"Their skill in the capture of larger animals is even more wonderful. We saw an Indian with a stag's head over his own, walking on all fours, appearing to graze, and carrying out the pantomime with such truth to life that our hunters would have fired at him at thirty paces had they not been prevented. By this means the natives approach quite close to a herd of deer, and then kill them with arrows."
| "An Indian with a stag's head over his own." |
La Perouse gave many details of the presidency of Loretto and of the Californian missions, but these are rather of historical interest, and are out of place in a work of this kind. His remarks upon the fertility of the country are more within our programme. "The harvest of maize, barley, corn, and peas," he says, "is comparable only to that of Chili. Our European husbandmen could not conceive of such abundance. The most moderate yield of corn is at the rate of from seventy and eighty to one, and the largest from sixty to a hundred."
Upon the 22nd of September the two frigates returned to sea, after a cordial welcome from the Spanish governor and the missionaries. They carried with them a quantity of provisions of all sorts, which would be of the greatest value to them during the long trip to be taken before reaching Macao.
The portion of the ocean now to be crossed by the French was almost unknown. The Spaniards had navigated it previously, but their political jealousy prevented their publishing the discoveries and observations they had made. La Perouse wished to steer S.W. as far as 28° lat., where some geographers had placed the island of Nuestra Señora-de-la-Gorta.
But he looked for it in vain during a long and difficult cruise, with contrary winds, which sorely tried the patience of the navigators.
"We were daily reminded," he says, "by the condition of our sails and rigging, that we had been sixteen months at sea. Our ropes gave way, and the sail makers could not repair the sails, which were fairly worn out."
Upon the 6th of November a small island, or rather rock, some five hundred fathoms long, upon which not a single tree grew, and which was thickly covered with guano, was discovered. It was named Necker Island, and is in 166° 52' long. W. of Paris, and 23° 34' N. lat.
Never had the expedition seen a more lovely sea, or a more exquisite night, when suddenly, at about half-past one in the morning, breakers were perceived two cable lengths ahead of the Boussole. The sea, only broken here and there by a slight ripple, was so calm that it scarcely made any sound. The ship's course was altered immediately; but the manoeuvre took time, and when it was accomplished the vessel was but a cable's length off the rocks.