370 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



trees. He noted, for the benefit of scientific friends, that 

 the Patagonians are tall but not gigantic. 



Scepticism. Then he began systematic search for Terra Australis. 

 He looked in vain for Davis Land, and " according to 

 M. de Bellin's Chart," he writes, " I must have sailed over 

 it." Then he looked for the coast marked in the Charts in 

 about 18 to 20, and described as " lands and islands seen 

 by Quiros." There were plenty of islands but no trace 

 of a continent, and Bougainville concluded that geogra- 

 phers had deceived themselves. " Upon the whole," 

 he writes with admirable sense, " J know not on what 

 grounds our geographers lay down, after these isles, a 

 beginning of land seen, as they say, by Quiros, to which 

 they give seventy leagues of extent. . . . If any considerable 

 land existed hereabouts, we could not fail meeting with 

 it. ... I agree that it is difficult to conceive such a number 

 of low islands, and almost drowned lands, without supposing 

 a continent near them. But geography is a science of 

 facts ; in studying it, authors must by no means give 

 way to any system formed in their studies, unless they 

 would run the risk of being subject to very great errors, 

 which can be rectified only at the expense of navigators." 



Bougainville found no continent, but he found that 

 which made amends. In April 1768 he came to the lovely 

 island which Wallis had visited ten months before. Wallis 

 had called it " King George the Third's Island." Bougain- 

 ville, for sufficient reasons, called it "New Cythera " ; 

 but he found that the natives called it " Taiti " (Tahiti). 

 He described its charms with the words of a lover. Every 

 prospect pleased, and men and women especially women 

 pleased still more. Tahiti became the Paradise of the 

 sensual man, who has forgotten the Ten Commandments, 

 and desires to enjoy " the ease of the golden age." 



Before sailing from Tahiti. Bougainville " buried an 

 ' 1 - act of taking possession, inscribed on an oak plank, and 

 a bottle well corked and glued, containing the names 

 of the officers of both ships." A native named Aotourou 

 begged that he might be allowed to sail with them, and 

 Bougainville assented, thinking that he would be of use 



New 



Cyther?. 



A French 



