121 



GEOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS. 



Annttat Notice of the Labours of the Geographical Society.^ Concluded from 

 p. 48.) 



The Geographical Society has too often associated itself with the campaign 

 of the Astrolabe, that the principal results of that voyage should not be recalled 

 to memory at one of its solemn meetings. 



Mr. d'Urville, worthy successor of Messrs. Freycinnet and Duperrey, under- 

 took more especially to continue the operations of Jfr. d'Entrecasteaux. He com- 

 menced them on the coast of New Zealand, of which more than 400 leagues have 

 been surveyed. Islands, bays, and streams, whose existence had not been indi- 

 cated, are to be met with on the maps of the Astrolabe. They further state, as 

 a new fact, that the northern island of New Zealand is almost divided into two 

 by a very narrow isthmus. In this expedition, the survey of the isles Fidgi, 

 which received the national name of Viti, presents a thread of operations skilfully 

 chained together, and the result of which determines the position and the outline 

 of a hundred and twenty islands and isles, of which some were unknown. The 

 most southerly islands of the archipelago of St. Esprit are surveyed. They are 

 completing the geography of Loyalty Islands, and the labours of the French na- 

 vigators will fill up the gap that the English had left in the hydrography of that 

 archipelago. 



Among the detailed and complete surveys, we must mention those of the 

 Langlan Islands, of the eastern part of the Dublon Islands, of the Elivi Islands, 

 of the southern coast of New Britain, and of that long continuation of shores be- 

 tween the straits of Dampier and the bay of Geelwink, that border New Guinea 

 in its northern part. 



Taking all together, the expedition of the Astrolabe procures to geography 

 and to hydrography the detailed survey of nearly 1000 leagues of the least known 

 coasts in the world, and assures the position of nearly 200 islands or isles, of 

 which 70 or 80 had been hitherto figured on no map. 



The results of this voyage, in relation to geology and to natural history, are also 

 of interest to physical geography, to which these researches are allied. Messrs. 

 Quoy and Gaimard, naturalists of the expedition, have executed their labours with 

 the talent and continued zeal which they gave proofs of in the voyage of Frey- 

 cinnet. The collections they have made from every point to which access was 

 offered them, and which have been deposited in the cabinet of natural history, 

 and the new species they have obtained are considerable, and surpass those of their 

 predecessors. 



France is also indebted to Captain d'Urville, and the skilful officers of the 

 Astrolabe, for surveying the ill-fated shores on which the vessels of La Perouse 

 were wrecked. They saw through the transparent waters the scattered remains 

 of that expedition, but no living remnant of the wreck came to comfort their eye- 

 sight ; and, taught by the silence of death, they paid to the shades of their un- 

 fortunate countrymen the tribute of their grief and their regrets. A cenotaph, 

 erected on a point in the centre of the ocean, is to day the only result of forty 

 years of research. 



We cannot separate the voyage of Captain d'Urville from those of his talented 

 predecessors, Blessrs. Freycinnet and Duperrey. The interest which attaches it- 

 self to their scientific labours, increases with the successive publication of each of 

 the parts which compose them. The splendid atlas of Captain Duperrey is ter- 

 minated. Let us hope that the enlightened world will not be long in enjoying 

 all the results of these great voyages, of which France justly honours herself. 



The Society continues the publication of its memoirs. The first two volumes 

 have met with a most favourable reception, — such also will be the destiny of the 

 third, which contains the orography of Europe by Mr. Bruguiere, a work that re- 



VOL. II. Q 



