Chapter II: Introduction (1)

I think it would be of use to give, at the head of my relation, an account of all the voyages that ever were performed round the world, and of the different discoveries which have hitherto been made in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean.

Ferdinand Magalhaens, a Portuguese, commanding five Spanish ships, left Seville in 1519, discovered the straits which bear his name, and through them he came into the Pacific Ocean, where he first discovered two little desart isles, on the south side of the Line, afterwards the Ladrones, and last of all the Philippines. His ship, called la Victoria, was the only one out of the five that returned to Spain by the Cape of Good Hope: On her return she was carried on shore at Seville, and set up as a monument of this expedition, which was the boldest that had hitherto been undertaken by men. Thus it was for the first time physically demonstrated, that the earth was of a spherical figure, and its circumference ascertained.

Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman, set sail from Plymouth, with five ships, the 15th of September, 1577, and returned thither with only one, the 3d of November, 1580. He was the second that sailed round the world. Queen Elizabeth dined on board his ship, called the Pelican, which was afterwards preserved in a dock at Deptford, with a very honourable inscription on the main-mast. The discoveries attributed to Drake are very precarious. The charts of the South Seas contain a coast which is placed below the polar circle, some isles to the north of the Line, and likewise New Albion to the north.

Sir Thomas Cavendish, an Englishman, left Plymouth the 21st of July, 1586, with three ships, and returned with two on 9th of September, 1588. This voyage, which was the third round the world, was productive of no new discoveries.

Oliver Van Noort, a Dutchman, sailed from Rotterdam the 2d of July, 1598, with four ships, passed through the straits of Magalhaens, sailed along the western coasts of America, from whence he went to the Ladrones, the Philippines, the Moluccas, the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Rotterdam with one ship the 26th of August, 1601. He made no discoveries in the South Seas.

George Spilberg, a Dutchman, sailed from Zeeland the 8th of August, 1614, with six ships; he lost two ships before he came to the straits of Magalhaens, passed through them, attacked several places on the coasts of Peru and Mexico; from whence, without discovering any thing on his course, he sailed to the Ladrones and Moluccas. Two of his ships re-entered the ports of Holland, on the first of July, 1617.

James Lemaire and William Cornelius Schouten immortalized their names much about the same time. They sailed from the Texel the 14th of June, 1615, with the ships Concord and Horn, discovered the straits that bear the name of Lemaire, and were the first that ever entered the South Seas by doubling Cape Horn. In that ocean they discovered the Isle of Dogs, in 15° 15′ south latitude, and about 142° west longitude from Paris; the Isle without Bottom (_Zonder Grond_) in 15° south latitude, one hundred leagues westward: Water Island in 14° 46′ south latitude, and fifteen leagues more to the west; at twenty leagues westward of this, Fly Island, in 16° 10′ south latitude; and between 173° and 175° west longitude from Paris, two isles, which they called Cocos and Traitor’s; fifty leagues more westward, the Isle of Hope; next the Isle of Horn, in 14° 56′ south latitude, and about 179° east longitude from Paris; they then coasted New Guinea, passed between its western extremity and the Isle of Gilolo, and arrived at Batavia in October 1616. George Spilberg stopped them there, and they were sent to Europe, on board the East India company’s ships; Lemaire died of a sickness at the Isle of Mauritius; Schouten returned to his country; the Concord and Horn came back in two years and ten days.

James l’Hermite, a Dutchman, commanding a fleet of eleven ships, sailed in 1623, with the scheme of making the conquest of Peru; he got into the South Seas round Cape Horn, and harrassed the Spanish coasts, from whence he went to the Ladrones, and thence to Batavia, without making any discoveries in the South Seas. He died, after clearing the straits of Sonda; and his ship, almost the only one of the whole fleet, arrived in the Texel the 9th of July, 1626.

In 1683, Cowley, an Englishman, sailed from Virginia, doubled Cape Horn, made several attacks upon the Spanish coasts, came to the Ladrones, and returned to England by the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived on the 12th of October, 1686. This navigator has made no discoveries in the South Seas; he pretends to have found out the Isle of Pepis in the North Sea[2], in 47° southern latitude, about eighty leagues from the coast of Patagonia; I have sought it three times, and the English twice, without finding it.

Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, left Bristol the 2d of August, 1708, doubled Cape Horn, attacked the Spanish coast up to California, from whence he took the same course which had already been taken several times before him, went to the Ladrones, Moluccas, Batavia, and doubling the Cape of Good Hope, he arrived in the Downs the first of October, 1711.

Ten years after, Roggewein, a Dutchman, left the Texel, with three ships; he came into the South Seas round Cape Horn, fought for Davis’s Land without finding it; discovered to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, an isle which he called Easter Island, the latitude of which is uncertain; then, between 15° and 16° south latitude, the Pernicious Isles, where he lost one of his ships; afterwards, much about the same latitude, the isles Aurora, Vesper, the Labyrinth composed of six islands, and Recreation Island, where he touched at. He next discovered three isles in 12° south, which he called the Bauman’s Isles; and lastly, in 11° south, the Isles of Tienhoven and Groningen; then sailing along New Guinea and Papua, he came at length to Batavia, where his ships were confiscated. Admiral Roggewein returned to Holland, on board a Dutch India-man, and arrived in the Texel the 11th of July, 1723, six hundred and eighty days after his departure from the same port.

The taste for great navigations seemed entirely extinct, when, in 1741, Admiral Anson made a voyage round the world, the excellent account of which is in every body’s hands, and has made no new improvement in geography.

