Part 20

The scurvy in the mean while made its appearance again. A great part of the crew, and almost all the officers, had their gums affected, and the mouth inflamed with it. We had no refreshments left, except for the sick, and it is difficult to use one’s self to eat nothing but salt flesh and dried pulse. At the same time there appeared in both ships several venereal complaints, contracted at Taiti. They had all the symptoms known in Europe. I ordered Aotourou to be searched; he was quite ruined by it; but it seems in his country this disease is but little minded; however, he consented to be taken care of by the surgeons. Columbus brought this disease from America; here it is in an isle in the midst of the greatest ocean. Have the English brought it thither? Or ought the physician to win, who laid a wager, that if four healthy stout men were shut up with one healthy woman, the venereal complaint would be the consequence of their commerce?

The 22d at day break, as we stood to the westward, we saw a long high land a-head. When the sun rose we discovered two isles; the most southerly one bore from S. by E. to S. W. by S. and seemed to run N. N. W. corrected, being about twelve leagues long in that direction. It received the name of the day, _Isle de la Pentecôte_, Whitsuntide isle. The second bore from S. W. ½ S. to W. N. W. the time when it first appeared to us was the occasion of our giving it the name of Aurora. We immediately stood as near as possible on the larboard tack, in order to pass between the two isles. The wind failed us, and we were obliged to bear away in order to pass to the leeward of the isle of Aurora. As we advanced to the northward, along its eastern shore, we saw a little isle rising like a sugar-loaf, bearing N. by W. which we called Peak of the Etoile (_Pic de l’Etoile_). We continued to range the isle of Aurora a league and a half distant. It runs N. and S. corrected from its southermost point to about the middle of its length, which in the whole is ten leagues. It then declines to the N. N. W. it is very narrow, being to the utmost two leagues broad. Its shores are steep, and covered with woods. At two o’clock in the afternoon we perceived the summits of high mountains over this island, and about ten leagues beyond it. They belonged to a land, of which at half past three we saw the S. W. point, bearing S. S. W. by the compass, above the northern extremity of Aurora island. After doubling the latter we steered S. S. W. when at sun-setting a new elevated coast, of considerable extent, came in sight. It extended from W. S. W. to N. W. by N. about fifteen leagues distant.

We made several boards during night to get to the S. E. in order to discover whether the land which lay to S. S. W. of us joined to Whitsuntide isle, or whether it formed a third isle. This we verified on the 23d at day-break. We discovered the separation of the three islands. The isles of Whitsuntide and Aurora are nearly under the same meridian, two leagues distant from each other. The third isle lies S. W. of Aurora, and in the nearest part, they are three or four leagues asunder. Its north-west coast has at least twelve leagues in extent, and is high, steep, and woody. We coasted it during part of the morning on the 23d. Several periaguas appeared along the shore, but none seemed desirous to come near us. We could see no huts, only a great number of smokes rising out of the woods, from the sea-shore, up to the tops of the mountains. We sounded several times very near the shore; but found no bottom with fifty fathom of line.

[Sidenote: Landing up on one of the isles.]

About nine o’clock the sight of a coast, where it seemed landing would prove easy, determined me to send on shore, in order to take in some wood, which we were much in need of, to gain intelligence concerning the country, and to endeavour to get refreshments from thence for our sick. I sent off three armed boats, under the command of ensign[114] the chevalier de Kerué, and we stood off and on, ready to send them any assistance, and to support them by the artillery from both ships, if necessary. We saw them land, without the islanders seeming to have opposed their landing. In the afternoon, I and some other persons went in a yawl to join them. We found our people employed in cutting wood, and the natives helping them to carry it to the boats. The officer who commanded our party, told me, that when he arrived, a numerous troop of islanders were come to receive them on the beach, with bows and arrows in hand, making signs that they should not come ashore; but that when, notwithstanding their threats, he had given orders for landing, they had drawn back several yards; that in proportion as our people advanced, the savages retired; but always in the attitude of being ready to let go their arrows, without suffering our people to come nearer them; that at last, having given his people orders to stop, and the prince of Nassau having desired to advance alone towards them, the islanders had ceased to retire, seeing only one man come to them; that some pieces of red cloth being distributed amongst them, had brought about a kind of confidence between them. The chevalier de Kerué immediately posted himself at the entrance of the wood, made the workmen cut down trees, under the protection of the troops he had with him, and sent a detachment in search of fruits. Insensibly the islanders approached in a more friendly manner to all appearance; they even let our people have some fruits. They would not have any nails or other iron, and likewise constantly refused to exchange their bows and their clubs, only giving us some arrows. They always kept in great numbers around our people, without ever quitting their arms; and those who had no bows, held stones ready to throw at our men. They gave us to understand, that they were at war with the inhabitants of a neighbouring district. There actually appeared an armed troop of them, coming in good order from the west part of the island; and those who were near us seemed disposed to give them a warm reception; but no attack was made.

