The American Encyclopedia of History, Biography and Travel / Comprising Ancient and Modern History: the Biography of Eminent Men of Europe and America, and the Lives of Distinguished Travelers.

by Thomas H. Prescott

On the 14th of January the navigators struck ground on the coast of Patagonia. On the 25th, La Perouse took bearings a league to the southward of Cape San Diego forming the west point of the straits of Lemaire. On the 9th of February, he was abreast of the straits of Magellan. Examining the quantity of provisions he had on board, La Perouse discovered he had very little flour and bread left in store; having been obliged to leave a hundred barrels at Brest. The worms had also taken possession of the biscuits, and consumed or rendered useless a fifth part of them. Under these circumstances, La Perouse preferred Conception to the island of Juan Fernandez. The Bay of Conception in Chili is a most excellent harbor; the water is smooth, and almost without any current, though the tide rises six feet three inches.

At daybreak, on the 15th of March, La Perouse made the signal to prepare to sail. On the 17th, about noon, a light breeze sprung up, with which he got under way. On the 8th of April, about noon, they saw Easter Island. The Indians were alarmed, except a few who had a kind of slight wooden club. Some of them assumed an apparent superiority over the others, which induced La Perouse to consider the former as chiefs, but he soon discovered that these selected persons were the most notorious offenders. Having but a few hours to remain upon the island, and wishing to employ his time to the best advantage, La Perouse left the care of the tent, and other particulars, to his first lieutenant M. d’Escures. A division was then made of the persons engaged in the Adventure; one part, under the command of M. de Langle, was to penetrate into the interior of the island to encourage and promote vegetation, by disseminating seed, etc., in a proper soil; and the other division undertook to visit the monuments, plantations, and habitations, within the compass of a league of the establishment. The largest of the rude busts upon one of the terraces is fourteen feet six inches in height, and the breadth and other particulars appeared to be proportionate.

Returning about noon to the tent, La Perouse found almost every man without hat or handkerchief; so much had forbearance encouraged the audacity of the thieves, that he also experienced a similar depredation. An Indian, who had assisted him in descending from a terrace, rewarded himself for his trouble by taking away his hat. Some of them had dived under water, cut the small cable of the Astrolabe’s boat, and taken away her grapnel. A sort of chief, to whom M. de Langle made a present of a male and female goat, received the animals with one hand, and robbed him of his handkerchief with the other.

On the 28th of May, they saw the mountains of Owhyhee, covered with snow, and afterwards those of Mowee, which are less elevated. About one hundred and fifty canoes were seen putting off from the shore, laden with fruit and hogs, which the Indians proposed to exchange for pieces of iron of the French navigators. Most of them came on board of one or the other of the vessels, but they proceeded so fast through the water that they filled along-side. The Indians were obliged to quit the ropes thrown them, and leaping into the sea, swam after their hogs, when taking them in their arms, they emptied their canoes of the water, and resumed their seats.

After having visited a village, M. de Langle gave orders that six soldiers, with a sergeant, should accompany him: the others were left upon the beach, under the command of M. de Pierrevert, the lieutenant; to them was committed the protection of the ship’s boats, from which not a single sailor had landed. The party reëmbarked at eleven o’clock in very good order, and arrived on board about noon, where M. de Clonard had received a visit from a chief, of whom he had purchased a cloak, and a helmet adorned with red feathers; he had also purchased a hundred hogs, a quantity of potatoes and bananas, plenty of stuffs, mats, and various other articles. On their arrival on board, the two frigates dragged their anchors; it blew fresh from the south-east, and they were driving down upon the island of Morokinne, which was, however, at a sufficient distance to give them time to hoist in their boats. La Perouse made the signal for weighing, but before they could purchase the anchor, he was obliged to make sail, and drag it till he had passed Morokinne, to hinder him from driving past the channel.