After this voyage of Lord Anson’s, there was no considerable one undertaken for above twenty years. The spirit of discovery seems to have been but lately revived. Commodore Byron sailed from the Downs the 20th of June, 1764, passed through the straits of Magalhaens; discovered some isles in the South Sea, sailing almost due north-west, arrived at Batavia the 28th of November, 1765, at the Cape the 24th of February, 1766, and in the Downs the 9th of May, having been out upon this voyage six hundred and forty-eight days.

Two months after commodore Byron’s return, captain Wallace sailed from England, with the Dolphin and Swallow sloops; he went through the straits of Magalhaens, and as he entered the South Seas, he was separated from the Swallow, commanded by captain Carteret; he discovered an isle in about 18°, some time in August, 1767: he sailed up to the Line, passed near Papua, arrived at Batavia in January, 1768, touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to England in May the same year.

His companion Carteret, after having suffered many misfortunes in the South Sea, and lost almost all his crew, came to Macassar in March 1768, to Batavia the 15th of September, and to the Cape of Good Hope towards the end of December. It will appear in the sequel, that I overtook him on the 18th of February, 1769, in 11° north latitude. He arrived in England in June.

It appears, that of these thirteen voyages which have been made round the world[3], none belongs to the French nation, and that only six of them have been made with the spirit of discovery; viz. those of Magalhaens, Drake, Le Maire, Roggewein, Byron, and Wallace; the other navigators, who had no other view than to enrich themselves by their attacks upon the Spaniards, followed the known tracks, without increasing the knowledge of geography.

In 1714, a Frenchman, called la Barbinais le Gentil, sailed, on board a private merchant ship, in order to carry on an illicit trade, upon the coast of Chili and Peru. From thence he went to China, where, after staying some time in various factories, he embarked in another ship than that which had brought him, and returned to Europe, having indeed gone in person round the world, though that cannot be considered as a circumnavigation by the French nation[4].

Let us now speak of those who going out either from Europe, or from the western coasts of South-America, or from the East-Indies, have made discoveries in the South Seas, without sailing round the world.

It appears that one Paulmier de Gonneville, a Frenchman, was the first who discovered any thing that way, in 1503 and 1504. The countries which he visited are not known; he brought however with him a native of one of them, whom the government did not send back, for which reason, Gonneville, thinking himself personally engaged, gave him his heiress in marriage.

Alfonzo de Salazar, a Spaniard, discovered in 1525 the Isle of St. Bartholomew, in 14° north latitude, and 158° east longitude from Paris.

Alvaro de Saavedra, left one of the ports of Mexico in 1526, discovered, between 9° and 10° north, a heap of isles, which he called the King’s Isles, much about the same longitude with the Isle St. Bartholomew; he then went to the Philippines, and to the Moluccas, and on his return to Mexico, he was the first that had any knowledge of New Guinea and Papua. He discovered likewise, in twelve degrees north, about eighty leagues east of the King’s Isles, a chain of low islands, which he called Islas de los Barbudos.

Diego Hurtado and Hernando de Grijalva, who sailed from Mexico in 1533, to search the South Seas, discovered only one isle, situated in 20° 30′ north latitude, and about 100° west longitude from Paris; they called it St. Thomas Island.

Juan Gaëtan sailed from Mexico in 1542, and likewise kept to the north of the æquator. He there discovered, between 20° and 9° in various longitudes, several isles; viz. Rocca Partida, the Coral Isles, the Garden Isles, the Sailor Isles, the Isle of Arezisa, and at last he touched at New Guinea, or rather, according to his report, at the isles that were afterwards called New Britain; but Dampier had not yet discovered the passage which bears his name.

The following voyage is more famous than all the preceding ones.

Alvaro de Mendoça and Mindaña, leaving Peru in 1567, discovered those celebrated isles, which obtained the name of Solomon’s Islands, on account of their riches; but supposing that the accounts we have of the riches of these isles be not fabulous, yet their situation is not known, and they have been sought for since without any success. It appears only, that they are on the south side of the Line, between 8° and 12°. The Isle Isabella, and the land of Guadalcanal, which those voyages mention, are not better known.

In 1595, Alvaro de Mindaña, the companion of Mendoça, in the preceding voyage, sailed again from Peru, with four ships, in search of the Solomon’s Isles: he had with him Fernando de Quiros, who afterwards became celebrated by his own discoveries. Mindaña discovered between 9° and 11° south latitude, about 108° west from Paris, the isles of San Pedro, Magdalena, Dominica St. Christina, all which he called _las Marquesas de Mendoça_, in honour of Donna Isabella de Mendoça, who made the voyage with him: about twenty-four degrees more to the westward, he discovered the Isle of San Bernardo; almost two hundred leagues to the west of that, the Solitary Isle; and lastly, the Isle of Santa Cruz, situated nearly in 140° east longitude from Paris. The fleet sailed from thence to the Ladrones, and lastly to the Philippines, where general Mindaña did not arrive, nor did any one know since what became of him.

Fernando de Quiros, the companion of the unhappy Mindaña, brought Donna Isabella back to Peru. He sailed from thence again with two ships, on the 21st of December, 1605, and steered his course almost west-south-west. He discovered at first a little isle, in about 25° south latitude, and about 124° west longitude from Paris; then, between 18° and 19° south, seven or eight low, and almost inundated islands, which bear his name, and in 13° south lat. about 157° west from Paris, the isle which he called Isle of Beautiful People. Afterwards he sought in vain for the Isle of Santa Cruz, which he had seen on his first voyage, but discovered, in 13° south lat. and near 176° east longitude from Paris, the Isle of Taumaco; likewise, about a hundred leagues west of that isle, in 15° south lat. a great continent, which he called _Tierra austral del Espiritù Santo_ and which has been differently placed by the several geographers. There he ceased to go westward, and sailed towards Mexico, where he arrived at the end of the year 1606, having again unsuccessfully sought the Isle of Santa Cruz.

