7 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



return from the important expedition which yoU 

 are going to undertake. Deprived of the hope 

 with which 1 had flattered myfelf, of having the 

 honour of feeing you, I haftcn to tranfmit to 

 you, at the Cape of Good Hope, two accounts 

 relative to the object of your million, which 

 have julT been given to me by the Captains of 

 two French fhips arrived from Batavia. You will 

 there fee by what accident a Dutch fhip, having 

 on board Commodore Hunter, commander of the 

 Englifh frigate Syrius, as well as his crew, had 

 feen, near the Admiralty Iflands in the South 

 Sea, men covered with European cloths, and 

 particularly fome clothes which he judged to be 

 French uniforms. You will alfo fee that the 

 Commodore had no doubt of their being the 

 remains of the wreck of M. de la Peroufe, 

 whom he had feen at Botany Bay. 



I have thought that the knowledge of thefe 

 reports would be interefting to you, and have 

 indeed judged them fufftciently important to de- 

 termine me to make you acquainted with them 

 directly, by a frigate which I fend to the Cape 

 folely for this purpofe. Captain Bolle, who 

 commands her, will, if he does not find you 

 there, leave my difpatch with the French Charge 

 d * Affaires, in order that it may be delivered to 

 you on your arrival. Although no official ac- 

 counts 



