378 



LAON LAPIDARY. 



Apollo ami Neptune, whom Jupiter had banished 

 from heaven, and condemned to be subservient to the 

 will of Laomedon for one year. When the walls 

 were finished, Laomedon refused to reward the labours 

 of the gods ; and, soon after, his territories were laid 

 \v.-.-te by the sea, or Neptune, and his subjects were 

 visited by a pestilence sent by Apollo. Sacrifices 

 were offered to the offended divinities, but the calami- 

 ties of the Trojans increased, and nothing could 

 appease the aods. according to the words of the 

 oracle, but annually to expose to a sea-monster a 

 Trojan virgin. Whenever the monster appeared, the 

 marriageable maidens were assembled, and one was 

 doomed to death, by lot, for the good of her country. 

 When this calamity liad continued for five or six 

 years, the lot fell upon Flesione, Laomedon's daugh- 

 ter. The kin was unwilling to part with a daughter 

 whom he loved with uncommon tenderness, but his 

 refusal would irritate more strongly the wrath of the 

 got Is. In the midst of this fear and hesitation, Her- 

 cules came, and offered to deliver the Trojans from 

 this public calamity, if Laomedon would promise to 

 reward him with a number of fine horses. The king 

 consented ; but, when the monster was destroyed, he 

 refused to fulfil his engagements, upon which Hercu- 

 Jes besieged Troy, and took it by force of arms. 

 Laomedon was put to death after a reign of twenty- 

 nine years ; his daughter Hesione was given in mar- 

 riage to Telamon, one of the conqueror's attendants, 

 and Podarces was ransomed by the Trojans, and 

 placed upon his father's throne. According to 

 Hyginus, the wrath of Neptune and Apollo was 

 kindled against Laomedon because he refused to offer 

 on their altars, as a sacrifice, all the first-born of his 

 cattle, according to a vow he had made. 



LAON, BATTLE OF, March 9, 1814. See Cha- 

 tillon. 



LA PARLE ; the chief village of a French 

 colony in the south of Africa. About 150 years 

 ago, a number of French Protestants fled to that 

 distant corner of the world, to worship freely, 

 according to the dictates of their consciences. 

 In 1739, the Dutch prohibited preaching in French ; 

 Dutch is therefore, at present, the chief language. 

 The colony consists of about 4000 whites of French 

 descent, and 6000 Hottentot slaves. The whites 

 still possess the greatest attachment to France, 

 though for so long a time separated from the 

 civilized world. The colony has lately attracted 

 attention through French missionaries, and may 

 become important in the propagation of Christianity 

 in that region. 



LAPEROUSE, JOHN FRANCIS GALATJP DE ; a 

 French navigator, distinguished for his talents, and 

 still more remarkable for the mystery attending his 

 fate. He was born at Albi, in Languedoc, in 1741, 

 mid entered, at an early age, into the naval service 

 of his country. During the American war, he had 

 the command of an expedition sent to Hudson's bay, 

 when he destroyed the trading establishments of the 

 British. After the restoration of peace, the French 

 f-'overnment Laving determined on the prosecution of 

 a voyage of discovery, M. de Laperouse was fixed 

 on to conduct the undertaking. Two vessels the 

 1'missole and the Astrolabe were placed under his 

 command ; and, leaving France in 1785, he pro- 

 ceeded to the South sea, and, having visited the 

 coast of California, and other places farther north, 

 he crossed the Pacific, to continue his researches on 

 the eastern coasts and islands of Asia. In April, 



87, the ships sailed from Manilla towards the 

 rath ; and after passing the islands of Formosa, 

 Quelpaert, the coasts of Corea and Japan, they 

 sailed between Chinese Tartary and Saghalien, 

 without being able to determine whether it was 



an island or a peninsula; returning south, dis- 

 covered the straits which bear the name, of Lapo- 

 rouse, and, sailing north on the eastern coast of 

 Saiihalicn, at length, September 6, arrived at the 

 harbour of St Peter and St Paul, on the coast of 

 Kamtschatka. There they staid to refit the ships, 

 and experienced the utmost hospitality from the 

 Russian local authorities. From St Peter and St 

 Paul, Laperouse sent copies of his journals, &c., to 

 France, by M. de Lesseps, who proceeded over land 

 across Siberia to Petersburg. From these papers was 

 drawn up the relation of his voyage, published at 

 Paris (1797, four volumes 4to.), an English transla- 

 tion of which appeared in 1798 (three volumes, 8vo.). 

 September 30, the vessels sailed in search of farther 

 discoveries. They crossed the equinoctial line, 

 without meeting with any land, till December 6, 

 when they saw the Navigator's islands, and, a few 

 days after, they landed at Maouna, one of that 

 group. Here M. de Langle, the captain of the Astro- 

 labe, M. Lamanon, the naturalist attached to the 

 expedition, and ten other persons, were killed in 

 what appears to have been an unprovoked attack 

 of the natives. After this misfortune, Laperouse 

 visited Oyolava, an island near Maouna, and then 

 steered for the English colony in New South Wales. 

 January 23, 1788, they made the coast of New 

 Holland, and, on the 26th, anchored in Botany Bay. 

 They left Botany Bay in March, and, in a letter 

 which the commodore wrote February 7, he stated 

 his intention to continue his researches till Decem- 

 ber, when he expected, after visiting the Friendly 

 islands, to arrive at the Isle of France. This was 

 the latest intelligence received of the fate of the 

 expedition ; and M. d'Entrecasteaux, who was 

 despatched by the French government, in 1791, 

 in search of Laperouse, was unable to trace the 

 course he had taken, or gain any clew to the 

 catastrophe which had befallen him and his com- 

 panions. In 1825, the attention of the public was 

 excited towards this mysterious affair, by a notice 

 published by the French minister of the marine, 

 purporting that an American captain had declared 

 that he had seen, in the hands of one of the natives 

 of an island in the tract between Louisiade and New 

 Caledonia, a cross of the order of St Louis, and 

 some medals, which appeared to have been pro- 

 cured from the shipwreck of Laperouse. In con- 

 sequence of this information, the commander of a 

 vessel which sailed from Toulon, in April, 1826, on 

 a voyage of discovery, received orders to make 

 researches in the quarter specified, in order to 

 restore to their country any of the shipwrecked 

 crew who might yet remain in existence. Other 

 intelligence, relative to the wreck of two large 

 vessels, on two different islands of the New He- 

 brides, was obtained by captain Dillon, the com- 

 mander of an English vessel at Tucopia, in his 

 passage from Valparaiso to Pondicherry, in May, 

 1826, in consequence of which he was sent back 

 to ascertain the truth of the matter. The facts 

 discovered by him on this mission, were, that the 

 two ships struck on a reef at Mallicolo, 11 4' S. 

 latitude, 1 69 20' E. longitude ; one of them im- 

 mediately went down, and all on board perished ; 

 some of the crew of the other escaped, part of whom 

 were murdered by the savages ; the remainder built 

 a small vessel, and set sail from Mallicolo ; but what 

 became of them is not known. It is not, indeed, 

 certain that these were the vessels of Laperouse. 



LAPIDARY, in the preparation of gems for 

 sculpture ; an artificer who cuts precious stones. 

 This art is of great antiquity. There are various 

 machines employed in the cutting of precious stones, 

 according to their quality. The diamond, which is 