Abel Tasman sailed from Batavia the 14th of August, 1642, discovered land in 42° south latitude, and about 155° east longitude from Paris, which he called Van Diemen’s land: he sailed from thence to the eastward, and in about 160° of our east longitude, he discovered New Zeeland, in 42° 10′ south. He coasted it till to 34° south lat. from whence he sailed N. E. and discovered, in 22° 35′ south lat. and nearly 174° east of Paris, the Isles of Pylstaart, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. He did not extend his researches any farther, and returned to Batavia, sailing between New Guinea and Gilolo.

The general name of New Holland has been given to a great extent of continent, or chain of islands, reaching from 6° to 34° south lat. between 105° and 140° east longitude from Paris. It was reasonable to give it the name of New Holland, because the different parts of it have chiefly been discovered by Dutch navigators. The first land which was found in these parts, was called the Land of Eendraght, from the person[5] that discovered it in 1616, in 24° and 25° south latitude. In 1618, another part of this coast, situated nearly in 15° south, was discovered by Zeachen, who gave it the name of Arnhem and Diemen; though this is not the same with that which Tasman called Diemen’s land afterwards. In 1619, Jan van Edels gave his name to a southern part of New Holland. Another part, situated between 30° and 33°, received the name of Leuwen. Peter van Nuitz communicated his name in 1627 to a coast which makes as it were a continuation of Leuwen’s land to the westward. William de Witts called a part of the western coast, near the tropic of Capricorn, after his own name, though it should have born that of captain Viane, a Dutchman, who paid dear for the discovery of this coast in 1628, by the loss of his ship, and of all his riches.

In the same year 1628, Peter Carpenter, a Dutchman, discovered the great Gulph of Carpentaria, between 10° and 20° south latitude, and the Dutch have often since sent ships to reconnoitre that coast.

Dampier, an Englishman, setting out from the great Timor Isle, made his first voyage in 1687, along the coasts of New Holland; and touched between the land of Arnhem and of Diemen: this short expedition was productive of no discovery. In 1699 he left England, with an express intention of visiting all that region, concerning which, the Dutch would not publish the accounts they had of it. He sailed along the western coast of it, from 28° to 15°. He saw the land of Eendraght, and of De Witt, and conjectured that there might exist a passage to the south of Carpentaria. He then returned to Timor, from whence he went out again, examined the Isles of Papua, coasted New Guinea, discovered the passage that bears his name, called a great isle which forms this passage or strait on the east side, New Britain, and sailed back to Timor along New Guinea. This is the same Dampier who between 1683 and 1691, partly as a free-booter or privateer, and partly as a trader, sailed round the world, by changing his ships.

This is the short abstract of the several voyages round the world, and of the various discoveries made in that vast Pacific Ocean before our departure from France[6]. Before I begin the narrative of the expedition, with which I was charged, I must beg leave to mention, that this relation ought not to be looked upon as a work of amusement; it has chiefly been written for seamen. Besides, this long navigation round the globe does not offer such striking and interesting scenes to the polite world, as a voyage made in time of war. Happy, if by being used to composition, I could have learnt to counterbalance, the dulness of the subject by elegance of stile! But, though I was acquainted with the sciences from my very youth, when the lessons which M. d’Alembert was so kind to give me, enabled me to offer to the indulgent public, a work upon geometry, yet I am now far from the sanctuary of science and learning; the rambling and savage life I have led for these twelve years past, have had too great an effect upon my ideas and my stile. One does not become a good writer in the woods of Canada, or on the seas, and I have lost a brother, whose productions were admired by the public, and who might have assisted me in that respect.

Lastly, I neither quote nor contradict any body, and much less do I pretend to establish or to overthrow any hypothesis; and supposing that the great differences which I have remarked in the various countries where I have touched at, had not been able to prevent my embracing that spirit of system-making, so peculiar in our present age, and however so incompatible with true philosophy, how could I have expected that my whim, whatever appearance of probability I could give it, should meet with success in the world? I am a voyager and a seaman; that is, a liar and a stupid fellow, in the eyes of that class of indolent haughty writers, who in their closets reason in _infinitum_ on the world and its inhabitants, and with an air of superiority, confine nature within the limits of their own invention. This way of proceeding appears very singular and inconceivable, on the part of persons who have observed nothing themselves, and only write and reason upon the observations which they have borrowed from those same travellers in whom they deny the faculty of seeing and thinking.

I shall conclude this preliminary discourse by doing justice to the zeal, courage, and unwearied patience of the officers and crew of my two ships[7]. It has not been necessary to animate them by any extraordinary incitement, such as the English thought it necessary to grant to the crew of commodore Byron. Their constancy has stood the test of the most critical situations, and their good will has not one moment abated. But the French nation is capable of conquering the greatest difficulties, and nothing is impossible to their efforts, as often as she will think herself equal at least to any nation in the world[8].

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CHART
_shewing the Track round_
_THE WORLD_
_of the_
_BOUDEUSE and ETOILE_
_under the Command_
_OF_
M. de Bougainville

_1766-1769_
]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A

_VOYAGE_

ROUND THE

_WORLD._

PART the FIRST.

