istence of France was menaced; its territory was invaded; but Buonaparte was now first consul. He received, with eager ness, the proposition of the institute,

which, for many years before, had to boast

of his name in the list of its members

And, at the very time when the army of reserve was put in motion to cross the Alps, he issued his orders to hasten the execution of this grand enterprise. In an instant, three and twenty persons, nominated by him, on the presentation of the institute, were destined for making scientifick researches. Never was a display so considerable, given to this department, of a voyage of discovery; never were means so amply prepared for securing success! Astronomers, geographers, mineralogists, botanists, zoologists, draftsmen, gardeners, all presented themselves in double, triple, and even quintuple numbers."Page 4.

Fortunate, however, as it turned out, was it for those who were rejected. Of the twenty-three persons, selected for conducting the scientifick department, three only returned to their country.

The two ships appointed for this expedition left Havre on the 19th October, 1800, and anchored, on the 2d November, in the Bay of Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe. We shall not attempt to follow M. Péron through his long dissertations on the Canary islands, nor dispute with him respecting the gallant conduct of his countrymen, on the appearance of lord Nelson before Santa Cruz. We shall barely observe, that he must be mistaken in supposing that the English had any view of making a conquest of the Canaries, for the purpose of "freeing themselves from the heavy tribute which they pay annually to France, Spain, and Portugal, for the wines and brandies of those three powers." We are confident that no such consideration entered the brain of him who conceived this illfated and hopeless expedition, and could almost wish that the motive for sending lord Nelson on such a service had really been as harmless as that which he has stated. The island of Teneriffe

would, in fact, be a useless conquest. As a colony of England, we should purchase its wines at twice their present rate. The Cape of Good Hope, also, according to M. Péron, was taken possession of solely for its supply of wines. Now, it unfortunately happens, that, excepting a little Constantia for the ladies, not a single pipe of Cape wine is consumed in this capital in the course of a year; and the reason is obvious: it is worse than the worst wines of Teneriffe, and dearer than the best. But M. Peron is not a political economist; he is, it seems, merely

"a savant."

The passage to the Isle of France afforded the opportunity of making a number of observations on the temperature, moisture, and weight of the air; on the winds, &c. which are detailed at considerable length, and from which is deduced this general result:

"That all the grand phenomena of nature undergo the most important modifications, in proportion as one approaches the equator; that the pressure of the air, and the intensity of the magnetick quality are diminished; the barometer descends; the thermometer rises; the hygrometer stands at the point of saturation; the winds become weaker, and more constant; the movement of every kind of instrument is more regular, and the variations less."

Much of this is altogether vague and inconclusive. That the elasticity of the air is diminished at and near the equator; that the mercury in the barometer stands generally at a lower, and in the thermometer at a higher point than in other parts of the ocean; that the atmosphere is more loaded with, moisture, are, indeed, facts so well ascertained, as not to admit of a doubt; but, so far from the winds being more faint and steady, there is not, perhaps, a spot on the ocean so subject to violent squalls and variable weather, as that belt on the Atlantick which is comprehended between the limits of

the northeast trade wind on one side, and the southeast on the other.

Few countries, we are persuaded, can be more delightful than the Isle of France. Though sometimes visited by tremendous hurricanes, the climate is, in general, friendly both to the animal and vegetable part of the creation. The catalogue of trees, shrubs, fruits, &c. which M. Péron contemplated growing on one spot, includes the most remarkable in the tropical regions of the globe. We suspect, however, that some of them have been set down by him at random. The Mangustan, for instance, erroneously said to be "originaire de la Chine," has never yet been met with beyond the 12th degree of latitude, and is supposed to be confined to the peninsula of Malacca, Sumatra, Java, and the neighbouring islands; indeed, we are perfectly certain, from its delicate habits, that it could not exist on the Isle of France.

On the 25th April, 1801, the two ships quitted the island, and, steering a course for New Holland, made Cape Leuwen, the southwest point of that great continent, on the 27th May. At the moment of their departure, the whole of the two ships' companies were put on short allow ance, being reduced to half a pound of fresh bread to each man par décade; and, instead of wine, to a ration of three sixteenths of a bottle of execrable rum, distilled at the Isle of France. "Triste prelude," says M. Péron, "et principale source des malheurs qui devoient nous accabler dans la suite!"

