THE FIRST FLUTTERINGS OF THE WING. 93 



trious travellers, ardent lovers of nature, often without means, often 

 without assistance, have followed it into the deserts, watched and 

 surprised it in its mysterious retreats, voluntarily enduring thirst and 

 hunger and incredible fatigues; never complaining, thinking them- 

 selves too well recompensed, full of devotion, of gratitude at each 

 fresh discovery; regretting nothing in such an event, not even the 

 death of La Perouse* or Mungo Park, ) death by shipwreck, or death 

 among the savages. 



Bid them live again here in our midst! If their lonely life flowed 

 free from Europe for Europe's benefit, let their images be placed in 

 the centre of the grateful crowd, with a brief exposition of their for- 



* The unfortunate navigator, Jean Fra^ois de Calaup, Comte de La Perouse, was horn 

 in 1741. At an early age he entered the French navy, rose to a high grade, and distin- 

 guished himself by his services against the English in North America. In 1783 he was 

 appointed to command an expedition of discovery, and on the 1st of August 1785, sailed 

 from Brest with two frigates, the Boussole and the Astrolabe. He reached Botany Bay in 

 January 1788, and thenceforward was no more heard of for years. Several vessels were 

 despatched to ascertain his fate, hut could obtain no clue to it. In 1826, however, Captain 

 Dillon, while sailing amongst the Queen Charlotte Islands, discovered at Wanicoro the re- 

 mains of the shipwrecked vessels. A mausoleum and obelisk to the memory of their un- 

 fortunate commander was erected on the island in 1828. Translator. 



f Mungo Park, the illustrious African traveller (born near Selkirk in 1771), perished on 

 his second expedition to the Niger towards the close of the year 1805. No exact informa- 

 tion of his fate has been obtained, but from the evidence collected by Clapperton and 

 Lander, it seems probable that he was drowned in attempting to navigate a narrow channel 

 of the river in the territory of Houssa. Another account, however, represents him to have 

 been murdered by the natives. Translator. 