Departure from France——clearing the Straits of
Magalhaens.

_CHAP. I._

_Departure of the Boudeuse from Nantes; puts in at Brest; run from Brest
to Montevideo; junction with the Spanish frigates, intended for
taking possession of the Malouines, or Falkland’s islands._

In February 1764, France began to make a settlement on the Isles Malouines. [Sidenote: Object of the voyage. 1766, November.] Spain reclaimed these isles as belonging to the continent of South America; and her right to them having been acknowledged by the king, I received orders to deliver our settlement to the Spaniards, and to proceed to the East Indies by crossing the South Seas between the Tropics. For this expedition I received the command of the frigate la Boudeuse, of twenty-six twelve-pounders, and I was to be joined at the Malouines by the store-ship[9] l’Etoile, which was intended to bring me the provisions necessary for a voyage of such a length, and to follow me during the whole expedition. Several circumstances retarded the junction of this store-vessel, and consequently made my whole voyage near eight months longer than it would otherwise have been.

[Sidenote: Departure from Nantes.]

In the beginning of November, 1766, I went to Nantes, where the Boudeuse had just been built, and where M. Duclos Guyot, a captain of a fireship, my second officer, was fitting her out. The 5th of this month we came down from Painbeuf to Mindin, to finish the equipment of her; and on the 15th we sailed from this road for the river de la Plata. There I was to find the two Spanish frigates, called la Esmeralda and la Liebre, that had left Ferrol the 17th of October, and whose commander was ordered to receive the _Isles Malouines_, or Falkland’s islands, in the name of his Catholic majesty.

[Sidenote: Squall of wind.]

The 17th in the morning we suffered a sudden gust of wind from W. S. W. to N. W. it grew more violent in the night, which we passed under our bare poles, with our lower-yards lowered, the clue of the fore-sail, under which we tried before, having been carried away. The 18th, at four in the morning, our fore-top-mast broke about the middle of its height; the main-top-mast resisted till eight o’clock, when it broke in the cap, and carried away the head of the main-mast. [Sidenote: Putting in at Brest.] This last event made it impossible for us to continue our voyage, and I determined to put into Brest, where we arrived the 21st of November.

This squall of wind, and the confusion it had occasioned, gave me room to make the following observations upon the state and qualities of the frigate which I commanded.

1. The prodigious tumbling home of her top-timbers, leaving too little opening to the angles which the shrouds make with the masts, the latter were not sufficiently supported.

2. The preceding fault became of more consequence by the nature of the ballast, which we had been obliged to take in, on account of the prodigious quantity of provisions we had stowed. Forty tuns of ballast, distributed on both sides of the kelson, and at a short distance from it, and a dozen twelve-pounders placed at the bottom of the pump-well (we had only fourteen upon deck) added a considerable weight, which being much below the center of gravity, and almost entirely rested upon the kelson, put the masts in danger, if there had been any rolling.

These reflections induced me to get the excessive height of our masts shortened, and to exchange the cannon, which were twelve-pounders, for eight-pounders. Besides the diminution of near twenty ton weight, both in the hold and upon deck, gained by exchanging the artillery, the narrow make of the frigate alone was sufficient to render it necessary. She wanted about two feet of the beam which such frigates have as are intended to carry twelve-pounders.

Notwithstanding these alterations, which I was allowed to make, I could not help observing that my ship was not fit for navigating in the seas round Cape Horn. I had found, during the squall of wind, that she made water from all her upper-works, which might expose part of my biscuit to be spoiled by the water getting into the store-rooms in bad weather; an inconvenience, the consequences of which we should not be able to remedy during the voyage. I therefore asked leave to send the Boudeuse back to France from the Falkland’s islands, under the command of the chevalier Bournand, lieutenant of a ship, and to continue the voyage with the store-ship l’Etoile alone, if the long winter nights should prevent my passing the Straits of Magalhaens[10]. I obtained this permission, and the 4th of December, our masts being repaired, the artillery exchanged, and the frigate entirely caulked in her upper-works, we went out of the port and anchored in the road, where we continued a whole day, in order to embark the powder, and to set up the shrouds.

[Sidenote: December. Departure from Brest.]

The 5th at noon we got under sail in the road of Brest. I was obliged to cut my cable, because the fresh east-wind and the ebb prevented my tacking about, as I was apprehensive of falling off too near the shore. I had eleven commissioned officers, and three volunteers; and the crew consisted of two hundred sailors, warrant-officers, soldiers, boys, and servants. The prince of Nassau-Sieghen had got leave from the king to go upon this expedition. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the middle of the isle of Ushant bore N. by E. and from thence I took my departure.

[Sidenote: Description of the Salvages.]

During the first days, we had the wind pretty constant from W. N. W. to W. S. W. and S.W., very fresh. The 17th, afternoon, we got sight of the Salvages; the 18th, of the Isle of Palma; and the 19th, of the Isle of Ferro. What is called the Salvages, is a little isle of about a league in extent from E. to W. it is low in the middle, and at each end a little hillock; a chain of rocks, some of which appear above water, extend to the westward about two leagues off the island; there are likewise some breakers on the east-side, but they are not far from the shore.

[Sidenote: Error in the calculation of the course.]

