

200 Memoir of Charles Alexander Lesueur. 



The general impression is, that as the post of commander in 

 chief of a scientific expedition is one of great dignity, so, the 

 incumbent must necessarily be presumed to be a man of honor. 

 The French government had omitted nothing which might con- 

 tribute to the success of the voyage. The magazines of Havre 

 were placed at the disposal of the commander ; and large sums 

 of money were granted him for the purchase of medicines, bot- 

 tled wines, spirituous liquors, soup-cakes, preserved meats, essence 

 of malt ; in short, every thing which the health and comfort of 

 man, exposed to the vicissitudes of an extended navigation, 

 could seem to require. But on the arrival of the ships at the 

 Isle of France, circumstances occurred which placed the charac- 

 ter of Captain Baud in in no equivocal light. It was observed 

 that upwards of eighty cases and trunks, of what had been sup- 

 posed to be ship-stores, were landed and given to the care of an 

 individual, who had embarked in the Geographe under the title 

 of captain's secretary, but who, in reality, was a business associ- 

 ate of the commander.* This man at once set up a shop in Port- 

 Louis, for the exhibition and sale of their merchandize, the value 

 of which was estimated to amount to upwards of three hundred 

 thousand francs ! So says Bory de Saint Vincent, who declares 

 that he there saw exposed to sale even the ship's medical stores! 

 an act of consummate baseness, which is perhaps without a par- 

 allel in the history of maritime discovery .f 



The ships had hardly left the Isle of France, when the com- 

 mander ordered all on board to be put upon short allowance ; that 

 is to say, to each man half a pound of fresh bread every ten days. 

 In place of the ration of wine, to which they had been accus- 



* In the passport granted by the French government to Captain Flinders, he was 

 expressly prohibited from engaging in any kind of commerce. Bi din, it should 

 eem, had greater latitude in the passport which A* received from the British gov- 

 ernment ; otherwise he would not have dared to make the scientific character of li 

 expedition a cloak for commercial speculation. "II est bien entendu cepen int, 

 qu'ils ne s'occuperont d'aucune espece de commerce, ni de contrebande." For a copy 

 of this passport, see "A Voyage to Terra Australia" vol. i, p. 12. 



f Je songeai serieusement a me menager, pour etre r6tabli au moment du depart 

 de l'exp&lition, qui pouvait etre prochain. Une bonne saute" devenait dautant plus 

 necessaire pour continuer le voyage, que nous alliens mettre a la voile dans un de- 

 nuement absolu de tout ce qui peut etre propre a adoucir les de/oftts d'une longue tra- 

 versee: nos vivres elevaient etre de mauvaise quality nous allions, peut-«»tre allerdans 

 <les contr£es tr- -malsaines, et ce qu'il y avait de plus alarmant, e'est qtfil ne restart 

 pas a bord un medicament, en cas qu'il y eut, des nmlades. Sans doute, par quelqu 



meprise, en descendant a terre plus de quatre-vingts malles et caiss< anjiieVs I 

 qui del cut y etre dej -ees, on descendit aussi les medicamens de Vexp on, ct 

 memo das barils de clous a Fusage dubord; car j'ai, depui vu vendre ees objet- 

 dans un grand magasin nomme dans ce temps, a l'lsle-ae-France, h Magasin de 



(rabares. Ce magasin, tresconsiderable et tel qti'on n'en avait pas vu dan- le p 8 

 depuis la guerre, contenait pour la valour de plus de trois cent milie franc- de bum 







Voyarjc dans les Quatres Principait 

 (TAfrique. Tome i, p. 186. 



