Voyage in Search of La Pérouse/Chapter 1
VOYAGE
In Search Of
LA PÉROUSE.
CHAP. I.
August, 1791.
The equipment of the two vessels appointed for the voyage which we were about to undertake being already in a state of great forwardness, towards the close of the month of August, we received orders from General Dentrecasteaux to repair to Brest. I had the pleasure of travelling thither in the company of three persons engaged in the same expedition, namely, the Citizens Riche, Beaupré, and Pierson.
We arrived at Brest on the 10th of September. Some of the finest ships in the French navy, such as the Majestueux, the Etats de Bourgogne, the America, &c. were then in the harbour.
While our astronomers were engaged in making the observations necessary for determining the movements of our time-keepers, those who designed to make Natural History the principal object of their attention were employed in furnishing themselves with all the requisites for preparing the collections, which they purposed to make in the unknown countries we were about to visit.
As it was my intention to devote myself chiefly to the observation of the vegetable kingdom, I stood in need of a great quantity of paper, and wished to provide myself with some of a very large size. It was, however, not without great difficulty that I was able to procure twenty-two reams; almost all that remained in the warehouses having been lately appropriated to the service of the artillery.
I employed a part of the time that I had at my own disposal in examining the botanical garden, which is kept in very good order. There is also, in this place, a small cabinet of natural history, which contains several anatomical preparations presented to it by Citizen Joannet, surgeon of the Esperance.
The muster of our crews took place in the harbour on the 21st of September.
The vessels went into the road-stead on the 25th. There were then no foreign ships there, and very few French.
We were very heavily laden, so that when we set sail our draught was thirteen feet nine inches at the stern, and twelve feet ten inches at the head.
There were on board the Recherche: 6 eight pounders; 2 carronades of thirty-fix; 6 pedereroes of half a pound; 12 pedereroes of six ounces; 45 muskets; 35 pistols; 50 sabres: 30 battle-axes, and 10 espingoles.
The Esperance was provided with nearly the same means of defence, which were sufficient to secure us against any violence that might be attempted by savages.
Both vessels were furnished with a great store of commodities intended to be distributed amongst the natives of the South-seas. Iron tools, and stuffs of different colours, especially red, formed the basis of our bartering stock.
Each of the vessels was stored with provisions sufficient for the consumption of eighteen months, We now only waited for a favourable wind to set sail. A pretty fresh breeze springing up from the east, enabled us to get under way about one o'clock in the afternoon of the 28th of September. Soon after we had left the roads, we discovered two sailors and a cabin-boy, who being very desirous of going on this expedition, and having been disappointed in their wish to be included in our crew, had concealed themselves in the ship. As we had scarcely room sufficient for the men already on board, our Commander gave orders to tack about and make for the roads of Bertheaume, where our three unbidden guests were set on shore.
The Esperance, having met with no such interruption, had got considerably a-head of us, but we came up with her before night, as our vessel was a much better sailer.
At taking our departure at six in the evening, we found our place to be 48° 13′ N. lat. 7° 16′ E. long.
We set the ouessant at N. 2° W. of the compass.
The bec de la chevre at S.E. 4° E.
The bec du raz at S. 2° E.
Point Mathieu was then at the distance of 2,505 toises.
We now steered our course E.N.E. till towards midnight, when we directed it right east.
On the 29th, our Commander Dentrecasteaux was informed, by dispatches which he had orders not to open before we were in the main sea, that Major Huon Kermandec, Commander of the Esperance, was advanced to the rank of post-captain (capitaine de vaisseau), and himself to that of rear-admiral (contre-amiral). This intelligence was immediately conveyed by the speaking-trumpet to the Esperance, and our flags were hoisted with the distinctive ensigns of the rank conferred upon the Commander.
We again discovered two marines, and a cabin-boy, who were not inrolled among our crew, and had kept themselves till now concealed in the ship. As we were already too far from the land to set them on shore, the Commander permitted them to accompany us on our expedition.
Having made several sea-voyages before the present, I had flattered myself that I was too seasoned a sailor to be any more incommoded by the motion of the vessel; but I found that I had already entirely lost this qualification, for I was sea-sick during the first three days after our sailing from Brest. I have had frequent opportunities in the course of this voyage of remarking, that a very short stay upon shore is sufficient to render me anew susceptible of sickness from the motion of the vessel; for whenever we have put out to sea, after having lain a short time at anchor, I have always been disordered for two or three days as much as I was after our departure from Brest. The sailors advise one, in these cases, to endeavour to eat, notwithstanding the loathing of food that always accompanies this disorder. But this piece of advice it is very difficult to follow; for besides the pain produced by the action of swallowing, the presence of food in the stomach increases the nausea, and the vomiting that supervenes is still more distressing.
