4 
Wreck Reef.-] TERRA AUSTRALIS. > 313 
visit the south-west coast of New Caledonia ; and he might have isos, 
encountered in the night, as we did, some one of the several reefs 
which lie scattered in this sea.* Less fortunate than we were, he PlateI ) 
probably had no friendly sand bank near him, upon which his people 
might be collected together and the means of existence saved out 
of the ships ; or perhaps his two vessels both took the unlucky 
direction of the Cato after striking, and the seas which broke into 
them carried away all his boats and provisions ; nor would La Pe- 
rouse, his vessels, or crews be able, in such a case, to resist the 
impetuosity of the waves more than twenty- four hours. If such 
were the end of the regretted French navigator, as there is now 
but too much reason to fear, it is the counterpart of what would 
have befallen all on board the Porpoise and Cato, had the former 
ship, like the Cato, fallen over towards the sea instead of heeling to 
the reef. 
An opinion that La P&rouse had been lost in this neighbour- 
hood, induced me when examining the main coast to seek carefully 
at every place, amongst the refuse thrown upon the shores, for in- 
dications of shipwreck to windward ; and could the search have 
been then prosecuted to the 15th, or 12th degree of latitude, I am 
persuaded it would not have been in vain. Besides the extensive 
reefs which skirt the western side of New Caledonia, and the Barrier 
Reefs on the opposite coast of New South Wales, we are now ac- 
*La Pdrouse says, in bis letter to M. de Fleurieu, dated Feb. 7, 1788 from Botany ' 
Bay, “ You will doubtless be glad to learn, that I have not allowed this misfortune (the 
“ Massacre of captain De l’Angle and eleven others at the Navigator’s Isles) to derange 
“ the plan of the remaining part of my voyage." This plan, as expressed in a preceding 
letter of Sept. 7, 1787, at Avatscha, was to “ empjpy six months in visiting the Friendly 
“ Blands to procure refreshments, the south-west coast of New Caledonia, the island 
“ of Saata Cruz of Mendana, , the southern coast of the land of the Arsacides, with 
that of Louisiade as lar as New Guinea.” Voyage of La Perouse, Translation, 
London, 1799, Vol. II. p. 494-5, 602-3. 
As La Perouse did not reach the Friendly Isles, it is probable that he began with New 
Caledonia ; and that upon the south-west coast, or in the way to it, disaster befel him. 
VOL. II. Ss 
