ing a judgment, we have no great cause to lament the scantiness of the remainder of their descriptions. M. Péron and M. Freycinet were ordered to ascend this river, and explore its course. They did ascend it as far as "le gros Morne," a considerable mount that overhangs an elbow of the river; here their further progress, (as they conceived,) was stopped by a mud-bank stretching across the stream, through which they in vain endeavoured to find a passage. M. Péron soon got tired, and left his companions in the boat while he made an excursion up the country, M. Freycinet also thought it more convenient to take a bird's eye sketch of the river from a neighbouring height than to persevere in his attempt to find by soundings a passage up its channel. He stated, "that he saw the whole course of the river till it lost itself in the mountains to the north-west." The next day they renewed their attempts to penetrate up the river, with as little success as before; "after seven hours of excessive fatigue," concludes M. Péron, 66 we were obliged to renounce all further attempts and to return on board, carrying with us the melancholy certainty. that this river is as incapable of being navigated, as it is of furnishing those succours that a navigator might expect from it." We are now going to exhibit another specimen of the difference between English and French navigators.

Would the reader suppose, after this account, that a passage of between two and three fathoms in depth does really exist in this river, not only in the part where the French navigators sought for it in vain, but also that a channel of the same depth continues up above the great elbow and for many miles in among the mountains, where the water is fresh? And yet the fact is incontestestably so. We have before us a small memoir, with a chart, published in 1801 by Captain (then Lieutenant) Flinders, where is the following statement concerning this very river. (p. 6.)

"We could scarcely find so much as two fathoms water abreast of Mount Direction, ("le gros Morne") but when round the point, there is a channel by the starboard shore, with not less than four fathoms in it. Below the next point, on the same side, are some dry mud banks, and (except striking into the mid-channel to pass round there,) the deep water continues on the same side past Herdsman's Cove. The channel then becomes exceedingly narrow in proportion to the width of the river; and keeps closer to the starboard shore, until the south-south-west reach opens. The depth of water is from two to three fathoms above Herdsman's Cove, and continues to be so, as far up as our examination went."

Captain Flinders does not say, as M. Péron does, that he saw the whole course of the river; but contents himself with going

up in his boat, and sounding it some five or six miles above where it loses itself in the mountains to the north-west. This may serve to give our readers an idea of the intelligence displayed in the geographical researches made by this French expedition, which surpasses every thing that preceded it. By the way, this little memoir, with the chart, enables one to form a tolerable comparison between what was done for the geography of Van Diemen's land, by two French ships with their men of science, and by the little sloop Norfolk, of 25 tons, carrying a simple lieutenant of the English navy, with eight or ten sailors and three months provisions. We are in some degree compensated, however, for all this French ignorance in matters of real science, by the amusement to be drawn from the lively descriptions given of the manners and customs of the natives; and as we consider the voyage before us to be more a work of entertainment than of instruction, we shall make no apology for inserting the following

extracts.

"Another day upon landing we met with a troop of natives (females), who at first sight ran away from us; but being enticed to return by our gestures, and by holding out to their view little articles as presents, they at first made signs to us to sit down and lay aside our arms. Having complied with this desire, they immediately came and squatted near us, and soon abandoned themselves without reserve to the vivacity of their character. They laughed, spoke all at once, had often the air of criticising our appearance and laughing at our expence, making, in short, a thousand gestures and contortions as singular as they were various. They were all naked, but disgustingly filthy, and covered with coal dust and ochre. One of them approached me with an obliging air, and taking some charcoal from a rush basket, reduced it to powder and applied a coating of it to my face, and to that of one of my companions. We appeared then to be great subjects of admiration to these women. They looked upon us with a sweet satisfaction, and seemed to congratulate us upon the new species of attraction we had just acquired. Thus then, that European whiteness of skin of which we are so proud is really but a defect, a sort of deformity, which in these regions yields the palm of beauty to the black of charcoal, or the sombre red of ochre and other earths.

"This additional charm which we had acquired in the eyes of the women would not, however, induce them to permit us to make any nearer approaches towards their persons: at the least symptoms of motion in us, they started up and ran away; and when we got up to proceed towards our boat, they walked abreast of us, but at a respectful distance, ogling and observing us, and making their remarks to each other. In this mode we proceeded along the shore, till at the turning of a point of land we unluckily fell in with their husbands, who gave evident signs, by their fierce and discontented

looks, that they were by no means pleased with the amusement their wives had been taking. The poor females were immediately struck dumb, and crouched behind their husbands with every symptom of fear and trepidation. They had been fishing before we met them, and had deposited the fruits of their labour in their baskets. These they offered to their husbands, who immediately devoured them without bestowing one morsel upon the females." (P. 252. et seq.) Perceiving a great fire upon a point of land on the Isle Maria,' we immediately landed on the spot, and found fourteen natives, who received us with transports at once expressive of surprise, admiration, and pleasure. We sat down, and they grouped themselves around us, armed with clubs and spears. They laid these down by their side, and M. Rouget, who was the only person armed, did the. same with his fusil. The arms being thus laid aside, we began mutually to consider one another. They were for the most part young men from sixteen to twenty-five years of age; two or three appeared from thirty to thirty-five, and one alone about fifty. They were all perfectly naked, except the last, who had a kangaroo skin thrown over his shoulders. In general, they were about five feet two inches high, well made about the head, breast, shoulders, and thighs; but with thin weak legs, ill-formed arms, and a belly too large and protuberant. Their physiognomy, like that of all the race, was very expressive, strongly pourtraying the rapid expression of the passions which agitated their minds: frightful and fierce in their threats, restless and perfidious when under the influence of suspicion, of a mad and almost convulsive gaiety in laughter among the young, but of a sad, hard, and sombre disposition among the aged. No individual among them could divest his countenance of a sinister and ferocious aspect, which could not escape the attentive observer, and which corresponds but too well with the fundamental defects of their character. After having passed a few minutes in examining one another, M. Petit began to amuse them with some juggler's tricks and exhibitions of sleight of hand. They were exceedingly diverted, and shewed the oddest symptoms of pleasure and enthusiastic admiration. But what surprised them most of all was to see M. Rouget plunge a pin into the calf of his leg, without shewing any symptoms of pain, or bringing out a drop of blood. At this prodigy they first stared at one another in silence, and then began to howl like madmen. Unfortunately for me, they had got about them some pins which they had begged of us as presents; and one of them, wishing to ascertain if I partook of the insensibility which had so strongly excited their admiration, came behind me without saying a word, and gave me such a prick in the leg with a pin, as made me utter a scream, not the less violent for the surprise which accompanied the sudden sensation of the pain." (P. 278, et seq.)