Diluting liquors, taken in small quantities at a time, so as not to burden the stomach, have always afforded me the most relief. Lukewarm water, nightly sweetened with sugar, is the drink which I have generally used, as it is the easiest to be procured at sea.
We had, however, several persons on board, who, though they had never been at sea before, experienced not the smallest inconvenience from the tossing of the ship. Such a constitution is very desirable for those who undertake long voyages; for it is impossible to describe the disagreeable sensations that attend this spasmodic affection, which, as it operates upon every part of the frame, produces such a general depression of its powers, that life would be insupportable, were it not for the hope of a speedy termination of the disorder.
From the day of our setting sail, to the 5th of October, we had slight breezes, that varied between the north and east points of the compass. From that time to our arrival at Teneriffe, they blew pretty fresh, varying between the north and north-east. This alteration in the state of the wind gave us no small uneasiness, as in our situation it might become productive of the most fatal consequences. Lumbered as we were in every part of the vessel, and drawing considerably above the load-water line, we ran the risk of being overset by a sudden squall: besides, the stowage had been very negligently performed. In this disorderly state we had sailed from France, although the expedition had been decreed by the National Assembly almost eight months before it took place.
On the 11th of October, about fifty-five minutes after ten o'clock, we observed an eclipse of the moon. The observations that can be taken at sea, lead to no very accurate results. Citizen Willaumez, however, concluded, from one which he took, that we were now in the longitude of 18° 19′ 45″ W. On the 12th, about eight in the morning, the Esperance intimated to us by a signal, that land was espied.
Towards noon we reckoned ourselves to be at the distance of about 71,800 toises from the peak of Teneriffe, which bore S.E.S. raising its head majestically above the clouds.
At the close of the evening we were not more than about 10,260 toises distant from the north-east point of the island. We shifted with the fore and main top-fails every three hours, whilst we expected the dawn. As soon as it appeared, we made towards the island, coasting along at the distance of 500 toises.
About half an hour after nine in the morning, we cast anchor in the road of St. Croix, in a muddy bottom of black sand, about fifteen toises in depth.
The French Consul, Citizen Fontpertuis, waited immediately upon our Commander, with an offer of his services in furnishing us with whatever we might want for the prosecution of our expedition.
I went on shore in the afternoon, to take a view of the environs of the town. Although the season was considerably advanced, the reflection of the rays of the sun from the volcanic stones, produced a degree of heat that was the more oppressive as the air was perfectly calm.
I observed among the plants that grow in the neighbourhood of St. Croix, a woody species of balm, known by botanists under the name of melissa fruticosa, also the saccharum teneriffæ, the cacalia kleinia, the datura metel, the chrysanthemum frutescens, &c. Some of the gardens were ornamented with the beautiful tree termed poinciana pulcherrima.
In the evening, Citizen Ely, being struck with the grotesque appearance of some of the women in the town, who, even during the greatest heat of the season, wear long cloaks of very coarse woollen stuffs, was employed in drawing a sketch of one of them, when he was suddenly interrupted by a sentinel, who imagined him to be taking a plan of the harbour. It was in vain that he attempted to explain to him what his draught was intended to represent: the soldier would not suffer him to finish it.
As we had anchored too close to another small vessel, we cast an anchor in the afternoon nearer to the shore, by which we kept ourselves at a convenient distance.
The bearings we took at this place gave us the following results:
The redoubt on the north side of the town, N.N.E. 4° E.
The great tower situated about the middle of the town, E.S.E.
At sun-rise each of the forts returned our salute of nine guns with an equal number. On the noon of the preceding day, we had saluted the town with fifteen, as it returned us gun for gun.
A packet-boat from Spain cast anchor to-day in the road-stead.
We had agreed to take a journey to the peak on the morrow, and subsequently to visit the other high mountains of the island in succession. The French Consul very obligingly did all that was in his power, to facilitate the execution of our design, and gave us letters of recommendation to M. de Cologant, a very respectable merchant, resident at Orotava.
