Page:Englishhistorica36londuoft.djvu/317

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1921 SHORT NOTICES 309 originality, in dealing with economic crises, as the measures bear witness which he used to cope with the famine first in the Limousin and later in Guienne. Although he held office at Limoges for only one year less than he did at Bordeaux, his name is usually associated with the latter place, which still shows how much it is indebted to his public works. Probably his intendancy at Limoges has been obscured by such a successor as Turgot, though, as M. Lheritier points out, much which has been attributed to Turgot was in fact initiated by Tourny, notably the celebrated porcelain industry. M. Lheritier has spared no pains in the compilation of this bio- graphy. He has consulted the departmental and communal archives not only within the generalites which Tourny controlled but also where he and his family held estates. Yet in spite of numerous quotations from private letters as well as from official correspondence, he has hardly succeeded in giving a living picture of Tourny. The defect probably lies as much in the character of the intendant as in his biographer's arrangement of his material. The book has a detailed table of contents, an index of places and of proper names, and many interesting plans and illustrations. M. A. P. In Captain Bligh' s Second Voyage to the South Sea (London : Longmans, 1920), her newest contribution to the history of exploration in the Pacific, Mrs. Charles Bruce Marriott (Ida Lee) adds to the debt which the student already owes her, and helps to restore the reputation of a great navigator. The story of William Bligh's first independent voyage to the South Seas has often been told. The mutiny of the crew of the Bounty, and the voyage of more than 3,600 miles which Bligh and his remaining comrades endured in a small launch, have never failed in their appeal. When Bligh reached home in March 1790 he was received with much enthusiasm, and King George was instrumental in sending him out again in July 1791 to attempt once more the transport of bread-fruit plants from the South Seas to the West Indies. In the present volume Mrs. Marriott transcribes the more important parts of the log-books of this second voyage. The log-books have only recently been rescued from oblivion and made acces- sible by the librarian of the admiralty. Bligh, who was in command of the Providence and the Assistant, touched at Table Bay and then pro ceeded to Tasmania, the eastern coast of which he in large measure surveyed. He then renewed his acquaintance with Tahiti, where he was well received by the natives, who had much to tell him of the conduct of the men who had mutinied during the earlier voyage. Bligh stayed at Tahiti for over three months, and secured a large supply of bread-fruit plants. His journal contains a store of information about the customs of the natives. Setting out for East Indian waters, he visited Aitutaki and the Tonga Islands, and then spent a considerable time in an examina- tion of the Fiji group, through the northern parts of which he had passed in the launch. He may indeed claim to have been the discoverer of most of the western islands of the group, and he certainly was the first to write any full description of the Fijians. He then passed to the New Hebrides, visiting the Banks group to the north. Thence he threaded Torres Straits, entering and leaving by way of channels which he himself now first