124 



AUSTRALASIA. 



asia. 

 JTOO-ltHO. 



as the men in appearance. In May M. de Boti 



villc Bailed along the north coast or an extensive land, 



low, and covered with trees. Many Dative* were teen 



on ili. beach, but altho ;t off, none 



would venture on board 1. The French, 



however, prepared to land in a beautiful bay, on which 

 they were attacked by the inhabitants, whom thev 

 treated with much rigour in retaliation. M. de Bou- 

 gainville, ignorant that this part of Australasia had 

 been already visited, and having found a number of 

 islands lying near each other, called the whole the 

 Archipelago qf the Great Cycladet. The more ex- 

 tensive coast was afterwards proved to be the Tierra 

 Aiutral del Etpirilu Santo, where Quivos had re- 

 mained a month. Warfare seemed to pervade these 

 islands, as the natives would part with none of their 

 arms except a few arrows. 



M. de Bougainville, in a north-west course from 

 the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, discovered a 

 new region of Australasia. His approach to the land 

 was indicated by a delightful odour in the night, and 

 in the morning a beautiful country was disclosed to 

 view, consisting of plains and groves extending along 

 the shores, anci lofty mountains of different elevations 

 in the interior. He was prevented from visiting so 

 desirable a country, bearing every mark of riches and 

 fertility, for both disease and famine had reduced his 

 crew. Standing along the south shore, he saw seve- 

 ral islands, and after doubling a cape on the east, he 

 called the land La I.oukuule. Here, for the sake of 

 preserving connection, it may be remarked, that our 

 present knowledge of Louisiade is infinitely more im- 

 peifect than of most other Australasian territories. 

 Since that period it has seldom been recognised, and 

 some geographers have supposed it an extension of the 

 coast of Papua. Two French vessels, the Boussole 

 and Recherche, traversed the north coast in 1793, but 

 except in ascertaining that there were numerous flats, 

 shoals, and islands indistinctly characterised, no impor- 

 tant discoveries were made. The natives had woolly 

 hair and olive coloured skins : they were stark naked, 

 excepting a kind of girdle, and large leaves before. 

 Some of them ornamented their woolly hair with tufts 

 of feathers, and- wore cords wound several times tight 

 round their bodies, intended, as the French conjectu- 

 red, to support the muscles of the belly. The faces 

 of many were smeared over with charcoal, and they 

 had a bone through the septum of the nose. They 

 seemed extremely fond of perfumes, and most of the arti- 

 cles procured from them were scented. These savages 

 displayed great dexterity in steering their canoes, and 

 could sail swiftly round the vessels. They were very 

 earnest that the French should go on shore, where 

 their houses stood on posts, five or six feet from the 

 ground, like those of the Papuans. 



Further discoveries were made in Australasia by M. 

 de Bougainville. A few degrees north of Louisiade 

 he found a number of islands which bear his name, as 

 also straits to the north-west of Solomon's islands. 

 One which appeared to have a good narbour, he cal- 

 led Choi.scid island, and sent out boats to examine it. 

 But while his people were engaged in sounding, the 

 natives, who had previously shewn a hostile disposi- 

 tion, suddenly attacked them with ten canoes. They 

 were armed with bows, spears, and shields ; the lat- 



ter consisting of plaited rushes, aid so thickly inter- Austral- 

 woven as to be impenetrable by arrows. These sa- ""* 



advanced in good order, and dividing their ._".," 

 , attempted to surround the boats, and even after 

 iving the fire of musketry, continued to throw 

 lances and discharge their arrows ; facts which at once 

 proved their intrepidity, and their iamilianty with war. 

 Their bravery, however, was unavailing, and two of 

 their canoes, containing ample store of arms, were 

 taken by the French. The natives were black, with 

 curled hair, dyed white, yellow, and red. Those of 

 another island werjt entirely naked ; the short woolly 

 hair of many was also stained red ; and white spots 

 were painted or! different parts of the body. M. de 

 Bougainville next made the coast of New Ireland, 

 and anchored in a bay, formerly named Gower har- 

 bour, by Captain Carteret, and now called Praslin's 

 Bay. Having afterwards traversed the north coast 

 of New Guinea, he directed his voyage homewards. 



Nearly about the same period, M. de Surville, also Suivill!:. 

 a Frenchman, undertook a voyage to Australasia on 

 some commercial speculation, with the special nature 

 of which we are unacquainted. He commanded a 

 vessel of considerable size and force, and sailed from 

 Pondicherry with a cargo in June 1769. On the 6th 

 of October, being in 6 56' south latitude, and lon- 

 gitude 151 30' east of Paris, he saw an island which 

 he named First Sight island, and then came in view 

 of land with a great chain of mountains extending as 

 far as the eye could reach. The latitude of the island 

 was fixed at 7 15', and its longitude 155 east of 

 Paris. Four islets and a high mountain seemed to 

 form the mouth of a capacious bay, which Surville 

 determined to explore. It proved to be uninhabited, 

 but it abounded in fruit trees, and numerous birds of 

 beautiful plumage. Fifteen leagues south of First Sight 

 island high mountains were seen, and Surville pro- 

 ceeding along, passed many islands, which he was de- 

 terred from approaching by the state of the shore. 

 At length he anchored in a fine harbour with reefs 

 and islands at the entrance, which he named Port 

 Praslin. Various interviews took place with the na- 

 tives, whose early display of hostile intentions was 

 averted by the conciliatory conduct of the French. 

 Nevertheless, it quickly appeared how little they 

 merited confidence, from leading their visitors into 

 an ambuscade, where an encounter ensued, and thirty 

 or forty of their own number were killed. Several of 

 the French were wounded, and afterwards died. The 

 ferocious disposition of the natives prevented M.^de 

 Surville from obtaining an intimate knowledge of the 

 country, which was extremely inviting. He observed 

 among the plants wild coffee, the cabbage tree,, diffe- 

 rent species of almonds, cocoa nuts, and other fruits 

 in abundance : the shores were likewise well stored witli 

 fish, turtles, andtheir eggs : andthough no quadruped 

 was seen, the wild boar was said to inhabit the woods. 

 The people were of ordinary stature, strong and mas- 

 culine; some were perfectly black, with soft woolly 

 hair, others copper-coloured, witli lank hair, and all 

 of ferocious aspects. Most of them powdered their 

 hair and eye-brows with lime, and painted a white 

 line pver the eye-brows. They carried clubs, bow.;, 

 arrows, and spears, and as a defence had shields of , 

 wicker work, ornamented with tufts, or tassel.;, of 