About four o'clock the next morning, our party assembled upon the Mole to the number of eight; namely, Develle, one of the officers of our ship, Piron, Deschamps, Lahaye, and myself, with three servants, one of whom understood the Spanish language, and served as our interpreter. We found the mules that were to carry us at the sea-side; but it was more than an hour before we could set out upon our journey, it being no easy matter to assemble our guides, some of whom, knowing that we could not set off without them, made no scruple of letting us wait till they chose to make their appearance. When they had arrived we thought we should be able immediately to proceed, but we were obliged to expostulate with them a long time, before they could be induced to carry the small stock of necessaries that we took with us upon our expedition.
The reader will recollect that our ships were so plentifully stored with provisions, that one might have thought we were going to sail to some desert country. Rossel, who had the charge of the officers' table, had given orders to the cook to send us an excellent salmon-pie for our journey. I should not have mentioned so trivial a circumstance, had it not been for the sake of the contrast which it affords with the worm-eaten biscuits and cheese, that were our usual regale whilst we remained on shore, in the subsequent part of our expedition.
Mons. de Cologant having been informed by the French Consul of our intended journey, invited us to come to his house at the harbour of Orotava. This port, which is not more than about 15,390 toises distant from St. Croix, is a very convenient baiting-place for those who visit the peak; it being situated at the foot of the nearest mountains of the chain to which it belongs.
We were three hours before we arrived at Laguna. This town is only 5,130 toises distant from St. Croix; but the road thither is very fatiguing, as it ascends for the greater part of the way. The place is meanly built, and very thinly inhabited. We were informed that at least one half of its inhabitants consists of monks.
On our way to Laguna we passed over some barren mountains, which were covered with a variety of plants of a luxurious growth. Amongst others we noticed the euphorbia canariensis, the euphorbia dendroides, the cacalia kleinia, the cachis opuntia, &c. These plants, as they derive their nourishment almost entirely from the atmosphere, thrive very well in spite of the sterility of the abrupt precipices on which they grow. When we descended into the small plain on which the town stands, we remarked that the mould produced from the corruption of the vegetables, and washed down from the surrounding mountains by the rain, answers a very useful purpose in fertilizing this little spot of ground, so that it yields abundance of corn, Indian wheat, millet, and other esculent plants.
I here observed a species of the periploca, which I had formerly discovered during my travels in the Levant. I have given an account of it in the second decade of my description of the plants of Syria, under the appellation of periploca angustifolia. Citizen Desfontaines has likewise collected some of the same species upon the coasts of Barbary.
All the stones that we had hitherto seen in these regions appeared to have undergone the action of fire. As the mountains of this chain that are of the mean elevation consist of large masses, that after being fused must have retained a great degree of heat for a considerable length of time; I expected to find the lavas very compact in their texture. My conjecture was confirmed. Their grain is very fine, and their colour for the most part a deep brown.
Surrounded with these volcanic remains, we found the heat very oppressive, which appeared to incommode our guides much more than ourselves; so that they exerted all their powers of persuasion in order to prevail upon us to make halt during the day, and only travel in the night-time. They probably imagined that our sole aim was to see the summit of the peak, and several of our company would have had no very great objections against our journey being conducted upon that plan. But it is easy to suppose that such a nocturnal ramble could not promise much advantage to those whose object of pursuit was the study of natural history.
The inhabitants of the island are beset with religious prejudices from their earliest infancy. The children came running out of their habitations to enquire if we were of their religion; and we contented ourselves with commiserating the unfortunate beings, upon whom monkish bigotry and intolerance exert with unbounded rigour their pernicious sway.
Most of the garden-walls in the country beyond Laguna, are ornamented with the beautiful plant called trichomanes canariense.
As we approached Orotava, our road led us down a very gentle declivity. We saw no more such barren mountains as in the vicinity of St. Croix, where the luxuriance of the vegetable kingdom is only an indication of the sterility of the soil; but verdant banks covered with vineyards, the produce of which constitutes the chief wealth of the island. The shrub termed bosca yervamora grows here in low situations.
At five o'clock in the evening we arrived at Orotava, where we were received by M. de Cologant, in the most hospitable manner.
Two vessels, an English and a Dutch, were then at anchor in the road-stead, in order to take in a cargo of wine. The landing-place here is much more difficult of access than that at St. Croix, on which account this harbour is less frequented.
M. de Cologant's wine-vaults were an object well worthy of our attention; as the wines of the island are the principal commodity in which this opulent merchant trades.
