular thing for a +marriage to be arranged by the families of two young people who had +never even seen each other. An example of that kind will appear +presently. + +The idea that the Comte de Laperouse, one of the smartest officers in +the French King's navy, should marry out of his rank and station, +shocked his relatives and friends as much as it would have done if he +had been detected picking pockets. He could not, without grave risk of +social and professional ruin, marry until he had obtained the +consent of his father, and--so naval regulations required--of his +official superiors. Both were firmly refused. Monsieur de Ternay, who +commanded on the Ile-de-France station, shook his wise head, and told +the lover "that his love fit would pass, and that people did not +console themselves for being poor with the fact that they were +married." (This M. de Ternay, it may be noted, had commanded a French +squadron in Canada in 1762, and James Cook was a junior officer on the +British squadron which blockaded him in St. John's Harbour. He managed +to slip out one night, much to the disgust of Colville, the British +Admiral, who commented scathingly on his "shameful flight.") + +The father of Laperouse poured out his forbidding warnings in a long +letter. Listen to the "tut-tut" of the old gentleman at Albi:-- + +"You make me tremble, my son. How can you face with coolness the +consequences of a marriage which would bring you into disgrace with the +Minister and would lose you the assistance of powerful friends? You +would forfeit the sympathies of your colleagues and would sacrifice the +fruit of your work during twenty years. In disgracing yourself you +would humiliate your family and your parents. You would prepare for +yourself nothing but remorse; you would sacrifice your fortune and +position to a frivolous fancy for beauty and to pretended charms which +perhaps exist only in your own imagination. Neither honour nor probity +compels you to meet ill-considered engagements that you may have +made with that person or with her parents. Do they or you know that you +are not free, that you are under my authority?" He went on to draw a +picture of the embarrassments that would follow such a marriage, and +then there is a passage revealing the cash-basis aspect of the old +gentleman's objection: "You say that there are forty officers in the +Marine who have contracted marriages similar to that which you propose +to make. You have better models to follow, and in any case what was +lacking on the side of birth, in these instances, was compensated by +fortune. Without that balance they would not have had the baseness and +imprudence to marry thus." Poor Eleonore had no compensating balance of +that kind in her favour. She was only beautiful, charming and +sweet-natured. Therefore, "tut-tut, my son!" + +In the course of the next few months Laperouse covered himself with +glory by his services on the AMAZON, the ASTREE, and the SCEPTRE, and +he hoped that these exploits would incline his father to accede to his +ardent wish. But no; the old gentleman was as hard as a rock. He +"tut-tutted" with as much vigour as ever. The lovers had to wait. + +Then his mother, full of love for her son and of pride in his +achievements, took a hand, and tried to arrange a more suitable match +for him. An old friend of the family, Madame de Vesian had a +marriageable daughter. She was rich and beautiful, and her lineage was +noble. She had never seen Laperouse, and he had never seen her, +but that was an insignificant detail in France under the old Regime. If +the parents on each side thought the marriage suitable, that was +enough. The wishes of the younger people concerned were, it is true, +consulted before the betrothal, but it was often a consultation merely +in form, and under pressure. We should think that way of making +marriages most unsatisfactory; but then, a French family of position in +the old days would have thought our freer system very shocking and +loose. It is largely a matter of usage; and that the old plan, which +seems so faulty to us, produced very many happy and lasting unions, +there is much delightful French family history to prove. + +Laperouse had now been many months away from Ile-de-France and the +bright eyes of Eleonore. He was extremely fond of his mother, and +anxious to meet her wishes. Moreover, he held Madame de Vesian in high +esteem, and wrote that he "had always admired her, and felt sure that +her daughter resembled her." These influences swayed him, and he gave +way; but, being frank and honest by disposition, insisted that no +secret should be made of his affair of the heart with the lady across +the sea. He wrote to Madame de Vesian a candid letter, in which he +said:-- + +"Being extremely sensitive, I should be the most unfortunate of men if +I were not beloved by my wife, if I had not her complete confidence, if +her life amongst her friends and children did not render her +perfectly happy. I desire one day to regard you as a mother, and to-day +I open my heart to you as my best friend. I authorise my mother to +relate to you my old love affair. My heart has always been a romance +(MON COEUR A TOUJOURS ETE UN ROMAN); and the more I sacrificed prudence +to those whom I loved the happier I was. But I cannot forget the +respect that I owe to my parents and to their wishes. I hope that in a +little while I shall be free. If then I have a favourable reply from +you, and if I can make your daughter happy and my character is +approved, I shall fly to Albi and embrace you a thousand times. I shall +not distinguish you from my mother and my sisters." + +He also wrote to Monsieur de Vesian, begging him not to interfere with +the free inclinations of his daughter, and to remember that "in order +to be happy there must be no repugnance to conquer. I have, however," +he added, "an affair to terminate which does not permit me to dispose +of myself entirely. My mother will tell you the details. I hope to be +free in six weeks or two months. My happiness will then be +inexpressible if I obtain your consent and that of Madame de Vesian, +with the certainty of not having opposed the wishes of Mademoiselle, +your daughter." + +"I hope to be free"--did he "hope"? That was his polite way of putting +the matter. Or he may have believed that he had conquered his love for +Eleonore Broudou, and that she, as a French girl who understood his +obligations to his family, would--perhaps after making a few +handkerchiefs damp with her tears--acquiesce. + +So the negotiations went on, and at length, in May, 1783, the de Vesian +family accepted Laperouse as the fiance of their daughter. "My project +is to live with my family and yours," he wrote. "I hope that my wife +will love my mother and my sisters, as I feel that I shall love you and +yours. Any other manner of existence is frightful to me, and I have +sufficient knowledge of the world and of myself to know that I can only +be happy in living thus." + +But in the very month that he wrote contracting himself--that is +precisely the word--to marry the girl he had never seen, Eleonore, the +girl whom he had seen, whom he had loved, and whom he still loved in +his heart, came to Paris with her parents. Laperouse saw her again. He +told her what had occurred. Of course she wept; what girl would not? +She said, between her sobs, that if it was to be all over between them +she would go into a convent. She could never marry anyone else. + +"Mon histoire est un roman," and here beginneth the new chapter of this +real love story. Why, we wonder, has not some novelist discovered these +Laperouse letters and founded a tale upon them? Is it not a better +story even told in bare outline in these few pages, than nine-tenths of +the concoctions of the novelists, which are sold in thousands? Think of +the wooing of these two delightful people, the beautiful girl and the +gallant sailor, in the ocean isle, with its tropical perfumes and +colours, its superb mountain and valley scenery, bathed in +eternal sunshine by day and kissed by cool ocean breezes by night--the +isle of Paul and Virginia, the isle which to Alexandre Dumas was the +Paradise of the World, an enchanted oasis of the ocean, "all carpeted +with greenery and refreshed with cooling streams, where, no matter what +the season, you may gently sink asleep beneath the shade of palms and +jamrosades, soothed by the babbling of a crystal spring." + +Think of how he must have entertained and thrilled her with accounts of +his adventures: of storms, of fights with the terrible English, of the +chasing of corsairs and the battering of the fleets of Indian princes. +Think of her open-eyed wonder, and of the awakening of love in her +heart; and then of her dread, lest after all, despite his consoling +words and soft assurances, he, the Comte, the officer, should be +forbidden to marry her, the maiden who had only her youth, her beauty, +and her character, but no rank, no fortune, to win favour from the +proud people who did not know her. The author is at all events certain +of this: that if the letters had seen the light before old Alexandre +Dumas died, he would have pounced upon them with glee, and would have +written around them a romance that all the world would have rejoiced to +read. + +But while we think of what the novelists have missed, we are neglecting +the real story, the crisis of which we have now reached. + +Seeing Eleonore again, his sensitive heart deeply moved by her sorrow, +Laperouse took a manly resolution. He would marry her despite +all obstacles. He had promised her at her home in Ile-de-France. He +would keep his promise. He would not spoil her beautiful young life +even for his family. + +But there was the contract concerning Mademoiselle de Vesian. What of +that? Clearly Laperouse was in a fix. Well, a man who has been over +twenty-five years at sea has been in a fix many times, and learns that +a bold face and tact are good allies. Remembering the nature of his +situation, it will be agreed that the letter he wrote to his mother, +announcing his resolve, was a model of good taste and fine feeling: + +"I have seen Eleonore, and I have not been able to resist the remorse +by which I am devoured. My excessive attachment to you had made me +violate all that which is most sacred among men. I forgot the vows of +my heart, the cries of my conscience. I was in Paris for twenty days, +and, faithful to my promise to you, I did not go to see her. But I +received a letter from her. She made no reproach against me, but the +most profound sentiment of sadness was expressed in it. At the instant +of reading it the veil fell from my eyes. My situation filled me with +horror. I am no better in my own eyes than a perjurer, unworthy of +Mademoiselle de Vesian, to whom I brought a heart devoured by remorse +and by a passion that nothing could extinguish. I was equally unworthy +of Mademoiselle Broudou, and wished to leave her. My only excuse, +my dear mother, is the extreme desire I have always had to +please you. It is for you alone, and for my father, that I wished to +marry. Desiring to live with you for the remainder of my life, I +consented to your finding me a wife with whom I could abide. The choice +of Mademoiselle de Vesian had overwhelmed me, because her mother is a +woman for whom I have a true attachment; and Heaven is my witness +to-day that I should have preferred her daughter to the most brilliant +match in the universe. It is only four days since I wrote to her on the +subject. How can I reconcile my letter with my present situation? But, +my dear mother, it would be feebleness in me to go further with the +engagement. I have doubtless been imprudent in contracting an +engagement without your consent, but I should be a monster if I +violated my oaths and married Mademoiselle de Vesian. I do not doubt +that you tremble at the abyss over which you fear that I am about to +fall, but I feel that I can only live with Eleonore, and I hope that +you will give your consent to our union. My fortune will suffice for +our wants, and we shall live near you. But I shall only come to Albi +when Mademoiselle de Vesian shall be married, and when I can be sure +that another, a thousand times more worthy than I am, shall have sworn +to her an attachment deeper than that which it was in my power to +offer. I shall write neither to Madame nor Monsieur de Vesian. Join to +your other kindnesses that of undertaking this painful commission." + +There was no mistaking the firm, if regretful tone, of that +letter; and Laperouse married his Eleonore at Paris. + +Did Mademoiselle de Vesian break her heart because her sailor fiance +had wed another? Not at all! She at once became engaged to the Baron de +Senegas--had she seen him beforehand, one wonders?--and married him +in August! Laperouse was prompt to write his congratulations to her +parents, and it is diverting to find him saying, concerning the lady to +whom he himself had been engaged only a few weeks before, that he +regretted "never having had the honour of seeing her!" + +But there was still another difficulty to be overcome before Laperouse +and his happy young bride could feel secure. He had broken a regulation +of the service by marrying without official sanction. True, he had +talked of settling down at Albi, but that was when he thought he was +going to marry a young lady whom he did not know. Now he had married +the girl of his heart; and love, as a rule, does not stifle ambition. +Rather are the two mutually co-operative. Eleonore had fallen in love +with him as a gallant sailor, and a sailor she wanted him still to be. +Perhaps, in her dreams, she saw him a great Admiral, commanding +powerful navies and winning glorious victories for France. Madame la +Comtesse did not wish her husband to end his career because he had +married her, be sure of that. + +Here Laperouse did a wise and tactful thing, which showed that he +understood something of human nature. Nothing interests old +ladies so much as the love affairs of young people; and old ladies in +France at that time exercised remarkable influence in affairs of +government. The Minister of Marine was the Marquis de Castries. Instead +of making a clean breast of matters to him, Laperouse wrote a long and +delightful letter to Madame la Marquise. "Madame," he said, "mon +histoire est un roman," and he begged her to read it. Of course she +did. What old lady would not? She was a very grand lady indeed, was +Madame la Marquise; but this officer who wrote his heart's story to +her, was a dashing hero. He told her how he had fallen in love in +Ile-de-France; how consent to his marriage had been officially and +paternally refused; how he had tried "to stifle the sentiments which +were nevertheless remaining at the bottom of my heart." Would she +intercede with the Minister for him and excuse him? + +Of course she would! She was a dear old lady, was Madame la Marquise. +Within a few days Laperouse received from the Minister a most paternal, +good natured letter, which assured him that his romantic affair should +not interfere with his prospects, and concluded: "Enjoy the pleasure of +having made someone happy, and the marks of honour and distinction that +you have received from your fellow citizens." + +Such is the love story of Laperouse. Alas! the marriage did not bring +many years of happiness to poor Eleonore, much as she deserved them. +Two years afterwards, her hero sailed away on that expedition +from which he never returned. She dwelt at Albi, hoping until hope gave +way to despair, and at last she died, of sheer grief they said, nine +years after the waters of the Pacific had closed over him who had wooed +her and wedded her for herself alone. + + + + +Chapter IV. + +THE VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION. + + +King Louis XVI of France was as unfortunate a monarch as was ever born +to a throne. Had it been his happier lot to be the son of a farmer, a +shopkeeper, or a merchant, he would have passed for an excellent man of +business and a good, solid, sober, intelligent citizen. But he +inherited with his crown a system of government too antiquated for the +times, too repressive for the popular temper to endure, and was not +statesman enough to remodel it to suit the requirements of his people. +It was not his fault that he was not a great man; and a great man--a +man of large grasp, wide vision, keen sympathies, and penetrating +imagination--was needed in France if the social forces at work, the +result of new ideas fermenting in the minds of men and impelling them, +were to be directed towards wise and wholesome reform. Failing such +direction, those forces burst through the restraints of law, custom, +authority, loyalty and respect, and produced the most startling +upheaval in modern history, the Great French Revolution. Louis lost +both his crown and his head, the whole system of government was +overturned, and the way was left open for the masterful mind and strong +arm needed to restore discipline and order to the nation: Napoleon +Bonaparte. + +Louis was very fond of literature. During the sad last months of +his imprisonment, before the guillotine took his life, he read over 230 +volumes. He especially liked books of travel and geography, and one of +his favourite works was the VOYAGES of Cook. He had the volumes near +him in the last phase of his existence. There is a pleasant drawing +representing the King in his prison, with the little Dauphin seated on +his knee, pointing out the countries and oceans on a large geographical +globe; and he took a pride in having had prepared "for the education of +Monsieur le Dauphin," a History of the Exploration of the South Seas. +It was published in Paris, in three small volumes, in 1791. + +The study of Cook made a deep impression on the King's mind. Why, he +asked himself, should not France share in the glory of discovering new +lands, and penetrating untraversed seas? There was a large amount of +exploratory work still to be done. English navigators were always busy +sailing to unknown parts, but the entire world was by no means revealed +yet. There were, particularly, big blank spaces at the bottom of the +globe. That country called by the Dutch New Holland, the eastern part +of which Cook had found--there was evidently much to be done there. +What were the southern coasts like? Was it one big island-continent, or +was it divided into two by a strait running south from the head of the +Gulf of Carpentaria? Then there was that piece of country discovered by +the Dutchman Tasman, and named Van Diemen's Land. Was it an +island, or did it join on to New Holland? There were also many islands +of the Pacific still to be explored and correctly charted, the map of +Eastern Asia was imperfect, and the whole of the coastline of +North-Western America was not accurately known. + +The more Louis turned the matter over in his mind, the more he studied +his globes, maps and books of voyages, the more convinced he was that +France, as a maritime nation and a naval Power, ought to play an +important part in this grand work of unveiling to mankind the full +extent, form, nature and resources of our planet. + +He sent for a man whose name the Australian reader should particularly +note, because he had much to do with three important discovery voyages +affecting our history. Charles Claret, Comte de Fleurieu, was the +principal geographer in France. He was at this time director of ports +and arsenals. He had throughout his life been a keen student of +navigation, was a practical sailor, invented a marine chronometer which +was a great improvement on clocks hitherto existing, devised a method +of applying the metric system to the construction of marine charts, and +wrote several works on his favourite subject. A large book of his on +discoveries in Papua and the Solomon Islands is still of much +importance. + +As a French writer--an expert in this field of knowledge--has written +of Fleurieu, "he it was who prepared nearly all the plans for naval +operations during the war of 1778, and the instructions for the +voyages of discovery--those of Laperouse and Dentrecasteaux--for +which Louis XVI had given general directions; and to whose wise and +well-informed advice is due in large part the utility derived from +them." It was chiefly because of Fleurieu's knowledge of geography that +the King chose him to be the tutor of the Dauphin; and in 1790 he +became Minister of Marine. + +Louis XVI and Fleurieu talked the subject over together; and the +latter, at the King's command, drew up a long memorandum indicating the +parts of the globe where an expedition of discovery might most +profitably apply itself. + +The King decided (1785) that a voyage should be undertaken; two ships +of the navy, LA BOUSSOLE and L'ASTROLABE, were selected for the +purpose; and, on the recommendation of the Marquis de Castries--remember +Madame la Marquise!--Laperouse was chosen for the command. + +All three of the men who ordered, planned and executed the voyage, the +King, the scholar, and the officer, were devoted students of the work +and writings of Cook; and copies of his VOYAGES, in French and English, +were placed in the library of navigation carried on board the ships for +the edification of the officers and crews. Over and over again in the +instructions prepared--several times on a page in some places--appear +references to what Cook had done, and to what Cook had left to be done; +showing that both King Louis and Fleurieu knew his voyages and +charts, not merely as casual readers, but intimately. As for Laperouse +himself, his admiration of Cook has already been mentioned; here it may +be added that when, before he sailed, Sir Joseph Banks presented him +with two magnetic needles that had been used by Cook, he wrote that he +"received them with feelings bordering almost upon religious veneration +for the memory of that great and incomparable navigator." So that, we +see, the extent of our great sailor's influence is not to be measured +even by his discoveries and the effect of his writings upon his own +countrymen. He radiated a magnetic force which penetrated far; down to +our own day it has by no means lost its stimulating energy. + +In the picture gallery at the Palace of Versailles, there is an oil +painting by Mansiau, a copy of which may be seen in the Mitchell +Library, Sydney. It is called "Louis XVI giving instructions to +Monsieur de Laperouse for his voyage around the world." An Australian +statesman who saw it during a visit to Paris a few years ago, confessed +publicly on his return to his own country that he gazed long upon it, +and recognised it as being "of the deepest interest to Australians." So +indeed it is. A photograph of the picture is given here. + +The instructions were of course prepared by Fleurieu: anyone familiar +with his writings can see plenty of internal evidence of that. But +Louis was not a little vain of his own geographical knowledge, and he +gave a special audience to Laperouse, explaining the instructions +verbally before handing them to him in writing. + +They are admirably clear instructions, indicating a full knowledge of +the work of preceding navigators and of the parts of the earth where +discovery needed to be pursued. Their defect was that they expected too +much to be done on one voyage. Let us glance over them, devoting +particular attention to the portions affecting Australasia. + +The ships were directed to sail across the Atlantic and round Cape +Horn, visiting certain specified places on the way. In the Pacific they +were to visit Easter Island, Tahiti, the Society Islands, the Friendly +and Navigator groups, and New Caledonia. "He will pass Endeavour Strait +and in this passage will try to ascertain whether the land of Louisiade +(the Louisiade Archipelago), be contiguous to that of New Guinea, and +will reconnoitre all this part of the coast from Cape Deliverance to +the Island of St. Barthelomew, east-northeast of Cape Walsh, of which +at present we have a very imperfect knowledge. It is much to be wished +that he may be able to examine the Gulf of Carpentaria." + +He was then to explore the western shores of New Holland. "He will run +down the western coast and take a closer view of the southern, the +greater part of which has never been visited, finishing his survey at +Van Diemen's Land, at Adventure Bay or Prince Frederick Henry's, whence +he will make sail for Cook's Strait, and anchor in Queen +Charlotte's Sound, in that Strait, between the two islands which +constitute New Zealand." + +That direction is especially important, because if Laperouse had not +perished, but had lived to carry out his programme, it is evident that +he would have forestalled the later discoveries of Bass and Flinders in +southern Australia. What a vast difference to the later course of +history that might have made! + +After leaving New Zealand he was to cross the Pacific to the north-west +coast of America. The programme included explorations in the China Sea, +at the Philippines, the Moluccas and Timor, and contemplated a return +to France in July or August, 1789, after a voyage of about three years. + +But although his course was mapped out in such detail, discretion was +left to Laperouse to vary it if he thought fit. "All the calculations +of which a sketch is given here must be governed by the circumstances +of the voyage, the condition of the crews, ships and provisions, the +events that may occur in the expedition and accidents which it is +impossible to foresee. His Majesty, therefore, relying on the +experience and judgment of the sieur de Laperouse, authorises him to +make any deviation that he may deem necessary, in unforeseen cases, +pursuing, however, as far as possible, the plan traced out, and +conforming to the directions given in the other parts of the present +instructions." + +A separate set of instructions had regard to observations to be made by +Laperouse upon the political conditions, possibilities of commerce, and +suitability for settlement, of the lands visited by him. In the +Pacific, he was to inquire "whether the cattle, fowls, and other +animals which Captain Cook left on some of the islands have bred." He +was to examine attentively "the north and west coasts of New Holland, +and particularly that part of the coast which, being situated in the +torrid zone, may enjoy some of the productions peculiar to countries in +similar latitudes." In New Zealand he was to ascertain "whether the +English have formed or entertain the project of forming any settlement +on these islands; and if he should hear that they have actually formed +a settlement, he will endeavour to repair thither in order to learn the +condition, strength and object of the settlement." + +It is singular that the instructions contain no reference to Botany +Bay. It was the visit paid by Laperouse to this port that brought him +into touch with Australian history. Yet his call there was made purely +in the exercise of his discretion. He was not directed to pay any +attention to eastern Australia. When he sailed the French Government +knew nothing of the contemplated settlement of New South Wales by the +British; and he only heard of it in the course of his voyage. Indeed, +it is amazing how little was known of Australia at the time. "We have +nothing authentic or sufficiently minute respecting this part of the +largest island on the globe," said the instructions concerning the +northern and western coasts; but there was not a word about the eastern +shores. + +The reader who reflects upon the facts set forth in this chapter +will realise that the French Revolution, surprising as the statement +may seem, affected Australian history in a remarkable way. If Louis XVI +had not been dethroned and beheaded, but had remained King of France, +there cannot be any doubt that he would have persisted in the +investigation of the South Seas. He was deeply interested in the +subject, very well informed about it, and ambitious that his country +should be a great maritime and colonising Power. But the Revolution +slew Louis, plunged France in long and disastrous wars, and brought +Napoleon to the front. The whole course of history was diverted. It was +as if a great river had been turned into a fresh channel. + +If the navigator of the French King had discovered southern Australia, +and settlement had followed, it is not to be supposed that Great +Britain would have opposed the plans of France; for Australia then was +not the Australia that we know, and England had very little use even +for the bit she secured. Unthinking people might suppose that the +French Revolution meant very little to us. Indeed, unthinking people +are very apt to suppose that we can go our own way without regarding +what takes place elsewhere. They do not realise that the world is one, +and that the policies of nations interact upon each other. In point of +fact, the Revolution meant a great deal to Australia. This country is, +indeed, an island far from Europe, but the threads of her history are +entwined with those of European history in a very curious and +often intricate fashion. The French Revolution and the era of Napoleon, +if we understand their