The sight of these rocks convinced us of a great error in our reckoning; but I would not make a computation before I had seen the Canaries, whose position is exactly determined. The sight of the Isle of Ferro gave me with certainty the correction which I was desirous to make. The 19th, at noon, I took the latitude, and comparing it with the bearings of the Isle of Ferro taken that same hour, I found a difference of four degrees and seven minutes, which I was more to the eastward, than by my reckoning. This error is frequent in crossing from Cape Finisterre to the Canaries, and I had found it on other voyages, as the currents opposite the straits of Gibraltar set to the eastward with great rapidity.

[Sidenote: Position of the Salvages rectified.]

I had, at the same time, an opportunity of remarking, that the Salvages are improperly placed on M. de Bellin’s Chart. Indeed, when we got sight of them the 17th, after noon, the longitude which their bearings gave us differed from our calculation by three degrees seventeen minutes to the eastward. However, this same difference appeared the 19th of four degrees seven minutes, by correcting our place, according to the bearings of the isle of Ferro, whose longitude has been determined by astronomical observations. It must be observed, that during the two days which passed between our getting sight of the Salvages and of Ferro, we sailed with a fair wind; and consequently there can be very little miscalculation in that part of the course. Besides, the 18th, we set the Isle of Palma, bearing S. W. by W. corrected; and, according to M. Bellin, it was to bear S. W. I concluded, from these two observations, that M. Bellin has placed the Isle of Salvages about 32′ more to the W. than it really is.

I therefore took a fresh departure the 19th of December at noon. We met with no remarkable occurrences on our voyage, till we came to the Rio de la Plata; our course furnished us only with the following observations, which may be interesting to navigators.

[Sidenote: 1767.
January.
Nautical observations.]

1. The 6th and 7th of January 1767, being between 1° 40′ and 0° 38′ north latitude; and about 28° longitude, we saw many birds, which induced me to believe, that we were near the rock of Penedo San Pedro; though M. Bellin does not mark it on his chart.

[Sidenote: Passing the line.]

2. The 8th of January, in the afternoon, we passed the line between 27° and 28° of longitude.

[Sidenote: Remark on the variations.]

3. Since the 2nd of January we could no longer observe the variations; and I only reckoned them by the charts of William Mountain and James Obson. The 11th, at sun-set, we observed 3° 17′ of N. W. variation; and the 14th, in the morning, I observed again 10′ of N. W. variation with an azimuth-compass, the ship then being in 10° 30′ or 40′ S. latitude, and about 33° 20′ W. longitude, from Paris. Therefore it is certain, that, if my estimated longitude is exact, and I verified it as such at the land-fall[11], the line of no variation is still further advanced to the westward since the observation of Mountain and Obson; and it seems the progress of this line westward is pretty uniform. Indeed, upon the same degree of latitude, where Mountain and Obson found 12° or 13° of difference in the space of forty-four years, I have found a little more than 6° after an interval of 22 years. This progression deserves to be confirmed by a chain of observations. The discovery of the law by which these changes happen that are observed in the declination of the magnetic needle, besides furnishing us with a method of finding out the longitude at sea, might perhaps lead us to the causes of this variation, and perhaps even to that of the magnetic power.

[Sidenote: Causes of the variations found in going to the Brasils.]

4. About the line we have almost always observed very great variations on the north-side, though it is more common to observe them on the south-side. We had an opportunity of guessing at the cause of it, the 18th of January passing over a bank with young fish, which extended beyond the reach of our sight, from S. W. by W. to N. E. by E. upon a line of reddish white, about two fathoms broad. Our meeting with it, taught us that since some days the currents set in to the N. E. by E. for all fish spawn upon the coasts, whence the currents detach the fry and carry them into the open sea. On observing these variations N. of which I have spoken, I did not infer from thence, that it was necessary there should be variations westward together with them; likewise the 29th of January, in the evening, when we saw land, I had calculated at noon that it was ten or twelve leagues off, which gave rise to the following observations.

It has long ago been a complaint among navigators, and still continues, that the charts, and especially those of M. Bellin, lay down the coasts of Brasil too much to the eastward. They ground this complaint upon their having got sight of these coasts in their several voyages, when they thought themselves at least eighty or a hundred leagues off. They add, that they have several times observed on these coasts, that the currents had carried them S. W. and they rather choose to tax the charts and astronomical observations as erroneous, than suspect their ships reckoning subject to mistakes.

Upon the like reasonings we might have concluded the contrary on our course to Rio de la Plata, if by chance we had not discovered the reason of the variations N. which we met with. It was evident that the bank with the fry of fish, that we met with the 29th, was subject to the direction of a current; and its distance from the coast proved, that the current had already existed several days. It was therefore the cause of constant errors in our course; and the currents which navigators have often found to set in to the S. W. on these shores, are subject to variations, and sometimes take contrary directions.

This observation being well confirmed, and our course being nearly S. W. were my authorities for correcting our mistakes as to the distances, making them agree with the observations of the latitude, and not to correct the points of the compass. By this method I got sight of the land, almost the same moment when I expected to see it by my calculation. Those amongst us, who always reckoned our course to the westward, according to the ship’s journals, being contented to correct the difference of latitude by the observations at noon, expected to be close to the shore, according to their calculation, long before we had so much as got sight of it: but can this give them reason to conclude, that the coast of the Brasils is much more westward than Mr. Bellin has laid it down?

[Sidenote: Observations on the currents.]