Amongst the different kinds of wine which they contain, there are two sorts that have qualities very distinct from each other; namely, the sack, or dry wine, and that which is commonly known by the name of malmsey. In the preparation of the latter, care is taken to concentrate its saccharine principle as much as possible.
The price of the best wine was then 120 piastres per pipe, and that of the inferior sort 60 piastres. It is necessary however to remark, that I here speak only of the price at which it is sold to strangers; for the same wine which they buy at 60 piastres the pipe, is sold to the inhabitants of the island for six and thirty.
When the fermentation of these wines has proceeded to a certain length, it is the custom to mix with them a considerable quantity of brandy, which renders them so heady, that many persons are unable to drink them, even in very moderate quantity, without feeling disagreeable effects upon the nervous system from this admixture.
We were assured that the island generally yields thirty thousand pipes of wine in a year. As it does not produce a sufficient quantity of corn for the consumption of the inhabitants, a part of the produce of the wines, which are sold to strangers as Madeira wine (and indeed they differ very little from it in quality), is expended in the purchase of this indispensably necessary article of sustenance.
Although the olive thrives very well in this island, it is very little cultivated. The different species of the palm-tree that are to be met with in some of the gardens, are cultivated only for curiosity.
We had been assured, before our departure from St. Croix, that we should find the summit of the peak already covered with snow. I had not thought it necessary to take a barometer with me at setting out; but I found at Orotava that I had been led into a mistake; and there I was unable to procure this instrument of observation.[1]
We purposed to proceed very early the next morning on our journey. But that happened to be a festival day, and our guides could not be persuaded to set out before they had heard mass; some of them had even heard three already: as for us, we waited for them with the most impatient solicitude, when our uneasiness was redoubled by being informed that we ought to consider it as a very great indulgence if they would agree to travel at all on so high a festival. They were, however, at length ready to accompany us, about nine o'clock in the forenoon.
Having left the town, we pursued a track that often led us up very steep ascents, from whence we observed enormous masses of mountains piled one upon the other, and forming a sort of amphitheatre round the base of the peak. On their brows we frequently met with level spots that served us for resting-places, where, after having fatigued ourselves with climbing up the rugged paths, we stopped for a short time to take breath, and acquire fresh courage for ascending the higher mountains.
Our guides were astonished to observe that some of us chose to go on foot, contrary to the custom of the greater part of those who make the tour of the peak; and incessantly admonished us to ride upon the mules which they led along with them.
After having passed through some fine plantations of vines, we found ourselves surrounded with chesnut-trees, which cover the most elevated regions of these mountains.
In the clefts between the mountains, I observed the polipodium virginicum, and several species of the laurel that were new to me, amongst the rest the laura indica of Linnæus.
Although we purposed to perform our journey within a space of not many days, we ought to have provided ourselves with a larger stock of shoes; for even the strongest soles were soon ground to pieces by the lava on which we walked.
It was near noon when we arrived at the height of the clouds, which spread a thick dew over the brush-wood through which our road led us.
One should think that the abundance of rain which falls upon these heights, in consequence of the natural propensity of the atmosphere,[2] must give rise to a great number of springs. They are, nevertheless, very rare; as the earth is not sufficiently attenuated to retain the water, which filtrating through the volcanic soil, discharges itself, for the greater part, into the ocean, without collecting into regular streams.
As soon as we had surmounted these thick clouds, we enjoyed a spectacle beautiful beyond conception. The clouds heaped up below us appeared blended with the distant ocean, and concealed the island from our sight. The sky above us formed a vault of the most transparent azure, whilst the peak appeared like an insulated mountain placed in the midst of a vast expanse of waters.
Soon after we had left the clouds beneath us, I observed a phenomenon, which I had formerly had occasion to remark, during my stay amongst the high mountains of Kesroan in Natolia. It was with new surprise that I saw the outlines of my figure, delineated in all the beautiful tints of the rainbow, upon the clouds below me, situated opposite to the sun.
The decomposition of the rays of the sun, by contact with the surfaces of bodies, affords a very satisfactory explanation of this splendid phenomenon. It exemplifies, upon a large scale, a fact well known to natural philosophers; namely, that when the rays of the sun are made to pass through a small hole in the window-shutter of a darkened chamber, so as to fall upon any object within it, they represent the outlines of the object in all the various colours of the rainbow, by being collected with a prism and thrown upon a white sheet of paper.