consequences, really concern us quite as much +as, say, the gold discoveries and the accomplishment of Federation. + + + + +Chapter V. + +THE EARLY PART OF THE VOYAGE. + + +The expedition sailed from Brest rather sooner than had at first been +contemplated, on August 1, 1785, and doubled Cape Horn in January of +the following year. Some weeks were spent on the coast of Chili; and +the remarks of Laperouse concerning the manners of the Spanish rulers +of the country cover some of his most entertaining pages. He has an eye +for the picturesque, a kindly feeling for all well-disposed people, a +pleasant touch in describing customs, and shrewd judgment in estimating +character. These qualities make him an agreeable writer of travels. +They are fairly illustrated by the passages in which he describes the +people of the city of Concepcion. Take his account of the ladies: + +"The dress of these ladies, extremely different from what we have been +accustomed to see, consists of a plaited petticoat, tied considerably +below the waist; stockings striped red, blue and white; and shoes so +short that the toes are bent under the ball of the foot so as to make +it appear nearly round. Their hair is without powder and is divided +into small braids behind, hanging over the shoulders. Their bodice is +generally of gold or silver stuff, over which there are two short +cloaks, that underneath of muslin and the other of wool of different +colours, blue, yellow and pink. The upper one is drawn over the +head when they are in the streets and the weather is cold; but within +doors it is usual to place it on their knees; and there is a game +played with the muslin cloak by continually shifting it about, in which +the ladies of Concepcion display considerable grace. They are for the +most part handsome, and of so polite and pleasing manners that there is +certainly no maritime town in Europe where strangers are received with +so much attention and kindness." + +At this city Laperouse met the adventurous Irishman, Ambrose O'Higgins, +who by reason of his conspicuous military abilities became commander of +the Spanish forces in Chili, and afterwards Viceroy of Peru. His name +originally was simply Higgins, but he prefixed the "O" when he +blossomed into a Spanish Don, "as being more aristocratic." He was the +father of the still more famous Bernardo O'Higgins, "the Washington of +Chili," who led the revolt against Spanish rule and became first +president of the Chilian Republic in 1818. Laperouse at once conceived +an attachment for O'Higgins, "a man of extraordinary activity," and one +"adored in the country." + +In April, 1786, the expedition was at Easter Island, where the +inhabitants appeared to be a set of cunning and hypocritical thieves, +who "robbed us of everything which it was possible for them to carry +off." Steering north, the Sandwich Islands were reached early in May. +Here Laperouse liked the people, "though my prejudices were +strong against them on account of the death of Captain Cook." A passage +in the commander's narrative gives his opinion on the annexation of the +countries of native races by Europeans, and shows that, in common with +very many of his countrymen, he was much influenced by the ideas of +Rousseau, then an intellectual force in France-- + +"Though the French were the first who, in modern times, had landed on +the island of Mowee, I did not think it my duty to take possession in +the name of the King. The customs of Europeans on such occasions are +completely ridiculous. Philosophers must lament to see that men, for no +better reason than because they are in possession of firearms and +bayonets, should have no regard for the rights of sixty thousand of +their fellow creatures, and should consider as an object of conquest a +land fertilised by the painful exertions of its inhabitants, and for +many ages the tomb of their ancestors. These islands have fortunately +been discovered at a period when religion no longer serves as a pretext +for violence and rapine. Modern navigators have no other object in +describing the manners of remote nations than that of completing the +history of man; and the knowledge they endeavour to diffuse has for its +sole aim to render the people they visit more happy, and to augment +their means of subsistence." + +If Laperouse could see the map of the Pacific to-day he would find its +groups of islands all enclosed within coloured rings, indicating +possession by the great Powers of the world. He would be puzzled +and pained by the change. But the history of the political movements +leading to the parcelling out of seas and lands among strong States +would interest him, and he would realise that the day of feeble +isolation has gone. Nothing would make him marvel more than the +floating of the Stars and Stripes over Hawaii, for he knew that flag +during the American War of Independence. It was adopted as the flag of +the United States in 1777, and during the campaign the golden lilies of +the standard of France fluttered from many masts in co-operation with +it. Truly a century and a quarter has brought about a wonderful change, +not only in the face of the globe and in the management of its affairs, +but still more radically in the ideas of men and in the motives that +sway their activities! + +The geographical work done by Laperouse in this part of the Pacific was +of much importance. It removed from the chart five or six islands which +had no existence, having been marked down erroneously by previous +navigators. From this region the expedition sailed to Alaska, on the +north-west coast of North America. Cook had explored here "with that +courage and perseverance of which all Europe knows him to have been +capable," wrote Laperouse, never failing to use an opportunity of +expressing admiration for his illustrious predecessor. But there was +still useful work to do, and the French occupied their time very +profitably with it from June to August. Then their ships sailed down +the western coast of America to California, struck east across +the Pacific to the Ladrones, and made for Macao in China--then as now +a Portugese possession--reaching that port in January, 1787. + +The Philippines were next visited, and Laperouse formed pleasant +impressions of Manilla. It is clear from his way of alluding to the +customs of the Spanish inhabitants that the French captain was not a +tobacco smoker. It was surprising to him that "their passion for +smoking this narcotic is so immoderate that there is not an instant of +the day in which either a man or woman is without a cigar;" and it is +equally surprising to us that the French editor of the history of the +voyage found it necessary to explain in a footnote that a cigar is "a +small roll of tobacco which is smoked without the assistance of a +pipe." But cigars were then little known in Europe, except among +sailors and travellers who had visited the Spanish colonies; and the +very spelling of the word was not fixed. In English voyages it appears +as "seegar," "segar," and "sagar." + +Formosa was visited in April, northern Japan in May, and the +investigation of the north-eastern coasts of Asia occupied until +October. + +A passage in a letter from Laperouse to Fleurieu is worth quoting for +two reasons. It throws some light on the difficulties of navigation in +unknown seas, and upon the commander's severe application to duty; and +it also serves to remind us that Japan, now so potent a factor in the +politics of the East and of the whole Pacific, had not then emerged +from the barbarian exclusiveness towards foreigners, which she +had maintained since Europe commenced to exploit Asia. In the middle of +the seventeenth century she had expelled the Spaniards and the +Portugese with much bloodshed, and had closed her ports to all traders +except the Chinese and the Dutch, who were confined to a prescribed +area at Nagasaki. Intercourse with all other foreign peoples was +strictly forbidden. Even as late as 1842 it was commanded that if any +foreign vessel were driven by distress or tempestuous weather into a +Japanese port, she might only remain so long as was necessary to meet +her wants, and must then depart. Laperouse knew of this jealous +Japanese antipathy to foreign visitors, and, as he explains in the +letter, meant to keep away from the country because of it. He wrote:-- + +"The part of our voyage between Manilla and Kamchatka will afford you, +I hope, complete satisfaction. It was the newest, the most interesting, +and certainly, from the everlasting fogs which enveloped the land in +the latitudes we traversed, the most difficult. These fogs are such +that it has taken one hundred and fifty days to explore a part of the +coast which Captain King, in the third volume of Cook's last voyage, +supposes might be examined in the course of two months. During this +period I rested only ten days, three in the Bay of Ternai, two in the +Bay de Langle, and five in the Bay de Castries. Thus I wasted no time; +I even forebore to circumnavigate the island of Chicha (Yezo) by +traversing the Strait of Sangaar (Tsugaru). I should have wished to +anchor, if possible, at the northern point of Japan, and would perhaps +have ventured to send a boat ashore, though such a proceeding would +have required the most serious deliberation, as the boat would probably +have been stopped. Where a merchant ship is concerned an event of this +kind might be considered as of little importance, but the seizure of a +boat belonging to a ship of war could scarcely be otherwise regarded +than as a national insult; and the taking and burning of a few sampans +would be a very sorry compensation as against the people who would not +exchange a single European of whom they were desirous of making an +example, for one hundred Japanese. I was, however, too far from the +coast to include such an intention, and it is impossible for me to +judge at present what I should have done had the contrary been the +case. + +"It would be difficult for me to find words to express to you the +fatigue attending this part of my voyage, during which I did not once +undress myself, nor did a single night pass without my being obliged to +spend several hours upon deck. Imagine to yourself six days of fog with +only two or three hours of clear weather, in seas extremely confined, +absolutely unknown, and where fancy, in consequence of the information +we had received, pictured to us shoals and currents that did not always +exist. From the place where we made the land on the eastern coast of +Tartary, to the strait which we discovered between Tchoka +(Saghalien) and Chicha, we did not fail to take the bearing of every +point, and you may rest assured that neither creek, port, nor river +escaped our attention, and that many charts, even of the coasts of +Europe, are less exact than those which we shall bring with us on our +return." + +"The strait which we discovered" is still called Laperouse Strait on +most modern maps, though the Japanese usually call it Soya Strait. It +runs between Yezo, the large northerly island of Japan, and Saghalien. +Current maps also show the name Boussole Strait, after Laperouse's +ship, between Urup and Simusir, two of the Kurile chain of small +islands curving from Yezo to the thumblike extremity of Kamchatka. + +At Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka the drawings of the artists and the +journals of the commander up to date were packed up, and sent to France +overland across Asiatic Russia, in charge of a young member of the +staff, J. B. B. de Lesseps. He was the only one of the expedition who +ever returned to Europe. By not coming to Australia he saved his life. +He published a book about his journey, a remarkable feat of land travel +in those days. He was the uncle of a man whose remarkable engineering +work has made Australia's relations with Europe much easier and more +speedy than they were in earlier years: that Ferdinand de Lesseps who +(1859-69) planned and carried out the construction of the Suez Canal. +The ships, after replenishing, sailed for the south Pacific, +where we shall follow the proceedings of Laperouse in rather closer +detail than has been considered necessary in regard to the American and +Asiatic phases of the voyage. + + + + +Chapter VI. + +LAPEROUSE IN THE PACIFIC. + + +On the 6th December, 1787, the expedition made the eastern end of the +Navigator Islands, that is, the Samoan Group. As the ships approached, +a party of natives were observed squatting under cocoanut trees. +Presently sixteen canoes put off from the land, and their occupants, +after paddling round the vessels distrustfully, ventured to approach +and proffer cocoanuts in exchange for strings of beads and strips of +red cloth. The natives got the better of the bargain, for, when they +had received their price, they hurried off without delivering their own +goods. Further on, an old chief delivered an harangue from the shore, +holding a branch of Kava in his hand. "We knew from what we had read of +several voyages that it was a token of peace; and throwing him some +pieces of cloth we answered by the word 'TAYO,' which signified +'friend' in the dialect of the South Sea Islands; but we were not +sufficiently experienced to understand and pronounce distinctly the +words of the vocabularies we had extracted from Cook." + +Nearly all the early navigators made a feature of compiling +vocabularies of native words, and Cook devoted particular care to this +task. Dr. Walter Roth, formerly protector of Queensland aboriginals +a trained observer, has borne testimony as recently as last year +(in THE TIMES, December 29, 1911) that a list of words collected from +Endeavour Strait blacks, and "given by Captain Cook, are all more or +less recognisable at the present day." But Cook's spellings were +intended to be pronounced in the English mode. Laperouse and his +companions by giving the vowels French values would hardly be likely to +make the English navigator's vocabularies intelligible. + +The native canoes amused the French captain. They "could be of use only +to people who are expert swimmers, for they are constantly turned over. +This is an accident, however, at which they feel less surprise and +anxiety than we should at a hat's blowing off. They lift the canoe on +their shoulders, and after they have emptied it of the water, get into +it again, well assured that they will have the same operation to +perform within half an hour, for it is as difficult to preserve a +balance in these ticklish things as to dance upon a rope." + +At Mauna Island (now called Tutuila) some successful bargaining was +done with glass beads in exchange for pork and fruits. It surprised +Laperouse that the natives chose these paltry ornaments rather than +hatchets and tools. "They preferred a few beads which could be of no +utility, to anything we could offer them in iron or cloth." + +Two days later a tragedy occurred at this island, when Captain de +Langle, the commander of the ASTROLABE, and eleven of the crew were +murdered. He made an excursion inland to look for fresh water, +and found a clear, cool spring in the vicinity of a village. The ships +were not urgently in need of water, but de Langle "had embraced the +system of Cook, and thought fresh water a hundred times preferable to +what had been some time in the hold. As some of his crew had slight +symptoms of scurvy, he thought, with justice, that we owed them every +means of alleviation in our power. Besides, no island could be compared +with this for abundance of provisions. The two ships had already +procured upwards of 500 hogs, with a large quantity of fowls, pigeons +and fruits; and all these had cost us only a few beads." + +Laperouse himself doubted the prudence of sending a party inland, as he +had observed signs of a turbulent spirit among the islanders. But de +Langle insisted on the desirableness of obtaining fresh water where it +was abundant, and "replied to me that my refusal would render me +responsible for the progress of the scurvy, which began to appear with +some violence." He undertook to go at the head of the party, and, +relying on his judgment, the commander consented. + +Two boats left the ship at about noon, and landed their casks +undisturbed. But when the party returned they found a crowd of over a +thousand natives assembled, and a dangerous disposition soon revealed +itself amongst them. It is possible that the Frenchmen had, +unconsciously, offended against some of their superstitious rites. +Certainly they had not knowingly been provoked. They had +peacefully bartered their fruits and nuts for beads, and had been +treated in a friendly fashion throughout. But the currents of passion +that sweep through the minds of savage peoples baffle analysis. +Something had disturbed them; what it was can hardly be surmised. One +of the officers believed that the gift of some beads to a few, excited +the envy of the others. It may be so; mere envy plays such a large part +in the affairs even of civilised peoples, that we need not wonder to +find it arousing the anger of savages. Laperouse tells what occurred in +these terms:-- + +"Several canoes, after having sold their ladings of provisions on board +our ships, had returned ashore, and all landed in this bay, so that it +was gradually filled. Instead of two hundred persons, including women +and children, whom M. de Langle found when he arrived at half past one, +there were ten or twelve hundred by three o'clock. He succeeded in +embarking his water; but the bay was by this time nearly dry, and he +could not hope to get his boats afloat before four o'clock, when the +tide would have risen. He stepped into them, however, with his +detachment, and posted himself in the bow, with his musket and his +marines, forbidding them to fire unless he gave orders. + +"This, he began to realise, he would soon be forced to do. Stones flew +about, and the natives, only up to the knees in water, surrounded the +boats within less than three yards. The marines who were in the +boats, attempted in vain to keep them off. If the fear of commencing +hostilities and being accused of barbarity had not checked M. de +Langle, he would unquestionably have ordered a general discharge of his +swivels and musketry, which no doubt would have dispersed the mob, but +he flattered himself that he could check them without shedding blood, +and he fell a victim to his humanity. + +"Presently a shower of stones thrown from a short distance with as much +force as if they had come from a sling, struck almost every man in the +boat. M. de Langle had only time to discharge the two barrels of his +piece before he was knocked down; and unfortunately he fell over the +larboard bow of the boat, where upwards of two hundred natives +instantly massacred him with clubs and stones. When he was dead, they +made him fast by the arm to one of the tholes of the long boat, no +doubt to secure his spoil. The BOUSSOLE'S long-boat, commanded by M. +Boutin, was aground within four yards of the ASTROLABE'S, and parallel +with her, so as to leave a little channel between them, which was +unoccupied by the natives. Through this all the wounded men, who were +so fortunate as not to fall on the other side of the boats, escaped by +swimming to the barges, which, happily remaining afloat, were enabled +to save forty-nine men out of the sixty-one." + +Amongst the wounded was Pere Receveur, priest, naturalist and +shoemaker, who later on died of his injuries at Botany Bay, and whose +tomb there is as familiar as the Laperouse monument. + +The anger of the Frenchmen at the treachery of the islanders was +not less than their grief at the loss of their companions. Laperouse, +on the first impulse, was inclined to send a strongly-armed party +ashore to avenge the massacre. But two of the officers who had escaped +pointed out that in the cove where the incident occurred the trees came +down almost to the sea, affording shelter to the natives, who would be +able to shower stones upon the party, whilst themselves remaining +beyond reach of musket balls. + +"It was not without difficulty," he wrote, "that I could tear myself +away from this fatal place, and leave behind the bodies of our murdered +companions. I had lost an old friend; a man of great understanding, +judgment, and knowledge; and one of the best officers in the French +navy. His humanity had occasioned his death. Had he but allowed himself +to fire on the first natives who entered into the water to surround the +boats, he would have prevented his own death as well as those of eleven +other victims of savage ferocity. Twenty persons more were severely +wounded; and this event deprived us for the time of thirty men, and the +only two boats we had large enough to carry a sufficient number of men, +armed, to attempt a descent. These considerations determined my +subsequent conduct. The slightest loss would have compelled me to burn +one of my ships in order to man the other. If my anger had required +only the death of a few natives, I had had an opportunity after the +massacre of sinking and destroying a hundred canoes containing +upwards of five hundred persons, but I was afraid of being mistaken in +my victims, and the voice of my conscience saved their lives." + +It was then that Laperouse resolved to sail to Botany Bay, of which he +had read a description in Cook's Voyages. His long-boats had been +destroyed by the natives, but he had on board the frames of two new +ones, and a safe anchorage was required where they could be put +together. His crews were exasperated; and lest there should be a +collision between them and other natives he resolved that, while +reconnoitring other groups of islands to determine their correct +latitude, he would not permit his sailors to land till he reached +Botany Bay. There he knew that he could obtain wood and water. + +On December 14 Oyolava (now called Upolu) was reached. Here again the +ships were surrounded by canoes, and the angry French sailors would +have fired upon them except for the positive orders of their commander. +Throughout this unfortunate affair the strict sense of justice, which +forbade taking general vengeance for the misdeeds of particular people, +stands out strongly in the conduct of Laperouse. He acknowledged in +letters written from Botany Bay, that in future relations with +uncivilised folk he would adopt more repressive measures, as experience +taught him that lack of firm handling was by them regarded as weakness. +But his tone in all his writings is humane and kindly. + +The speculations of Laperouse concerning the origin of these +peoples, are interesting, and deserve consideration by those who speak +and write upon the South Seas. He was convinced that they are all +derived from an ancient common stock, and that the race of +woolly-haired men to be found in the interior of Formosa were the +far-off parents of the natives of the Philippines, Papua, New Britain, +the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, the Carolines, Ladrones, and +Sandwich Groups. He believed that in those islands the interior of +which did not afford complete shelter the original inhabitants were +conquered by Malays, after which aboriginals and invaders mingled +together, producing modifications of the original types. But in Papua, +the Solomons and the New Hebrides, the Malays made little impression. +He accounted for differences in appearance amongst the people of the +islands he visited by the different degrees of Malay intermixture, and +believed that the very black people found on some islands, "whose +complexion still remains a few shades deeper than that of certain +families in the same islands" were to be accounted for by certain +families making it "a point of honour not to contaminate their blood." +The theory is at all events striking. We have a "White Australia +policy" on the mainland to-day; this speculation assumes a kind of +"Black Australasia policy" on the part of certain families of islanders +from time immemorial. + +The Friendly Islands were reached in December, but the commander +had few and unimportant relations with them. On the 13th January, 1788, +the ships made for Norfolk Island, and came to anchor opposite the +place where Cook was believed to have landed. The sea was running high +at the time, breaking violently on the rocky shores of the north east. +The naturalists desired to land to collect specimens, but the heavy +breakers prevented them. The commander permitted them to coast along +the shore in boats for about half a league but then recalled them. + +"Had it been possible to land, there was no way of getting into the +interior part of the island but by ascending for thirty or forty yards +the rapid stream of some torrents, which had formed gullies. Beyond +these natural barriers the island was covered with pines and carpeted +with the most beautiful verdure. It is probable that we should then +have met with some culinary vegetables, and this hope increased our +desire of visiting a land where Captain Cook had landed with the +greatest facility. He, it is true, was here in fine weather, that had +continued for several days; whilst we had been sailing in such heavy +seas that for eight day, our ports had been shut and our dead-lights +in. From the ship I watched the motions of the boats with my glass; and +seeing, as night approached, that they had found no convenient place +for landing, I made the signal to recall them, and soon after gave +orders for getting under way. Perhaps I should have lost much time had +I waited for a more favourable opportunity: and the exploring of +this island was not worth such a sacrifice." + +At eight in the evening the ships got under way, and at day-break on +the following morning sail was crowded for Botany Bay. + + + + +Chapter VII. + +AT BOTANY BAY. + + +When, in 1787, the British Government entrusted Captain Arthur Phillip +with a commission to establish a colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales, +they gave him explicit directions as to where he should locate the +settlement. "According to the best information which we have obtained," +his instructions read, "Botany Bay appears to be the most eligible +situation upon the said coast for the first establishment, possessing a +commodious harbour and other advantages which no part of the said coast +hitherto discovered affords." But Phillip was a trustworthy man who, in +so serious a matter as the choice of a site for a town, did not follow +blindly the commands of respectable elderly gentlemen thousands of +miles away. It was his business to found a settlement successfully. To +do that he must select the best site. + +After examining Botany Bay, he decided to take a trip up the coast and +see if a better situation could not be found. On the 21st January, +1788, he entered Port Jackson with three boats, and found there "the +finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may +ride in the most perfect security." He fixed upon a cove "which I +honoured with the name of Sydney." and decided that that was +there he would "plant." Every writer of mediaeval history who has had +occasion to refer to the choice by Constantine the Great of Byzantium, +afterwards Constantinople, as his capital, has extolled his judgment +and prescience. Constantine was an Emperor, and could do as he would. +Arthur Phillip was an official acting under orders. We can never +sufficiently admire the wisdom he displayed when, exercising his own +discretion, he decided upon Port Jackson. True, he had a great +opportunity, but his signal merit is that he grasped it when it was +presented, that he gave more regard to the success of his task than to +the letter of his instructions. + +While he was making the search, the eleven vessels composing the First +Fleet lay in Botany Bay. He returned on the evening of the 23rd, and +immediately gave orders that the whole company should as soon as +possible sail for Port Jackson, declaring it to be, in King's quaint +words, "a very proper place to form an establisht. in." + +To the great astonishment of the Fleet, on the 24th, two strange ships +made their appearance to the south of Solander Point, a projection from +the peninsula on which now stands the obelisk in memory of Cook's +landing. What could they be? Some guessed that they were English +vessels with additional stores. Some supposed that they were Dutch, +"coming after us to oppose our landing." Nobody expected to see any +ships in these untraversed waters, and we can easily picture the +amazement of officers, crews, and convicts when the white sails +appeared. The more timid speculated on the possibility of attack, and +there were "temporary apprehensions, accompanied by a multiplicity of +conjectures, many of them sufficiently ridiculous." + +Phillip, however, remembered hearing that the French had an expedition +of discovery either in progress or contemplation. He was the first to +form a right opinion about them, but, wishing to be certain, sent the +SUPPLY out of the bay to get a nearer view and hoist the British +colours. Lieutenant Ball, in command of that brig, after reconnoitring, +reported that the ships were certainly not English. They were either +French, Spanish or Portuguese. He could distinctly see the white field +of the flag they flew, "but they were at too great a distance to +discover if there was anything else on it." The flag, of course, showed +the golden lilies of France on a white ground. One of the ships, King +records, "wore a CHEF D'ESCADRE'S pennant," that is, a commodore's. + +This information satisfied Phillip, who was anxious to lose no time in +getting his people ashore at Sydney Cove. He, therefore, determined to +sail in the SUPPLY on the 25th, to make preliminary arrangements, +leaving Captain Hunter of the SIRIUS to convoy the Fleet round as soon +as possible. The wind, just then, was blowing too strong for them to +work out of the Bay. + +Meanwhile, Laperouse, with the BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE, was meeting +with heavy weather in his attempt to double Point Solander. The +wind blew hard from that quarter, and his ships were too heavy sailers +to force their passage against wind and current combined. The whole of +the 24th was spent in full sight of Botany Bay, which they could not +enter. But their hearts were cheered by the spectacle of the pennants +and ensigns on the eleven British vessels, plainly seen at intervals +within, and the prospect of meeting Europeans again made them impatient +to fetch their anchorage. + +The SIRIUS was just about to sail when the French vessels entered the +Bay at nine in the morning of January 26, but Captain Hunter +courteously sent over a lieutenant and midshipman, with his compliments +and offers of such assistance as it was in his power to give. "I +despatched an officer," records Laperouse, "to return my thanks to +Captain Hunter, who by this time had his anchor a-peak and his topsails +hoisted, telling him that my wants were confined to wood and water, of +which we could not fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels +intended to settle a colony at such a distance from Europe could not be +of any assistance to navigators." The English lieutenant, according to +Laperouse, "appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's +plan, and we did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him +on the subject." It was not the business of a junior officer to give +unauthorised information, but perhaps his manner made a greater mystery +of the Governor's plans than the circumstances required. + +It was at Kamchatka that the French had learnt that the British +were establishing a settlement in New South Wales; but Laperouse, when +he arrived at Botany Bay, had no definite idea as to the progress they +had made. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, he expected to find +a town built and a market established. Instead of that he found the +first colonists abandoning the site where it was originally intended +that they should settle, and preparing to fix their abode at another +spot. But after he had seen something of Botany Bay he expressed +himself as "convinced of the propriety and absolute necessity of the +measure." + +The later relations between the English and French were of the most +pleasant kind. It does not appear from the writings of those who have +left records that Phillip and Laperouse ever met, or that the latter +ever saw the beginnings of Sydney. His ships certainly never entered +Port Jackson. But we learn from Captain Tench that "during their stay +in the port" (i.e. in Botany Bay) "the officers of the two nations had +frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual regard by visits and +other interchanges of friendship and esteem;" and Laperouse gratified +the English especially "by the feeling manner in which he always +mentioned the name and talents of Captain Cook." + +Not only in what he wrote with an eye to publication, but in his +private correspondence, Laperouse expressed his gratification at the +friendly relations established. He spoke of "frequent intercourse" +with the English, and said that "to the most polite attentions +they have added every offer of service in their power; and it was not +without regret that we saw them depart, almost immediately upon our +arrival, for Port Jackson, fifteen miles to the northward of this +place. Commodore Phillip had good reason to prefer that port, and he +has left us sole masters of this bay, where our long-boats are already +on the stocks." + +The fullest account is given in the journal of Lieutenant King, +afterwards (1800-6) Governor of New South Wales. On February 1 Phillip +sent him in a cutter, in company with Lieutenant Dawes of the Marines, +to visit Laperouse, "and to offer him whatever he might have occasion +for." King relates that they were "received with the greatest +politeness and attention by Monsieur de Laperouse and his officers." He +accepted an invitation to remain during the day with the French, to +dine with the Commodore, and to return to Port Jackson next morning. +The complete history of the voyage was narrated to him, including of +course the tragic story of the massacre of de Langle and his +companions. + +After dinner on the BOUSSOLE, King was taken ashore, where he found the +French "quite established, having thrown round their tents a stockade, +guarded by two small guns." This defence was needed to protect the +frames of the two new longboats, which were being put together, from +the natives; and also, it would appear, from a few escaped convicts, +"whom he had dismissed with threats, giving them a day's +provision to carry them back to ye settlement." Laperouse himself, in +his history--in the very last words of it, in fact--complains that +"we had but too frequent opportunities of hearing news of the English +settlement, the deserters from which gave us a great deal of trouble +and embarrassment." + +We learn from King a little about the Pere Receveur--a very little, +truly, but sufficient to make us wish to know more. From the +circumstance that his quarters were on the ASTROLABE, and that, +therefore, he was not brought very much under the notice of Laperouse, +we read scarcely anything about him in the commander's book. Once +during the voyage some acids used by him for scientific purposes +ignited, and set fire to the ship, but the danger was quickly +suppressed. This incident, and that of the wounding of Receveur at +Manua, are nearly all we are told about him from the commander. But he +struck King as being "a man of letters and genius." He was a collector +of natural curiosities, having under his care "a great number of +philosophical instruments." King's few lines, giving the impression +derived from a necessarily brief conversation, seem to bring the Abbe +before us in a flash. "A man of letters and genius": how gladly we +would know more of one of whom those words could be written! Receveur +died shortly before Laperouse sailed away, and was buried at the foot +of a tree, to which were nailed a couple of boards bearing an +inscription. Governor Phillip, when the boards fell down, had +the inscription engraved on a copper plate. The tomb, which is now so +prominent an object at Botany Bay, was erected by the Baron de +Bougainville in 1825. The memorials to the celebrated navigator and the +simple scholar stand together. + +King, in common with Tench, records the admiring way in which Laperouse +spoke of Cook. He "informed me that every place where he has touched or +been near, he found all the astronomical and nautical works of Captain +Cook to be very exact and true, and concluded by saying, 'Enfin, +Monsieur Cook a tant fait qu'il ne m'a rien laisse a faire que d' +admirer ses oeuvres.'" (In short, Mr. Cook has done so much that he has +left me nothing to do but to admire his works). + +There is very little more to tell about those few weeks spent at Botany +Bay before the navigator and his companions "vanished trackless into +blue immensity," as Carlyle puts it. A fragment of conversation is +preserved by Tench. A musket was fired one day, and the natives +marvelled less at the noise than at the fact that the bullet made a +hole in a piece of bark at which it was aimed. To calm them, "an +officer whistled the air of 'Malbrook,' which they appeared highly +charmed with, and greeted him with equal pleasure and readiness. I may +remark here," adds the Captain of Marines, "what I was afterwards told +by Monsieur de Perousse" (so he mis-spells the name) "that the natives +of California, as throughout all the isles of the Pacific Ocean, +and in short wherever he had been, seemed equally touched and delighted +with this little plaintive air." It is gratifying to be able to record +Captain Tench's high opinion of the efficacy of the tune, which is +popularly known nowadays as "We won't go home till morning." One has +often heard of telling things "to the Marines." This gallant officer, +doubtless, used to whistle them, to a "little plaintive air." + +It was the practice of Laperouse to sow seeds at places visited by his +ships, with the object of experimenting with useful European plants +that might be cultivated in other parts of the world. His own letters +and journal do not show that he did so at Botany Bay; but we have other +evidence that he did, and that the signs of cultivation had not +vanished at least ten years later. When George Bass was returning to +Sydney in February, 1798, at the end of that wonderful cruise in a +whaleboat which had led to the discovery of Westernport, he was +becalmed off Botany Bay. He was disposed to enter and remain there for +the night, but his journal records that his people--the six picked +British sailors who were the companions of his enterprise--"seemed +inclined to push for home rather than go up to the Frenchman's Garden." +Therefore, the wind failing, they took to the oars and rowed to Port +Jackson, reaching home at ten o'clock at night. That is a very +interesting allusion. The Frenchman's Garden must have been somewhere +within the enclosed area where the Cable Station now stands, and it +would be well if so pleasant a name, and one so full of +historical suggestion, were still applied to that reserve. + +It may be well to quote in full the passage in which Laperouse relates +his experience of Botany Bay. He was not able to write his journal up +to the date of his departure before despatching it to Europe, but the +final paragraphs in it sufficiently describe what occurred, and what he +thought. Very loose and foolish statements have occasionally been +published as to his object in visiting the port. In one of the +geographical journals a few years ago the author saw it stated that +there was "a race for a Continent" between the English and the French, +in which the former won by less than a week! Nonsense of that sort, +even though it appears in sober publications, issued with a scientific +purpose, can emanate only from those who have no real acquaintance with +the subject. There was no race, no struggle for priority, no thought of +territorial acquisition on the part of the French. The reader of this +little book knows by this time that the visit to Botany Bay was not +originally contemplated. It was not in the programme. + +What would have happened if Laperouse had safely returned home, and if +the French Revolution had not destroyed Louis XVI and blown his +exploration and colonisation schemes into thin air, is quite another +question; but "ifs" are not history. You can entirely reconstruct the +history of the human race by using enough "ifs," but with that +sort of thing, which an ironist has termed "Iftory," and is often more +amusing than enlightening, more speculative than sound, we have at +present nothing to do. Here is the version of the visit given by +Laperouse himself:-- + +"We made the land on the 23rd January. It has little elevation, and is +scarcely possible to be seen at a greater distance than twelve leagues. +The wind then became very variable; and, like Captain Cook, we met with +currents, which carried us every day fifteen minutes south of our +reckoning; so that we spent the whole of the 24th in plying in sight of +Botany Bay, without being able to double Point Solander, which bore +from us a league north. The wind blew strong from that quarter, and our +ships were too heavy sailers to surmount the force of the wind and the +currents combined; but that day we had a spectacle to which we had been +altogether unaccustomed since our departure from Manilla. This was a +British squadron, at anchor in Botany Bay, the pennants and ensigns of +which we could plainly distinguish. All Europeans are countrymen at +such a distance from home, and we had the most eager impatience to +fetch the anchorage; but the next day the weather was so foggy that it +was impossible to discern the land, and we did not get in till the +26th, at nine in the morning, when we let go our anchor a mile from the +north shore, in seven fathoms of water, on a good bottom of grey sand, +abreast of the second bay. + +"The moment I made my appearance in the entrance of the Bay, a +lieutenant and midshipman were sent aboard my vessel by Captain Hunter, +commanding the British frigate SIRIUS. They offered from him all the +services in his power; adding, however, that, as he was just getting +under way to proceed to the northward, circumstances would not allow +him to furnish us with provision, ammunition or sails; so that his +offers of service were reduced to good wishes for the future success of +our voyage. + +"I despatched an officer to return my thanks to Captain Hunter, who by +this time had his anchor a-peak, and his topsails hoisted; telling him +that my wants were confined to wood and water, of which we could not +fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels intended to settle a +colony at such a distance from Europe, could not be of any assistance +to navigators. + +"From the lieutenant we learnt that the English squadron was commanded +by Commodore Phillip, who had sailed from Botany Bay the previous +evening in the SUPPLY, sloop, with four transports, in search of a more +commodious place for a settlement further north. The lieutenant +appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's plan, and we +did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him on the +subject; but we had no doubt that the intended settlement must be very +near Botany Bay, since several boats were under sail for the place, and +the passage certainly must be very short, as it was thought unnecessary +to hoist them on board. The crew of the English boat, less discreet +than their officer, soon informed our people that they were only +going to Port Jackson, sixteen miles north of Point Banks, where +Commander Phillip had himself reconnoitred a very good harbour, which +ran ten miles into the land, to the south-west, and in which the ships +might anchor within pistol-shot of the shore, in water as smooth as +that of a basin. We had, afterwards, but too frequent opportunities of +hearing news of the English settlement, the deserters from which gave +us a great deal of trouble and embarrassment." + +Pieced together thus is nearly all we know about Laperouse during his +visit to Botany Bay. It is not much. We would gladly have many more +details. What has become of the letter he wrote to Phillip recommending +(according to King) the Pacific Islands as worthy of the attention of +the new colony, "for the great quantity of stock with which they +abound"? Apparently it is lost. The grave and the deep have swallowed +up the rest of this "strange eventful history," and we interrogate in +vain. We should know even less than we do were it not that Laperouse +obtained from Phillip permission to send home, by the next British ship +leaving Port Jackson, his journal, some charts, and the drawings of his +artists. This material, added to private letters and a few +miscellaneous papers, was placed in charge of Lieutenant Shortland to +be delivered to the French Ambassador in London, and formed part of the +substance of the two volumes and atlas published in Paris. + +* * * * * + +It may be well to cite, as a note to this chapter, the books in +which contemporary accounts of the visit of Laperouse and his ships to +Botany Bay are to be found. Some readers may thereby be tempted to look +into the original authorities. Laperouse's own narrative is contained +in the third and fourth volumes of his "Voyage autour du Monde," edited +by Milet-Mureau (Paris, 1797). There are English translations. A few +letters at the end of the work give a little additional information. +Governor Phillip's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, 1789) contains a +good but brief account. Phillip's despatch to the Secretary of State, +Lord Sydney, printed in the "Historical Records of New South Wales," +Vol. I., part 2, p. 121, devotes a paragraph to the subject. King's +Journal in Vol. II. of the "Records," p. 543-7, gives his story. +Surgeon Bowes' Journal, on page 391 of the same volume, contains a +rather picturesque allusion. Hunter's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, +1793) substantially repeats King's version. Captain Watkin Tench, of +the Marines, has a good account in his "Narrative of an Expedition to +Botany Bay" (London, 1789), and Paterson's "History of New South Wales" +(Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1811) makes an allusion to the French expedition. + + + + +Chapter VIII. + +THE MYSTERY, AND THE SECRET OF THE SEA. + + +The BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE sailed from Botany Bay on March 10, +1788. After recording that fact we might well inscribe the pathetic +last words of Hamlet, "the rest is silence." + +We know what Laperouse intended to do. He wrote two letters to friends +in France, explaining the programme to be followed after sailing from +Botany Bay. They do not agree in every particular, but we may take the +last letter written to express his final determination. According to +this, his plan was to sail north, passing between Papua ( New Guinea) +and Australia by another channel than Endeavour Strait, if he could +find one. During September and October he intended to visit the Gulf of +Carpentaria, and thence sail down the west and along the south of +Australia, to Tasmania, "but in such a manner that it may be possible +for me to stretch northward in time to arrive at Ile-de-France in the +beginning of December, 1788." That was the programme which he was not +destined to complete--hardly, indeed, to enter upon. Had he succeeded, +his name would have been inscribed amongst the memorable company of the +world's great maritime explorers. As it is, the glint on his +brow, as he stands in the light of history, is less that of achievement +than of high promise, noble aims, romance and mystery. + +One of the letters sent from Sydney concluded with these words: "Adieu! +I shall depart in good health, as are all my ship's company. We would +undertake six voyages round the world if it could afford to our country +either profit or pleasure." They were not the last words he wrote, but +we may appropriately take them as being, not merely his adieu to a +friend, but to the world. + +Time sped on; the date given for the arrival at Ile-de-France was +passed; the year 1789 dawned and ticked off the tally of its days. But +nothing was heard of Laperouse. People in France grew anxious, one +especially we may be sure--she who knew so well where the ships would +anchor in Port Louis if they emerged out of the ocean brume, and who +longed so ardently that renewed acquaintance with scenes once sweetly +familiar would awaken memories meet to give wings to speed and spurs to +delay. Not a word came to sustain or cheer, and the faint flush of hope +faded to the wan hue of despair on the cheek of love. By 1791 all +expectation of seeing the expedition return was abandoned. But could +not some news of its fate be ascertained? Had it faded out of being +like a summer cloud, leaving not a trace behind? Might not some inkling +be had, some small relics obtained, some whisper caught, in those +distant isles, + + "Where the sea egg flames on the coral, + and the long-backed breakers croon + Their endless ocean legend to the lazy, locked lagoon." + +France was then in the throes of her great social earthquake; but it +stands to the credit of the National Assembly that, amidst many +turbulent projects and boiling passions, they found time and had the +disposition to cause the fitting out of a new expedition to search for +tidings of those whose disappearance weighed heavily on the heart of +the nation. The decree was passed on February 9, 1791. + +Two ships, the RECHERCHE and the ESPERANCE, were selected and placed +under the command of Dentrecasteaux. He had already had some experience +in a part of the region to be searched, had been a governor of +Ile-de-France, and during a South Sea voyage had named the cluster of +islands east of Papua now called the D'Entrecasteaux Group. The second +ship was placed under the command of Captain Huon Kermadec. The Huon +River in Tasmania, and the Kermadec Islands, N.E. of New Zealand, are +named after him. + +Fleurieu again drew up the instructions, and based them largely upon +the letter from Laperouse quoted above, pointing out that remains of +him would most probably be found in the neighbourhood of coasts which +he had intended to explore. It was especially indicated that there was, +south of New Holland, an immense stretch of coastline so far +utterly unknown. "No navigator has penetrated in that part of the sea; +the reconnaissances and discoveries of the Dutch, the English and the +French commenced at the south of Van Diemen's Land." + +Thus, for the second time, was a French navigator directed to explore +the southern coasts of Australia; and had Dentrecasteaux followed the +plan laid down for him he would have forestalled the discoveries of +Grant, Bass and Flinders, just as Laperouse would have done had his +work not been cut short by disaster. + +It has to be remembered that the instructions impressed upon +Dentrecasteaux that his business primarily was not geographical +discovery, but to get news of his lost compatriots. But even so, is it +not curious that the French should have been concerned with the +exploration of Southern Australia before the English thought about it; +that they should have had two shots at the task, planned with knowledge +and care, officially directed, and in charge of eminently competent +navigators; but that nevertheless their schemes should have gone awry? +They made a third attempt by means of Baudin's expedition, during the +Napoleonic Consulate, and again were unsuccessful, except in a very +small measure. It almost seems as if some power behind human endeavours +had intended these coasts for British finding--and keeping. + +The full story of Dentrecasteaux' expedition has not yet been told. Two +thick books were written about it, but a mass of unpublished +papers contain details that were judiciously kept out of those volumes. +When the whole truth is made known, it will be seen that the bitter +strife which plunged France in an agony of blood and tears was not +confined to the land. + +The ships did not visit Sydney. Why not? It might have been expected +that an expedition sent to discover traces of Laperouse would have been +careful to make Botany Bay in the first instance, and, after collecting +whatever evidence was available there, would have carefully followed +the route that he had proposed to pursue. But it would seem that an +European settlement was avoided. Why? The unpublished papers may +furnish an answer to that question. + +Neither was the south coast of Australia explored. That great chance +was missed. Some excellent charting--which ten years later commanded +the cordial admiration of Flinders--was done by Beautemps-Beaupre, who +was Dentrecasteaux' cartographer, especially round about the S.W. +corner of the continent. Esperance Bay, in Western Australia, is named +after one of the ships of this expedition. But from that corner, his +ships being short of fresh water, Dentrecasteaux sailed on a direct +line to Southern Tasmania, and thence to New Zealand, New Caledonia, +and New Guinea. Touch with the only European centre in these parts +was--apparently with deliberation--not obtained. + +Dentrecasteaux died while his ships were in the waters to the +north of New Guinea. He fell violently ill, raving at first, then +subsiding into unconsciousness, a death terrible to read about in the +published narrative, where the full extent of his troubles is not +revealed. Kermadec, commander of the ESPERANCE, also died at New +Caledonia. After their decease the ships returned to France as rapidly +as they could. They were detained by the Dutch at Sourabaya for several +months, as prisoners of war, and did not reach Europe till March, 1796. +Their mission had been abortive. + +Five French Captains who brought expeditions to Australia at this +period all ended in misfortune. Laperouse was drowned; de Langle was +murdered; Dentrecasteaux died miserably at sea; Kermadec, the fourth, +had expired shortly before; and Baudin, the fifth, died at Port Louis +on the homeward voyage. + +Nor is even that the last touch of melancholy to the tale of tragedy. +There was a young poet who was touched by the fate of Laperouse. Andre +Chenier is now recognised as one of the finest masters of song who have +enriched French literature, and his poems are more and more studied and +admired both by his own countrymen and abroad. He planned and partly +finished a long poem, "L'Amerique," which contains a mournful passage +about the mystery of the sea which had not then been solved. A +translation of the lines will not be attempted here; they are mentioned +because the poet himself had an end as tragic, though in a +different mode, as that of the hero of whom he sang. He came under the +displeasure of the tyrants of the Red Terror through his friends and +his writings, and in March, 1794, the guillotine took this brilliant +young genius as a victim. + + J'accuserai les vents et cette mer jalouse + Qui retient, qui peut-etre a ravi Laperouse + +so the poem begins. How strangely the shadow of Tragedy hangs over this +ill-starred expedition; Louis XVI the projector, Laperouse and de +Langle the commanders, Dentrecasteaux and Kermadec the searchers, Andre +Chenier the laureate: the breath of the black-robed Fury was upon them +all! + + + + +Chapter IX. + +CAPTAIN DILLON'S DISCOVERY. + + +The navigators of all nations were fascinated by the mystery attaching +to the fate of Laperouse. Every ship that sailed the Pacific hoped to +obtain tidings or remains. From time to time rumours arose of the +discovery of relics. One reported the sight of wreckage; another that +islanders had been seen dressed in French uniforms; another that a +cross of St. Louis had been found. But the element of probability in +the various stories evaporated on investigation. Flinders, sailing +north from Port Jackson in the INVESTIGATOR in 1802, kept a sharp +lookout on the Barrier Reef, the possibility of finding some trace +being "always present to my mind." But no definite news came. + +A new French voyage of exploration came down to the Pacific in 1817, +under the command of Louis de Freycinet, who had been a lieutenant in +Baudin's expedition in 1800-4. The purpose was not chiefly to look for +evidence concerning Laperouse, though naturally a keen scrutiny was +maintained with this object in view. + +An extremely queer fact may be mentioned in connection with this +voyage. The URANIE carried a woman among the crew, the only one of her +sex amidst one hundred men. Madame de Freycinet, the wife of the +commandant, joined at Toulon, dressed as a ship's boy, and it was given +out in the newspapers that her husband was very much surprised when he +found that his wife had managed to get aboard in disguise. But Arago, +one of the scientific staff, tells us in his Memoirs, published in +1837, that--as we can well believe--Freycinet knew perfectly who the +"young and pretty" boy was, and had connived at her joining the ship as +a lad, because she wanted to accompany her husband, and the authorities +would have prevented her had they known. She continued to wear her +boy's dress until after the ships visited Gibraltar, for Arago informs +us that the solemn British Lieutenant-Governor there, when he saw her, +broke into a smile, "the first perhaps that his features had worn for +ten years." If that be true, the little lady surely did a little good +by her saucy escapade. But official society regarded the lady in +trousers with a frigid stare, so that henceforth she deemed it discreet +to resume feminine garments. It does not appear that she passed for a +boy when the expedition visited Sydney, and of course no hint of +Madame's presence is given in the official history of the voyage. + +We now reach the stage when the veil was lifted and the mystery +explained. In 1813 the East India Company's ship HUNTER, voyaging from +Calcutta to Sydney, called at the Fiji Islands. They discovered that +several Europeans were living on one of the group. Some had been +shipwrecked; some had deserted from vessels; but they had become +accustomed to the life and preferred it. The HUNTER employed a party of +them to collect sandal wood and beche-de-mer, one of her junior +officers, Peter Dillon, being in charge. A quarrel with natives +occurred, and all the Europeans were murdered, except Dillon, a +Prussian named Martin Bushart, and a seaman, William Wilson. After the +affray Bushart would certainly have been slain had he remained, so he +induced the captain of the HUNTER to give him a passage to the first +land reached. Accordingly Bushart, a Fiji woman who was his wife, and a +Lascar companion, were landed on Barwell Island, or Tucopia. + +Thirteen years later Peter Dillon was sailing in command of his own +ship, the ST. PATRICK, from Valparaiso to Pondicherry, when he sighted +Tucopia. Curiosity prompted him to stop to enquire whether his old +friend Martin Bushart was still alive. He hove to, and shortly after +two canoes put off from the land, bringing Bushart and the Lascar, both +in excellent health. + +Now, Dillon observed that the Lascar sold an old silver sword guard to +one of the ST. PATRICK'S crew in return for a few fish hooks. This made +him inquisitive. He asked the Prussian where it came from. Bushart +informed him that when he first arrived at the island he saw in +possession of the natives, not only this sword guard, but also several +chain plates, iron bolts, axes, the handle of a silver fork, some +knives, tea cups, beads, bottles, a silver spoon bearing a crest and +monogram, and a sword. He asked where these articles were +obtained, and the natives told him that they got them from the +Mannicolo (or Vanikoro) cluster of islands, two days' canoe voyage from +Tucopia, in the Santa Cruz group. + +"Upon examining the sword minutely" wrote Dillon, "I discovered, or +thought I discovered, the initials of Perouse stamped on it, which +excited my suspicion and made me more exact in my inquiries. I then, by +means of Bushart and the Lascar, questioned some of the islanders +respecting the way in which their neighbours procured the silver and +iron articles. They told me that the natives of Mannicolo stated that +many years ago two large ships arrived at their islands; one anchored +at the island of Whanoo, and the other at the island of Paiou, a little +distance from each other. Some time after they anchored, and before +they had any communication with the natives, a heavy gale arose and +both vessels were driven ashore. The ship that was anchored off Whanoo +grounded upon the rocks. + +"The natives came in crowds to the seaside, armed with clubs, spears, +and bows and arrows, and shot some arrows into the ship, and the crew +in return fired the guns and some musketry on them and killed several. +The vessel, continuing to beat violently against the rocks, shortly +afterwards went to pieces. Some of the crew took to their boats, and +were driven on shore, where they were to a man murdered on landing by +the infuriated natives. Others threw themselves into the sea; but if +they reached the shore it was only to share the fate of their +wretched comrades, so that not a single soul escaped out of this +vessel." + +The ship wrecked on Paiou, according to the natives' story, was driven +on a sandy beach. Some arrows were fired into her, but the crew did not +fire. They were restrained, and held up beads, axes, and toys, making a +demonstration of friendliness. As soon as the wind abated, an old chief +came aboard the wrecked ship, where he was received in friendly +fashion, and, going ashore, pacified his people. The crew of the +vessel, compelled to abandon her, carried the greater part of their +stores ashore, where they built a small boat from the remains of the +wreck. As soon as this craft was ready to sail, as many as could +conveniently be taken embarked and sailed away. They were never heard +of again. The remainder of the crew remained on the island until they +died. + +Such was the information collected by Captain Peter Dillon in 1826. He +took away with him the sword guard, but regretted to learn that the +silver spoon had been beaten into wire by Bushart for making rings and +ornaments for female islanders. + +When he reached Calcutta, Dillon wrote an account of his discovery in a +letter to the government of Bengal, and suggested that he should be +sent in command of an expedition to search the Vanikoro cluster in the +hope of finding some old survivor of Laperouse's unhappy company, or at +all events further remains of the ships. He had prevailed upon +Martin Bushart to accompany him to India, and hoped, through this man's +knowledge of the native tongue, to elicit all that was to be known. + +The Government of British India became interested in Dillon's +discovery, and resolved to send him in command of a ship to search for +further information. At the end of 1826 he sailed in the RESEARCH, and +in September of the following year came within sight of the high-peaked +island Tucopia. The enquiries made on this voyage fully confirmed and +completed the story, and left no room for doubt that the ships of +Laperouse had been wrecked and his whole company massacred or drowned +on or near Vanikoro. Many natives still living remembered the arrival +of the French. Some of them related that they thought those who came on +the big ships to be not men but spirits; and such a grotesque bit of +description as was given of the peaks of cocked hats exactly expressed +the way in which the appearance of the strangers would be likely to +appeal to the native imagination:--"There was a projection from their +foreheads or noses a foot long." + +Furthermore, Dillon's officers were able to purchase from the islands +such relics as an old sword blade, a rusted razor, a silver sauce-boat +with fleur-de-lis upon it, a brass mortar, a few small bells, a silver +sword-handle bearing a cypher, apparently a "P" with a crown, part of a +blacksmith's vice, the crown of a small anchor, and many other +articles. An examination of natives brought out a few further +details, as for example, a description of the chief of the strangers, +"who used always to be looking at the stars and the sun and beckoning +to them," which is how a native would be likely to regard a man making +astronomical observations. Dillon, in short had solved the forty years' +mystery. The Pacific had revealed her long-held secret. + +It happened that a new French expedition in the ASTROLABE, under the +command of Dumont-D'Urville, was in the southern hemisphere at this +time. While he lay at Hobart on his way to New Zealand, the captain +heard of Dillon's discoveries, and, at once changing his plans, sailed +for the Santa Cruz Islands. He arrived there in February, 1828, and +made some valuable finds to supplement those of the English captain. At +the bottom of the sea, in perfectly clear water, he saw lying, +encrusted with coral, some remains of anchors, chains, guns, bullets, +and other objects which had clearly belonged to the ships of Laperouse. +One of his artists made a drawing of them on the spot. They were +recovered, and, together with Dillon's collection, are now exhibited in +a pyramid at the Marine Museum at the Louvre in Paris, in memory of the +ill-fated commander and crew who perished, martyrs in the great cause +of discovery, a century and a quarter ago. + +It is interesting to note that descendants of Captain Dillon are +residents of Sydney to this day. + + + + +Chapter X. + +THE FAME OF LAPEROUSE. + + +Intellectually, and as a navigator, Laperouse was a son of James Cook, +and he himself would have rejoiced to be so described. The allusions to +his predecessor in his writings are to be numbered by scores, and the +note of reverent admiration is frequently sounded. He followed Cook's +guidance in the management of his ships, paying particular attention to +the diet of his crews. He did not succeed in keeping scurvy at bay +altogether, but when the disease made its appearance he met it promptly +by securing fresh vegetable food for the sufferers, and was so far +successful that when he arrived in Botany Bay his whole company was in +good health. + +The influence of the example and experience of Cook may be illustrated +in many ways, some of them curious. We may take a point as to which he +really had little to fear; but he knew what had occurred in Cook's case +and he was anxious that the same should not happen to him. The +published story of Cook's first South Sea Voyage, as is well known, was +not his own. His journal was handed over to Dr. Hawkesworth, a +gentleman who tried to model his literary style on that of Dr. Johnson, +and evolved a pompous, big-drum product in consequence. Hawkesworth +garnished the manly, straightforward navigator's simple and direct +English with embellishments of his own. Where Cook was plain Hawkesworth +was ornate; where Cook was sensible Hawkesworth was silly; where Cook +was accurate, Hawkesworth by stuffing in his own precious observations +made the narrative unreliable, and even ridiculous. In fact, the +gingerbread Johnson simply spoiled Cook. + +Dr. Johnson was by no means gratified by the ponderous prancings of his +imitator. We learn from Boswell that when the great man met Captain +Cook at a dinner given by the President of the Royal Society, he said +that he "was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that +celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as to many of the +exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth of his voyages." Cook +himself was annoyed by the decorating of his story, and resented the +treatment strongly. + +Laperouse knew this, and was very anxious that nobody in France should +Hawkesworthify him. He did not object to being carefully edited, but he +did not want to be decorated. He wrote excellent French narrative +prose, and his work may be read with delight. Its qualities of clarity, +picturesqueness and smoothness, are quite in accord with the fine +traditions of the language. But, as it was likely that part of the +history of his voyage might be published before his return, he did not +want it to be handed over to anybody who would trick it out in +finery, and he therefore wrote the following letter: + +"If my journal be published before my return, let the editing of it by +no means be entrusted to a man of letters; for either he will sacrifice +to the turn of a phrase the proper terms which the seaman and man of +learning would prefer, but which to him will appear harsh and +barbarous; or, rejecting all the nautical and astronomical details, and +endeavouring to make a pleasing romance, he will for want of the +knowledge his education has not allowed him to acquire, commit mistakes +which may prove fatal to those who shall follow me. But choose an +editor versed in the mathematical sciences, who is capable of +calculating and comparing my data with those of other investigators, of +rectifying errors which may have escaped me, and of guarding himself +against the commission of others. Such an editor will preserve the +substance of the work; will omit nothing that is essential; will give +technical details the harsh and rude, but concise style of a seaman; +and will well perform his task in supplying my place and publishing the +work as I would have done it myself." + +That letter is a rather singular effect of Laperouse's study of Cook, +which might be illustrated by further examples. The influence of the +great English sailor is the more remarkable when we remember that there +had been early French navigators to the South Seas before Laperouse. +There was the elder Bougainville, the discoverer of the Navigator +Islands; there was Marion-Dufresne, who was killed and eaten by Maoris +in 1772; there was Surville--to mention only three. Laperouse knew of +them, and mentioned them. But they had little to teach him. In short +and in truth, he belonged to the school of Cook, and that is an +excellent reason why English and especially Australian people should +have an especial regard for him. + +The disastrous end of Laperouse's expedition before he had completed +his task prevented him from adequately realising his possibilities as a +discoverer. As pointed out in the preceding pages, if he had completed +his voyage, he would in all probability have found the southern coasts +of Australia in 1788. But the work that he actually did is not without +importance; and he unquestionably possessed the true spirit of the +explorer. When he entered upon this phase of his career he was a +thoroughly experienced seaman. He was widely read in voyaging +literature, intellectually well endowed, alert-minded, eager, +courageous, and vigorous. The French nation has had no greater sailor +than Laperouse. + +De Lesseps, the companion of his voyage as far as Kamchatka, has left a +brief but striking characterisation of him. "He was," says this +witness, "an accomplished gentleman, perfectly urbane and full of wit, +and possessed of those charming manners which pertained to the +eighteenth century. He was always agreeable in his relations with +subordinates and officers alike." The same writer tells us that +when Louis XVI gave him the command of the expedition he had the +reputation of being the ablest seaman in the French navy. + +Certainly he was no common man to whose memory stands that tall +monument at Botany Bay. It was erected at the cost of the French +Government by the Baron de Bougainville, in 1825, and serves not only +as a reminder of a fine character and a full, rich and manly life, but +of a series of historical events that are of capital consequence in the +exploration and occupation of Australia. + +It will be appropriate to conclude this brief biography with a tribute +to the French navigator from the pen of an English poet. Thomas +Campbell is best remembered by such vigorous poems as "Ye Mariners of +England," and "The Battle of the Baltic," which express a tense and +elevated British patriotism. All the more impressive for that very +reason is his elegy in honour of a sailor of another nation, whose +merits as a man and whose charm as a writer Campbell had recognised +from his boyhood. The following are his. + +LINES WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF OF LAPEROUSE'S "VOYAGES" + + Loved Voyager! whose pages had a zest + More sweet than fiction to my wondering breast, + When, rapt in fancy, many a boyish day + I tracked his wanderings o'er the watery way, + Roamed round the Aleutian isles in waking dreams, + Or plucked the fleur-de-lys by Jesso's streams, + Or gladly leaped on that far Tartar strand, + Where Europe's anchor ne'er had bit the sand, + Where scarce a roving wild tribe crossed the plain, + Or human voice broke nature's silent reign,-- + But vast and grassy deserts feed the bear, + And sweeping deer-herds dread no hunter's snare. + Such young delight his real records brought, + His truth so touched romantic springs of thought, + That, all my after life, his fate and fame + Entwined romance with Laperouse's name. + Fair were his ships, expert his gallant crews, + And glorious was the emprise of Laperouse-- + Humanely glorious! Men will weep for him, + When many a guilty martial fame is dim: + He ploughed the deep to bind no captive's chain-- + Pursued no rapine--strewed no wreck with slain; + And, save that in the deep themselves lie low, + His heroes plucked no wreath from human woe. + 'Twas his the earth's remotest bounds to scan, + Conciliating with gifts barbaric man-- + Enrich the world's contemporaneous mind, + And amplify the picture of mankind. + Far on the vast Pacific, 'midst those isles + O'er which the earliest morn of Asia smiles, + He sounded and gave charts to many a shore + And gulf of ocean new to nautic lore; + Yet he that led discovery o'er the wave, + Still finds himself an undiscovered grave. + He came not back! Conjecture's cheek grew pale, + Year after year; in no propitious gale + His lilied banner held its homeward way, + And Science saddened at her martyr's stay. + An age elapsed: no wreck told where or when + The chief went down with all his gallant men, + Or whether by the storm and wild sea flood + He perished, or by wilder men of blood. + The shuddering fancy only guess'd his doom, + And doubt to sorrow gave but deeper gloom. + An age elapsed: when men were dead or gray, + Whose hearts had mourned him in their youthful day, + Fame traced on Vanikoro's shore at last, + The boiling surge had mounted o'er his mast. + The islesmen told of some surviving men, + But Christian eyes beheld them ne'er again. + Sad bourne of all his toils--with all his band + To sleep, wrecked, shroudless, on a savage strand! + Yet what is all that fires a hero's scorn + Of death?--the hope to live in hearts unborn. + Life to the brave is not its fleeting breath, + But worth--foretasting fame that follows death. + That worth had Laperouse, that meed he won. + He sleeps--his life's long stormy watch is done. + In the great deep, whose boundaries and space + He measured, fate ordained his resting place; + But bade his fame, like th' ocean rolling o'er + His relics, visit every earthly shore. + Fair Science on that ocean's azure robe + Still writes his name in picturing the globe, + And paints (what fairer wreath could glory twine?) + His watery course--a world-encircling line. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laperouse, by Ernest Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAPEROUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 4222.txt or 4222.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/2/4222/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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One can hardy look at the obelisk, and at +the tomb of Pere Receveur near by, without picturing the departure of +the French ships after bidding farewell to the English officers and +colonists. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, one can follow Laperouse +out to sea, with the eye of imagination, until sails, poops and hulls +diminish to the view and disappear below the hazy-blue horizon. We may +be sure that some of Governor Phillip's people watched the sailing, and +the lessening, and the melting away of the vessels, from just about the +same place, one hundred and twenty four years ago. What they saw, and +what we can imagine, was really the end of a romantic career, and the +beginning of a mystery of the sea which even yet has not lost its +fascination. + +The story of that life is surely worth telling, and, we trust, worth +reading; for it is that of a good, brave and high-minded man, a great +sailor, and a true gentleman. The author has put into these few pages +what he has gleaned from many volumes, some of them stout, heavy and +dingy tomes, though delightful enough to "those who like that +sort of thing." He hopes that the book may for many readers touch with +new meaning those old weatherworn stones at Botany Bay, and make the +personality of Laperouse live again for such as nourish an interest in +Australian history. + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + +(Not included in etext) + +Portrait of Laperouse, with Autograph +Laperouse's Coat of Arms +The Laperouse Family +Comte de Fleurieu +Louis XVI Giving Instructions to Laperouse +Australia as known athe time of Laperouse's visit +The BOUSSOLE and ASTROLABE +Chart of Laperouse's Voyage in the Pacific +Massacre of Captain de Langle's Party +Tomb of Pere Receveur +Monument to Laperouse at Botany Bay +Admiral Dentrecasteaux +Map of Vanikoro Island +Relics of Laperouse + + + + + +Life of Laperouse + + + + +Chapter I. + + + +FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES + + +Jean-Francois Galaup, Comte De Laperouse, was born at Albi, on August +23, 1741. His birthplace is the chief town in the Department of Tarn, +lying at the centre of the fruitful province of Languedoc, in the south +of France. It boasts a fine old Gothic cathedral, enriched with much +noble carving and brilliant fresco painting; and its history gives it +some importance in the lurid and exciting annals of France. From its +name was derived that of a religious sect, the Albigeois, who professed +doctrines condemned as heretical and endured severe persecution during +the thirteenth century. + +But among all the many thousands of men who have been born, and have +lived, and died in the old houses of the venerable city, none, not even +among its bishops and counts, has borne a name which lives in the +memory of mankind as does that of the navigator, Laperouse. The sturdy +farmers of the fat and fertile plain which is the granary of France, +who drive in to Albi on market days, the patient peasants of the +fields, and the simple artisans who ply their primitive trades under +the shadow of the dark-red walls of St. Cecile, know few details, +perhaps, about the sailor who sank beneath the waters of the Pacific +so many years ago. Yet very many of them have heard of +Laperouse, and are familiar with his monument cast in bronze in the +public square of Albi. They speak his name respectfully as that of one +who grew up among their ancestors, who trod their streets, sat in their +cathedral, won great fame, and met his death under the strange, +distant, southern stars. + +His family had for five hundred years been settled, prominent and +prosperous, on estates in the valley of the Tarn. In the middle of the +fifteenth century a Galaup held distinguished office among the citizens +of Albi, and several later ancestors are mentioned honourably in its +records. The father of the navigator, Victor Joseph de Galaup, +succeeded to property which maintained him in a position of influence +and affluence among his neighbours. He married Marguerite de +Resseguier, a woman long remembered in the district for her qualities +of manner and mind. She exercised a strong influence over her +adventurous but affectionate son; and a letter written to her by him at +an interesting crisis of his life, testifies to his eager desire to +conform to his mother's wishes even in a matter that wrenched his +heart, and after years of service in the Navy had taken him far and +kept him long from her kind, concerning eyes. + +Jean-Francois derived the name by which he is known in history from the +estate of Peyrouse, one of the possessions of his family. But he +dropped the "y" when assuming the designation, and invariably +spelt the name "Laperouse," as one word. Inasmuch as the final +authority on the spelling of a personal name is that of the individual +who owns it, there can be no doubt that we ought always to spell this +name "Laperouse," as, in fact, successors in the family who have borne +it have done; though in nearly all books, French as well as English, it +is spelt "La Perouse." In the little volume now in the reader's hands, +the example of Laperouse himself has been followed. + +On this point it may be remarked concerning another navigator who was +engaged in Australian exploration, that we may lose touch with an +interesting historical fact by not observing the correct form of a +name. On maps of Tasmania appears "D'Entrecasteaux Channel." It was +named by and after Admiral Bruny Dentrecasteaux, who as commander of +the RECHERCHE and ESPERANCE visited Australian waters. We shall have +something to say about his expedition towards the close of the book. +Now, Dentrecasteaux sailed from France in 1791, while the Revolution +was raging. All titles had been abolished by a decree of the National +Assembly on July 19th, 1790. When he made this voyage, therefore, the +Admiral was not Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, a form which implied a +territorial titular distinction; but simply Citizen Dentrecasteaux. The +name is so spelt in the contemporary histories of his expedition +written by Rossel and Labillardiere. It would not have been likely to +be spelt in any other way by a French officer at the time. Thus, +the Marquis de la Fayette became simply Lafayette, and so with all +other bearers of titles in France. Consequently we should, by observing +this little difference, remind ourselves of Dentrecasteaux' period and +circumstances. + +That, however, is by the way, and our main concern for the present is +with Laperouse. + +As a boy, Jean-Francois developed a love for books of voyages, and +dreamt, as a boy will, of adventures that he would enjoy when he grew +to manhood. A relative tells us that his imagination was enkindled by +reading of the recent discoveries of Anson. As he grew up, and himself +sailed the ocean in command of great ships, he continued to read all +the voyaging literature he could procure. The writings of Byron, +Carteret, Wallis, Louis de Bougainville, "and above all Cook," are +mentioned as those of his heroes. He "burned to follow in their +footsteps." + +It will be observed that, with one exception, the navigators who are +especially described by one of his own family as having influenced the +bent of Laperouse were Englishmen. He did not, of course, read all of +their works in his boyhood, because some of them were published after +he had embraced a naval career. But we note them in this place, as the +guiding stars by which he shaped his course. He must have been a young +man, already on the way to distinction as an officer, when he came +under the spell of Cook. "And above all Cook," says his relative. To +the end of his life, down to the final days of his very last +voyage, Laperouse revered the name of Cook. Every Australian reader +will like him the better for that. Not many months before his own life +ended in tragedy and mystery, he visited the island where the great +English sailor was slain. When he reflected on the achievements of that +wonderful career, he sat down in his cabin and wrote in his Journal the +passage of which the following is a translation. It is given here out +of its chronological order, but we are dealing with the influences that +made Laperouse what he was, and we can see from these sincere and +feeling words, what Cook meant to him: + +"Full of admiration and of respect as I am for the memory of that great +man, he will always be in my eyes the first of navigators. It is he who +has determined the precise position of these islands, who has explored +their shores, who has made known the manners, customs and religion of +the inhabitants, and who has paid with his blood for all the light +which we have to-day concerning these peoples. I would call him the +Christopher Columbus of these countries, of the coast of Alaska, and of +nearly all the isles of the South Seas. Chance might enable the most +ignorant man to discover islands, but it belongs only to great men like +him to leave nothing more to be done regarding the coasts they have +found. Navigators, philosophers, physicians, all find in his Voyages +interesting and useful things which were the object of his concern. All +men, especially all navigators, owe a tribute of praise to his memory. +How could one neglect to pay it at the moment of coming upon the +group of islands where he finished so unfortunately his career?" + +We can well understand that a lad whose head was full of thoughts of +voyaging and adventure, was not, as a schoolboy, very tame and easy to +manage. He is described as having been ardent, impetuous, and rather +stubborn. But there is more than one kind of stubbornness. There is the +stupid stubbornness of the mule, and the fixed, firm will of the +intelligent being. We can perceive quite well what is meant in this +case. On the other hand, he was affectionate, quick and clever. He +longed for the sea; and his father, observing his decided inclination, +allowed him to choose the profession he desired. + +It may well have seemed to the parents of Laperouse at this time that +fine prospects lay before a gallant young gentleman who should enter +the Marine. There was for the moment peace between France and England. +A truce had been made by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. But +everybody knew that there would be war again soon. Both countries were +struggling for the mastery in India and in North America. The sense of +rivalry was strong. Jealousies were fierce on both sides. In India, the +French power was wielded, and ever more and more extended, by the +brilliant Governor Dupleix; whilst in the British possessions the +rising influence was that of the dashing, audacious Clive. In North +America the French were scheming to push their dominion down the +Ohio-Mississippi Valley from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, in +the rear of the line of British colonies planted on the seaboard from +the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida. The colonists were determined to +prevent them; and a young man named George Washington, who afterwards +became very famous, first rose into prominence in a series of tough +struggles to thwart the French designs. The points of collision between +the two nations were so sharp, feeling on either side was so bitter, +the contending interests were so incapable of being reconciled, that it +was plain to all that another great war was bound to break out, and +that sea power would play a very important part in the issue. The young +Laperouse wanted to go to sea, and his father wanted him to distinguish +himself and confer lustre on his name. The choice of a calling for