194 Memoir of Charles Alexander Lesueur. 



of the latter, the ships were separated in a violent gale. The 

 Geographe proceeded to the exploration of De Witt's Land ; 

 when her stock of provisions and water being nearly exhausted, 

 the commander resolved to depart for the Island of Timor to 

 obtain a supply, and to relieve his crew, dispirited by fatigue and 

 sickness, and thinned by death. On the 21st of August, the ship 

 was moored in the road of Coepang, the chief establishment of 

 the Dutch at Timor. The Naturaliste after her separation ex- 

 plored the coasts of Edel's Land, and rejoined her consort on the 

 21st of September, in the roadstead of Coepang. 



" Perhaps there is no country," says the historian of the voy- 

 age, "more interesting, and at the same time, there are few so 

 little known as the great Island of Timor. Placed in the midst 

 of the equatorial regions, covered with the most useful vegeta- 

 bles, and abounding with the most precious animals ; interme- 

 diate between New Holland and the islands of the great archi- 

 pelago of Asia, it presents in its atmospherical and geological con- 

 stitution, in its different productions, and in its physical and po- 

 litical revolutions, important subjects of inquiry and meditation." 



Timor afforded a rich field for the naturalists, and their indus- 

 try was equal to their zeal ; but an accident which befel Lesueur, 

 on the 12th of September, nearly cost him his life. While 

 pursuing a troop of monkeys, among the rocks which obstruct 

 the course of the river Coepang, he was bitten in the heel by a 

 venomous reptile. He was alone, at some distance from the 

 town. A numbness, which pervaded the whole leg, was a sig- 

 nificant indication of what he had to apprehend irom such a 

 wound. He hastened toward the fort, as fast as his condition 

 would permit, as his leg had become rigid. To lessen the ac- 

 tivity of the virus, he had recourse to a ligature above the knee; 

 the thigh nevertheless began to swell visibly, and when he reached 

 his quarters, lie threw himself upon his bed, overcome with fa- 

 tigue and agony, and exhibiting symptoms of a malignant fever. 

 The surgeon-major, M. Shandon, fortunately being at home, im- 

 mediately cauterized deeply the wound, then applied to it a com- 

 press, impregnated with ammonia; he also gave the patient a 

 strong dose of the same, and ordered him to be kept as quiet as 

 possible. A copioi 1 ^ perspiration took place, the pains began to 

 abate ; and in a few days Mr. Lesueur was enabled to be abroad, 

 with no other inconvenience than a stiffness of the knee, which 

 continued for some time, and was long occasionally felt durin 

 sudden variations in the temperature of the weather. 



On a superficial view of Timor* it would seem to be an earthly 

 paradise. Nature there exhibits her most inviting forms, and is 

 truly lavish of her bounties. The choicest productions of the 

 tropics there attain to their utmost perfection, and the sea and the 

 land seem to vie with each other in contributing to the gratifica- 





P 