In general it seems, that in this part the currents vary, and sometimes set to the N. E. but more frequently to S. W. One glance at the bearings and position of the coast is sufficient to prove that they can only follow one or the other of these directions; and it is always easy to distinguish which of the two then takes place by the differences north or south, which the latitude gives. To these currents we may impute the frequent errors of which navigators complain; and I am of opinion Mr. Bellin has laid down the coasts of the Brasils with exactness. I believe it the more readily, as the longitude of Rio Janeiro has been determined by Messrs. Godin, and the Abbé de la Caille, who met there in 1751; and as some observations of the longitude have likewise been made at Fernambuco and Buenos Ayres. These three points being determined, there can be no considerable error in regard to the longitude of the eastern coasts of America, from 8° to 35° S. latitude; and this has been confirmed to us by experience.

[Sidenote: Entry into Rio de la Plata.]

Since the 27th of January we found ground, and on the 29th, in the evening, we saw the land, though we could not take the bearings, as night was coming on, and the shore very low. The night was dark, with rain and thunder. We lay-to under our reefed top-sails, the head towards the offing. On the 30th, by break of day, we perceived the mountains of Maldonado: it was then easily discovered that the land we saw the evening before, was the isle of Lobos. [Sidenote: Necessary correction in M. Bellin’s chart.] However, as our latitude, when we arrived, was 35° 16′ 20″ we must have taken it for cape Santa Maria, which Mr. Bellin places in 35° 15′, though its true latitude is 34° 55′; I take notice of this false position, because it might prove dangerous. A ship sailing in 35° 15′ S. latitude, and expecting to find cape Santa Maria, might run the risk of getting upon the English Bank without having seen any land. However, the soundings would caution them against the approaching danger; for, near the sand, you find no more than six or seven fathoms of water. The French Bank, or Sand, which is no more than a prolongation of cape San Antonio, would be more dangerous; just before you come to the northern point of it, you find from twelve to fourteen fathoms of water.

[Sidenote: Anchoring-place at the Maldonados.]

The Maldonados are the first high lands one sees on the north-side after entering the Rio de la Plata, and almost the only ones till you come to Montevideo. East of these mountains there is an anchorage upon a very low coast; it is a creek sheltered by a little island. The Spaniards have a little town at the Maldonados, with a garrison. In its neighbourhood is a poor gold mine, that has been worked these few years; in it they likewise find pretty transparent stones. About two leagues inland is a town newly built, and entirely peopled with Portugueze deserters; it is called Pueblo Nuevo.

[Sidenote: Anchoring at Montevideo.]

The 31st, at eleven in the morning, we anchored in Montevideo bay, having four fathom water, with a black, soft, muddy bottom. We had passed the night between the 30th and 31st in nine fathoms, the same bottom, five or six leagues east of the isle of Flores. The two Spanish frigates, which were to take possession of the Isles Malouines (Falkland’s Island) had lain in the road a whole month. [Sidenote: February.] Their commander, Don Philip Ruis Puente, captain of a man of war, was appointed governor of those islands; we went together to Buenos Ayres, in order to concert the necessary measures with the governor-general, for the cession of the settlement, which I was to deliver up to the Spaniards. We did not make a long stay there, and I returned to Montevideo on the 16th of February.

[Sidenote: Journey from Buenos Ayres to Montevideo.]

The prince of Nassau went with me, and as a contrary wind prevented our returning in a schooner, we landed opposite Buenos Ayres, above the colony of San Sacramento, and made this tour by land. We crossed those immense plains, in which travellers are guided by the eye, taking care not to miss the fords in the rivers, and driving before themselves thirty or forty horses, among which they must take some with nooses, in order to have relays, when those on which they ride are fatigued. We lived upon meat which was almost raw; and passed the nights in huts made of leather, in which our sleep was constantly interrupted by the howlings of tygers that lurk around them. I shall never forget in what manner we crossed the river St. Lucia, which is very deep, rapid, and wider than the Seine opposite the Hospital of Invalids at Paris. You get into a narrow, long canoe, one of whose sides is half as high again as the other; two horses are then forced into the water, one on the starboard, and the other on the larboard side of the canoe, and the master of the ferry, being quite naked, (which, though a very wise precaution, is insufficient to encourage passengers that cannot swim) holds up the horses heads as well as he can above the water, obliging them to swim over the river, and to draw the canoe, if they be strong enough for it.

Don Ruis arrived at Montevideo a few days after us. There arrived at the same time two boats laden, one with wood and refreshments, the other with biscuit and flour, which we took on board, in place of that which had been consumed on our voyage from Brest. The Spanish frigates being likewise ready, we prepared to leave Rio de la Plata.

-----

Footnote 1:

We have thought proper to omit M. Pereire’s discourse on the nature of
the language of Taiti, as being a very trifling performance, founded
on the imperfect vocabulary, and defective pronunciation of Aotourou.

Footnote 2:

North Sea signifies here the Atlantic Ocean, and is put in opposition
to South Sea; the former taking in the ocean on this side the
Magellanic straits, the latter that which is west of them. The
appellation, though somewhat improper, by calling the sea about the
south pole the North Sea, is however sometimes employed by some
writers. F.

Footnote 3:

Dom Pernetty, in his Dissertation upon America, speaks of a voyage
round the world, in 1719, by captain Shelvock; I have no knowledge of
this voyage. Note of Mr. de B.

As M. de Bougainville’s list of circumnavigators is very imperfect, we
will endeavour to give a more compleat one in few words.

1. Fernando Magalhaens, 1519.

2. Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth the 15th of November, 1577,
but was obliged to put back on account of a storm; after which, he set
sail again the 13th of December, and returned the 16th of September,
1580.

