695 
the mineralogists; and to these were ad- 
ded, Lahaie, as gardener . Care also was 
taken, that the “chaplains and surgeons 
should be men conversant in the pre- 
ductions of nature. Ventenat fulfilled 
the former of these functions on board 
the Recherche ; and, during the course of 
the voyage, displ: ayed an uncommon por- 
tion of zeal ; while the astronomer Pi- 
erson, acted in a similar capacity on 
board the Espérance. Bertrand was the 
regular astronomer; but, having taker 
his departure at the Cape e: Good liope, 
his place was supplied by an officer of 
the name of De Rossel. 
This little expedition set sail at noon, 
on the 28th of September, and anchored 
at St. Croix, in the island of Teneriffe, 
October 13. 
Proper guides, and every thing else 
necessary for a journey to the Peak, 
having been obtained, the naturalists, 
&c. immediately set out on their way 
thither; but many of them were pre- 
vented from accomplishing their wishes, 
by physical difficulties: Riche, and Bla- 
viere were both unable to reach the 
summit, which enterprize was achieved 
by Labillardiere alone. He has since 
published an abridged narrative of his 
proceedings. 
The passage from Teneriffe to she 
Cape furnished a variety of interesting 
facts concerning fishes and their ana- 
tomy. At length, on the 17th of Ja- 
nuary, the squadron came to anchor in 
the road ; and from this portion of Afri- 
ca, Riche transmitted some fine  spe- 
cimens of plants, as well as several very 
instructive memoirs to the Philomathic 
and Natural History Societies. 
Having again proceeded to sea, on the 
16th of February, and left Blavier behind 
them, who was obliged to remain on ac- 
count of his health, they obtained sight 
of the island of Amsterdam, on the 28th 
of March; this is situate, in the middle 
of the Indian sea, at almost an equal 
distance from the continent of Africa 
and New Holland. Thence the squadron 
shaped its course towards Van Diemen’s 
Land, which forms the most southern 
‘portion of New Holland, and anchored 
in the bay of Tempests, on the 2ist of 
April. Riche went repeatedly on shore, 
and proceeded frequently up the country. 
He examined the waters, the trees, the 
forests, and the land, as well as the ha- 
bitatious, for the natives had fled, and 
jt was but rarely, and by accident, that 
he could approach any of them. It is 
well known that these people are anthro- 
Retrospect of French Literature—Biography. 
pophagi, that they lead a wandering life, 
that they subsist. chiefly on fish, for the 
catching of which they employ little boats . 
formed out of the bark of the Eucalyptus; 
aud in a word, that the islands does not 
possess any quadrupeds. 
‘« This point of land, which greatly re- 
sembles the termination of Africa in its 
general form, and ditfers but little from it 
in latitude, presented to Riche a striking. 
analogy with the cape, in respect to the 
article of lithology, for its rocks and soil 
exhibited the same substances and also 
similar dispositions ; the sea too enabled 
him to make a multitude of discoveries.” 
That portion of his journal, in which he 
gives an account of his dissections, and 
at the same time described whatsoever 
appeared new, in respect to fishes, mol- 
lusex, or shells, contains a multitude of 
curious and interesting facts. 
*¢ Having -quitted ‘this place on the 
28th of May 1791, the squadron crossed 
the strait which had been discovered by 
Saint Aignan, an officer, and Beaupré, a 
geographical engineer; this leads from 
the Bay of Tempests to Adventure Bay. 
It was on this occasion!that Riche was 
made acquainted with a new cause of 
the luminous state of the ocean, in_an 
undescribed species of Daphnia, which 
proved to be uncommonly phosphores- 
cent. 
‘¢ They then steered to the north, to 
reach New Caledonia, a long and narrow 
isle, situate fifteen degrees to the east 
of New Holland, and almost parallel to 
the-coasts of that extensive region. On 
this occasion they saw the western part 
of it, which had never been examined 
before, and which is uncommonly peri- 
lous to navigators, on account of the 
multitude of reefs which prohibit all ap- 
Breaes. 
* On the 2d of July, they lost sight of 
the land without having been able to go _ 
on-shore, and then shaped their course 
towards the Admiralty Isles, situate to 
the north of New Guinea: for they had 
learned from vague rumours that some 
European dresses, and utensils had been 
seen there, whence it was hoped, they © 
might be able to learn something con. — 
_ cerning the navigators of whomthey were 
in search. As they passed along, they 
saw the islands of Solomon, or the Arsa- 
cides, and they recognized the western 
part ‘of the Archipelago of Bougainville, 
called also the Treasury Isles, These 
are situate to the west of New Guinea; 
J 
but they held no communication, except 
with the inhabitants of Bouca, so called 
by 
