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.