[Sidenote: They attack the French.]

In this situation we found things when we came ashore. We staid there till our boats were laden with fruits and wood. I likewise buried at the foot of a tree, the act of taking possession of these isles, engraved on an oak plank, and after that we embarked in our boats again. This early departure, doubtless, ruined the project of the islanders to attack us, because they had not yet disposed every thing for that purpose; at least we were inclined to think so, by seeing them advance to the sea-shore, and send a shower of stones and arrows after us. Some muskets fired off into the air, were not sufficient to rid us of them; many advanced into the water, in order to attack us with more advantage; another discharge of muskets, better directed, immediately abated their ardour, and they fled to the woods with great cries. One of our sailors was slightly wounded by a stone.

[Sidenote: Description of the islanders.]

These islanders are of two colours, black and mulattoes. Their lips are thick, their hair woolly, and sometimes of a yellowish colour. They are short, ugly, ill-proportioned, and most of them infected with leprosy; a circumstance from which we called the island they inhabit, Isle of Lepers (_Isle des Lepreux_). There appeared but few women; and they were not less disagreeable than the men; the latter are naked, and hardly cover their natural parts; the women wear some bandages to carry their children on their backs; we saw some of the cloths, of which they are made, on which were very pretty drawings, made with a fine crimson colour. I observed that none of the men had a beard; they pierce their nose, in order to fix some ornaments to it. They likewise wear on the arm, in form of a bracelet, the tooth of a babyroussa, or a ring of a substance which I take to be ivory; on the neck they hang pieces of tortoise-shells, which they signified to us to be very common on their shores.

[Sidenote: Their weapons.]

Their arms are bows and arrows, clubs of iron-wood, and stones, which they use without slings. The arrows are reeds, armed with a long and very sharp point made of a bone. Some of these points are square, and armed on the edges with little prickles in such a manner as to prevent the arrow’s being drawn out of a wound. They have likewise sabres of iron-wood. Their periaguas did not come near us; at a distance they seemed built and rigged like those in the Isles of Navigators.

[Sidenote: Description of the place we landed at.]

The beach where we landed was of very little extent. About twenty yards from the sea, you are at the foot of a mountain, which is covered with trees, notwithstanding its great declivity. The soil is very light, and of no great depth: accordingly the fruits, though of the same species with those at Taiti, are not so fine and not so good here. We found a particular species of figs here. There are many paths through the woods, and spots enclosed by pallisadoes three feet high. We could not determine whether they are intrenchments, or merely limits of different possessions. We saw no more than five or six little huts, into which one could not enter otherwise than by creeping on all-fours; and we were however surrounded by a numerous people; I believe they are very wretched, on account of the intestine war, of which we were witnesses, and which brings great hardships upon them. We repeatedly heard the harsh sound of a kind of drum, coming from the interior parts of the wood, towards the summit of the mountain. This certainly gives the signal to rally; for at the moment when the discharge of our muskets had dispersed them, it began to beat. It likewise redoubled its sound, when that body of enemies appeared, whom we saw several times. Our Taiti-man, who desired to go on shore with us, seemed to think this set of men very ugly; he did not understand a single word of their language.

[Sidenote: Continuation of our course among the lands.]

When we came on board, we hoisted in our boats, and made sail standing to the S. W. for a long coast which we discovered, extending as far as the eye could reach from S. W. to W. N. W. During night there was but little wind, and it constantly veered about; so that we were left to the mercy of the currents, which carried us to the N. E. This weather continued all the 24th, and the night following; and we could hardly get three leagues off the Isle of Lepers. On the 25th, at five in the morning, we had a very fine breeze at E. S. E. but the Etoile, being still under the land, did not feel it, and remained in a calm. I advanced, however, all sails set, in order to observe the land, which lay to westward. At eight o’clock we saw land in all parts of the horizon; and we were, as it were, shut up in a great gulph. The isle of Whitsuntide extended on the south side towards the new coast we had just discovered; and we were not sure whether it was not connected, or whether what we took to be the separation was any more than a great bay. Several places in the remainder of the coast likewise shewed appearances of passages, or of great gulphs. Among the rest there seemed to be a very considerable one to the westward. Some periaguas crossed from one land to the other. At ten o’clock we were obliged to stand towards the Isle of Lepers again. The Etoile, which could no longer be seen from the mast-head, was still becalmed there, though the E. S. E. breeze held out at sea. We stood for the store-ship till four o’clock in the evening; for it was not till then that she felt the breeze. It was too late when she joined us to think of further discoveries. Thus the day of the 25th was lost, and we passed the night making short tacks.