We now had to cross a prodigious heap of pumice-stones, amongst which we observed very few vegetables, and those in a very languishing condition. The spartium was the only shrub that could support itself in these elevated regions. It was very troublesome walking upon this volcanic soil, as we sunk into it up to the middle of the leg. We found some blocks of pozzolana sparingly scattered among the pumice-earth.
At nine o'clock in the evening we took up our abode for the night in the midst of the lava. Some large fragments that we found, were our only shelter against the east wind, which blew with considerable violence. The cold was very intense at this height, where nature has not consulted the convenience of travellers, as very little wood is found here; so that the scanty fuel that we were able to collect, was not sufficient to prevent us from passing a very unpleasant night.
The day at length began to dawn. We left some of our guides with their mules at the place where we had spent the night, and proceeded on our journey to the peak, which we were now in haste to accomplish.
We continued, for the space of an hour, to travel over large heaps of fragments of a greyish coloured lava, amongst which some blocks of pozzolana were scattered, as also huge masses of a very compact blackish glass, which bore a great resemblance to the coarse glass of bottles. This glass, though formed in the vast crucibles of the mountains at the time of their combustion, might become very useful in the arts; for being already completely manufactured by the hand of nature, it would only require to be exposed to the action of the fire in order to fuse it anew, and render it susceptible of being moulded into all the forms that the hand of man is able to give to it.
We arrived at the mouth of a cavern called la queve del ana, the orifice of which is full four feet and a half in diameter. As its cavity runs for a length of more than six feet in an almost horizontal direction, we were not able to reach the bottom otherwise than by descending into it with the help of a rope. We found that it contained water, the surface of which, as was to have been expected at this height, was covered with ice about an inch and a half thick. We immediately made a hole in the ice, and regaled ourselves with some excellent water. I did not feel any of those disagreeable sensations in the throat, which I have often experienced on the French Alps, from drinking the water which issues from the foot of the Glaciers; although the cold of the water in this cavern was one degree lower than that generally indicated by the water of the Glaciers, for upon plunging a thermometer into it, it fell to the freezing point. It seems that the disagreeable pricking sensation occasioned by the water of the Glaciers in the internal fauces, arises from its being deprived of its atmospherical air.
The roof of the cavern was covered with crystals of saltpetre.
Piron, who had been indisposed for several days, found himself so overcome with fatigue as to be unable to proceed any further. Deschamps also chose to remain with him at the cavern: as for the rest of us, we set forward on our ascent to the summit of the peak.
Having reached its base, we saw it elevate itself before us in the shape of a cone, to a prodigious height, forming the crown of the highest of these mountains. From this spot our view extended over all the rest of the mountains, which seemed to form so many gradations, that must first be surmounted before we can arrive at this commanding eminence.
At the place called La Ramblette, situated on the north-east side of the peak, our curiosity was excited by some clefts made in the rock, a few of which were three inches wide; the rest were merely cracks, from which issued an aqueous vapour that had no smell, although the sides of the chinks were covered with crystals of sulphur, shooting out from a very white earth, which appeared to be of an argillaceous nature.
A mercurial thermometer being introduced into one of the clefts, the quicksilver rose, in the space of a minute, to 43° above 0 of Reaumur's scale. In several of the others it did not rise higher than 30°.
We were now engaged in the most toilsome part of our journey, the acclivity of the peak being exceedingly steep. When we had surmounted about a third part of the ascent, I made a hole about three inches deep into the earth, from whence an aqueous inodorous vapour issued, and though the heat of the surface of the earth was not greater than it usually is at an equal elevation, upon plunging a thermometer into it the mercury rose to 51° above 0.
The spartium supra nubium was the last shrub that I noticed before we arrived at the foot of the cone; but there is an herbaceous plant which, notwithstanding its apparent delicacy, vegetates even in still higher situations. I mean a species of violet with leaves somewhat elongated, and slightly indented at the edges; its flowering time was already past. We observed it to grow quite near to the summit of the peak.
The vapours of the atmosphere not being able to rise to this height, the sky presents itself in the purest azure, which is more bright and dazzling than what we can see in the clearest weather of our climates. Though some scattered clouds hung in the atmosphere far below our feet, we had still a very perfect view of the neighbouring islands.
The cone is terminated by a crater, the greatest elevation of which is on the north-east side. Its south-west side has a deep depression, which seems to have been produced by the sinking of the ground.
