104 FRENCH IN VAN DIKMEN's LAND. 



casteaux Channel, after its (liscoverer. Recherche Bay, 

 close nt liand, offered a safe i'.iid coniniodioiis harbour for 

 the ships ; and here they reniained for a month, their 

 boats explorino- and surveyin;:: tlie channel and the various 

 inlets on the coast, while tlie Sfientific men journeyed 

 inland, made observations, collected specimens of natural 

 history, and revelled iu the examination of a new flora 

 and fauna. The natives, at first timid and distrustful, 

 were soon conciliatod, and showed themselves most friendly 

 to the Europeans. Ou the 17th May the ships entered 

 the Channel, and tlie Frencli viewed with astonishment 

 the extent of the harbours which unfolded ihemselves to 

 their delighted gaze, affording a secure siielter spacious 

 enough to contain easily the combined fleet of all the 

 maritime powers of Europe. After a fortnight employed 

 in examining tlie Channel, the Admiral sailod ovit of th "> 

 Passage into Storm Bay, rounded the i*iil;ir, imd jiro- 

 ceeded to New Caledonia. In the sunnnei* ui' th;> 

 following year he returned to Van Diemen's Land, and 

 spent another five weeks in tiie Channel (21 January 

 to 28 February, 1793). During this second stay the 

 French completed the surveys which thoy had begun 

 in the preceding autumn, explored Norfolk Bay and 

 Frederick Henry Bay (Baio du Nord), and ascended 

 20 miles up the Derwent, which they named iiiviere 

 du Nord. Flinders, Avith his usual generous recognition 

 of the work of previous navigators, says of the charts 

 of Beautems Beaupre, the hydrograjjher of tiio expedition. 

 T""a,T.'.9x'' t'l^t "thoy contain some "Of the finest specimens of 

 marine surveying jierhaps ever made in a new country." 

 Labillardiere, the naturalist and historian of the expedition, 

 devotes more than J 60 pages of his work to a description 

 Lawihinutrc, of the TeiTO do Die' men. Ife speaks with enthusiasm of 

 recherche 'lie La the coimtry and its ])roductir)ns, of its magnificent forests 

 r/JVIIf • Jv •'P- of blue-giim and other timber, of ils soil and f'riilitv, and 



lIG-lO't, and I., p, „ , ~ . , . . ' 1 •iM 



«»-iL,p.80. of the aiDKibihty of ils peaceful mhabitants, and dilates 

 with pardonable jiride and satisfaction on the grandeur 

 and extent of the harbours which French enterprise had 

 discovered in this hitherto dreaded coast. The lengthened 

 stay of D'Entrccasteaux, the minut<' and elaborate nature 

 of his surveys, and the space his historian devot(^H to a 

 descriptiftn of the country ami its advantages, indicate 

 some further object than mere geograjdiical res(!arch. 

 The names which stud our southern coast, and are 



