A RECORD LEFT IN A BOTTLE. 



447 



which they appeared to believe, directed him to proceed to a 

 bay not far distant, where he would find shelter from the 

 monsoon and provisions in abundance. He proceeded, therefore, 

 to Bonthain, where he altered his reckoning, having lost about 

 eighteen hours in coming by the west, while the vessels that 

 had come by the east had gained about s ; x. He stayed here 

 two months, with difficulty obtaining natives to replace the many 

 seamen he had lost. On the passage from Bonthain to Batavia, 

 the ship leaked so fast that the pumps, which were kept con- 

 stantly at wor£, were hardly able to keep her free. He arrived 

 at Batavia on the 2d of June. Here the Dutch authorities again 

 placed every obstacle in his way ; and it was the last week in July 

 before he could heave down the ship for repairs. These being 

 completed, he set sail for England. 



On the 30th of January, 17G9, he touched at Ascension, where 

 it was the custom, as the island was uninhabited, for every ship 

 to leave a letter in a bottle, with the date, name, destination, &c. 

 With this custom Carteret of course complied. Three weeks 

 afterwards, he was overhauled by a ship bearing French colors 

 and sailing in the same direction as himself. Carteret was very 

 much surprised to hear the French captain call him and his 

 ship by name: he was still more surprised to hear that the 

 Dolphin had already returned to England, and had reported 

 his — Carteret's — probable loss in Magellan's Strait. " How did 

 you learn the name of my ship?" shouted Carteret through his 

 trumpet. "From the bottle at Ascension," was the reply. 

 "And how did you hear of the opinion formed in England of 

 our fate?" "From the French gazette at the Cape of Good 

 Hope." "And who may you be, pray?" "A French East 

 Indiaman, Captain Bougainville." The vessel was La Boudeuse, 

 whose voyage round the world we shall narrate in the following 

 chapter. The Swallow anchored at Spithead on Saturday, the 

 20th of March, having been absent three years wanting two 

 days. No navigator had yet done so much with resources so 