Near to the top are several orifices about three inches in diameter, from which a very hot vapour issues, that made Reaumur's thermometer rise to 67° above 0, emitting a sound very like that of the humming of bees. When the snow begins to fall on the summit of the peak in the latter part of the year, that which falls upon these orifices is soon melted by the heat. The sides of these holes are adorned with beautiful crystals of sulphur, mostly of the form of needles, and some of them arranged into very regular figures. The action of the sulphuric acid combined with the water, effects such a change upon the volcanic products of this place, that at first sight one might mistake them for very white argillaceous earth, that has acquired a high degree of ductility from the moisture constantly issuing from the above-mentioned apertures. It is in this kind of earth that the sulphuric crystals which I have spoken of are found.
The decomposition of the sulphur, and the volcanic products, form an aluminous salt that covers the ground in needles, which have very little cohesion with each other.
The thermometer, when placed in the shade at the height of about three feet from the surface of the ground at the summit of the peak, rose in a quarter of an hour to 15° above 0. No sensible variation was observed upon changing its distance from the earth, even by six or eight feet, which gives us reason to believe, that the internal heat of the ground in this place, though so very great, has little influence upon the temperature of the atmosphere. Besides, the air of the atmosphere might easily be heated at this height by the rays of the sun to 15°, as a higher temperature is often experienced at the foot of the Glaciers. I have often known the thermometer to stand at 20° above 0 upon mount Libanon, though placed quite close to the snow.
The declivity of the mountain facilitated our return, and we descended much quicker than we had ascended. It was already evening before we reached the place where we had passed the preceding night. The almost total want of sleep, which we had experienced in consequence of the intense cold, gave us little courage to spend another night at the same place. We therefore wished to proceed immediately farther, in order to seek a better shelter upon some of the neighbouring mountains; but as our guides would not move a step before the moon rose, we were compelled to remain there till near midnight, waiting for its appearance. With the assistance of its feeble light, we descended over the pumice-stones, following pretty closely the track which we had made for ourselves in our ascent.
After a march of four hours, the brush-wood, which grew very thick, obstructed our way so much, that we were obliged to halt till day-break. We had here abundance of fuel, and made ourselves amends for the cold of the preceding night, by immediately kindling a very large fire. Most of our company were so very much fatigued with their toilsome journey, that they had no other wish left than to make the best of their way back to St. Croix; although we had agreed at setting out from Orotava, that we would return by the opposite side of the mountains. But as we were no longer all of the same mind, it was settled that those who had already satisfied their curiosity, should return to the ships; whilst the gardener and myself alone resolved to complete our first design. All our guides wished to accompany those who were returning to the ships, so that it was with great difficulty that I could persuade one of them to attend us.
I was gratified with finding among the plants that grew on the sides of the rocks, the campanula aurea, the prenanthespinnala, the adiantum reniforme, and a species of the ceterac, remarkable on account of its leaves, which are much larger than those of the European species.
As these mountains afford very little water, we directed our course towards a small habitation, where we presumed we should find ourselves near to some stream of water. We were not disappointed, for we came to a very fine spring of delicious limpid water, which lost itself again under the ground, after having but just appeared above its surface.
Apple-trees loaded with fruit adorned the garden of these peaceable cottagers. This fruit tasted so delicious to the servant who accompanied us, that he took it into his head, whilst we were employed in viewing the premises, to make an exchange that gave us a very poor idea of his foresight. He had given away our whole store of flesh-meat for some of these apples, without taking a moment's consideration whether or not they would be an equally good provision for us in travelling the mountains. We swore to ourselves that we would never on a future expedition leave our stores in the charge of such an œconomist. In general it may be remarked, that the servants employed at sea are almost wholly unfit for service on shore.
At the close of the evening we were far from any habitation of men. About nine o'clock we reached a village, the inhabitants of which can certainly not be accused of carrying the virtue of hospitality to a blameable excess. It was not without the greatest difficulty that we were able to procure shelter among them. As we did not understand the Spanish language, we were obliged to make use of signs to express our meaning, a language that in the night time at least, is a very imperfect means of communication: but our guide, who was no less desirous of going to bed than we were, went knocking in vain at one door after the other, till having gone round almost the whole village, we at length found two charitable souls who agreed to harbour us.
