THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 6- 



As a memorial of our having; been in this harbour, I ^ ^''!^- 

 wrote on the other fide of the parchment, « — -v — ^ 



North Eaft, they difcovered, on the 36th, the Ijl' de Remiion, and the other fmall 

 iflands as mentioned abo\e ; that, oh the 17th, they had before them the principal 

 land (which they were fure v/as connecled with that feen by them on the 14th), 

 and a high point of that land, named by them Ca_pe Francois; that- beyond tliis 

 Cape, the coaft took a South Eafterly direftion, and behind it they found a bay, callc! 

 by them liaie de I'Oifeaii, from the name of their frigate ; that they then endeavoured 

 to enter it, but were prevented hy contrary v/inds ar.d blowing weather, which drove 

 them off the coaft Eaftward ; but that, at laft, on the 6th of January, Rlonheur de Rof- 

 nevet. Captain of the Oifeau, was able to fend his boat on flioreinto this bav, under the 

 command of Monfieur de Rochegude, one of his officers, who took pojpffion of that hays 

 cmd of all the coutitij, in the name of the King of France, with ail the reqiiifite formalities." 



Here then we trace, by the moft unexceptionable evidence, the hiftory of the bottle 

 and infcription ; the leaving of which was, no doubt, one of the reqiiifite formalities 

 obferved by Monfieur de Rochegude on this occafion. And though he did net land till 

 the 6th of January 1774, yet, as Kerguelen's Ihips arrived upon the coaft on the 14th 

 of December 1773, and had difcovered and looked into this very bay on the 17th of 

 of that month, it was with the ftrideft propriety and truth that 1773, and not 1774, 

 was mentioned as the date of the difcovery. 



We need only look at Kerguelen's and Cook's Charts, to judge that the Bale de 

 rDtfeau, and the harbour where the French infcription was found, is one and the 

 iame place. But befides this agreement as to the general pofition, the fame conclu- 

 iion refults more decifively ftill, from another circumftance v/orth mentioning: The 

 French, as well as the Englifh vifiters of this bay and harbour, have given us a par- 

 ticular Plan of it ; and v/hoever cempaves ours, ptiMiflied in this Volume, with 

 that to be met with in Kerguelen's and de Pages's Voyages, muft be ftruck with a 

 refemblance that could only be produced by copying one common original with fide- 

 lity. Nay, even the foundings are the fame upon the fame fpots in both Plans, 

 being forty-five fathoms betrween the two Capes, before the entrance of the bay ; fixtecn 

 fathoms farther in, where the fhores begin to contradtj and eight fathoms up, near thi 

 bottom of the harbour. 



To thefe particulars, which throw abundant light on this part of our Author's 

 Journal, I ftinll only add, that the diftance of our harbour from that where Boifgtie- 

 henneu landed in 1772, is forty leagues. For this we have the authority of Ker- 

 guclen, in the following pafllige : " Monfieur de Boifguehenneu defcendit le 13 de- 

 " Fevrier 1772, dans un baie, qu'il nomme Bale du Lion Mnrin, k prit pofleflion 

 « de cette terre au nom de Roi ; H n'y vit aucuiie trace d'habitants. Monfieur de 

 " Rochegude, en 1774, a defcendu dans un autre baie, que nous avons nomme 

 " J^aie de_ I'Oifeau, & cette feconde rade eft a quarantes lieues de la premiere. 

 " 11 en a egaleme.nt pris pofl'effion, & il n'y trouva egalem.cnt aucui;e trace d'habitants." 

 Kergi/elen, p. 02. 



