Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cordingly, he altered course to the north-east (a fortunate decision,
for had he continued to westward he would eventually have en-
countered the Great Barrier Reef).
By now (7 June 1768) hunger was adding to the miseries of
his crew. Bread and pulses were strictly rationed and the salt meat
was so foul that his men preferred to eat rats when they could catch
them. Yet when, after three days' sailing, they reached, and named,
the Louisiade Archipelago which seemed able to furnish all their
needs, Bougainville declined to stop.
Long before the break of day, a delicious smell announced us
the vicinity of this land, which forms a great gulf open to the S.E. I
have seen but few lands, which bore a finer aspect than this; a low
ground, divided into plains and groves, lay along the sea-shore, and
from thence it rose like an amphitheatre up to the mountains, whose
summits were lost in the clouds. There were three ranges of moun-
tains; and the highest chain was above twenty-five leagues in the in-
terior parts of the country. The wretched condition to which we were
reduced, did not allow us, either to spend some time in visiting this
beautiful country, that by all appearances, was fertile and rich; nor
to stand to westward in search of a passage on the south side of New
Guinea, which might open a new and short navigation to the Moluccas,
by the gulf of Carpentaria. Nothing, indeed, was more probable, than
the existence of such a passage; it was even believed, that the land had
been seen as far as W by S. We were now obliged to endeavour to get
out of this gulf as soon as possible . . .
8
Bougainville was clearly not a coward, so how do we explain
his timorousness in the face of poorly-armed 'savages'? He was con-
cerned for the welfare of his crew, so why did he shun potentially be-
neficial landfalls? He was a dedicated explorer, so what reason did
