VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS. 783

favage did, but immediately afterwards the exclamations and menacing geftures werereiterated in the fame frantic manner.

“ We were now on the fame fide of the river again as the favages, and all our en-deavours to infpire them with confidence ferved only to encreafe their audacity ; fuchwas it, in fhort, that we had only to choofe between a precipitate retreat or firing ; wechofe the former, and haftened on board without experiencing any hindrance. Perhapsthis was all they required; perhaps, alfo, they were impatient to examine the richprefents we had made them.

“ The favages we encountered were entirely naked, a cloak excepted, made of thefkin of a dog or kangaroo, which was thrown over the fhoulders of forne of them, anda covering over the privities of others, with a fort of girdle round the loins. Theyfeemed to me of a much lefs dark colour than the negroes of Africa ; their hair was{hart, even, ftraight, and fmooth, their beard long and black, their teeth extremelywhite.”

I have deemed it effential to repeat here the whole detail of M. Depuch, that thereader may judge of the determination of thefe people to avoid and even repulfeftrangers. We fhall have further occafion to notice this chara&eriftic, fo oppofite tothe welcome and folicitude with which the nations of the Great Pacific Ocean receivedthe Europeans who firft: vifited them, and to the interefh felt by the majority of favagesat the firft appearance of navigators on their fhores.

Succeeds in the narrative of M. Peron, an account of the foundering of the longboat on the fands, and the difficulty experienced in regaining the fhip, which, of minorintereft, is paft over, the relation being refumed from their return to the fhip.

As foon as our boats returned on the 8th, we haftened to get them on board : wehad not an inftant to lofe; the fwell of the fea was fo great, and the fhip pitched in fucha manner that we had great difficulty in preventing our larger boat from being fhiveredagainft the veffel. At twenty minutes after ten we were under fail. The Naturaliftehad the day before loft one of her anchors, and at the inftant of weighing ffie loft againanother. At half-paft three in the morning we were off the cape, with the main-topfail clofe reefed. At this inftant the winds blew in gufts ; a fmall rain fell, and thethick fog, by which we were furrounded, prevented our diftinguifhing any objeft aboutus. We now parted from the Naturalifte, which, being unable to keep fo near the 1wind as our veffel, could not double the entrance of the bay. We ourfelves indeedfucceeded but with great rifk, manoeuvring, with dreadful weather, in from 12 to 10fathoms water.

The tempeft continued throughout the whole of the 9th ; the winds blew with vio-lence, and drove us conftantly towards the dangerous coaft we were anxious to flyfrom : in one of the tacks, the fhip not anfwering the helm, we were expofed to themod imminent danger.

The 10th we had fight of feveral large whales, fporting in midft of the angry waves ;one, thatwefaw at ten in the morning, was battling with afword-fiffi, and the rage ofthe two combatants feemed to encreafe with that of the tempeft. This day at noon, wethought we difcovered, by means of a flafh of lightning, Cape Leuwin, which, if theobjeft we faw, would have been nine miles from us towards the weft. The barometerat this period had funk to its loweft point ; it flood at 2j p 7, 5 1 and-, confequently, fincethe 5th June, had declined io lignes 9-tenths ; which correfponds well with the violence andduration of the tempeft. At fix in the evening, a. rapid decreafe of foundings, and thenature of the bottom, added to our alarms : we were running on the formidable reef

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