3. Sir Thomas Cavendish, 1586-88.

4. Simon de Cordes, a Dutchman, sailed in 1598-1600.

5. Oliver Van Noort sailed the 13th of September, 1598, and returned
the 22nd of August, 1601.

6. George Spielbergen, a German in the Dutch service, 1614-1617.

7. William Cornelius Schouten with Jacob Le Maire, 1615-1617.

8. Jacob l’Hermite with John Hugo Schapenham sailed from Goeree, in
the province of Holland, the 29th of April, 1623, and arrived in the
Texel the 9th of July, 1626.

9. Henry Brouwer, a Dutchman, in 1643.

10. Cowley, in 1683-1686.

11. William Dampier, an Englishman, sailed in 1689, and returned 1691.
He has been omitted by M. de Bougainville in the list of
circumnavigators, because he did not go round the world in one and the
same ship.

12. Beauchesne Gouin, in 1699.

13. Edward Cooke, an Englishman, made the voyage in the years 1708 and
1711. 14. Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, sailed from Bristol, June
15th, 1708, and returned 1711.

15. Clipperton and Shelvocke, two Englishmen, sailed the 13th of
February, 1719, and returned in 1722; the former to Galway in Ireland,
in the beginning of June, the latter to London, on the first of
August.

16. Roggewein, a Mecklenburger, in the Dutch service, sailed the 16th
of July, 1721, and returned the 11th of July, 1723.

17. Lord Anson, 1740-1744.

18. Commodore Byron, 1764-1766.

19. The Dolphin and Swallow sloops. The first 1766-1768. The second
1766-1769.

20. M. de Bougainville, 1766-1769.

21. The Endeavour sloop, captain Cooke, which sailed in August, 1768,
to observe the transit of Venus, came to Batavia the latter end of
1770, and returned to England in July 1771.

From this list, it appears that the English have undertaken the
greatest number of voyages, with a design to make discoveries,
unattended by that selfishness with which most of the Dutch voyages
were entered upon, merely with a view to promote the knowledge of
geography, to make navigation more safe, and likewise to throw further
lights on the study of nature. F.

Footnote 4:

The author is very solicitous to exclude le Gentil de la Barbinais
from the honour of being the first circumnavigator of the French
nation, in order to secure it to himself; though it is a real
circumnavigation. The famous Italian, Giovan Francisco Gemelli
Carreri, cannot with propriety be called a circumnavigator, though he
made the tour of the globe in the years 1693-1698, for he landed in
Mexico, and crossed America by land, and went again to the Manillas by
sea, and from thence to China and Europe on board of other ships. F.

Footnote 5:

Not from the discoverer, but from the ship Eendraght (Concord).

Footnote 6:

The mistakes and omissions of our author in regard to these navigators
of the South Seas, who did not sail round the world, are various and
multifarious; but it would take up too much time to point them all
out; and as there is a very complete list of all the navigators of the
Pacific Ocean, in the _Historical Collection of the several Voyages
and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean_, published by Alex.
Dalrymple, Esq. we refer our readers to it. F.

Footnote 7:

The officers on board the frigate la Boudeuse, were M. de
Bougainville, captain of the ship; Duclos Guyot, captain of a
fire-ship; chevalier de Bournand, chevalier d’Oraison, chevalier du
Bouchage, under-lieutenants (_enseignes de vaisseau_); chevalier de
Suzannet, chevalier de Kué, midshipmen acting as officers; le Corre,
super-cargo (_officier-marchand_); Saint-Germain, ship’s-clerk; la
Veze, the chaplain; la Porte, surgeon.

The officers of the store-ship l’Etoile, consisted of M. M. Chenard de
la Giraudais, captain of a fire-ship; Caro, lieutenant in an
India-man; Donat, Landais, Fontaine, and Lavary-le-Roi, _officiers
marchands_; Michaud, ship’s-clerk; Vivez, surgeon.

There were likewise M. M. de Commerçon, a physician; Verron, an
astronomer, and de Romainville, an engineer.

Footnote 8:

It would be improper to derogate from the merit of any nation, unless
that same nation intends to obtain it by destroying the character of
another. Had Mr. de Bougainville bestowed some encomiums upon the zeal
and courage of the officers under his command, it would be thought
that he were willing to do them justice: but since he, without the
least necessity, casts a reflection upon the English officers in
commodore Byron’s expedition, it is no more but justice to retort the
argument. It is an undeniable proof of the badness of the
constitution, and of the arbitrary government of a country, when a set
of worthy men, who have braved the most imminent danger, with an
undaunted courage, for the welfare of their fellow-citizens, remain
without any reward whatsoever, except that philosophical one, the
consciousness of good and laudable actions. But it is likewise the
best proof of the happiness of the government and constitution of a
country, when merit and virtue is rewarded. These propositions are so
evidently founded on truth, that they want no further confirmation:
and every true Englishman will congratulate himself on the happiness
to live under a government which thinks it a necessary duty to reward
zeal, courage, and virtue, in a set of men who go through their duty
with spirit and chearfulness; and what honour must not redound on an
administration which forces, even a rival nation, to give an
honourable testimony to its attention in justly and conspicuously
rewarding merit in its fellow-citizens, at the same time that these
rivals endeavour to quiet the uneasy minds of their poor dissatisfied
officers, with a vain and empty compliment. F.

Footnote 9:

La flûte.

Footnote 10:

Though the name of this circumnavigator is frequently spelled
Magellan, it is, however, right to spell proper names as they are
written in their original language; according to this rule we shall
always write Magalhaens. F.

Footnote 11:

Land-fall, _atterage_, the first land a ship makes after a sea-voyage.
See Falconer’s Marine Dictionary. F.