him, +therefore, suited all the parties concerned. + +He was a boy of fifteen when, in November, 1756, he entered the Marine +service as a royal cadet. He had not long to wait before tasting +"delight of battle," for the expected war was declared in May, and +before he was much older he was in the thick of it. + + + + +Chapter II. + + + +THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER. + + +Laperouse first obtained employment in the French navy in the CELEBRE, +from March to November, 1757. From this date until his death, +thirty-one years later, he was almost continuously engaged, during +peace and war, in the maritime service of his country. The official +list of his appointments contains only one blank year, 1764. He had +then experienced close upon seven years of continuous sea fighting and +had served in as many ships: the CELEBRE, the POMONE, the ZEPHIR, the +CERF, the FORMIDABLE, the ROBUSTE, and the SIX CORPS. But the peace of +Paris was signed in the early part of 1763. After that, having been +promoted to the rank of ensign, he had a rest. + +It was not a popular peace on either side. In Paris there was a current +phrase, "BETE COMME LA PAIX," stupid as the peace. In England, the +great Pitt was so indignant on account of its conditions that, all +swollen and pinched with gout as he was, he had himself carried to the +House of Commons, his limbs blanketted in bandages and his face +contorted with pain, and, leaning upon a crutch, denounced it in a +speech lasting three hours and forty minutes. The people cheered him to +the echo when he came out to his carriage, and the vote favourable to +the terms of the treaty was carried by wholesale corruption. But +all the same, Great Britain did very well out of it, and both countries +--though neither was satisfied--were for the time being tired of war. + +For Laperouse the seven years had been full of excitement. The most +memorable engagement in which he took part was a very celebrated one, +in November, 1759. A stirring ballad has been written about it by Henry +Newbolt:-- + + +"In seventeen hundred and fifty-nine +When Hawke came swooping from the West, +The French King's admiral with twenty of the line +Came sailing forth to sack us out of Brest." + + +Laperouse's ship, the FORMIDABLE, was one of the French fleet of +twenty-one sail. What happened was this. The French foreign minister, +Choiseul, had hatched a crafty plan for the invasion of England, but +before it could be executed the British fleet had to be cleared out of +the way. There was always that tough wooden wall with the hearts of oak +behind it, standing solidly in the path. It baffled Napoleon in the +same fashion when he thought out an invasion plan in the next century. +The French Admiral, Conflans, schemed to lure Sir Edward Hawke into +Quiberon Bay, on the coast of Brittany. A strong westerly gale was +blowing and was rapidly swelling into a raging tempest. Conflans, +piloted by a reliable guide who knew the Bay thoroughly, intended to +take up a fairly safe, sheltered position on the lee side, and hoped +that the wind would force Hawke, who was not familiar with the +ground, on to the reefs and shoals, where his fleet would be destroyed +by the storm and the French guns together. But Hawke, whose name +signally represents the bold, swift, sure character of the man, +understood the design, took the risk, avoided the danger, and clutched +the prey. Following the French as rapidly as wind and canvas could take +him, he caught their rearmost vessels, smashed them up, battered the +whole fleet successively into flight or splinters, and himself lost +only two vessels, which ran upon a shoal. Plodding prose does scant +justice to the extraordinary brilliancy of Hawke's victory, described +by Admiral Mahan as "the Trafalgar of this war." We cannot pass on +without quoting one of Mr. Newbolt's graphic verses:-- + + +"'Twas long past the noon of a wild November day +When Hawke came swooping from the west; +He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay, +But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast. +Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight, +Fiercely blew the storm wind, darkly fell the night, +For they took the foe for pilot and the cannon's glare for light, +When Hawke came swooping from the West." + + +"They took the foe for pilot:" that is a most excellent touch, both +poetical and true. + +The FORMIDABLE was the first to be disposed of in the fight. She was an +80-gun line-of-battle ship, carrying the flag of Admiral du +Verger. Her position being in the rear of the squadron, she was early +engaged by the RESOLUTION, and in addition received the full broadside +of every other British ship that passed her. The Admiral fell mortally +wounded, and two hundred on board were killed. She struck her colours +at four o'clock after receiving a terrible battering, and was the only +French ship captured by Hawke's fleet. All the others were sunk, burnt, +or beached, or else escaped. The young Laperouse was amongst the +wounded, though his hurts were not dangerous; and, after a brief period +spent in England as a prisoner of war, he returned to service. + +An amusing rhyme in connection with this engagement is worth recalling. +Supplies for Hawke's fleet did not come to hand for a considerable time +after they were due, and in consequence the victorious crews had to be +put on "short commons." Some wag--it is the way of the British sailor +to do his grumbling with a spice of humour--put the case thus:-- + + +"Ere Hawke did bang +Monsieur Conflans, +You sent us beef and beer; +Now Monsieur's beat +We've nought to eat, +Since you have nought to fear." + + +An interesting coincidence must also be noted. Thirty-five years later, +only a few leagues from the place where Laperouse first learnt +what it meant to fight the British on the sea, another young officer +who was afterwards greatly concerned with Australasian exploration had +his introduction to naval warfare. It was in 1794 that Midshipman +Matthew Flinders, on the BELLEROPHON, Captain Pasley, played his +valiant little part in a great fleet action off Brest. Both of these +youths, whose longing was for exploration and discovery, and who are +remembered by mankind in that connection, were cradled on the sea +amidst the smoke and flame of battle, both in the same waters. + +During the next twenty-five years Laperouse saw a considerable amount +of fighting in the East and West Indies, and in Canadian waters. He was +commander of the AMAZON, under D'Estaing, during a period when events +did not shape themselves very gloriously for British arms, not because +our admirals had lost their skill and nerve, or our seamen their grit +and courage, but because Governments at home muddled, squabbled, +starved the navy, misunderstood the problem, and generally made a mess +of things. We need not follow him through the details of these years, +but simply note that Laperouse's dash and good seamanship won him a +high reputation among French naval officers, and brought him under the +eye of the authorities who afterwards chose him to command an +expedition of discovery. + +One incident must be recorded, because it throws a light on the +character of Laperouse. In 1782, whilst serving under Admiral +Latouche-Treville in the West, he was ordered to destroy the British +forts on the Hudson River. He attacked them with the SCEPTRE, 74 guns. +The British had been engaged in their most unfortunate war with the +American Colonies, and in 1781, in consequence of wretchedly bad +strategy, had lost command of the sea. The French had been helping the +revolted Americans, not for love of them, but from enmity to their +rivals. After the capitulation of the British troops at Yorktown, a +number of loyalists still held out under discouraging conditions in +Canada, and the French desired to dislodge them from the important +waterway of the Hudson. + +Laperouse found little difficulty in fulfilling his mission, for the +defence was weak and the garrisons of the forts, after a brief +resistance, fled to the woods. It was then that he did a thing +described in our principal naval history as an act of "kindness and +humanity, rare in the annals of war." Laperouse knew that if he totally +destroyed the stores as well as the forts, the unfortunate British, +after he had left, would perish either from hunger or under the +tomahawks of the Red Indians. So he was careful to see that the food +and clothing, and a quantity of powder and small arms, were left +untouched, for, as he nobly said, "An enemy conquered should have +nothing more to fear from a civilised foe; he then becomes a friend." + +Some readers may like to see the verses in which a French poet +has enshrined this incident. For their benefit they are appended:-- + + +"Un jour ayant appris que les Anglais en fuite +Se cachaient dans un bois redoutant la poursuite, +Tu laissas sur la plage aux soldats affames, +Par la peur affoles, en haillons, desarmes, +Des vivres abondantes, des habits et des armes; +Tu t'eloignas apres pour calmer leurs alarmes, +Et quand on s'etonnait: 'Sachez qu' un ennemi +Vaincu n'a rien a craindre, et devient un ami.'" + + +The passage may be rendered in English thus: "One day, having heard +that the fleeing English were hidden in a forest dreading pursuit, you +left upon the shore for those soldiers--famished, ragged, disarmed, +and paralysed by fear--abundance of food, clothes and arms; then, to +calm their fears, you removed your forces to a distance; and, when +astonishment was expressed, you said: 'Understand that a beaten enemy +has nothing to fear from us, and becomes a friend.'" + + + + +Chapter III. + + + +THE LOVE STORY OF LAPEROUSE. + + +"My story is a romance"--"Mon histoire est un roman"--wrote Laperouse +in relating the events with which this chapter will deal. We have seen +him as a boy; we have watched him in war; we shall presently follow him +as a navigator. But it is just as necessary to read his charming love +story, if we are to understand his character. We should have no true +idea of him unless we knew how he bore himself amid perplexities that +might have led him to quote, as peculiarly appropriate to his own case, +the lines of Shakespeare:-- + +"Ay me! for ought that ever I could read, +Could ever hear by tale or history, +The course of true love never did run smooth," + +During the period of his service in the East Indies, Laperouse +frequently visited Ile-de-France (which is now a British possession, +called Mauritius). Then it was the principal naval station of the +French in the Indian Ocean. There he met a beautiful girl, the daughter +of one of the subordinate officials at Port Louis. Louise Eleonore +Broudou is said to have been "more than pretty"; she was distinguished +by grace of manner, charm of disposition, and fine, cultivated +character. The young officer saw her often, admired her much, +fell in love with her, and asked her to marry him. Mademoiselle loved +him too; and if they two only had had to be consulted, the happy union +of a well-matched pair might have followed soon. + +It signified little to Laperouse, in love, that the lady had neither +rank nor fortune. But his family in France took quite a different view. +He wrote to a favourite sister, telling her about it, and she lost no +time in conveying the news to his parents. This was in 1775. Then the +trouble began. + +Inasmuch as he was over thirty years of age at this time, it may be +thought that he might have been left to choose a wife for himself. But +a young officer of rank in France, under the Old Regime, was not so +free in these matters as he would be nowadays. Marriage was much more +than a personal affair. It was even more than a family affair. People +of rank did not so much marry as "make alliances"--or rather, submit +to having them made for them. It was quite a regular thing for a +marriage to be arranged by the families of two young people who had +never even seen each other. An example of that kind will appear +presently. + +The idea that the Comte de Laperouse, one of the smartest officers in +the French King's navy, should marry out of his rank and station, +shocked his relatives and friends as much as it would have done if he +had been detected picking pockets. He could not, without grave risk of +social and professional ruin, marry until he had obtained the +consent of his father, and--so naval regulations required--of his +official superiors. Both were firmly refused. Monsieur de Ternay, who +commanded on the Ile-de-France station, shook his wise head, and told +the lover "that his love fit would pass, and that people did not +console themselves for being poor with the fact that they were +married." (This M. de Ternay, it may be noted, had commanded a French +squadron in Canada in 1762, and James Cook was a junior officer on the +British squadron which blockaded him in St. John's Harbour. He managed +to slip out one night, much to the disgust of Colville, the British +Admiral, who commented scathingly on his "shameful flight.") + +The father of Laperouse poured out his forbidding warnings in a long +letter. Listen to the "tut-tut" of the old gentleman at Albi:-- + +"You make me tremble, my son. How can you face with coolness the +consequences of a marriage which would bring you into disgrace with the +Minister and would lose you the assistance of powerful friends? You +would forfeit the sympathies of your colleagues and would sacrifice the +fruit of your work during twenty years. In disgracing yourself you +would humiliate your family and your parents. You would prepare for +yourself nothing but remorse; you would sacrifice your fortune and +position to a frivolous fancy for beauty and to pretended charms which +perhaps exist only in your own imagination. Neither honour nor probity +compels you to meet ill-considered engagements that you may have +made with that person or with her parents. Do they or you know that you +are not free, that you are under my authority?" He went on to draw a +picture of the embarrassments that would follow such a marriage, and +then there is a passage revealing the cash-basis aspect of the old +gentleman's objection: "You say that there are forty officers in the +Marine who have contracted marriages similar to that which you propose +to make. You have better models to follow, and in any case what was +lacking on the side of birth, in these instances, was compensated by +fortune. Without that balance they would not have had the baseness and +imprudence to marry thus." Poor Eleonore had no compensating balance of +that kind in her favour. She was only beautiful, charming and +sweet-natured. Therefore, "tut-tut, my son!" + +In the course of the next few months Laperouse covered himself with +glory by his services on the AMAZON, the ASTREE, and the SCEPTRE, and +he hoped that these exploits would incline his father to accede to his +ardent wish. But no; the old gentleman was as hard as a rock. He +"tut-tutted" with as much vigour as ever. The lovers had to wait. + +Then his mother, full of love for her son and of pride in his +achievements, took a hand, and tried to arrange a more suitable match +for him. An old friend of the family, Madame de Vesian had a +marriageable daughter. She was rich and beautiful, and her lineage was +noble. She had never seen Laperouse, and he had never seen her, +but that was an insignificant detail in France under the old Regime. If +the parents on each side thought the marriage suitable, that was +enough. The wishes of the younger people concerned were, it is true, +consulted before the betrothal, but it was often a consultation merely +in form, and under pressure. We should think that way of making +marriages most unsatisfactory; but then, a French family of position in +the old days would have thought our freer system very shocking and +loose. It is largely a matter of usage; and that the old plan, which +seems so faulty to us, produced very many happy and lasting unions, +there is much delightful French family history to prove. + +Laperouse had now been many months away from Ile-de-France and the +bright eyes of Eleonore. He was extremely fond of his mother, and +anxious to meet her wishes. Moreover, he held Madame de Vesian in high +esteem, and wrote that he "had always admired her, and felt sure that +her daughter resembled her." These influences swayed him, and he gave +way; but, being frank and honest by disposition, insisted that no +secret should be made of his affair of the heart with the lady across +the sea. He wrote to Madame de Vesian a candid letter, in which he +said:-- + +"Being extremely sensitive, I should be the most unfortunate of men if +I were not beloved by my wife, if I had not her complete confidence, if +her life amongst her friends and children did not render her +perfectly happy. I desire one day to regard you as a mother, and to-day +I open my heart to you as my best friend. I authorise my mother to +relate to you my old love affair. My heart has always been a romance +(MON COEUR A TOUJOURS ETE UN ROMAN); and the more I sacrificed prudence +to those whom I loved the happier I was. But I cannot forget the +respect that I owe to my parents and to their wishes. I hope that in a +little while I shall be free. If then I have a favourable reply from +you, and if I can make your daughter happy and my character is +approved, I shall fly to Albi and embrace you a thousand times. I shall +not distinguish you from my mother and my sisters." + +He also wrote to Monsieur de Vesian, begging him not to interfere with +the free inclinations of his daughter, and to remember that "in order +to be happy there must be no repugnance to conquer. I have, however," +he added, "an affair to terminate which does not permit me to dispose +of myself entirely. My mother will tell you the details. I hope to be +free in six weeks or two months. My happiness will then be +inexpressible if I obtain your consent and that of Madame de Vesian, +with the certainty of not having opposed the wishes of Mademoiselle, +your daughter." + +"I hope to be free"--did he "hope"? That was his polite way of putting +the matter. Or he may have believed that he had conquered his love for +Eleonore Broudou, and that she, as a French girl who understood his +obligations to his family, would--perhaps after making a few +handkerchiefs damp with her tears--acquiesce. + +So the negotiations went on, and at length, in May, 1783, the de Vesian +family accepted Laperouse as the fiance of their daughter. "My project +is to live with my family and yours," he wrote. "I hope that my wife +will love my mother and my sisters, as I feel that I shall love you and +yours. Any other manner of existence is frightful to me, and I have +sufficient knowledge of the world and of myself to know that I can only +be happy in living thus." + +But in the very month that he wrote contracting himself--that is +precisely the word--to marry the girl he had never seen, Eleonore, the +girl whom he had seen, whom he had loved, and whom he still loved in +his heart, came to Paris with her parents. Laperouse saw her again. He +told her what had occurred. Of course she wept; what girl would not? +She said, between her sobs, that if it was to be all over between them +she would go into a convent. She could never marry anyone else. + +"Mon histoire est un roman," and here beginneth the new chapter of this +real love story. Why, we wonder, has not some novelist discovered these +Laperouse letters and founded a tale upon them? Is it not a better +story even told in bare outline in these few pages, than nine-tenths of +the concoctions of the novelists, which are sold in thousands? Think of +the wooing of these two delightful people, the beautiful girl and the +gallant sailor, in the ocean isle, with its tropical perfumes and +colours, its superb mountain and valley scenery, bathed in +eternal sunshine by day and kissed by cool ocean breezes by night--the +isle of Paul and Virginia, the isle which to Alexandre Dumas was the +Paradise of the World, an enchanted oasis of the ocean, "all carpeted +with greenery and refreshed with cooling streams, where, no matter what +the season, you may gently sink asleep beneath the shade of palms and +jamrosades, soothed by the babbling of a crystal spring." + +Think of how he must have entertained and thrilled her with accounts of +his adventures: of storms, of fights with the terrible English, of the +chasing of corsairs and the battering of the fleets of Indian princes. +Think of her open-eyed wonder, and of the awakening of love in her +heart; and then of her dread, lest after all, despite his consoling +words and soft assurances, he, the Comte, the officer, should be +forbidden to marry her, the maiden who had only her youth, her beauty, +and her character, but no rank, no fortune, to win favour from the +proud people who did not know her. The author is at all events certain +of this: that if the letters had seen the light before old Alexandre +Dumas died, he would have pounced upon them with glee, and would have +written around them a romance that all the world would have rejoiced to +read. + +But while we think of what the novelists have missed, we are neglecting +the real story, the crisis of which we have now reached. + +Seeing Eleonore again, his sensitive heart deeply moved by her sorrow, +Laperouse took a manly resolution. He would marry her despite +all obstacles. He had promised her at her home in Ile-de-France. He +would keep his promise. He would not spoil her beautiful young life +even for his family. + +But there was the contract concerning Mademoiselle de Vesian. What of +that? Clearly Laperouse was in a fix. Well, a man who has been over +twenty-five years at sea has been in a fix many times, and learns that +a bold face and tact are good allies. Remembering the nature of his +situation, it will be agreed that the letter he wrote to his mother, +announcing his resolve, was a model of good taste and fine feeling: + +"I have seen Eleonore, and I have not been able to resist the remorse +by which I am devoured. My excessive attachment to you had made me +violate all that which is most sacred among men. I forgot the vows of +my heart, the cries of my conscience. I was in Paris for twenty days, +and, faithful to my promise to you, I did not go to see her. But I +received a letter from her. She made no reproach against me, but the +most profound sentiment of sadness was expressed in it. At the instant +of reading it the veil fell from my eyes. My situation filled me with +horror. I am no better in my own eyes than a perjurer, unworthy of +Mademoiselle de Vesian, to whom I brought a heart devoured by remorse +and by a passion that nothing could extinguish. I was equally unworthy +of Mademoiselle Broudou, and wished to leave her. My only excuse, +my dear mother, is the extreme desire I have always had to +please you. It is for you alone, and for my father, that I wished to +marry. Desiring to live with you for the remainder of my life, I +consented to your finding me a wife with whom I could abide. The choice +of Mademoiselle de Vesian had overwhelmed me, because her mother is a +woman for whom I have a true attachment; and Heaven is my witness +to-day that I should have preferred her daughter to the most brilliant +match in the universe. It is only four days since I wrote to her on the +subject. How can I reconcile my letter with my present situation? But, +my dear mother, it would be feebleness in me to go further with the +engagement. I have doubtless been imprudent in contracting an +engagement without your consent, but I should be a monster if I +violated my oaths and married Mademoiselle de Vesian. I do not doubt +that you tremble at the abyss over which you fear that I am about to +fall, but I feel that I can only live with Eleonore, and I hope that +you will give your consent to our union. My fortune will suffice for +our wants, and we shall live near you. But I shall only come to Albi +when Mademoiselle de Vesian shall be married, and when I can be sure +that another, a thousand times more worthy than I am, shall have sworn +to her an attachment deeper than that which it was in my power to +offer. I shall write neither to Madame nor Monsieur de Vesian. Join to +your other kindnesses that of undertaking this painful commission." + +There was no mistaking the firm, if regretful tone, of that +letter; and Laperouse married his Eleonore at Paris. + +Did Mademoiselle de Vesian break her heart because her sailor fiance +had wed another? Not at all! She at once became engaged to the Baron de +Senegas--had she seen him beforehand, one wonders?--and married him +in August! Laperouse was prompt to write his congratulations to her +parents, and it is diverting to find him saying, concerning the lady to +whom he himself had been engaged only a few weeks before, that he +regretted "never having had the honour of seeing her!" + +But there was still another difficulty to be overcome before Laperouse +and his happy young bride could feel secure. He had broken a regulation +of the service by marrying without official sanction. True, he had +talked of settling down at Albi, but that was when he thought he was +going to marry a young lady whom he did not know. Now he had married +the girl of his heart; and love, as a rule, does not stifle ambition. +Rather are the two mutually co-operative. Eleonore had fallen in love +with him as a gallant sailor, and a sailor she wanted him still to be. +Perhaps, in her dreams, she saw him a great Admiral, commanding +powerful navies and winning glorious victories for France. Madame la +Comtesse did not wish her husband to end his career because he had +married her, be sure of that. + +Here Laperouse did a wise and tactful thing, which showed that he +understood something of human nature. Nothing interests old +ladies so much as the love affairs of young people; and old ladies in +France at that time exercised remarkable influence in affairs of +government. The Minister of Marine was the Marquis de Castries. Instead +of making a clean breast of matters to him, Laperouse wrote a long and +delightful letter to Madame la Marquise. "Madame," he said, "mon +histoire est un roman," and he begged her to read it. Of course she +did. What old lady would not? She was a very grand lady indeed, was +Madame la Marquise; but this officer who wrote his heart's story to +her, was a dashing hero. He told her how he had fallen in love in +Ile-de-France; how consent to his marriage had been officially and +paternally refused; how he had tried "to stifle the sentiments which +were nevertheless remaining at the bottom of my heart." Would she +intercede with the Minister for him and excuse him? + +Of course she would! She was a dear old lady, was Madame la Marquise. +Within a few days Laperouse received from the Minister a most paternal, +good natured letter, which assured him that his romantic affair should +not interfere with his prospects, and concluded: "Enjoy the pleasure of +having made someone happy, and the marks of honour and distinction that +you have received from your fellow citizens." + +Such is the love story of Laperouse. Alas! the marriage did not bring +many years of happiness to poor Eleonore, much as she deserved them. +Two years afterwards, her hero sailed away on that expedition +from which he never returned. She dwelt at Albi, hoping until hope gave +way to despair, and at last she died, of sheer grief they said, nine +years after the waters of the Pacific had closed over him who had wooed +her and wedded her for herself alone. + + + + +Chapter IV. + + + +THE VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION. + + +King Louis XVI of France was as unfortunate a monarch as was ever born +to a throne. Had it been his happier lot to be the son of a farmer, a +shopkeeper, or a merchant, he would have passed for an excellent man of +business and a good, solid, sober, intelligent citizen. But he +inherited with his crown a system of government too antiquated for the +times, too repressive for the popular temper to endure, and was not +statesman enough to remodel it to suit the requirements of his people. +It was not his fault that he was not a great man; and a great man--a +man of large grasp, wide vision, keen sympathies, and penetrating +imagination--was needed in France if the social forces at work, the +result of new ideas fermenting in the minds of men and impelling them, +were to be directed towards wise and wholesome reform. Failing such +direction, those forces burst through the restraints of law, custom, +authority, loyalty and respect, and produced the most startling +upheaval in modern history, the Great French Revolution. Louis lost +both his crown and his head, the whole system of government was +overturned, and the way was left open for the masterful mind and strong +arm needed to restore discipline and order to the nation: Napoleon +Bonaparte. + +Louis was very fond of literature. During the sad last months of +his imprisonment, before the guillotine took his life, he read over 230 +volumes. He especially liked books of travel and geography, and one of +his favourite works was the VOYAGES of Cook. He had the volumes near +him in the last phase of his existence. There is a pleasant drawing +representing the King in his prison, with the little Dauphin seated on +his knee, pointing out the countries and oceans on a large geographical +globe; and he took a pride in having had prepared "for the education of +Monsieur le Dauphin," a History of the Exploration of the South Seas. +It was published in Paris, in three small volumes, in 1791. + +The study of Cook made a deep impression on the King's mind. Why, he +asked himself, should not France share in the glory of discovering new +lands, and penetrating untraversed seas? There was a large amount of +exploratory work still to be done. English navigators were always busy +sailing to unknown parts, but the entire world was by no means revealed +yet. There were, particularly, big blank spaces at the bottom of the +globe. That country called by the Dutch New Holland, the eastern part +of which Cook had found--there was evidently much to be done there. +What were the southern coasts like? Was it one big island-continent, or +was it divided into two by a strait running south from the head of the +Gulf of Carpentaria? Then there was that piece of country discovered by +the Dutchman Tasman, and named Van Diemen's Land. Was it an +island, or did it join on to New Holland? There were also many islands +of the Pacific still to be explored and correctly charted, the map of +Eastern Asia was imperfect, and the whole of the coastline of +North-Western America was not accurately known. + +The more Louis turned the matter over in his mind, the more he studied +his globes, maps and books of voyages, the more convinced he was that +France, as a maritime nation and a naval Power, ought to play an +important part in this grand work of unveiling to mankind the full +extent, form, nature and resources of our planet. + +He sent for a man whose name the Australian reader should particularly +note, because he had much to do with three important discovery voyages +affecting our history. Charles Claret, Comte de Fleurieu, was the +principal geographer in France. He was at this time director of ports +and arsenals. He had throughout his life been a keen student of +navigation, was a practical sailor, invented a marine chronometer which +was a great improvement on clocks hitherto existing, devised a method +of applying the metric system to the construction of marine charts, and +wrote several works on his favourite subject. A large book of his on +discoveries in Papua and the Solomon Islands is still of much +importance. + +As a French writer--an expert in this field of knowledge--has written +of Fleurieu, "he it was who prepared nearly all the plans for naval +operations during the war of 1778, and the instructions for the +voyages of discovery--those of Laperouse and Dentrecasteaux--for +which Louis XVI had given general directions; and to whose wise and +well-informed advice is due in large part the utility derived from +them." It was chiefly because of Fleurieu's knowledge of geography that +the King chose him to be the tutor of the Dauphin; and in 1790 he +became Minister of Marine. + +Louis XVI and Fleurieu talked the subject over together; and the +latter, at the King's command, drew up a long memorandum indicating the +parts of the globe where an expedition of discovery might most +profitably apply itself. + +The King decided (1785) that a voyage should be undertaken; two ships +of the navy, LA BOUSSOLE and L'ASTROLABE, were selected for the +purpose; and, on the recommendation of the Marquis de Castries--remember +Madame la Marquise!