We were immediately served with a frugal repast, during which the house was lighted in the manner that is practised by some of the inhabitants of the Alps. They set fire to small splinters of very resinous wood, stuck into the wall, which afford plenty of light, but throw out a great deal of smoke. One of our hosts took the charge upon himself of lighting new splinters of wood as fast as the former were consumed.
We stood much more in need of sleep than of meat, and hastened to enjoy a repose, which proved the more delectable, as we were here no more incommoded with the cold we had experienced on the high mountains.
On the following day, the 19th, I went on board with my collection of volcanic products and some very fine specimens of plants, such as the teucrium betonicum, the eschium frutescens, &c.
The birds known by the name of Canary-birds are very common in the lower regions of these mountains; their colour is a brown mixed with various other hues, and their plumage is not so beautiful in their wild state, as it becomes when they are domesticated. Some travellers have asserted, that an indigenous species of the parrot is found in these islands; but I have never seen any in my excursions, and several credible persons among the inhabitants have assured me that this assertion is destitute of foundation.
A very stiff gale, which sprung up to-day, caused the sea to swell to such a height, as to drive on shore the pinnace of the Esperance, after having overset it upon one of the sailors, who could not be extricated in less than a space of several minutes. He was already suffocated to a great degree; but the means usually employed in these cases proved successful in restoring him to animation.
Whilst I here express my gratitude to the garrison of St. Croix, for the alacrity with which they hastened to the relief of this unfortunate sailor; I cannot pass over in silence a piece of knavery committed upon this occasion by some of the natives.
Whilst we were administering our assistance to this man, we had hung up his clothes to dry, little suspecting what should happen. Some of the inhabitants of the town, perhaps conceiving him already dead, thought fit to appropriate his clothes to the use of the living: they were accordingly carried off, and all pursuit after the robbers was in vain.
Citizens Riche and Blavier, engaged in the study of natural history, had undertaken a journey to the peak the day after we had set out upon ours; but they did not succeed in reaching the summit; for whilst they were still at a considerable distance from it, their lungs being unable to accommodate themselves to the rarefied atmosphere, they were seized with a spitting of blood, which obliged them to relinquish their enterprize.
The following days were employed by us in visiting the environs of St. Croix, where the country is in general very barren.
The town is very thinly peopled, even in proportion to the smallness of its extent; though the harbour here is more frequented than any other in the island. The Spaniards have introduced here their own manner of building. The distribution of the internal part of the houses is the same with that which they practise in Europe, without any of those modifications which the difference of the climate requires.
The Governor-general of the Canary-islands usually resides at St. Croix. There are several convents of monks and nuns in this place. One of the parochial churches here is equally remerkable for the tasteless profusion with which the gilding is lavished upon it, and the bad choice of its paintings.
In the market-place there is a fine fountain, the water of which is conveyed from a great distance by wooden pipes through the mountains. The streets are ill-paved; most of the windows are without glass-panes, lattices being used instead of them, which the women very frequently open, when curiosity, or any other motive, prompts them to let themselves be seen.
Women of condition dress after the French fashion; those of the lower ranks cover their shoulders with a piece of coarse woollen stuff, which forms a sort of cloak very incommodious in this hot climate; broad-brimmed hats of felt shelter theirs faces from the rays of the sun; intermarriages with the natives render their complexions darker than those of their countrywomen; and their features are upon the whole rather disagreeable.
The multiplicity of religious observances practised by the inhabitants were not sufficient to prevent the women from going, with their chaplets in their hands, to meet our sailors, whenever they came on shore, some of whom have had to repent for a long time their having been seduced by such a superabundance of attractions.
The wine of Teneriffe, which, as I have already observed, is very heady, was likely to have been the cause of very fatal consequences to one of our sailors, who, in a fit of intoxication, committed a very heinous offence upon a sentinel. The French Consul, however, made use of his interest with the officer who had the command during the absence of the Governor-general, so as to prevent any cognizance being taken of the matter. The discipline observed on board the English ships effectually secures them from any of these disagreeable occurrences.
The Scorpion sloop of war, of sixteen guns and one hundred men, commanded by captain Benjamin Hallowell, had cast anchor in the roads on the 18th, consorted by a small cutter. They had sailed from Madeira five days before, where they had left a vessel of fifty guns, which was expected soon to arrive at Teneriffe. Commodore Englefield who commanded it, had also the general command of this small armament, which was destined for the coast of Africa. These officers, aware of the danger to which sailors are exposed whilst they remain on shore, kept them as much as possible on board; and never suffered them to quit the ship but when the exigences of the armament required it. The Commodore was resolved to keep strictly to this regulation, during the whole time that he should be stationed on the coast of Africa.