Then follows a very singular conversation, in which M. Péron and his companions, "s'aidant beaucoup du langage d'action,' contrived to make them understand and give their synonymes for

some words, with which we certainly shall not contaminate these pages. But although they shewed much intelligence on these points, they disappointed their visitors very much in another, which is related in the following manner.

"I cannot here pass in silence a very interesting observation which I then made. It is, that they appeared to have no idea of the action of embracing. In vain I addressed myself to many of them, to make them conceive what I wished to know; they could not understand it at all. And when, to leave no doubt of my meaning, I approached my body to theirs to embrace them, they put on that air of surprise which an unknown action excites in us, and which I had already observed among the natives of d'Entrecasteaux's channel. When really embracing them, I asked gouănărănă? (What do you call that?) Their constant answer was nidegô (I don't know). The idea of a caress was altogether as foreign to their minds. In vain I used every gesture calculated to explain that action: their surprise announced their ignorance, and nidegô confirmed me once more that they had no conception of it. Thus those two actions so full of charms, and which appear so natural to us, are altogether unknown to these barbarous and ferocious tribes.

"We were now to be reminded of the fickle character of these savages. While we were employed in the way I have mentioned, a sudden cry was heard in the forest, at which they started up and seized their arms. We perceived that it was caused by the effect which a disembarkation from our ships had had upon some other savages stationed in the woods to look out. We succeeded in calming their fury, but could not allay their suspicions. Insensibly their countenances became more sombre and ferocious; they appeared to meditate mischief, and were only restrained by our imposing manner and the fusil of M. Rouget. Their audacity increased with their distrust; they attempted to seize several little articles by force. One of them felt a longing for my great gold ear-ring; and stepping behind me without saying a word, passed his finger subtilly into the ring, and gave it so violent a pull, that he would certainly have carried away part of my ear, had not the spring fortunately given way. Considering that these men had been loaded with presents by us, that I stripped my coat of every button to please them, their unjust and perfidious conduct was inexcusable; and we were at length convinced of the imprudence of holding any intercourse with such a race, unless accompanied by means amply sufficient to repress their encroachments."

With some difficulty the party reached their boat, and resolved for the future to act upon this last-mentioned conclusion. In one of his excursions M. Péron stumbled upon some of the burying-places of the natives, which give rise to some ingenious and fanciful observations upon the connection, which he supposes to exist between the custom of burning the dead, and the

nature of the soil and state of society of those countries where that practice has been known to prevail.

Having passed along the south-east coast of Van Diemen's land, the expedition anchored for a short time in Oyster bay, before they attempted the passage of the straights.

The investigation of the eastern half of Van Diemen's land occupied them from January 13 to March 17, when they entered Banks's straights, forming the southern entrance to the great passage called Bass's straights. They continued till the 29th working through this last-mentioned passage, cursorily examining in their way the islands with which it is thickly studded. In this superficial examination they pretend to have discovered errors in Captain Flinders's chart of 1801, but which they have the justice to attribute to the peculiar circumstances in which that navigator was placed.

"On the 29th in the afternoon," says our author, “we found ourselves abreast of the island, which shuts up the fine Western Port discovered by M. Bass, but whose particular geography, as we shall soon see, was completed by our expedition. Here end the discoveries of the English navigators, and here begins our long reconnoissance of the Terre Napoleon." Here also must begin our exposition of the arrogance and falsehood of this barefaced assertion. This is the only part of the voyage for which any serious pretension to original discovery is set up, and we shall soon see on what very slender grounds even this pretension stands. Yet to obtain a temporary credence to this assertion, the French government has not hesitated to engage in a tissue of fraud, cruelty, and ingratitude, scarcely to be paralleled in any annals but its own. To prove that we do not qualify their conduct in terms too harsh, we must observe first, that at the very moment the assertion was made, the French government, by whose command, under whose auspices, and at whose expence this work was published, must have been perfectly aware that seventeen eighteenths of this Terre de Napoleon had been previously discovered and visited either by Lieutenant Grant, or by Captain Flinders. The French government COULD NOT have been ignorant that of nine hundred leagues of coast, thickly set with bays, and harbours, and islands, to the original discovery of which this publication lays claim, about sixty leagues of uninteresting coast are all that is justly due to that claim; and that even this meagre tract was but very imperfectly surveyed before the accurate investigation made of it by Captain Flinders. So much for truth.

We proceed to remark, that in order to give currency to the falsehoods which they were resolved to propagate, and to secure