Count Bougainville, the French Circumnavigator. 375 
gainville. This young man amused them muchduring the voyage: 
it was remarked that he gave names in his own language to the 
most brilliant of the stars, and he had made several voyages to 
the neighbouring islands, the positions of which and the manners 
of the inhabitants he described as well as he could. Aotourou 
remained eleven months at Paris. The desire to see him was 
great, and his patron neglected no means of making his stay in 
France agreeable. * Aotourou repaid these attentions with the 
warmest gratitude, and by leaving a collection of anecdotes, 
which would have been always read with much pleasure if M. de 
Bougainville had introduced them into the account of his voyage. 
Nothing was omitted to secure his return to his native island in 
a respectable manner. The mest costly presents were made him, 
and a sum of 36,000 livres was given him by Bougainville out of his 
own pocket. He was received with great attention at the Isle of 
France; and Capt. Marion, who was to convey him to Otaheite, 
also took the most particular care of him. He died of the small- 
pox, however, during the voyage. The same fate had befallen 
two other islanders who left Otaheite with an English captain, 
eight months before Bougainville. 
After leaving this island, the voyage for a long time presented 
nothing interesting. The dangers which they met with alone 
interrupted the monotony of their nautical observations; and the 
most dreadful of all evils, famine, stared them in the face. The 
rations were reduced, the route was changed, and they renounced 
all attempts at discovering a passage which was long suspected 
to exist. The glory of this discovery was reserved for Captain 
Cook, who fell in with it most fortunately when his vessel was 
on the point of being lost. A similar danger awaited Bougain- 
ville, if the want of provisions had not compelled him to abandon 
the project. They escaped at length; a cape received the name 
of Cape Deliverance, but the scurvy now began to commit ra- 
vages among the crew. Fortunately a passage was found through 
the Papon Isles, and they entered the sea of Molucca. Bourou 
presented a most delicious anchorage, where, notwithstanding 
strict orders to exclude every foreign vessel, the resident per- 
mitted them to rest after so many fatigues. Aotourou, trans- 
ported with joy at the sight of so many objects, asked if Paris 
was as fine as Bourou; but his admiration was soon checked at 
the sight of the numerous diseased inhabitants contained in Ba- 
tavia, to which he gave the appellation of Enowa mati—Land 
which kills. 
From Batavia the ships proceeded to the Isle of France, from 
thence to the Cape of Good Hope, and subsequently to St. Ma- 
loes, where they arrived on the 16th of March 1769, after a 
Aad voyage 