A fair wind accompanied the navigators on their departure from the Sandwich Islands. Whales and wild geese convinced them that they were approaching land. Early in the morning of the 23d they descried it; a sudden dispersion of the fog opened to them the view of a long chain of mountains covered with snow. They distinguished Behring’s Mount St. Elias, on the north-west coast of America. Having taken in as much wood and water as was required, the navigators esteemed themselves the most fortunate of men, in having arrived at such a distance from Europe without having a sick person among them, or any one afflicted with the scurvy; but a lamentable misfortune now awaited them. At the entrance of this harbor perished twenty brave seamen, in two boats, by the surf. On the 30th of July, at four in the afternoon, La Perouse got under way. This bay or harbor, to which he gave the name of Port des Français, is situated in 58 deg. 37 min. north latitude, and 139 deg. 50 min. west longitude. In different excursions, he says, he found the high-water mark to be fifteen feet above the surface of the sea. The climate of this coast is infinitely milder than that of Hudson’s Bay, in the same degree of latitude. Pines were seen of six feet in diameter, and one hundred and forty feet in height. Vegetation is vigorous during three or four months of the year. The men wear different small ornaments, pendant from the ears and nose, scarify their arms and breasts, and file their teeth close to their gums, using, for the last operation, a sand-stone, formed into a particular shape. They paint the face and body with soot, ochre, and plumbago, mixed with train-oil, making themselves most horrid figures. When completely dressed, their flowing hair is powdered, and plaited with the down of sea-birds; but, perhaps, only the chiefs of certain distinguished families are thus decorated. Their shoulders are covered with a skin, and on the head, is generally worn a little straw hat, plaited with great taste and ingenuity. Sometimes, indeed, the head is decorated with two horned bonnets of eagles’ feathers. Their head-dresses are extremely various, the grand object in view being only to render themselves terrible, that they may keep their enemies in awe. Some Indians have skirts of otters’ skins. A great chief wore a skirt composed of a tanned skin of the elk, bordered by a fringe of beaks of birds, which, when dancing, imitated the noise of a bell; a common dress among the savages of Canada, and other nations in the eastern parts of America. The passion of these Indians for gaming is astonishing, and they pursue it with great avidity. The sort of play to which they are most devoted, is a certain game of chance; out of thirty pieces of wood, each distinctly marked like the French dice, they hide seven: each plays in succession, and he who guesses nearest to the whole number marked upon the seven is the winner of the stake, which is usually a hatchet or a piece of iron.

At length, after a very long run, on the 11th of September, at three in the afternoon, the navigators got sight of Fort Monterey, and two three-masted vessels which lay in the road. The commander of these two ships having been informed, by the viceroy of Mexico, of the probable arrival of the two French frigates, sent them pilots in the course of the night. Loretto, the only presidency of Old California, is situated on the east coast of this peninsula and has a garrison of fifty-four troopers, who furnish detachments to fifteen missions; the duties of which are performed by Dominican friars. About four thousand Indians, converted and residing in these fifteen parishes, are the sole produce of the long labors of the different religious orders which have succeeded each other. A small navy was established by the Spanish government in this port, under the orders of the viceroy of Mexico, consisting of four corvettes of twelve guns, and one goletta. They are destined to supply with necessaries the presidencies of North California; and they are sometimes despatched as packet-boats to Manilla, when the orders of the court require the utmost expedition.

The company were received with all possible politeness and respect; the president of the missions, in his sacerdotal vestment, with the holy water in hand, waited to receive them at the entrance of the church, which was splendidly illuminated as on their highest festivals: he then conducted them to the foot of the high altar, where Te Deum was sung in thanksgivings for their arrival. Before they entered the church they passed a range of Indians: the parish church, though covered with straw, is neat, and decorated with paintings, copied from Italian originals. The Indians, as well as the missionaries, rise with the sun, and devote an hour to prayers and mass, during which time a species of boiled food is prepared for them: it consists of barley meal, the grain of which has been roasted previous to its being boiled. It is cooked in the centre of the square, in three large kettles. This repast is called atole by the Indians, who consider it as delicious: it is destitute of salt and butter, and must consequently be insipid. The women have little more to attend to than their housewifery, their children, and the roasting and grinding of several grains: the latter operation is long and laborious, as they employ no other means than that of crushing it in pieces with a cylinder upon a stone.

The Indians of the rancheries, or independent villages, are accustomed to paint their bodies red and black, when they are in mourning; but the missionaries have prohibited the former, though they tolerate the latter, these people being singularly attached to their friends. The ties of family are less regarded among them than those of friendship: the children show no filial respect to the father, having been obliged to quit his cabin as soon as they were able to procure their own subsistence.