1802.] 
better pretext to return to thofe parts 
where a lucrative commerce could be car- 
ried on, and to have loft in this manner 
the half of his own crew, while only two 
men died on board his confort :-=in fhort, 
he was reproached with having exercifed 
the moft cruel tyranny over all the officers 
fubjest to his cominand. In confequence 
of this, he was condemned by a council of 
war to lofe his rank in the fervice, and be 
confined. during twenty years in prifon ; 
but it ought to be recollected, that Louis 
XV. was then dead, Deboyne was no 
longer minifter, and that his (ucceffor was 
perhaps. but little difpleafed that all the 
odium attached to this butinefs fhould 
fall upon him. ( 
Be this as it may, Bruguiéres, who was 
fummoned as a witnefs during the trial, 
would not prefer any complaint againt 
the commander under whom he had failed ; 
but he did not diffemble, in the company 
of his friends, the fufferings he had endur- 
ed in the courfe of the voyage. 
The Duke de Croui had been entrufted 
with all the arrangements relative, to this 
expedition, Bruguiéres was accordingly. 
prefented:to him by Meffieurs de Juffieu, 
the uncle and. nephew, and it was agreed 
that he fhould be employed in the quality 
of botanift.; The voyage was intended to 
be of two years duration. .; 
They fir(t repaired to the Cape of Good 
Hopes then to Madagafcar, and thence to 
the.Ifle of France.’» They difcovered land 
to the fouth of the la% of thefe, but the 
Commander refufed to explore it, under pre- 
tence. that his crew was. too much redu- 
ced. The lofs, however; was not fo great, 
if, as it is moft likely; this: land defcried 
by Kergueiin , be the fame that was after- 
wards'vilited- by Cook, in 1776, and call- 
ed byshim the [fand of Defolation. The 
name alone demonttrates that it was {carce- 
ly worth the trouble of exploring. 
In the courfe of this voyage, Bruguiéres 
collected many rare plants, and feveral 
unknown animals, fome of which were 
afterwards deferibed by him in the perio- 
dical works of the day. Ir isto him we 
are indebted for the genus Laagaha, fince 
adopted. by our colleague Lacepede, in 
his admirable Hiftory of Serpents, 
He was particularly attentive to the 
animals of the clafs of Vermes; Mollufce, 
and Zoophyta, {o very common in the feas 
of the torrid zone; and it was then he laid 
the foundations of the knowledge which 
he fince obtained on thefe fubje&ts, which 
were but little cultivated is France before 
pis time, 
Biographical Account of Bruguitres. (419 
During his flay at Madagafcar,..arfine 
gular adventure. occurred, relative . to 
which he was often accuftomed to be very 
jocular with his friends. It is well known 
that the half-civilized nations that inhabit 
the fhores of the Indian Sea and the ifles 
of the Southern Ocean, whether Negroes 
or Malays, are accuftomed to prefent their 
daughters to {trangers;,it is even pretend- 
ed by M. Meiners, that. this is common 
with the whole of the Negro and Mogul 
race. It is more efpecially the white peo- 
ple who obtain th¢ preference in this. {pe+ 
cies of facrifice; they invite, nay, they 
infitt, on their acceptance 3 and thofe who 
have had the good fortune to appertain to 
an European, are more jought after when 
a definitive marriage is intended with one 
of theirown countrymen; the beit matches 
being always made by thofe who have 
lived with feveral. The Azthropologijis 
have argued a great deal relative to cuf- 
toms fo entirely oppofite to our own ; and 
they have conlidered it as a tacit confeffion- 
on the part of thefe people of our fuperio- 
rity. Letus acknowledge, however, that 
they poflefs advantages of another kind, 
to which we cannot always pretend ; fox 
itis faid that theie women, fovealy of acs 
cefs before marriage, exhibit an uualter- 
able fidelity the moment they | become 
wives. Hor sei 
However this may be, the fact ts, that 
the Kang offered his daughter to fuch a 
prefling manner, and withdc,goad a grace, 
that Bruguiéres could not refule to partici-= 
pate in. fuch an unexpected inftance of 
good fortune. His. draughtiman was at 
the fame time prefented with the daughter 
of the prime-minifter, and the two couple 
were united with the accuflomed ceremo- 
nies; each of them received a tent, anda 
guard of honour. The defire of pleafing 
on the one part, the fweetnefs of temper 
and the natural graces on the other, pro- 
duced charms which could not have been 
expected from an union of this kind ; and 
it was far more happy than many of thofe 
which, we witnefs daily. It muft be con- 
feffed, however, that it did not laft for 
more than eight days, at the end of which 
period it became neceflary once more to 
refume the yoke of 4ifcipline and civiliza- 
tion. 
It may not be ufelefs here to recount 
another anecdote that occurred during 
this fame voyage, which allo fhews the 
value which thefe’ men attach to favours 
of this kind on the part of the whites.—~ 
The natives had been unfortunately irri- 
tated by fome inftances-of bad treatment 
on 
OE Oe a en Ce I 