[Sidenote: Aspect of the country.]

The bearings we took on the 26th, at sun-rising, shewed us that the currents had carried us several miles to the southward, beyond our reckoning. Whitsuntide isle still appeared separated from the S. W. land, but the passage seemed narrower. We discovered several other openings on that coast, but were not able to distinguish the number of isles which composed the Archipelago around us. The land seemed to us to extend from E. S. E. to W. N. W. by the south (by compass); and we could not see the termination of it. We steered from N. W. by W. gradually coming round to west, along a fine shore covered with trees, on which there appeared great pieces of ground, which were either actually cultivated, or seemed to be so. The country appeared fertile; and some of the mountains being barren, and here and there of a red colour, seemed to indicate that it contained minerals. As we continued our course we came to the great inlet, which we had observed to the westward the day before. At noon we were in the middle of it, and observed the sun’s height there. Its opening is five or six leagues wide; and it runs due E. by S. and W. by N. Some men appeared on the south coast, and some others came near the ships in a periagua; but as soon as they were within musket shot, they would not come nearer, though we invited them; these men were black.

We ranged the north coast at the distance of three quarters of a league; it is not very high, and covered with trees. A number of negroes appeared on the shore; even some periaguas came towards us; but with as little confidence as that which came from the opposite coast. After having run along this, for the space of two or three leagues, we saw a great inlet, seeming to form a fine bay, at the entrance of which were two islands. I immediately sent our boats well armed to reconnoitre it; and during this time we stood on our boards, at one or two leagues distance off more, often sounding without finding bottom, with 200 fathom of line.

[Sidenote: Attempts to search an anchorage.]

About five o’clock we heard a discharge of muskets, which gave us much concern: it came from one of our boats, which, contrary to my orders, had separated from the others, and unluckily was exposed to the attacks of the islanders, being got quite close to the shore. Two arrows, which were shot at the boat, served as a pretence for the first discharge. She then went along the coast, and kept up a brisk fire from her muskets and pedereroes, directing them both upon the shore, and upon three periaguas which passed by her within reach of shot, and had shot some arrows at her. A point of land intercepted the boat from our sight, and her continual firing gave me reason to fear that she was attacked by a whole fleet of periaguas. I was just going to send the long-boat to her assistance, when I saw her quite alone, doubling the point, which had concealed her. The negroes howled excessively in the woods, whither they had all retired, and where we could hear their drum beating. I immediately made signal to the boat to come on board, and I took my measures to prevent our being dishonoured for the future, by such an abuse of the superiority of our power.

[Sidenote: What prevents our anchoring there.]

The boats of the Boudeuse found that this coast, which we took to be continued, was a number of isles; so that the bay is formed by the junction of several channels, which separate them. However, they found a pretty good sandy bottom there, in 40, 30, and 20 fathom; but its continual inequality rendered this anchorage unsafe, especially for us, who had no anchors to venture. It was, besides, necessary to anchor there above half a league off shore, as the bottom was rocky nearer the coast. Thus the ships could not have protected the boats, and the country is so woody, that we would have been obliged always to have our arms in hand, in order to cover the workmen against surprizes. We could not flatter ourselves that the natives should forget the bad treatment they had just received, and should consent to exchange refreshments. We observed the same productions here as as upon the Isle of Lepers. The inhabitants were likewise of the same species, almost all black, naked, except their nudities, wearing the same ornaments of collars, and bracelets, and using the same weapons.

[Sidenote: Another attempt to put in here.]

We passed this night on our boards. On the 27th in the morning we bore away, and ranged the coast at about a league’s distance. About ten o’clock we saw, on a low point, a plantation of trees, laid out in walks, like those of a garden. Under the trees there was a beaten track, and the soil seemed to be sandy. A considerable number of inhabitants appeared about this part; on the other side of this point there was an appearance of an inlet, and I hoisted the boats out. This was a fruitless attempt; for it was nothing but an elbow formed by the coast, and we followed it to the N. W. point, without finding any anchorage. Beyond that point the land returned to N. N. W. and extended as far as the eye could reach; it was of an extraordinary height, and shewed a chain of mountains above the clouds. The weather was dark, with squalls and rain at intervals. Often in day-time we thought we saw land a-head of us; mere fog banks, which disappeared when it cleared up. We passed all the night, which was a very stormy one, in plying with short boards, and the tides carried us to the southward far beyond our reckoning. We saw the high mountains all day on the 28th till sun-set, when they bore from E. to N. N. E. twenty or twenty-five leagues distant.

[Sidenote: Conjectures concerning these lands.]