--Laperouse was chosen for the command. + +All three of the men who ordered, planned and executed the voyage, the +King, the scholar, and the officer, were devoted students of the work +and writings of Cook; and copies of his VOYAGES, in French and English, +were placed in the library of navigation carried on board the ships for +the edification of the officers and crews. Over and over again in the +instructions prepared--several times on a page in some places--appear +references to what Cook had done, and to what Cook had left to be done; +showing that both King Louis and Fleurieu knew his voyages and +charts, not merely as casual readers, but intimately. As for Laperouse +himself, his admiration of Cook has already been mentioned; here it may +be added that when, before he sailed, Sir Joseph Banks presented him +with two magnetic needles that had been used by Cook, he wrote that he +"received them with feelings bordering almost upon religious veneration +for the memory of that great and incomparable navigator." So that, we +see, the extent of our great sailor's influence is not to be measured +even by his discoveries and the effect of his writings upon his own +countrymen. He radiated a magnetic force which penetrated far; down to +our own day it has by no means lost its stimulating energy. + +In the picture gallery at the Palace of Versailles, there is an oil +painting by Mansiau, a copy of which may be seen in the Mitchell +Library, Sydney. It is called "Louis XVI giving instructions to +Monsieur de Laperouse for his voyage around the world." An Australian +statesman who saw it during a visit to Paris a few years ago, confessed +publicly on his return to his own country that he gazed long upon it, +and recognised it as being "of the deepest interest to Australians." So +indeed it is. A photograph of the picture is given here. + +The instructions were of course prepared by Fleurieu: anyone familiar +with his writings can see plenty of internal evidence of that. But +Louis was not a little vain of his own geographical knowledge, and he +gave a special audience to Laperouse, explaining the +instructions verbally before handing them to him in writing. + +They are admirably clear instructions, indicating a full knowledge of +the work of preceding navigators and of the parts of the earth where +discovery needed to be pursued. Their defect was that they expected too +much to be done on one voyage. Let us glance over them, devoting +particular attention to the portions affecting Australasia. + +The ships were directed to sail across the Atlantic and round Cape +Horn, visiting certain specified places on the way. In the Pacific they +were to visit Easter Island, Tahiti, the Society Islands, the Friendly +and Navigator groups, and New Caledonia. "He will pass Endeavour Strait +and in this passage will try to ascertain whether the land of Louisiade +(the Louisiade Archipelago), be contiguous to that of New Guinea, and +will reconnoitre all this part of the coast from Cape Deliverance to +the Island of St. Barthelomew, east-northeast of Cape Walsh, of which +at present we have a very imperfect knowledge. It is much to be wished +that he may be able to examine the Gulf of Carpentaria." + +He was then to explore the western shores of New Holland. "He will run +down the western coast and take a closer view of the southern, the +greater part of which has never been visited, finishing his survey at +Van Diemen's Land, at Adventure Bay or Prince Frederick Henry's, whence +he will make sail for Cook's Strait, and anchor in Queen +Charlotte's Sound, in that Strait, between the two islands which +constitute New Zealand." + +That direction is especially important, because if Laperouse had not +perished, but had lived to carry out his programme, it is evident that +he would have forestalled the later discoveries of Bass and Flinders in +southern Australia. What a vast difference to the later course of +history that might have made! + +After leaving New Zealand he was to cross the Pacific to the north-west +coast of America. The programme included explorations in the China Sea, +at the Philippines, the Moluccas and Timor, and contemplated a return +to France in July or August, 1789, after a voyage of about three years. + +But although his course was mapped out in such detail, discretion was +left to Laperouse to vary it if he thought fit. "All the calculations +of which a sketch is given here must be governed by the circumstances +of the voyage, the condition of the crews, ships and provisions, the +events that may occur in the expedition and accidents which it is +impossible to foresee. His Majesty, therefore, relying on the +experience and judgment of the sieur de Laperouse, authorises him to +make any deviation that he may deem necessary, in unforeseen cases, +pursuing, however, as far as possible, the plan traced out, and +conforming to the directions given in the other parts of the present +instructions." + +A separate set of instructions had regard to observations to be made by +Laperouse upon the political conditions, possibilities of commerce, and +suitability for settlement, of the lands visited by him. In the +Pacific, he was to inquire "whether the cattle, fowls, and other +animals which Captain Cook left on some of the islands have bred." He +was to examine attentively "the north and west coasts of New Holland, +and particularly that part of the coast which, being situated in the +torrid zone, may enjoy some of the productions peculiar to countries in +similar latitudes." In New Zealand he was to ascertain "whether the +English have formed or entertain the project of forming any settlement +on these islands; and if he should hear that they have actually formed +a settlement, he will endeavour to repair thither in order to learn the +condition, strength and object of the settlement." + +It is singular that the instructions contain no reference to Botany +Bay. It was the visit paid by Laperouse to this port that brought him +into touch with Australian history. Yet his call there was made purely +in the exercise of his discretion. He was not directed to pay any +attention to eastern Australia. When he sailed the French Government +knew nothing of the contemplated settlement of New South Wales by the +British; and he only heard of it in the course of his voyage. Indeed, +it is amazing how little was known of Australia at the time. "We have +nothing authentic or sufficiently minute respecting this part of the +largest island on the globe," said the instructions concerning the +northern and western coasts; but there was not a word about the eastern +shores. + +The reader who reflects upon the facts set forth in this chapter +will realise that the French Revolution, surprising as the statement +may seem, affected Australian history in a remarkable way. If Louis XVI +had not been dethroned and beheaded, but had remained King of France, +there cannot be any doubt that he would have persisted in the +investigation of the South Seas. He was deeply interested in the +subject, very well informed about it, and ambitious that his country +should be a great maritime and colonising Power. But the Revolution +slew Louis, plunged France in long and disastrous wars, and brought +Napoleon to the front. The whole course of history was diverted. It was +as if a great river had been turned into a fresh channel. + +If the navigator of the French King had discovered southern Australia, +and settlement had followed, it is not to be supposed that Great +Britain would have opposed the plans of France; for Australia then was +not the Australia that we know, and England had very little use even +for the bit she secured. Unthinking people might suppose that the +French Revolution meant very little to us. Indeed, unthinking people +are very apt to suppose that we can go our own way without regarding +what takes place elsewhere. They do not realise that the world is one, +and that the policies of nations interact upon each other. In point of +fact, the Revolution meant a great deal to Australia. This country is, +indeed, an island far from Europe, but the threads of her history are +entwined with those of European history in a very curious and +often intricate fashion. The French Revolution and the era of Napoleon, +if we understand their consequences, really concern us quite as much +as, say, the gold discoveries and the accomplishment of Federation. + + + + +Chapter V. + + + +THE EARLY PART OF THE VOYAGE. + + +The expedition sailed from Brest rather sooner than had at first been +contemplated, on August 1, 1785, and doubled Cape Horn in January of +the following year. Some weeks were spent on the coast of Chili; and +the remarks of Laperouse concerning the manners of the Spanish rulers +of the country cover some of his most entertaining pages. He has an eye +for the picturesque, a kindly feeling for all well-disposed people, a +pleasant touch in describing customs, and shrewd judgment in estimating +character. These qualities make him an agreeable writer of travels. +They are fairly illustrated by the passages in which he describes the +people of the city of Concepcion. Take his account of the ladies: + +"The dress of these ladies, extremely different from what we have been +accustomed to see, consists of a plaited petticoat, tied considerably +below the waist; stockings striped red, blue and white; and shoes so +short that the toes are bent under the ball of the foot so as to make +it appear nearly round. Their hair is without powder and is divided +into small braids behind, hanging over the shoulders. Their bodice is +generally of gold or silver stuff, over which there are two short +cloaks, that underneath of muslin and the other of wool of different +colours, blue, yellow and pink. The upper one is drawn over the +head when they are in the streets and the weather is cold; but within +doors it is usual to place it on their knees; and there is a game +played with the muslin cloak by continually shifting it about, in which +the ladies of Concepcion display considerable grace. They are for the +most part handsome, and of so polite and pleasing manners that there is +certainly no maritime town in Europe where strangers are received with +so much attention and kindness." + +At this city Laperouse met the adventurous Irishman, Ambrose O'Higgins, +who by reason of his conspicuous military abilities became commander of +the Spanish forces in Chili, and afterwards Viceroy of Peru. His name +originally was simply Higgins, but he prefixed the "O" when he +blossomed into a Spanish Don, "as being more aristocratic." He was the +father of the still more famous Bernardo O'Higgins, "the Washington of +Chili," who led the revolt against Spanish rule and became first +president of the Chilian Republic in 1818. Laperouse at once conceived +an attachment for O'Higgins, "a man of extraordinary activity," and one +"adored in the country." + +In April, 1786, the expedition was at Easter Island, where the +inhabitants appeared to be a set of cunning and hypocritical thieves, +who "robbed us of everything which it was possible for them to carry +off." Steering north, the Sandwich Islands were reached early in May. +Here Laperouse liked the people, "though my prejudices were +strong against them on account of the death of Captain Cook." A passage +in the commander's narrative gives his opinion on the annexation of the +countries of native races by Europeans, and shows that, in common with +very many of his countrymen, he was much influenced by the ideas of +Rousseau, then an intellectual force in France-- + +"Though the French were the first who, in modern times, had landed on +the island of Mowee, I did not think it my duty to take possession in +the name of the King. The customs of Europeans on such occasions are +completely ridiculous. Philosophers must lament to see that men, for no +better reason than because they are in possession of firearms and +bayonets, should have no regard for the rights of sixty thousand of +their fellow creatures, and should consider as an object of conquest a +land fertilised by the painful exertions of its inhabitants, and for +many ages the tomb of their ancestors. These islands have fortunately +been discovered at a period when religion no longer serves as a pretext +for violence and rapine. Modern navigators have no other object in +describing the manners of remote nations than that of completing the +history of man; and the knowledge they endeavour to diffuse has for its +sole aim to render the people they visit more happy, and to augment +their means of subsistence." + +If Laperouse could see the map of the Pacific to-day he would find its +groups of islands all enclosed within coloured rings, indicating +possession by the great Powers of the world. He would be puzzled +and pained by the change. But the history of the political movements +leading to the parcelling out of seas and lands among strong States +would interest him, and he would realise that the day of feeble +isolation has gone. Nothing would make him marvel more than the +floating of the Stars and Stripes over Hawaii, for he knew that flag +during the American War of Independence. It was adopted as the flag of +the United States in 1777, and during the campaign the golden lilies of +the standard of France fluttered from many masts in co-operation with +it. Truly a century and a quarter has brought about a wonderful change, +not only in the face of the globe and in the management of its affairs, +but still more radically in the ideas of men and in the motives that +sway their activities! + +The geographical work done by Laperouse in this part of the Pacific was +of much importance. It removed from the chart five or six islands which +had no existence, having been marked down erroneously by previous +navigators. From this region the expedition sailed to Alaska, on the +north-west coast of North America. Cook had explored here "with that +courage and perseverance of which all Europe knows him to have been +capable," wrote Laperouse, never failing to use an opportunity of +expressing admiration for his illustrious predecessor. But there was +still useful work to do, and the French occupied their time very +profitably with it from June to August. Then their ships sailed down +the western coast of America to California, struck east across +the Pacific to the Ladrones, and made for Macao in China--then as now +a Portugese possession--reaching that port in January, 1787. + +The Philippines were next visited, and Laperouse formed pleasant +impressions of Manilla. It is clear from his way of alluding to the +customs of the Spanish inhabitants that the French captain was not a +tobacco smoker. It was surprising to him that "their passion for +smoking this narcotic is so immoderate that there is not an instant of +the day in which either a man or woman is without a cigar;" and it is +equally surprising to us that the French editor of the history of the +voyage found it necessary to explain in a footnote that a cigar is "a +small roll of tobacco which is smoked without the assistance of a +pipe." But cigars were then little known in Europe, except among +sailors and travellers who had visited the Spanish colonies; and the +very spelling of the word was not fixed. In English voyages it appears +as "seegar," "segar," and "sagar." + +Formosa was visited in April, northern Japan in May, and the +investigation of the north-eastern coasts of Asia occupied until +October. + +A passage in a letter from Laperouse to Fleurieu is worth quoting for +two reasons. It throws some light on the difficulties of navigation in +unknown seas, and upon the commander's severe application to duty; and +it also serves to remind us that Japan, now so potent a factor in the +politics of the East and of the whole Pacific, had not then emerged +from the barbarian exclusiveness towards foreigners, which she +had maintained since Europe commenced to exploit Asia. In the middle of +the seventeenth century she had expelled the Spaniards and the +Portugese with much bloodshed, and had closed her ports to all traders +except the Chinese and the Dutch, who were confined to a prescribed +area at Nagasaki. Intercourse with all other foreign peoples was +strictly forbidden. Even as late as 1842 it was commanded that if any +foreign vessel were driven by distress or tempestuous weather into a +Japanese port, she might only remain so long as was necessary to meet +her wants, and must then depart. Laperouse knew of this jealous +Japanese antipathy to foreign visitors, and, as he explains in the +letter, meant to keep away from the country because of it. He wrote:-- + +"The part of our voyage between Manilla and Kamchatka will afford you, +I hope, complete satisfaction. It was the newest, the most interesting, +and certainly, from the everlasting fogs which enveloped the land in +the latitudes we traversed, the most difficult. These fogs are such +that it has taken one hundred and fifty days to explore a part of the +coast which Captain King, in the third volume of Cook's last voyage, +supposes might be examined in the course of two months. During this +period I rested only ten days, three in the Bay of Ternai, two in the +Bay de Langle, and five in the Bay de Castries. Thus I wasted no time; +I even forebore to circumnavigate the island of Chicha (Yezo) by +traversing the Strait of Sangaar (Tsugaru). I should have wished to +anchor, if possible, at the northern point of Japan, and would perhaps +have ventured to send a boat ashore, though such a proceeding would +have required the most serious deliberation, as the boat would probably +have been stopped. Where a merchant ship is concerned an event of this +kind might be considered as of little importance, but the seizure of a +boat belonging to a ship of war could scarcely be otherwise regarded +than as a national insult; and the taking and burning of a few sampans +would be a very sorry compensation as against the people who would not +exchange a single European of whom they were desirous of making an +example, for one hundred Japanese. I was, however, too far from the +coast to include such an intention, and it is impossible for me to +judge at present what I should have done had the contrary been the +case. + +"It would be difficult for me to find words to express to you the +fatigue attending this part of my voyage, during which I did not once +undress myself, nor did a single night pass without my being obliged to +spend several hours upon deck. Imagine to yourself six days of fog with +only two or three hours of clear weather, in seas extremely confined, +absolutely unknown, and where fancy, in consequence of the information +we had received, pictured to us shoals and currents that did not always +exist. From the place where we made the land on the eastern coast of +Tartary, to the strait which we discovered between Tchoka +(Saghalien) and Chicha, we did not fail to take the bearing of every +point, and you may rest assured that neither creek, port, nor river +escaped our attention, and that many charts, even of the coasts of +Europe, are less exact than those which we shall bring with us on our +return." + +"The strait which we discovered" is still called Laperouse Strait on +most modern maps, though the Japanese usually call it Soya Strait. It +runs between Yezo, the large northerly island of Japan, and Saghalien. +Current maps also show the name Boussole Strait, after Laperouse's +ship, between Urup and Simusir, two of the Kurile chain of small +islands curving from Yezo to the thumblike extremity of Kamchatka. + +At Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka the drawings of the artists and the +journals of the commander up to date were packed up, and sent to France +overland across Asiatic Russia, in charge of a young member of the +staff, J. B. B. de Lesseps. He was the only one of the expedition who +ever returned to Europe. By not coming to Australia he saved his life. +He published a book about his journey, a remarkable feat of land travel +in those days. He was the uncle of a man whose remarkable engineering +work has made Australia's relations with Europe much easier and more +speedy than they were in earlier years: that Ferdinand de Lesseps who +(1859-69) planned and carried out the construction of the Suez Canal. +The ships, after replenishing, sailed for the south Pacific, +where we shall follow the proceedings of Laperouse in rather closer +detail than has been considered necessary in regard to the American and +Asiatic phases of the voyage. + + + + +Chapter VI. + + + +LAPEROUSE IN THE PACIFIC. + + +On the 6th December, 1787, the expedition made the eastern end of the +Navigator Islands, that is, the Samoan Group. As the ships approached, +a party of natives were observed squatting under cocoanut trees. +Presently sixteen canoes put off from the land, and their occupants, +after paddling round the vessels distrustfully, ventured to approach +and proffer cocoanuts in exchange for strings of beads and strips of +red cloth. The natives got the better of the bargain, for, when they +had received their price, they hurried off without delivering their own +goods. Further on, an old chief delivered an harangue from the shore, +holding a branch of Kava in his hand. "We knew from what we had read of +several voyages that it was a token of peace; and throwing him some +pieces of cloth we answered by the word 'TAYO,' which signified +'friend' in the dialect of the South Sea Islands; but we were not +sufficiently experienced to understand and pronounce distinctly the +words of the vocabularies we had extracted from Cook." + +Nearly all the early navigators made a feature of compiling +vocabularies of native words, and Cook devoted particular care to this +task. Dr. Walter Roth, formerly protector of Queensland aboriginals +a trained observer, has borne testimony as recently as last year +(in THE TIMES, December 29, 1911) that a list of words collected from +Endeavour Strait blacks, and "given by Captain Cook, are all more or +less recognisable at the present day." But Cook's spellings were +intended to be pronounced in the English mode. Laperouse and his +companions by giving the vowels French values would hardly be likely to +make the English navigator's vocabularies intelligible. + +The native canoes amused the French captain. They "could be of use only +to people who are expert swimmers, for they are constantly turned over. +This is an accident, however, at which they feel less surprise and +anxiety than we should at a hat's blowing off. They lift the canoe on +their shoulders, and after they have emptied it of the water, get into +it again, well assured that they will have the same operation to +perform within half an hour, for it is as difficult to preserve a +balance in these ticklish things as to dance upon a rope." + +At Mauna Island (now called Tutuila) some successful bargaining was +done with glass beads in exchange for pork and fruits. It surprised +Laperouse that the natives chose these paltry ornaments rather than +hatchets and tools. "They preferred a few beads which could be of no +utility, to anything we could offer them in iron or cloth." + +Two days later a tragedy occurred at this island, when Captain de +Langle, the commander of the ASTROLABE, and eleven of the crew were +murdered. He made an excursion inland to look for fresh water, +and found a clear, cool spring in the vicinity of a village. The ships +were not urgently in need of water, but de Langle "had embraced the +system of Cook, and thought fresh water a hundred times preferable to +what had been some time in the hold. As some of his crew had slight +symptoms of scurvy, he thought, with justice, that we owed them every +means of alleviation in our power. Besides, no island could be compared +with this for abundance of provisions. The two ships had already +procured upwards of 500 hogs, with a large quantity of fowls, pigeons +and fruits; and all these had cost us only a few beads." + +Laperouse himself doubted the prudence of sending a party inland, as he +had observed signs of a turbulent spirit among the islanders. But de +Langle insisted on the desirableness of obtaining fresh water where it +was abundant, and "replied to me that my refusal would render me +responsible for the progress of the scurvy, which began to appear with +some violence." He undertook to go at the head of the party, and, +relying on his judgment, the commander consented. + +Two boats left the ship at about noon, and landed their casks +undisturbed. But when the party returned they found a crowd of over a +thousand natives assembled, and a dangerous disposition soon revealed +itself amongst them. It is possible that the Frenchmen had, +unconsciously, offended against some of their superstitious rites. +Certainly they had not knowingly been provoked. They had +peacefully bartered their fruits and nuts for beads, and had been +treated in a friendly fashion throughout. But the currents of passion +that sweep through the minds of savage peoples baffle analysis. +Something had disturbed them; what it was can hardly be surmised. One +of the officers believed that the gift of some beads to a few, excited +the envy of the others. It may be so; mere envy plays such a large part +in the affairs even of civilised peoples, that we need not wonder to +find it arousing the anger of savages. Laperouse tells what occurred in +these terms:-- + +"Several canoes, after having sold their ladings of provisions on board +our ships, had returned ashore, and all landed in this bay, so that it +was gradually filled. Instead of two hundred persons, including women +and children, whom M. de Langle found when he arrived at half past one, +there were ten or twelve hundred by three o'clock. He succeeded in +embarking his water; but the bay was by this time nearly dry, and he +could not hope to get his boats afloat before four o'clock, when the +tide would have risen. He stepped into them, however, with his +detachment, and posted himself in the bow, with his musket and his +marines, forbidding them to fire unless he gave orders. + +"This, he began to realise, he would soon be forced to do. Stones flew +about, and the natives, only up to the knees in water, surrounded the +boats within less than three yards. The marines who were in the +boats, attempted in vain to keep them off. If the fear of commencing +hostilities and being accused of barbarity had not checked M. de +Langle, he would unquestionably have ordered a general discharge of his +swivels and musketry, which no doubt would have dispersed the mob, but +he flattered himself that he could check them without shedding blood, +and he fell a victim to his humanity. + +"Presently a shower of stones thrown from a short distance with as much +force as if they had come from a sling, struck almost every man in the +boat. M. de Langle had only time to discharge the two barrels of his +piece before he was knocked down; and unfortunately he fell over the +larboard bow of the boat, where upwards of two hundred natives +instantly massacred him with clubs and stones. When he was dead, they +made him fast by the arm to one of the tholes of the long boat, no +doubt to secure his spoil. The BOUSSOLE'S long-boat, commanded by M. +Boutin, was aground within four yards of the ASTROLABE'S, and parallel +with her, so as to leave a little channel between them, which was +unoccupied by the natives. Through this all the wounded men, who were +so fortunate as not to fall on the other side of the boats, escaped by +swimming to the barges, which, happily remaining afloat, were enabled +to save forty-nine men out of the sixty-one." + +Amongst the wounded was Pere Receveur, priest, naturalist and +shoemaker, who later on died of his injuries at Botany Bay, and whose +tomb there is as familiar as the Laperouse monument. + +The anger of the Frenchmen at the treachery of the islanders was +not less than their grief at the loss of their companions. Laperouse, +on the first impulse, was inclined to send a strongly-armed party +ashore to avenge the massacre. But two of the officers who had escaped +pointed out that in the cove where the incident occurred the trees came +down almost to the sea, affording shelter to the natives, who would be +able to shower stones upon the party, whilst themselves remaining +beyond reach of musket balls. + +"It was not without difficulty," he wrote, "that I could tear myself +away from this fatal place, and leave behind the bodies of our murdered +companions. I had lost an old friend; a man of great understanding, +judgment, and knowledge; and one of the best officers in the French +navy. His humanity had occasioned his death. Had he but allowed himself +to fire on the first natives who entered into the water to surround the +boats, he would have prevented his own death as well as those of eleven +other victims of savage ferocity. Twenty persons more were severely +wounded; and this event deprived us for the time of thirty men, and the +only two boats we had large enough to carry a sufficient number of men, +armed, to attempt a descent. These considerations determined my +subsequent conduct. The slightest loss would have compelled me to burn +one of my ships in order to man the other. If my anger had required +only the death of a few natives, I had had an opportunity after the +massacre of sinking and destroying a hundred canoes containing +upwards of five hundred persons, but I was afraid of being mistaken in +my victims, and the voice of my conscience saved their lives." + +It was then that Laperouse resolved to sail to Botany Bay, of which he +had read a description in Cook's Voyages. His long-boats had been +destroyed by the natives, but he had on board the frames of two new +ones, and a safe anchorage was required where they could be put +together. His crews were exasperated; and lest there should be a +collision between them and other natives he resolved that, while +reconnoitring other groups of islands to determine their correct +latitude, he would not permit his sailors to land till he reached +Botany Bay. There he knew that he could obtain wood and water. + +On December 14 Oyolava (now called Upolu) was reached. Here again the +ships were surrounded by canoes, and the angry French sailors would +have fired upon them except for the positive orders of their commander. +Throughout this unfortunate affair the strict sense of justice, which +forbade taking general vengeance for the misdeeds of particular people, +stands out strongly in the conduct of Laperouse. He acknowledged in +letters written from Botany Bay, that in future relations with +uncivilised folk he would adopt more repressive measures, as experience +taught him that lack of firm handling was by them regarded as weakness. +But his tone in all his writings is humane and kindly. + +The speculations of Laperouse concerning the origin of these +peoples, are interesting, and deserve consideration by those who speak +and write upon the South Seas. He was convinced that they are all +derived from an ancient common stock, and that the race of +woolly-haired men to be found in the interior of Formosa were the +far-off parents of the natives of the Philippines, Papua, New Britain, +the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, the Carolines, Ladrones, and +Sandwich Groups. He believed that in those islands the interior of +which did not afford complete shelter the original inhabitants were +conquered by Malays, after which aboriginals and invaders mingled +together, producing modifications of the original types. But in Papua, +the Solomons and the New Hebrides, the Malays made little impression. +He accounted for differences in appearance amongst the people of the +islands he visited by the different degrees of Malay intermixture, and +believed that the very black people found on some islands, "whose +complexion still remains a few shades deeper than that of certain +families in the same islands" were to be accounted for by certain +families making it "a point of honour not to contaminate their blood." +The theory is at all events striking. We have a "White Australia +policy" on the mainland to-day; this speculation assumes a kind of +"Black Australasia policy" on the part of certain families of islanders +from time immemorial. + +The Friendly Islands were reached in December, but the commander +had few and unimportant relations with them. On the 13th January, 1788, +the ships made for Norfolk Island, and came to anchor opposite the +place where Cook was believed to have landed. The sea was running high +at the time, breaking violently on the rocky shores of the north east. +The naturalists desired to land to collect specimens, but the heavy +breakers prevented them. The commander permitted them to coast along +the shore in boats for about half a league but then recalled them. + +"Had it been possible to land, there was no way of getting into the +interior part of the island but by ascending for thirty or forty yards +the rapid stream of some torrents, which had formed gullies. Beyond +these natural barriers the island was covered with pines and carpeted +with the most beautiful verdure. It is probable that we should then +have met with some culinary vegetables, and this hope increased our +desire of visiting a land where Captain Cook had landed with the +greatest facility. He, it is true, was here in fine weather, that had +continued for several days; whilst we had been sailing in such heavy +seas that for eight day, our ports had been shut and our dead-lights +in. From the ship I watched the motions of the boats with my glass; and +seeing, as night approached, that they had found no convenient place +for landing, I made the signal to recall them, and soon after gave +orders for getting under way. Perhaps I should have lost much time had +I waited for a more favourable opportunity: and the exploring of +this island was not worth such a sacrifice." + +At eight in the evening the ships got under way, and at day-break on +the following morning sail was crowded for Botany Bay. + + + + +Chapter VII. + + + +AT BOTANY BAY. + + +When, in 1787, the British Government entrusted Captain Arthur Phillip +with a commission to establish a colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales, +they gave him explicit directions as to where he should locate the +settlement. "According to the best information which we have obtained," +his instructions read, "Botany Bay appears to be the most eligible +situation upon the said coast for the first establishment, possessing a +commodious harbour and other advantages which no part of the said coast +hitherto discovered affords." But Phillip was a trustworthy man who, in +so serious a matter as the choice of a site for a town, did not follow +blindly the commands of respectable elderly gentlemen thousands of +miles away. It was his business to found a settlement successfully. To +do that he must select the best site. + +After examining Botany Bay, he decided to take a trip up the coast and +see if a better situation could not be found. On the 21st January, +1788, he entered Port Jackson with three boats, and found there "the +finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may +ride in the most perfect security." He fixed upon a cove "which I +honoured with the name of Sydney." and decided that that was +there he would "plant." Every writer of mediaeval history who has had +occasion to refer to the choice by Constantine the Great of Byzantium, +afterwards Constantinople, as his capital, has extolled his judgment +and prescience. Constantine was an Emperor, and could do as he would. +Arthur Phillip was an official acting under orders. We can never +sufficiently admire the wisdom he displayed when, exercising his own +discretion, he decided upon Port Jackson. True, he had a great +opportunity, but his signal merit is that he grasped it when it was +presented, that he gave more regard to the success of his task than to +the letter of his instructions. + +While he was making the search, the eleven vessels composing the First +Fleet lay in Botany Bay. He returned on the evening of the 23rd, and +immediately gave orders that the whole company should as soon as +possible sail for Port Jackson, declaring it to be, in King's quaint +words, "a very proper place to form an establisht. in." + +To the great astonishment of the Fleet, on the 24th, two strange ships +made their appearance to the south of Solander Point, a projection from +the peninsula on which now stands the obelisk in memory of Cook's +landing. What could they be? Some guessed that they were English +vessels with additional stores. Some supposed that they were Dutch, +"coming after us to oppose our landing." Nobody expected to see any +ships in these untraversed waters, and we can easily picture the +amazement of officers, crews, and convicts when the white sails +appeared. The more timid speculated on the possibility of attack, and +there were "temporary apprehensions, accompanied by a multiplicity of +conjectures, many of them sufficiently ridiculous." + +Phillip, however, remembered hearing that the French had an expedition +of discovery either in progress or contemplation. He was the first to +form a right opinion about them, but, wishing to be certain, sent the +SUPPLY out of the bay to get a nearer view and hoist the British +colours. Lieutenant Ball, in command of that brig, after reconnoitring, +reported that the ships were certainly not English. They were either +French, Spanish or Portuguese. He could distinctly see the white field +of the flag they flew, "but they were at too great a distance to +discover if there was anything else on it." The flag, of course, showed +the golden lilies of France on a white ground. One of the ships, King +records, "wore a CHEF D'ESCADRE'S pennant," that is, a commodore's. + +This information satisfied Phillip, who was anxious to lose no time in +getting his people ashore at Sydney Cove. He, therefore, determined to +sail in the SUPPLY on the 25th, to make preliminary arrangements, +leaving Captain Hunter of the SIRIUS to convoy the Fleet round as soon +as possible. The wind, just then, was blowing too strong for them to +work out of the Bay. + +Meanwhile, Laperouse, with the BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE, was meeting +with heavy weather in his attempt to double Point Solander. The +wind blew hard from that quarter, and his ships were too heavy sailers +to force their passage against wind and current combined. The whole of +the 24th was spent in full sight of Botany Bay, which they could not +enter. But their hearts were cheered by the spectacle of the pennants +and ensigns on the eleven British vessels, plainly seen at intervals +within, and the prospect of meeting Europeans again made them impatient +to fetch their anchorage. + +The SIRIUS was just about to sail when the French vessels entered the +Bay at nine in the morning of January 26, but Captain Hunter +courteously sent over a lieutenant and midshipman, with his compliments +and offers of such assistance as it was in his power to give. "I +despatched an officer," records Laperouse, "to return my thanks to +Captain Hunter, who by this time had his anchor a-peak and his topsails +hoisted, telling him that my wants were confined to wood and water, of +which we could not fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels +intended to settle a colony at such a distance from Europe could not be +of any assistance to navigators." The English lieutenant, according to +Laperouse, "appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's +plan, and we did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him +on the subject." It was not the business of a junior officer to give +unauthorised information, but perhaps his manner made a greater mystery +of the Governor's plans than the circumstances required. + +It was at Kamchatka that the French had learnt that the British +were establishing a settlement in New South Wales; but Laperouse, when +he arrived at Botany Bay, had no definite idea as to the progress they +had made. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, he expected to find +a town built and a market established. Instead of that he found the +first colonists abandoning the site where it was originally intended +that they should settle, and preparing to fix their abode at another +spot. But after he had seen something of Botany Bay he expressed +himself as "convinced of the propriety and absolute necessity of the +measure." + +The later relations between the English and French were of the most +pleasant kind. It does not appear from the writings of those who have +left records that Phillip and Laperouse ever met, or that the latter +ever saw the beginnings of Sydney. His ships certainly never entered +Port Jackson. But we learn from Captain Tench that "during their stay +in the port" (i.e. in Botany Bay) "the officers of the two nations had +frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual regard by visits and +other interchanges of friendship and esteem;" and Laperouse gratified +the English especially "by the feeling manner in which he always +mentioned the name and talents of Captain Cook." + +Not only in what he wrote with an eye to publication, but in his +private correspondence, Laperouse expressed his gratification at the +friendly relations established. He spoke of "frequent intercourse" +with the English, and said that "to the most polite attentions +they have added every offer of service in their power; and it was not +without regret that we saw them depart, almost immediately upon our +arrival, for Port Jackson, fifteen miles to the northward of this +place. Commodore Phillip had good reason to prefer that port, and he +has left us sole masters of this bay, where our long-boats are already +on the stocks." + +The fullest account is given in the journal of Lieutenant King, +afterwards (1800-6) Governor of New South Wales. On February 1 Phillip +sent him in a cutter, in company with Lieutenant Dawes of the Marines, +to visit Laperouse, "and to offer him whatever he might have occasion +for." King relates that they were "received with the greatest +politeness and attention by Monsieur de Laperouse and his officers." He +accepted an invitation to remain during the day with the French, to +dine with the Commodore, and to return to Port Jackson next morning. +The complete history of the voyage was narrated to him, including of +course the tragic story of the massacre of de Langle and his +companions. + +After dinner on the BOUSSOLE, King was taken ashore, where he found the +French "quite established, having thrown round their tents a stockade, +guarded by two small guns." This defence was needed to protect the +frames of the two new longboats, which were being put together, from +the natives; and also, it would appear, from a few escaped convicts, +"whom he had dismissed with threats, giving them a day's +provision to carry them back to ye settlement." Laperouse himself, in +his history--in the very last words of it, in fact--complains that +"we had but too frequent opportunities of hearing news of the English +settlement, the deserters from which gave us a great deal of trouble +and embarrassment." + +We learn from King a little about the Pere Receveur--a very little, +truly, but sufficient to make us wish to know more. From the +circumstance that his quarters were on the ASTROLABE, and that, +therefore, he was not brought very much under the notice of Laperouse, +we read scarcely anything about him in the commander's book. Once +during the voyage some acids used by him for scientific purposes +ignited, and set fire to the ship, but the danger was quickly +suppressed. This incident, and that of the wounding of Receveur at +Manua, are nearly all we are told about him from the commander. But he +struck King as being "a man of letters and genius." He was a collector +of natural curiosities, having under his care "a great number of +philosophical instruments." King's few lines, giving the impression +derived from a necessarily brief conversation, seem to bring the Abbe +before us in a flash. "A man of letters and genius": how gladly we +would know more of one of whom those words could be written! Receveur +died shortly before Laperouse sailed away, and was buried at the foot +of a tree, to which were nailed a couple of boards bearing an +inscription. Governor Phillip, when the boards fell down, had +the inscription engraved on a copper plate. The tomb, which is now so +prominent an object at Botany Bay, was erected by the Baron de +Bougainville in 1825. The memorials to the celebrated navigator and the +simple scholar stand together. + +King, in common with Tench, records the admiring way in which Laperouse +spoke of Cook. He "informed me that every place where he has touched or +been near, he found all the astronomical and nautical works of Captain +Cook to be very exact and true, and concluded by saying, 'Enfin, +Monsieur Cook a tant fait qu'il ne m'a rien laisse a faire que d' +admirer ses oeuvres.'" (In short, Mr. Cook has done so much that he has +left me nothing to do but to admire his works). + +There is very little more to tell about those few weeks spent at Botany +Bay before the navigator and his companions "vanished trackless into +blue immensity," as Carlyle puts it. A fragment of conversation is +preserved by Tench. A musket was fired one day, and the natives +marvelled less at the noise than at the fact that the bullet made a +hole in a piece of bark at which it was aimed. To calm them, "an +officer whistled the air of 'Malbrook,' which they appeared highly +charmed with, and greeted him with equal pleasure and readiness. I may +remark here," adds the Captain of Marines, "what I was afterwards told +by Monsieur de Perousse" (so he mis-spells the name) "that the natives +of California, as throughout all the isles of the Pacific Ocean, +and in short wherever he had been, seemed equally touched and delighted +with this little plaintive air." It is gratifying to be able to record +Captain Tench's high opinion of the efficacy of the tune, which is +popularly known nowadays as "We won't go home till morning." One has +often heard of telling things "to the Marines." This gallant officer, +doubtless, used to whistle them, to a "little plaintive air." + +It was the practice of Laperouse to sow seeds at places visited by his +ships, with the object of experimenting with useful European plants +that might be cultivated in other parts of the world. His own letters +and journal do not show that he did so at Botany Bay; but we have other +evidence that he did, and that the signs of cultivation had not +vanished at least ten years later. When George Bass was returning to +Sydney in February, 1798, at the end of that wonderful cruise in a +whaleboat which had led to the discovery of Westernport, he was +becalmed off Botany Bay. He was disposed to enter and remain there for +the night, but his journal records that his people--the six picked +British sailors who were the companions of his enterprise--"seemed +inclined to push for home rather than go up to the Frenchman's Garden." +Therefore, the wind failing, they took to the oars and rowed to Port +Jackson, reaching home at ten o'clock at night. That is a very +interesting allusion. The Frenchman's Garden must have been somewhere +within the enclosed area where the Cable Station now stands, and it +would be well if so pleasant a name, and one so full of +historical suggestion, were still applied to that reserve. + +It may be well to quote in full the passage in which Laperouse relates +his experience of Botany Bay. He was not able to write his journal up +to the date of his departure before despatching it to Europe, but the +final paragraphs in it sufficiently describe what occurred, and what he +thought. Very loose and foolish statements have occasionally been +published as to his object in visiting the port. In one of the +geographical journals a few years ago the author saw it stated that +there was "a race for a Continent" between the English and the French, +in which the former won by less than a week! Nonsense of that sort, +even though it appears in sober publications, issued with a scientific +purpose, can emanate only from those who have no real acquaintance with +the subject. There was no race, no struggle for priority, no thought of +territorial acquisition on the part of the French. The reader of this +little book knows by this time that the visit to Botany Bay was not +originally contemplated. It was not in the programme. + +What would have happened if Laperouse had safely returned home, and if +the French Revolution had not destroyed Louis XVI and blown his +exploration and colonisation schemes into thin air, is quite another +question; but "ifs" are not history. You can entirely reconstruct the +history of the human race by using enough "ifs," but with that +sort of thing, which an ironist has termed "Iftory," and is often more +amusing than enlightening, more speculative than sound, we have at +present nothing to do. Here is the version of the visit given by +Laperouse himself:-- + +"We made the land on the 23rd January. It has little elevation, and is +scarcely possible to be seen at a greater distance than twelve leagues. +The wind then became very variable; and, like Captain Cook, we met with +currents, which carried us every day fifteen minutes south of our +reckoning; so that we spent the whole of the 24th in plying in sight of +Botany Bay, without being able to double Point Solander, which bore +from us a league north. The wind blew strong from that quarter, and our +ships were too heavy sailers to surmount the force of the wind and the +currents combined; but that day we had a spectacle to which we had been +altogether unaccustomed since our departure from Manilla. This was a +British squadron, at anchor in Botany Bay, the pennants and ensigns of +which we could plainly distinguish. All Europeans are countrymen at +such a distance from home, and we had the most eager impatience to +fetch the anchorage; but the next day the weather was so foggy that it +was impossible to discern the land, and we did not get in till the +26th, at nine in the morning, when we let go our anchor a mile from the +north shore, in seven fathoms of water, on a good bottom of grey sand, +abreast of the second bay. + +"The moment I made my appearance in the entrance of the Bay, a +lieutenant and midshipman were sent aboard my vessel by Captain Hunter, +commanding the British frigate SIRIUS. They offered from him all the +services in his power; adding, however, that, as he was just getting +under way to proceed to the northward, circumstances would not allow +him to furnish us with provision, ammunition or sails; so that his +offers of service were reduced to good wishes for the future success of +our voyage. + +"I despatched an officer to return my thanks to Captain Hunter, who by +this time had his anchor a-peak, and his topsails hoisted; telling him +that my wants were confined to wood and water, of which we could not +fail in this Bay; and I was sensible that vessels intended to settle a +colony at such a distance from Europe, could not be of any assistance +to navigators. + +"From the lieutenant we learnt that the English squadron was commanded +by Commodore Phillip, who had sailed from Botany Bay the previous +evening in the SUPPLY, sloop, with four transports, in search of a more +commodious place for a settlement further north. The lieutenant +appeared to make a great mystery of Commodore Phillip's plan, and we +did not take the liberty of putting any questions to him on the +subject; but we had no doubt that the intended settlement must be very +near Botany Bay, since several boats were under sail for the place, and +the passage certainly must be very short, as it was thought unnecessary +to hoist them on board. The crew of the English boat, less discreet +than their officer, soon informed our people that they were only +going to Port Jackson, sixteen miles north of Point Banks, where +Commander Phillip had himself reconnoitred a very good harbour, which +ran ten miles into the land, to the south-west, and in which the ships +might anchor within pistol-shot of the shore, in water as smooth as +that of a basin. We had, afterwards, but too frequent opportunities of +hearing news of the English settlement, the deserters from which gave +us a great deal of trouble and embarrassment." + +Pieced together thus is nearly all we know about Laperouse during his +visit to Botany Bay. It is not much. We would gladly have many more +details. What has become of the letter he wrote to Phillip recommending +(according to King) the Pacific Islands as worthy of the attention of +the new colony, "for the great quantity of stock with which they +abound"? Apparently it is lost. The grave and the deep have swallowed +up the rest of this "strange eventful history," and we interrogate in +vain. We should know even less than we do were it not that Laperouse +obtained from Phillip permission to send home, by the next British ship +leaving Port Jackson, his journal, some charts, and the drawings of his +artists. This material, added to private letters and a few +miscellaneous papers, was placed in charge of Lieutenant Shortland to +be delivered to the French Ambassador in London, and formed part of the +substance of the two volumes and atlas published in Paris. + + +* * * * * + + +It may be well to cite, as a note to this chapter, the books in +which contemporary accounts of the visit of Laperouse and his ships to +Botany Bay are to be found. Some readers may thereby be tempted to look +into the original authorities. Laperouse's own narrative is contained +in the third and fourth volumes of his "Voyage autour du Monde," edited +by Milet-Mureau (Paris, 1797). There are English translations. A few +letters at the end of the work give a little additional information. +Governor Phillip's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, 1789) contains a +good but brief account. Phillip's despatch to the Secretary of State, +Lord Sydney, printed in the "Historical Records of New South Wales," +Vol. I., part 2, p. 121, devotes a paragraph to the subject. King's +Journal in Vol. II. of the "Records," p. 543-7, gives his story. +Surgeon Bowes' Journal, on page 391 of the same volume, contains a +rather picturesque allusion. Hunter's "Voyage to Botany Bay" (London, +1793) substantially repeats King's version. Captain Watkin Tench, of +the Marines, has a good account in his "Narrative of an Expedition to +Botany Bay" (London, 1789), and Paterson's "History of New South Wales" +(Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1811) makes an allusion to the French expedition. + + + + +Chapter VIII. + + + +THE MYSTERY, AND THE SECRET