-----

_CHAP. II._

_Account of the establishment of the Spaniards in Rio de
la Plata._

[Sidenote: 1767.]

Rio de la Plata, or the river of Plate, does not go by that same name from its source. [Sidenote: Incertainty concerning the source of this river.]It is said to spring from the lake Xaragès, near 16° 30′ south, under the name of Paraguai, which it communicates to the immense extent of land it passes through. In about 27° it joins with the river Parana, whose name it takes, together with its waters. It then runs due south to lat. 34°; where it receives the river Uraguai, and directs its course eastward, by the name of la Plata, which it keeps to the sea.

The Jesuit geographers, who were the first that attributed the origin of this great river to the lake of Xaragès, have been mistaken, and other writers have followed their mistake in this particular. The existence of this lake, which has been in vain sought for, is now acknowledged to be fabulous. The marquis of Valdelirais and Don George Menezès, having been appointed, the one by Spain and the other by Portugal, for settling the limits between the possessions of these two powers in this country, several Spanish and Portuguese officers went through the whole of this portion of America, from 1751 till 1755. Part of the Spaniards went up the river Paraguai, expecting by this means to come into the lake of Xaragès; the Portuguese on their part, setting out from Maragosso, a settlement of theirs upon the inner boundaries of the Brasils, in about 12° south latitude, embarked on a river called Caourou, which the same maps of the Jesuits marked, as falling into the lake of Xaragès. They were both much surprised at meeting in the river Paraguai, in 14° S. latitude, without having seen any lake. They proved, that what had been taken for a lake, was a great extent of very low grounds, which, during a certain season, are covered by the inundations of the river.

[Sidenote: Sources of the river Plata.]

The Paraguai, or Rio de la Plata, arises between 5° and 6° S. latitude nearly in the middle between the two oceans, and in the same mountains whence the Madera comes, which empties itself into the river of Amazons. The Parana and Uraguai arise both in the Brasils; the Uraguai in the captainship of St. Vincent; the Parana near the Atlantic ocean, in the mountains that lie to the E. N. E. of Rio Janeiro, whence it takes its course to the westward, and afterwards turns south.

[Sidenote: Date of the first settlements of the Spaniards there.]

The abbé Prevost has given the history of the discovery of the Rio de la Plata, and of the obstacles the Spaniards met with, in forming the first settlements they made there. It appears from his account that Diaz de Solis first entered this river in 1515, and gave his name to it, which it bore till 1526, when Sebastian Cabot changed it to that of la Plata, or of Silver, on account of the quantity of that metal he found among the natives there. Cabot built the fort of Espiritù Santo, upon the river Tercero, thirty leagues above the junction of the Paraguai and Uraguai; but this settlement was destroyed almost as soon as it was constructed.

Don Pedro de Mendoza, great cup-bearer to the emperor, was then sent to the Rio de la Plata in 1535. He laid the first foundations of Buenos Ayres, under bad auspices, on the right hand shore of the river, some leagues below its junction with the Uraguai, and his whole expedition was a chain of unfortunate events, that did not even end at his death.

The inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, being continually interrupted by the Indians, and constantly oppressed by famine, were obliged to leave the place and to retire to Assumption. This town, now the capital of Paraguai, was founded by some Spaniards, attendants of Mendoza, upon the western shore of the river, three hundred leagues from its mouth, and was in a very short space of time considerably enlarged. At length Don Pedro Ortiz de Zarata, governor of Paraguay, rebuilt Buenos Ayres in 1580, on the same spot where the unhappy Mendoza had formerly laid it out, and fixed his residence there: the town became the staple to which European ships resorted, and by degrees the capital of all these tracts, the see of a bishop, and the residence of a governor-general.

[Sidenote: Situation of the town of Buenos Ayres.]

Buenos Ayres is situated in 34° 35′ south latitude, its longitude is 61° 5′ west from Paris, according to the astronomical observations of father Feuillée. It is built regular, and much larger than the number of its inhabitants would require, which do not exceed twenty thousand, whites, negroes, and mestizos. The way of building the houses gives the town this great extent; for, if we except the convents, public buildings, and five or six private mansions, they are all very low, and have no more than a ground-floor, with vast court-yards, and most of them a garden. The citadel, which includes the governor’s palace, is situated upon the shore of the river, and forms one of the sides of the great square, opposite to which the town-hall is situated; the cathedral and episcopal palace occupy the two other sides of the square, in which a public market is daily held.

[Sidenote: This town wants a harbour.]

There is no harbour at Buenos Ayres, nor so much as a mole, to facilitate the landing of boats. The ships can only come within three leagues of the town; there they unload their goods into boats, which enter a little river, named Rio Chuelo, from whence the merchandizes are brought in carts to the town, which is about a quarter of a league from the landing-place. The ships which want careening, or take their lading at Buenos Ayres, go to la Ençenada de Baragon, a kind of port about nine or ten leagues E. S. E. of this town.

[Sidenote: Religious establishments.]

Buenos Ayres contains many religious communities of both sexes. A great number of holidays are yearly celebrated by processions and fireworks. The monks have given the title of Majordomes or Stewards of the founders of their orders, and of the holy Virgin, to the principal ladies in this town. This post gives them the exclusive charge of ornamenting the church, dressing the statue of the tutelar saint, and wearing the habit of the order. It is a singular sight for a stranger to see ladies of all ages in the churches of St. Francis and St. Dominique assist in officiating, and wear the habit of those holy institutors.