The 29th in the morning we saw no more of the land, having steered W. N. W. I called the lands we had now discovered, Archipelago of the great Cyclades (_Archipel des grandes Cyclades_). To judge of this Archipelago by what we have gone through, and by what we have seen of it at a distance, it contains at least three degrees of latitude, and five of longitude. I likewise readily believe that Roggewein saw its northern extremity in 11° of latitude, and called it _Thienhoven_ and _Groningen_. As for ourselves, when we fell in with it, every thing conspired to persuade us that it was the _Tierra Austral del Espiritù Santo_. Appearances seemed to conform to Quiros’s account, and what we daily discovered, encouraged our researches. It is singular enough, that exactly in the same latitude and longitude where Quiros places his bay of St. Philip and St. Jago, on a coast which at first sight seemed to be that of a continent, we should find a passage exactly of the same breadth which he assigns to the entrance of his bay. Has this Spanish navigator seen things in a wrong light? Or, has he been willing to disguise his discoveries? Was it by guess that the geographers made this Tierra del Espiritu Santo the same continent with New Guinea? To resolve this problem, it was necessary to keep in the same latitude for the space of three hundred and fifty leagues further. I resolved to do it, though the condition and the quantity of our provisions seemed to give us reason to make the best of our way to some European settlement. The event has shewn that little was wanting to make us the victims of our own perseverance.

[Sidenote: Difference between the reckoning and the observations.]

M. Verron made several observations during the month of May, and their results determined our longitude on the 5th, 9th, 13th, and 22d. We had not till now found so many differences between the observations and the ship’s reckoning, all falling on one side. On the 5th at noon I was more to the east than the observed longitude, by 4° 00′ 42″; on the 9th, by 4° 23′ 4″; on the 13th, by 3° 38′ 15″; and lastly, on the 22d, by 3° 35′. All these differences shew, that from the isle of Taiti, the currents had carried us much to the westward. By this means it might be explained, why all the navigators who have crossed the Pacific ocean have fallen in with New Guinea much sooner than they ought. They have likewise given this ocean not by far so great an extent from east to west as it really has. I must however observe, that whilst the sun was in the southern hemisphere, our reckoning has been to the westward of the observations; and that, after he passed to the other side of the line, our differences have changed. The thermometer during this month was commonly between 19° and 20°, it fell twice to 18°, and once to 15°.

Whilst we were amidst the great Cyclades, some business called me on board the Etoile, and I had an opportunity of verifying a very singular fact. For some time there was a report in both ships, that the servant of M. de Commerçon, named Baré, was a woman. His shape, voice, beardless chin, and scrupulous attention of not changing his linen, or making the natural discharges in the presence of any one, besides several other signs, had given rise to, and kept up this suspicion. But how was it possible to discover the woman in the indefatigable Baré, who was already an expert botanist, had followed his master in all his botanical walks, amidst the snows and frozen mountains of the the straits of Magalhaens, and had even on such troublesome excursions carried provisions, arms, and herbals, with so much courage and strength, that the naturalist had called him his beast of burden? A scene which passed at Taiti changed this suspicion into certainty. M. de Commerçon went on shore to botanize there; Baré had hardly set his feet on shore with the herbal under his arm, when the men of Taiti surrounded him, cried out, It is a woman, and wanted to give her the honours customary in the isle. The Chevalier de Bournand, who was upon guard on shore, was obliged to come to her assistance, and escort her to the boat. After that period it was difficult to prevent the sailors from alarming her modesty. When I came on board the Etoile, Baré, with her face bathed in tears, owned to me that she was a woman; she said that she had deceived her master at Rochefort, by offering to serve him in mens cloaths at the very moment when he was embarking; that she had already before served a Geneva gentleman at Paris, in quality of a valet; that being born in Burgundy, and become an orphan, the loss of a law-suit had brought her to a distressed situation, and inspired her with the resolution to disguise her sex; that she well knew when she embarked that we were going round the world, and that such a voyage had raised her curiosity. She will be the first woman that ever made it, and I must do her the justice to affirm that she has always behaved on board with the most scrupulous modesty. She is neither ugly nor handsome, and is no more than twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age. It must be owned, that if the two ships had been wrecked on any desart isle in the ocean, Baré’s fate would have been a very singular one.

Footnote 108:

_Pilotes-côtiers._

Footnote 109:

_Pilote-pratique de la côte de France._

Footnote 110:

_Pilotes, Aide-pilotes, ou Pilotins._

Footnote 111:

_Aides-pilotes._

Footnote 112:

Valentyn and others say _Heemskirk_. See Dalrymple’s Historical Collection of Voyages in the South Pacific Ocean, p. 83.

Footnote 113: