when infected, are induced by indolence or dislike of medicine to let the disease take its free course for years together, till the whole mass becomes corrupted;-and it is far from unreasonable or severe to suppose, that no considerable body of seamen will be found so clear from the disorder, as that there shall not be danger of their communicating the infection.

The general interest which was excited by this undertaking appears in many instances; and in the equipment, the ships were most liberally provided with every thing that could be thought useful.

It has been mentioned that no step was taken towards publication, till the return of the ships began to be considered as almost hopeless. M. de la Pérouse, in a letter which he had written to a friend, had desired that, if his journal should be printed before his return, it might be trusted to the direction of a man well versed in mathematical knowlege, and not to one who was merely a man of letters. In their appointment of an editor, the French government seem to have coincided in opinion with the lamented navigator; and the charts have been executed under the direction of M. Buache, Hydrographer of the Marine.

The first paper presented to the reader, from the materials sent home by M. de la Pérouse, is a narrative of a voyage made in a Spanish frigate, La Princessa, commanded by Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle, from Maniila to San Blas in New Spain. This narrative was translated from the Spanish original by A. G. Pingré; and is accompanied with a chart constructed by Buache. The voyage, by the addition of some newly-discovered islands, assists, in some degree, towards completing the geography of the South Seas: but the situations given by the Spanish commander appear not always worthy of reliance; and the translator complains that the original journal was, in some places, unintelligible. The track and the narrative likewise disagree, though Buache has taken considerable pains in endeavouring to reconcile them.

Discovery was not the business of Don Maurelle, who was employed to carry dispatches to the Viceroy of Mexico. He appears to have at first intended to have run his longitude down in north latitude: but, finding it difficult to get to the northward, when in longitude 175° east of Paris, he stood to the south across the trade wind, till he got into 30 degrees south latitude, when he again changed his purpose, and stood towards the north. We do not wonder that the translator was perplexed, when we read that Don Maurelle made for Solomon's Islands bearing west 107 leagues distant, but was prevented by the north-easterly winds blowing without interrup

tion. By the following curious extract, our readers will judge of the abilities of this navigator:

Thus circumstanced, and upon continual complaints being made that the ship's bread was not eatable, I resolved to look at it myself. When I saw the state it was in, I could not but consider myself as placed in the most dreadful situation, to which any human being could be reduced, who sails in unknown seas, without hope of any succour. I never can look back to that sad moment, but the recollection of the afflicting picture, which then struck my sight, again rends my heart in pieces. I can declare with confidence, that if God had not supported me in that sorrowful and trying situation, I should have sunk into the deepest despair, seeing no prospect whatever of continuing our voyage.

I called Don Joseph Vasquez, the first pilot, to me, Don Juan D'Echeverria, the second; as also all the warrant officers; and I appointed Don Pedro Carvajal, the surgeon, to make the written report of the council we were going to hold, and of the deliberations which might be taken thereon.

I led them one by one into the bread room. We there found millions of cockroaches: it is necessary a man should have seen them with his own eyes, to have an idea of the number of these insects. These pests had so much infested the ship, that the holy father, who officiated as chaplain, was obliged to have recourse to exorcisms more than once.'

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It must, however, be confessed that they were in a very distressed condition; for three casks of bread, that had been kept in reserve, being opened, they shewed no appearance of having ever held any bread; they were filled with cockroaches only.'-The French editor declines to make any remark on this narrative but it appears that M. de la Pérouse did not hold it in high estimation.

We have here also other accounts of voyages of the Spaniards, to explore the N. W. coast of America, but unaccompanied with charts. They differ from our discoveries in their account of the longitudes, and there is nothing peculiarly interesting in the Occurrences. With these accounts, what the editor calls the preliminary part concludes; and we now enter on the subject of M. de la Pérouse's voyage.

On the 1st of August 1785, the two frigates La Boussole, and L'Astrolabe, the latter commanded by M. de Langle, but both under the orders of M. de la Pérouse, sailed from Brest Road. They touched at Madeira and at Teneriffe; at the first of which places they experienced much kindness and attention from Mr. Johnston, an English 'merchant, and from Mr. Murray the British Consul. The most remarkable occurrence at Teneriffe was the disappointment of M. de Monneron, of which we have the following short account:

• M. de

• M. de Monneron, captain in the corps of Engineers, also made a journey to the peak with the intention of taking levels down to the sea shore. It was the only manner of measuring this mountain that had never been attempted. Local difficulties, unless entirely insurmountable, would not have stopped him, because he was very 'much accustomed to operations of the kind. When upon the spot he found the obstacles much smaller than he had imagined, for in one day he had got through all that was difficult. He was come to a kind of plain, still indeed at a great elevation, but of easy access, and was congratulating himself upon the prospect of soon arriving at the end of his task, when difficulties were started by his guides, which he found it impossible to overcome. Their mules had not drunk for sixty-eight hours, and neither prayers nor money could prevail upon the muletcers to make a longer stay. M. de Monneron was therefore under the necessity of leaving a work incomplete, which he had considered as finished.'

In reading this account, we were sorry for the disappointment of M. de M.; yet we must confess that another senti ment, equally alive on the occasion, was respect for the muleteer's consideration for the animals.

October 16th. They saw the island of Trinidada, which, since it has been forsaken by the English, has been occupied by the Portuguese, as M. de la Pérouse conjectures, from no other motive than lest some other European nation should avail themselves of the vicinage, and carry on a contraband trade with the Brasils.'

After having quitted Trinidada, they endeavoured to find the island Ascençaon, but missed it; which, with what the Commodore afterward heard at St. Catherine's, made him conclude that no such island exists. On the 6th of November, they anchored at the island of St. Catherine, on the coast of Brasil; which is described as a convenient and excellent place for all necessary refreshments. In prosecuting their route from this place towards the south, they searched for the Isle Grande of la Roche, but without success. The editor is of opinion that M. de la Pérouse too hastily pronounces against the existence of lands which he cannot find in the positions assigned for them. He observes:

It would be dangerous to the progress of navigation, and fatal to navigators, to adopt the method of expunging islands formerly discovered from the charts, under the pretence of their having been sought for in vain, or of their position being at any rate uncertain, in consequence of the want of means to lay them down with precision upon the charts, at the time of their discovery.

I have the greater right to express my disapprobation of such ą method, as, a few pages back, I have proved that Ascençaon really exists, and that those who should expunge an island from the globe, would be in a manner responsible for the risks to which navigators

who might fall in with it would be exposed by the false security inspired by the charts; while its being laid down, even in an uncertain manner, by keeping alive the attention of mariners, may render the finding of it again a matter of greater facility.'

In the course of 66 days, in these latitudes, they experienced only 18 hours of easterly wind: but the weather being moderate, they with little difficulty rounded Cape Horn. On the 9th of February they were abreast of the Straits of Magellan in the South Seas; and on the 24th they anchored in the Bay of Conception, on the coast of Chili: the crews being in so good a state of health, that in the two ships there was not a single man on the sick lists. The Bay of Conception is here described to be one of the most commodious harbours that can be found in any part of the world. The old city was destroyed by an earthquake in the year 1751, or rather swallowed up by the sea. The new city is 3 leagues distant from the site of Old Conception, and is of greater extent, because the houses are built only one story high, that they may be the better. able to resist the earthquakes that happen every year.' M. de la Pérouse says of this part of Chili, that there is not in the universe a soil more fertile. Corn yields sixty for one; the vineyards are equally productive; and the plains are covered with innumerable flocks which multiply beyond conception,' [an unlucky word, in this place!] though abandoned entirely to themselves.' The climate is remarkably healthy; and he found here, then living, several persons who had completed a century yet, with all these advantages, this is not a thriving colony; which he attributes principally to the prohibitive regulations that exist from one end of Chili to the other. ropean goods pay immense duties; first at Cadiz, then at Lima, and lastly on their entering Chili. The administration of justice is likewise very defective. The character given of the common people is that they are a mongrel race, much addicted to thieving, and the women exceedingly easy of access. The country, M. de la P. observes, unfortunately produces a small quantity of gold.

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Almost all the rivers being auriferous, the inhabitant by wash-. ing the earth can earn, it is said, half a dollar a day; but as provisions are very abundant, he has no real want to incite him to labour. Without communication with foreigners, and unacquainted with our luxury and arts, he can desire nothing with sufficient energy to overcome his sloth.'-Sloth, still more than credulity and superstition,. has peopled this country with nuns and monks.'

However, he praises the inhabitants of the first class, and gives them the character of being remarkably polite, obliging, and hospitable.

Having said thus much of the inhabitants of Conception, we will present our readers with the more curious and interesting description of the native Indians.

The Indians of Chili are no longer those Americans who were inspired with terror by European weapons. The increase of horses, which are now dispersed through the interior of the immense deserts of America, and that of oxen and sheep, which has also been very great, have converted these people into a nation of Arabs, comparable in every respect to those that inhabit the deserts of Arabia. Constantly on horseback, they consider an excursion of two hundred leagues as a very short journey. They march, accompanied by their flocks and herds; feed upon their flesh and milk; and sometimes upon their blood*; and cover themselves with their skins, of which they make helmets, cuirasses, and bucklers. Hence it appears that the introduction of two domestic animals has had a decisive influence upon the manners of all the tribes which inhabit the country from St. Jago to the Straits of Magellan. All their old customs are laid aside; they no longer feed on the same fruits, nor wear the same dress; but have a more striking resemblance to the Tartars, or to the inhabitants of the banks of the Red Sea, than to their ancestors, who lived two centuries ago.

It is easy to conceive how formidable euch people must be to the Spaniards. How is it possible to follow them in such long excursions? How is it possible to prevent assemblages which bring together in a single point nations scattered over four hundred le gues of country, and thus form armies of thirty thousand men ?

Major General Higuins, an Irish gentleman, in the king of Spain's service, and who was commandant of the troops in this province, succeeded in gaining the good-will of these Indians, rendering thereby the most signal service to the nation that has adopted him.'

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Having now conducted our readers round Cape Horn, we fhall defer our farther account of this expedition to a future opportunity.

In this unfinished part of the article, we shall not presume to give an opinion of the merits of the work: but it is to be remarked that the subject, independently of its importance, cannot fail of being highly interesting. The publication, also, has been put into able hands, and the reader will find the notes of the editor intelligent and useful: but we wish to recommend, in a future edition, marginal dates; which, in journals, are always a great convenience.

The translator, in a short advertisement, professes to have exactly copied the original. He says,

* I have been assured that they sometimes bleed their oxen and, horses, and drink the blood.'