CHARLES ALEXANDRE LESUEUR. 131 



course was laid for Mauritius, where Baudin died six weeks 

 after reaching Port Louis. 



After a stay of four months at Mauritius the Gtographe set 

 sail for the Cape of Good Hope, homeward bound. At that 

 port PeVon, now the only remaining zoologist of the expedition, 

 with the aid of Lesueur, made a careful investigation of an 

 anatomical peculiarity of the Bushman women a fold of skin 

 called the apron of which Lesueur made four careful draw- 

 ings. From the Cape the ship proceeded directly to France, 

 entering the port of Lorient, March 25, 1804, after an absence 

 of upward of three years and five months. 



Knowledge of Captain Baudin's misconduct and of the con- 

 sequent disintegration of the scientific corps had predisposed 

 the Government and the Institute to regard the expedition as a 

 failure, so that Pe"ron and Lesueur met with rather a cold re- 

 ception. They secured, however, a committee to examine the 

 collections brought home by the Naturaliste and Gtographe, 

 from whose comprehensive report, made June 9, 1806, the fol- 

 lowing summary is drawn : 



" Of the five zoologists appointed by the Government, two 

 remained at the Isle de France. Two others perished at the 

 commencement of the second campaign, by diseases contracted 

 at Timor. Pron alone was left ; but supported by his invig- 

 orated ardour, and the efforts of his coadjutor Lesueur, a 

 zoological collection was made, the extent and importance of 

 which become more and more manifest. It is composed of more 

 than one hundred thousand specimens of animals, several of 

 which will constitute new genera ; and the new species, accord- 

 ing to the report of the professors of the museum, are upward 

 of twenty-five hundred. If we call to mind that the second 

 voyage of Cook, fruitful as were its discoveries, made known 

 not more than two hundred and fifty new species, and that 

 all the united voyages of Carteret, Wallis, Furneaux, Mears, 

 and even Vancouver, did not produce as great a number, 

 it results that Pron and Lesueur alone have discovered 

 more new animals than all the travelling naturalists of mod- 

 ern days." 



After commending Pe*ron's descriptions, the report pro- 

 ceeds : 



" A description, nevertheless, how complete soever it may 

 be, can never give a sufficiently just idea of those singular 



