454 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



to the river St. Lucia, which is wide, deep, and rapid, they 

 were at a loss how to cross it. At last their guide procured a 

 hollow canoe, the master of which fastened a horse on each 

 side of the bow, and then boldly assumed the reins. He sup- 



A FERRY BOAT AT BUENOS AYRES. 



ported the heads of the horses above the water and drove them 

 safely across it. The Frenchmen landed on the opposite side 

 dry shod. 



It was not till the 14th of November that the Boudeuse and 

 Etoile, having taken in supplies of biscuit and bread, sailed, for 

 the last time, from Montevideo. They made the entrance of 

 the Strait of Magellan a fortnight afterwards. On the 8th of 

 December, they saw a number of Patagonians, who had kept 

 up fires all night, hoisting a white flag on an eminence, — a flag 

 which somo European ship had evidently given them as a pledge 

 of alliance. Bougainville went on shore, where some thirty 

 natives received him wirh every mark of good will. They em- 

 braced him and his party, shook hands with them, and imitated 

 the report of muskets with their mouths, showing that they were 

 accustomed to fire-arms. They aided the botanist in collecting 

 plants and simples, and one of them applied to the physician 

 for a prescription for his inflamed eye. They asked for tobacco, 

 and swallowed small draughts of brandy, blowing with their 

 mouths after the draught and uttering a tremulous inarticulate 

 sound. They begged them to remain over night, and, upon the 