The variation of the needle was found by an average of sixteen observations taken on board, fourteen of the azimuth and two of the ortive amplitude, to be 8° 7′ 7″ E.
The result of two observations taken by Citizen Bertrand, one of the astronomers to the expedition, on the terrace of a house in the town, gave 21° 33′ E.
The observations taken on board appeared more to be confided in than the others, as they agreed with the progressive diminution of the variation which we had observed since our departure from Brest, and with the observations that had been taken long since by different other navigators.
The dip of the needle was now at 62° 25′. The same needle had pointed 71° 30′ at Brest, and 72° 56′ at Paris.
The place where we lay at anchor in the road of Teneriffe was 28° 29′ 35″ N. lat. 18′ 86′ E. long.
The thermometer and barometer, observed on board towards noon, varied very little during our stay in this place. The former never rose above 20° two tenths, nor the latter above 28 inches two lines.
The station of St. Croix is a very excellent one, on account of the plentiful supply which it affords of all sorts of European kitchen-vegetables, cabbages excepted, which, though very small, are sold at an exorbitantly high price. Most of the orchard-fruits of Europe are likewise to be met with here, and the same domestic animals as in the ports of France.
Experience had taught us that the sheep of this island do not bear confinement on board so well as ours. The pure air which they have been accustomed to breathe on the mountains where they feed, renders them the more susceptible of injury from the impure air between-decks.
Teneriffe also affords great abundance of dried fish. They particularly carry on an extensive traffic with the species termed bonite.
Those parts of the island upon which the labour of cultivation has been bestowed, are very fertile, as is generally the case in volcanic islands. The internal heat of the earth which forms their basis, exhales towards the surface of the ground a portion of the rain-water which they have imbibed, which produces a remarkably luxuriant vegetation.
On the other hand the too slow decomposition of some of these volcanic stones, and the extreme dryness of some of the mountains, render many parts of the island unfit for cultivation. The action of the fire to which they have been exposed at different periods after long intervals, as is attested by historical records, together with the shelter which they receive from the plants peculiar to those situations, retarding in many places that gradual decomposition which would otherwise have taken place, had they been left entirely bare.
No volcanic eruption had been known in this island, since that which broke out ninety-two years ago, till in the month of May, 1796, a new eruption took place on the south-east side of the peak, as I was informed by Citizen Gicquel, officer of marines, who spent some time at St. Croix on his return in the frigate La Régénérée from the Isle de France.
I shall insert the account which I received of this event from Citizen le Gros, Consul of the French Republic.
"On the 21st day of May, 1706, the inhabitants of St. Croix heard some hollow reiterated sounds, very like the distant report of cannon; in the night-time they felt a slight trembling of the earth, and on the following morning a volcano was observed to have broken out on the south-east side of the peak. During the first days after its eruption, it appeared to have fifteen mouths, their number was soon reduced to twelve, and at the end of a month only two were to be seen, which threw out with their lava large masses of rock, that often preserved their line of projection for a space of fifteen seconds before they fell to the ground."
Before our arrival at Teneriffe our vessels had been so encumbered with their stores, that we scarcely knew how to dispose of our crew.
- ↑ We read, in the account of the Voyage of La Pérouse, that when the ship lay at anchor in the road of St. Croix, the mercury, in the barometer that Lamanon had taken with him, fell at the peak of Teneriffe to 18 inches 4 lines, whilst the thermometer indicated 9⅔° above 0, though, at the same moment of time, the barometer stood, at St. Croix, at 28 inches 3 lines, and the thermometer at 24½°.
- ↑ We may here remark, that when high mountains become much heated by the rays of the sun, they act as a kind of stove, by which the superincumbent atmosphere is elevated in consequence of the dilatation which it undergoes. Hence arises the moisture of the more distant part of the atmosphere, which, rushing in to supply the place of that which has been sent into higher regions by the action of the heat, carries with it the clouds suspended in it; as I have had frequent opportunities of observing at Mount Libanon, where this phenomenon never fails to take place about five o'clock in the afternoon during the heats of the month of September, unless some violent current of the atmosphere should happen to counteract its natural disposition. Perhaps this may be the sole reason of the attraction that appears to exist between mountains and clouds.