OF THE SEA. + + +The BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE sailed from Botany Bay on March 10, +1788. After recording that fact we might well inscribe the pathetic +last words of Hamlet, "the rest is silence." + +We know what Laperouse intended to do. He wrote two letters to friends +in France, explaining the programme to be followed after sailing from +Botany Bay. They do not agree in every particular, but we may take the +last letter written to express his final determination. According to +this, his plan was to sail north, passing between Papua ( New Guinea) +and Australia by another channel than Endeavour Strait, if he could +find one. During September and October he intended to visit the Gulf of +Carpentaria, and thence sail down the west and along the south of +Australia, to Tasmania, "but in such a manner that it may be possible +for me to stretch northward in time to arrive at Ile-de-France in the +beginning of December, 1788." That was the programme which he was not +destined to complete--hardly, indeed, to enter upon. Had he succeeded, +his name would have been inscribed amongst the memorable company of the +world's great maritime explorers. As it is, the glint on his +brow, as he stands in the light of history, is less that of achievement +than of high promise, noble aims, romance and mystery. + +One of the letters sent from Sydney concluded with these words: "Adieu! +I shall depart in good health, as are all my ship's company. We would +undertake six voyages round the world if it could afford to our country +either profit or pleasure." They were not the last words he wrote, but +we may appropriately take them as being, not merely his adieu to a +friend, but to the world. + +Time sped on; the date given for the arrival at Ile-de-France was +passed; the year 1789 dawned and ticked off the tally of its days. But +nothing was heard of Laperouse. People in France grew anxious, one +especially we may be sure--she who knew so well where the ships would +anchor in Port Louis if they emerged out of the ocean brume, and who +longed so ardently that renewed acquaintance with scenes once sweetly +familiar would awaken memories meet to give wings to speed and spurs to +delay. Not a word came to sustain or cheer, and the faint flush of hope +faded to the wan hue of despair on the cheek of love. By 1791 all +expectation of seeing the expedition return was abandoned. But could +not some news of its fate be ascertained? Had it faded out of being +like a summer cloud, leaving not a trace behind? Might not some inkling +be had, some small relics obtained, some whisper caught, in +those distant isles, + +"Where the sea egg flames on the coral, and the long-backed breakers croon +Their endless ocean legend to the lazy, locked lagoon." + +France was then in the throes of her great social earthquake; but it +stands to the credit of the National Assembly that, amidst many +turbulent projects and boiling passions, they found time and had the +disposition to cause the fitting out of a new expedition to search for +tidings of those whose disappearance weighed heavily on the heart of +the nation. The decree was passed on February 9, 1791. + +Two ships, the RECHERCHE and the ESPERANCE, were selected and placed +under the command of Dentrecasteaux. He had already had some experience +in a part of the region to be searched, had been a governor of +Ile-de-France, and during a South Sea voyage had named the cluster of +islands east of Papua now called the D'Entrecasteaux Group. The second +ship was placed under the command of Captain Huon Kermadec. The Huon +River in Tasmania, and the Kermadec Islands, N.E. of New Zealand, are +named after him. + +Fleurieu again drew up the instructions, and based them largely upon +the letter from Laperouse quoted above, pointing out that remains of +him would most probably be found in the neighbourhood of coasts which +he had intended to explore. It was especially indicated that there was, +south of New Holland, an immense stretch of coastline so far +utterly unknown. "No navigator has penetrated in that part of the sea; +the reconnaissances and discoveries of the Dutch, the English and the +French commenced at the south of Van Diemen's Land." + +Thus, for the second time, was a French navigator directed to explore +the southern coasts of Australia; and had Dentrecasteaux followed the +plan laid down for him he would have forestalled the discoveries of +Grant, Bass and Flinders, just as Laperouse would have done had his +work not been cut short by disaster. + +It has to be remembered that the instructions impressed upon +Dentrecasteaux that his business primarily was not geographical +discovery, but to get news of his lost compatriots. But even so, is it +not curious that the French should have been concerned with the +exploration of Southern Australia before the English thought about it; +that they should have had two shots at the task, planned with knowledge +and care, officially directed, and in charge of eminently competent +navigators; but that nevertheless their schemes should have gone awry? +They made a third attempt by means of Baudin's expedition, during the +Napoleonic Consulate, and again were unsuccessful, except in a very +small measure. It almost seems as if some power behind human endeavours +had intended these coasts for British finding--and keeping. + +The full story of Dentrecasteaux' expedition has not yet been told. Two +thick books were written about it, but a mass of unpublished +papers contain details that were judiciously kept out of those volumes. +When the whole truth is made known, it will be seen that the bitter +strife which plunged France in an agony of blood and tears was not +confined to the land. + +The ships did not visit Sydney. Why not? It might have been expected +that an expedition sent to discover traces of Laperouse would have been +careful to make Botany Bay in the first instance, and, after collecting +whatever evidence was available there, would have carefully followed +the route that he had proposed to pursue. But it would seem that an +European settlement was avoided. Why? The unpublished papers may +furnish an answer to that question. + +Neither was the south coast of Australia explored. That great chance +was missed. Some excellent charting--which ten years later commanded +the cordial admiration of Flinders--was done by Beautemps-Beaupre, who +was Dentrecasteaux' cartographer, especially round about the S.W. +corner of the continent. Esperance Bay, in Western Australia, is named +after one of the ships of this expedition. But from that corner, his +ships being short of fresh water, Dentrecasteaux sailed on a direct +line to Southern Tasmania, and thence to New Zealand, New Caledonia, +and New Guinea. Touch with the only European centre in these parts was +--apparently with deliberation--not obtained. + +Dentrecasteaux died while his ships were in the waters to the +north of New Guinea. He fell violently ill, raving at first, then +subsiding into unconsciousness, a death terrible to read about in the +published narrative, where the full extent of his troubles is not +revealed. Kermadec, commander of the ESPERANCE, also died at New +Caledonia. After their decease the ships returned to France as rapidly +as they could. They were detained by the Dutch at Sourabaya for several +months, as prisoners of war, and did not reach Europe till March, 1796. +Their mission had been abortive. + +Five French Captains who brought expeditions to Australia at this +period all ended in misfortune. Laperouse was drowned; de Langle was +murdered; Dentrecasteaux died miserably at sea; Kermadec, the fourth, +had expired shortly before; and Baudin, the fifth, died at Port Louis +on the homeward voyage. + +Nor is even that the last touch of melancholy to the tale of tragedy. +There was a young poet who was touched by the fate of Laperouse. Andre +Chenier is now recognised as one of the finest masters of song who have +enriched French literature, and his poems are more and more studied and +admired both by his own countrymen and abroad. He planned and partly +finished a long poem, "L'Amerique," which contains a mournful passage +about the mystery of the sea which had not then been solved. A +translation of the lines will not be attempted here; they are mentioned +because the poet himself had an end as tragic, though in a +different mode, as that of the hero of whom he sang. He came under the +displeasure of the tyrants of the Red Terror through his friends and +his writings, and in March, 1794, the guillotine took this brilliant +young genius as a victim. + +J'accuserai les vents et cette mer jalouse +Qui retient, qui peut-etre a ravi Laperouse + +so the poem begins. How strangely the shadow of Tragedy hangs over this +ill-starred expedition; Louis XVI the projector, Laperouse and de +Langle the commanders, Dentrecasteaux and Kermadec the searchers, Andre +Chenier the laureate: the breath of the black-robed Fury was upon them +all! + + + + +Chapter IX. + + + +CAPTAIN DILLON'S DISCOVERY. + + +The navigators of all nations were fascinated by the mystery attaching +to the fate of Laperouse. Every ship that sailed the Pacific hoped to +obtain tidings or remains. From time to time rumours arose of the +discovery of relics. One reported the sight of wreckage; another that +islanders had been seen dressed in French uniforms; another that a +cross of St. Louis had been found. But the element of probability in +the various stories evaporated on investigation. Flinders, sailing +north from Port Jackson in the INVESTIGATOR in 1802, kept a sharp +lookout on the Barrier Reef, the possibility of finding some trace +being "always present to my mind." But no definite news came. + +A new French voyage of exploration came down to the Pacific in 1817, +under the command of Louis de Freycinet, who had been a lieutenant in +Baudin's expedition in 1800-4. The purpose was not chiefly to look for +evidence concerning Laperouse, though naturally a keen scrutiny was +maintained with this object in view. + +An extremely queer fact may be mentioned in connection with this +voyage. The URANIE carried a woman among the crew, the only one of her +sex amidst one hundred men. Madame de Freycinet, the wife of the +commandant, joined at Toulon, dressed as a ship's boy, and it was given +out in the newspapers that her husband was very much surprised when he +found that his wife had managed to get aboard in disguise. But Arago, +one of the scientific staff, tells us in his Memoirs, published in +1837, that--as we can well believe--Freycinet knew perfectly who the +"young and pretty" boy was, and had connived at her joining the ship as +a lad, because she wanted to accompany her husband, and the authorities +would have prevented her had they known. She continued to wear her +boy's dress until after the ships visited Gibraltar, for Arago informs +us that the solemn British Lieutenant-Governor there, when he saw her, +broke into a smile, "the first perhaps that his features had worn for +ten years." If that be true, the little lady surely did a little good +by her saucy escapade. But official society regarded the lady in +trousers with a frigid stare, so that henceforth she deemed it discreet +to resume feminine garments. It does not appear that she passed for a +boy when the expedition visited Sydney, and of course no hint of +Madame's presence is given in the official history of the voyage. + +We now reach the stage when the veil was lifted and the mystery +explained. In 1813 the East India Company's ship HUNTER, voyaging from +Calcutta to Sydney, called at the Fiji Islands. They discovered that +several Europeans were living on one of the group. Some had been +shipwrecked; some had deserted from vessels; but they had become +accustomed to the life and preferred it. The HUNTER employed a party of +them to collect sandal wood and beche-de-mer, one of her junior +officers, Peter Dillon, being in charge. A quarrel with natives +occurred, and all the Europeans were murdered, except Dillon, a +Prussian named Martin Bushart, and a seaman, William Wilson. After the +affray Bushart would certainly have been slain had he remained, so he +induced the captain of the HUNTER to give him a passage to the first +land reached. Accordingly Bushart, a Fiji woman who was his wife, and a +Lascar companion, were landed on Barwell Island, or Tucopia. + +Thirteen years later Peter Dillon was sailing in command of his own +ship, the ST. PATRICK, from Valparaiso to Pondicherry, when he sighted +Tucopia. Curiosity prompted him to stop to enquire whether his old +friend Martin Bushart was still alive. He hove to, and shortly after +two canoes put off from the land, bringing Bushart and the Lascar, both +in excellent health. + +Now, Dillon observed that the Lascar sold an old silver sword guard to +one of the ST. PATRICK'S crew in return for a few fish hooks. This made +him inquisitive. He asked the Prussian where it came from. Bushart +informed him that when he first arrived at the island he saw in +possession of the natives, not only this sword guard, but also several +chain plates, iron bolts, axes, the handle of a silver fork, some +knives, tea cups, beads, bottles, a silver spoon bearing a crest and +monogram, and a sword. He asked where these articles were +obtained, and the natives told him that they got them from the +Mannicolo (or Vanikoro) cluster of islands, two days' canoe voyage from +Tucopia, in the Santa Cruz group. + +"Upon examining the sword minutely" wrote Dillon, "I discovered, or +thought I discovered, the initials of Perouse stamped on it, which +excited my suspicion and made me more exact in my inquiries. I then, by +means of Bushart and the Lascar, questioned some of the islanders +respecting the way in which their neighbours procured the silver and +iron articles. They told me that the natives of Mannicolo stated that +many years ago two large ships arrived at their islands; one anchored +at the island of Whanoo, and the other at the island of Paiou, a little +distance from each other. Some time after they anchored, and before +they had any communication with the natives, a heavy gale arose and +both vessels were driven ashore. The ship that was anchored off Whanoo +grounded upon the rocks. + +"The natives came in crowds to the seaside, armed with clubs, spears, +and bows and arrows, and shot some arrows into the ship, and the crew +in return fired the guns and some musketry on them and killed several. +The vessel, continuing to beat violently against the rocks, shortly +afterwards went to pieces. Some of the crew took to their boats, and +were driven on shore, where they were to a man murdered on landing by +the infuriated natives. Others threw themselves into the sea; but if +they reached the shore it was only to share the fate of their +wretched comrades, so that not a single soul escaped out of this +vessel." + +The ship wrecked on Paiou, according to the natives' story, was driven +on a sandy beach. Some arrows were fired into her, but the crew did not +fire. They were restrained, and held up beads, axes, and toys, making a +demonstration of friendliness. As soon as the wind abated, an old chief +came aboard the wrecked ship, where he was received in friendly +fashion, and, going ashore, pacified his people. The crew of the +vessel, compelled to abandon her, carried the greater part of their +stores ashore, where they built a small boat from the remains of the +wreck. As soon as this craft was ready to sail, as many as could +conveniently be taken embarked and sailed away. They were never heard +of again. The remainder of the crew remained on the island until they +died. + +Such was the information collected by Captain Peter Dillon in 1826. He +took away with him the sword guard, but regretted to learn that the +silver spoon had been beaten into wire by Bushart for making rings and +ornaments for female islanders. + +When he reached Calcutta, Dillon wrote an account of his discovery in a +letter to the government of Bengal, and suggested that he should be +sent in command of an expedition to search the Vanikoro cluster in the +hope of finding some old survivor of Laperouse's unhappy company, or at +all events further remains of the ships. He had prevailed upon +Martin Bushart to accompany him to India, and hoped, through this man's +knowledge of the native tongue, to elicit all that was to be known. + +The Government of British India became interested in Dillon's +discovery, and resolved to send him in command of a ship to search for +further information. At the end of 1826 he sailed in the RESEARCH, and +in September of the following year came within sight of the high-peaked +island Tucopia. The enquiries made on this voyage fully confirmed and +completed the story, and left no room for doubt that the ships of +Laperouse had been wrecked and his whole company massacred or drowned +on or near Vanikoro. Many natives still living remembered the arrival +of the French. Some of them related that they thought those who came on +the big ships to be not men but spirits; and such a grotesque bit of +description as was given of the peaks of cocked hats exactly expressed +the way in which the appearance of the strangers would be likely to +appeal to the native imagination:--" There was a projection from their +foreheads or noses a foot long." + +Furthermore, Dillon's officers were able to purchase from the islands +such relics as an old sword blade, a rusted razor, a silver sauce-boat +with fleur-de-lis upon it, a brass mortar, a few small bells, a silver +sword-handle bearing a cypher, apparently a "P" with a crown, part of a +blacksmith's vice, the crown of a small anchor, and many other +articles. An examination of natives brought out a few further +details, as for example, a description of the chief of the strangers, +"who used always to be looking at the stars and the sun and beckoning +to them," which is how a native would be likely to regard a man making +astronomical observations. Dillon, in short had solved the forty years' +mystery. The Pacific had revealed her long-held secret. + +It happened that a new French expedition in the ASTROLABE, under the +command of Dumont-D'Urville, was in the southern hemisphere at this +time. While he lay at Hobart on his way to New Zealand, the captain +heard of Dillon's discoveries, and, at once changing his plans, sailed +for the Santa Cruz Islands. He arrived there in February, 1828, and +made some valuable finds to supplement those of the English captain. At +the bottom of the sea, in perfectly clear water, he saw lying, +encrusted with coral, some remains of anchors, chains, guns, bullets, +and other objects which had clearly belonged to the ships of Laperouse. +One of his artists made a drawing of them on the spot. They were +recovered, and, together with Dillon's collection, are now exhibited in +a pyramid at the Marine Museum at the Louvre in Paris, in memory of the +ill-fated commander and crew who perished, martyrs in the great cause +of discovery, a century and a quarter ago. + +It is interesting to note that descendants of Captain Dillon are +residents of Sydney to this day. + + + + +Chapter X. + + + +THE FAME OF LAPEROUSE. + + +Intellectually, and as a navigator, Laperouse was a son of James Cook, +and he himself would have rejoiced to be so described. The allusions to +his predecessor in his writings are to be numbered by scores, and the +note of reverent admiration is frequently sounded. He followed Cook's +guidance in the management of his ships, paying particular attention to +the diet of his crews. He did not succeed in keeping scurvy at bay +altogether, but when the disease made its appearance he met it promptly +by securing fresh vegetable food for the sufferers, and was so far +successful that when he arrived in Botany Bay his whole company was in +good health. + +The influence of the example and experience of Cook may be illustrated +in many ways, some of them curious. We may take a point as to which he +really had little to fear; but he knew what had occurred in Cook's case +and he was anxious that the same should not happen to him. The +published story of Cook's first South Sea Voyage, as is well known, was +not his own. His journal was handed over to Dr. Hawkesworth, a +gentleman who tried to model his literary style on that of Dr. Johnson, +and evolved a pompous, big-drum product in consequence. +Hawkesworth garnished the manly, straightforward navigator's simple and +direct English with embellishments of his own. Where Cook was plain +Hawkesworth was ornate; where Cook was sensible Hawkesworth was silly; +where Cook was accurate, Hawkesworth by stuffing in his own precious +observations made the narrative unreliable, and even ridiculous. In +fact, the gingerbread Johnson simply spoiled Cook. + +Dr. Johnson was by no means gratified by the ponderous prancings of his +imitator. We learn from Boswell that when the great man met Captain +Cook at a dinner given by the President of the Royal Society, he said +that he "was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that +celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as to many of the +exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth of his voyages." Cook +himself was annoyed by the decorating of his story, and resented the +treatment strongly. + +Laperouse knew this, and was very anxious that nobody in France should +Hawkesworthify him. He did not object to being carefully edited, but he +did not want to be decorated. He wrote excellent French narrative +prose, and his work may be read with delight. Its qualities of clarity, +picturesqueness and smoothness, are quite in accord with the fine +traditions of the language. But, as it was likely that part of the +history of his voyage might be published before his return, he did not +want it to be handed over to anybody who would trick it out in +finery, and he therefore wrote the following letter: + +"If my journal be published before my return, let the editing of it by +no means be entrusted to a man of letters; for either he will sacrifice +to the turn of a phrase the proper terms which the seaman and man of +learning would prefer, but which to him will appear harsh and +barbarous; or, rejecting all the nautical and astronomical details, and +endeavouring to make a pleasing romance, he will for want of the +knowledge his education has not allowed him to acquire, commit mistakes +which may prove fatal to those who shall follow me. But choose an +editor versed in the mathematical sciences, who is capable of +calculating and comparing my data with those of other investigators, of +rectifying errors which may have escaped me, and of guarding himself +against the commission of others. Such an editor will preserve the +substance of the work; will omit nothing that is essential; will give +technical details the harsh and rude, but concise style of a seaman; +and will well perform his task in supplying my place and publishing the +work as I would have done it myself." + +That letter is a rather singular effect of Laperouse's study of Cook, +which might be illustrated by further examples. The influence of the +great English sailor is the more remarkable when we remember that there +had been early French navigators to the South Seas before Laperouse. +There was the elder Bougainville, the discoverer of the +Navigator Islands; there was Marion-Dufresne, who was killed and eaten +by Maoris in 1772; there was Surville--to mention only three. +Laperouse knew of them, and mentioned them. But they had little to +teach him. In short and in truth, he belonged to the school of Cook, +and that is an excellent reason why English and especially Australian +people should have an especial regard for him. + +The disastrous end of Laperouse's expedition before he had completed +his task prevented him from adequately realising his possibilities as a +discoverer. As pointed out in the preceding pages, if he had completed +his voyage, he would in all probability have found the southern coasts +of Australia in 1788. But the work that he actually did is not without +importance; and he unquestionably possessed the true spirit of the +explorer. When he entered upon this phase of his career he was a +thoroughly experienced seaman. He was widely read in voyaging +literature, intellectually well endowed, alert-minded, eager, +courageous, and vigorous. The French nation has had no greater sailor +than Laperouse. + +De Lesseps, the companion of his voyage as far as Kamchatka, has left a +brief but striking characterisation of him. "He was," says this +witness, "an accomplished gentleman, perfectly urbane and full of wit, +and possessed of those charming manners which pertained to the +eighteenth century. He was always agreeable in his relations with +subordinates and officers alike." The same writer tells us that +when Louis XVI gave him the command of the expedition he had the +reputation of being the ablest seaman in the French navy. + +Certainly he was no common man to whose memory stands that tall +monument at Botany Bay. It was erected at the cost of the French +Government by the Baron de Bougainville, in 1825, and serves not only +as a reminder of a fine character and a full, rich and manly life, but +of a series of historical events that are of capital consequence in the +exploration and occupation of Australia. + +It will be appropriate to conclude this brief biography with a tribute +to the French navigator from the pen of an English poet. Thomas +Campbell is best remembered by such vigorous poems as "Ye Mariners of +England," and "The Battle of the Baltic," which express a tense and +elevated British patriotism. All the more impressive for that very +reason is his elegy in honour of a sailor of another nation, whose +merits as a man and whose charm as a writer Campbell had recognised +from his boyhood. The following are his. + +LINES WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF OF LAPEROUSE'S "VOYAGES" + +Loved Voyager! whose pages had a zest +More sweet than fiction to my wondering breast, +When, rapt in fancy, many a boyish day +I tracked his wanderings o'er the watery way, +Roamed round the Aleutian isles in waking dreams, +Or plucked the fleur-de-lys by Jesso's streams, +Or gladly leaped on that far Tartar strand, +Where Europe's anchor ne'er had bit the sand, +Where scarce a roving wild tribe crossed the plain, +Or human voice broke nature's silent reign,-- +But vast and grassy deserts feed the bear, +And sweeping deer-herds dread no hunter's snare. +Such young delight his real records brought, +His truth so touched romantic springs of thought, +That, all my after life, his fate and fame +Entwined romance with Laperouse's name. +Fair were his ships, expert his gallant crews, +And glorious was the emprise of Laperouse-- +Humanely glorious! Men will weep for him, +When many a guilty martial fame is dim: +He ploughed the deep to bind no captive's chain-- +Pursued no rapine--strewed no wreck with slain; +And, save that in the deep themselves lie low, +His heroes plucked no wreath from human woe. +'Twas his the earth's remotest bounds to scan, +Conciliating with gifts barbaric man-- +Enrich the world's contemporaneous mind, +And amplify the picture of mankind. +Far on the vast Pacific, 'midst those isles +O'er which the earliest morn of Asia smiles, +He sounded and gave charts to many a shore +And gulf of ocean new to nautic lore; +Yet he that led discovery o'er the wave, +Still finds himself an undiscovered grave. +He came not back! Conjecture's cheek grew pale, +Year after year; in no propitious gale +His lilied banner held its homeward way, +And Science saddened at her martyr's stay. +An age elapsed: no wreck told where or when +The chief went down with all his gallant men, +Or whether by the storm and wild sea flood +He perished, or by wilder men of blood. +The shuddering fancy only guess'd his doom, +And doubt to sorrow gave but deeper gloom. +An age elapsed: when men were dead or gray, +Whose hearts had mourned him in their youthful day, +Fame traced on Vanikoro's shore at last, +The boiling surge had mounted o'er his mast. +The islesmen told of some surviving men, +But Christian eyes beheld them ne'er again. +Sad bourne of all his toils--with all his band +To sleep, wrecked, shroudless, on a savage strand! +Yet what is all that fires a hero's scorn +Of death?--the hope to live in hearts unborn. +Life to the brave is not its fleeting breath, +But worth--foretasting fame that follows death. +That worth had Laperouse, that meed he won. +He sleeps--his life's long stormy watch is done. +In the great deep, whose boundaries and space +He measured, fate ordained his resting place; +But bade his fame, like th' ocean rolling o'er +His relics, visit every earthly shore. +Fair Science on that ocean's azure robe +Still writes his name in picturing the globe, +And paints (what fairer wreath could glory twine?) +His watery course--a world-encircling line. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Laperouse, by Ernest Scott + diff --git a/old/lprse10.zip b/old/lprse10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cf7717 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lprse10.zip |