From Cape Leuwen, M. Baudin, the commandant, thought proper to deviate from his instructions, and, instead of proceeding to the southern extremity of Van Dieman's Land, to skirt the western coast of New Holland, from the land of Leuwen to that of Endracht. To the northernmost point of the latter, which is, in fact, the N. W. cape of New Holland, he gave the name of

Murat, and to the group of islands which lie before it, that of Rivoli; notwithstanding that both of them had been long laid down, in our best charts, under the names of N. W. Cape and Rosemary islands. In the same manner new names are bestow

ed on headlands and islands along this coast, named more than a century ago. The examination of Leuwen's Land occupied them from the 25th April to the 19th June, and of Endracht's Land from the latter period to the 12th July; and to this delay, and to the deviation of captain Baudin from his instructions, together with the short allowance of bad provisions, M. Péron attributes all their succeeding misfortunes.

The whole of the western coast of New Holland is described as a low, barren, dreary, and sandy shore, affording little interesting either in the animal, mineral, or vegetable creation. The few natives who were seen, are described as horribly ugly and repulsive; a set of human beings thrust to the extreme verge of stupidity and misery, and whose only covering consisted of a bit of kangaroo skin thrown carelessly over the shoulders; every other part of the body being entirely naked.

Having reached the N. W. cape of New Holland, captain Baudin determined to examine the coast which trends to the N. E. and which was discovered in 1616 by a Dutch navigator of the name of De Witt, after whom it is called. It was again visited by Dampier in 1699, and by three Dutch vessels in 1705; and chiefly from the observations of the last mentioned visiters, it has been laid down, perhaps not very accurately, in the ordinary charts of this country. The French, however, have thought fit, as usual, to assign new names to every group of islands, and to every promontory of this northern coast of New Holland.Thus we have the bay of Berthoud, the Archipelago of Champagny, the Archipelago of Forrestier, and the

Archipelago of Buonaparte, the last of which is situated in lat. 13° 15/S. and 123° 30' E. of Paris. From this point captain Baudin stood for Timor, where he arrived on the 18th August, 1801.

It is impossible to conceive any thing more dreary and miserable than the aspect of these innumerable islands, interspersed along the whole coast of De Witt's Land.They present themselves, says M. Peron," avec le caractère de la stérilité la plus hideuse."

"In the midst of these numerous islands, nothing occurs that is pleasing to the imagination. The soil is naked; the burning sky shows itself always clear and devested of clouds; the sea is scarcely agitated, except by nocturnal squalls. Man seems to have abandoned these ungrateful shores; no where is any vestige of his dwelling, or any trace of his presence to be distinguished. The navigator, shuddering at this hideous solitude, beset with dangers, unceasingly starting up, becomes confounded, and turns his back upon the illfated shore; and, when he reflects that these inhospitable islands border, as it were, upon those of the grand Archipelago of Asia, on which nature delights to pour its treasures, he feels a difficulty to conceive how a sterility so invincible can possibly be continued by the side of a fertility so abundant. In vain will he seek, in the ordinary laws of nature, the real principle of so extraordina ry an opposition."-Page 138.

We are told, that on entering the bay of Coupang, on the island of Timor, they experienced considerable difficulty on the part of the Malay chiefs, who, not having as yet any knowledge of Frenchmen, and confounding them with their inveterate enemies, the English, objected to their approach towards the town. A superannuated French pilot, who had served the Dutch at this place for twelve years, in the capacity of gunner, let them into the secret of this animosity. He told them that, some years ago, the English, after conquering Timor, drove the inhabitants, by their violence and rapine, to take up arms; that Fort

Concord, to which they retired, was taken by assault, when 70 or 80 Englishmen were cut in pieces, and eaten by the ferocious Malays; and that the most implacable hatred had subsisted ever since against the English, and against every object which recalled the memory of those invaders. p. 143.

That a doating old French pilot should have dreamt this ridiculous story, and told it for the amusement of his countrymen, does not in the least surprise us; but that a work, published by the authority of the government, on the recommendation of the institute, should gravely record such an idle fable, appears, we confess, somewhat astonishing. We ought to know, however, that nothing is too absurd for the belief of a modern Frenchman, when seasoned with a little calumny against our countrymen. The Malay nation is spread over thousands of islands, which cover ten times as many thousands of square leagues, on the great Indian and Pacifick oceans, and exceeds, perhaps, in it snumbers even those of la grande nation. They worship one God, and acknowledge Mohammed as his prophet; they have a regular language, written in the Arabick character; they are every where lodged in comfortable dwellings, and clothed with decent gar ments; they have communication with every part of the eastern world; yet we are to be told in the nineteenth century, on the authority of a drivelling Frenchman, that the Malays are cannibals, and that the whole nation bears an implacable hatred against the English!

The Naturaliste, which had parted from the Geographe on the coast of Leuwen's land, joined the latter in Coupang bay. Captain Hamelin had examined the river of Black Swans, which was discovered by Vlaming, in 1697; and on the coast of Endracht, among other subjects of natural history, met with the pearl oyster in considerable quantity. M. Pé

on casts many severe reflections on the mismanagement of captain Baudin. The dysentery and scurvy, which prevailed in the Geographe, he attributes entirely to his negligence of those precautions which were so well known, and so universally in use; even the parting of the ships, he ascribes to the false calculations of the commandant

The two ships left Timor on the 13th November, made cape Leuwen the beginning of January, 1802, and proceeded to the southern extremity of Van Dieman's land. Here their operations were mostly confined to the coves and harbours of the great bay of Storms, and the channel of Dentrecasteaux. Nothing can be more beautiful than the surrounding scenery and accompaniments of this channel, of which M. Péron gives a very animated description.

"

"Crowded on the surface e soil are seen, on every side, those beautiful mimosas; those superb metrosideros; those correas, unknown till of late to our country, but now become the pride of our shrubberies. From the banks of the ocean to the summits of the highest mountains, may be observed the mighty eucalyptus, those giant trees of Australian forests, many of which measure from 162 to 180 feet in height, and from 25 to 30, and even 36 feet in circumference. Banksia of different kinds, the protea, the embothium, the leptosperma, form an enchanting belt round the skirts of the forests. Here the Casuarina exhibits its beautiful form; there, the elegant exocarpus throws into a hundred different places its negligent branches. Every where spring up the most delightful thickets of melaleuca, thesium, conchyum, evodia, all equally interesting, either from their graceful shape, the lovely verdure of their foliage, the singularity of their corollas, or the figure of their seed vessels." p. 233.

After the examination of Dentre

casteaux's channel, they proceeded round the southern point of the island Maria, and anchored in Oyster bay. The natives, unlike those on the shores just mentioned, were savage and ferocious. "Those actions," M. Péron observes," which are to us so delightful and so natuVOL. V.

tural, the bestowing of kisses and affectionate caresses, are utterly unknown to these gross and brutal islanders." The discovery, however, of human bones, which had evidently been in the fire, and apparently deposited within a monument erected for their reception, gives rise to many speculations on the origin of the custom of burning the dead, some of which are not strictly compatible with the character of the savage and ferocious people he had just described. p. 270.

Nothing particular occurred in skirting the eastern coast of Van Dieman's land, except parting a second time from the Naturaliste, which M. Péron attributes, as before, to the stupidity of M. Baudin. He considers the circumstances of a long and violent gale of wind, and the navigation along a dangerous coast, as trifling in the scale of their misfor

tunes.

"All those dangers, however, were nothing in comparison of the dreadful scurvy which carried death and destruction into our ranks. Already several of our people had been thrown into the sea; already more than half the ship's company were incapable of any duty; two only of our helmsmen could take their turn at the wheel. The progress of this disease was frightful. Three fourths of a bottle of pu trid water composed our daily allowance; for more than a year we had not known the taste of wine, nor had a single drop of brandy passed our lips. In the place of these liquors, so indispensable to the European navigator, above all, on voyages such as ours, were substituted three sixteenths of a bottle of wretched rum, prepared at the Isle of France, and which none but the black slaves of that colony are in the habit of using. The biscuit was holed like a sieve by the larvæ of insects. All our salt provisions were rotten, in the strictest sense of the word; and so insupportable were both the smell and taste, quently chose rather to suffer all the ago nies of hunger, than to eat them. Often. times, indeed, in the presence of the commandant, would they throw their allowance into the sea." p. 331.

that the most famished of the crew fre

Entering Bass's Strait, from the eastward, the Geographe stood di