Celebrated Travels and Travellers Vol 2 First part chapter II - Captain Cook’s predecessors part 3c

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Section 10 of Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 2 Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century, by Jules Verne. First part, Chapter 2, Part 3 Captain Cook's Predecessors, 3C.

The lands which the French now encountered were no other than St. Esprit, Malicolo, and St. Bartholomew, and the islets belonging to the latter. Although he was perfectly aware that these islands were identical with the Tierra del Espíritu Santo of Quiros, Bougainville could not refrain from bestowing a new name upon them, and call them the Archipelago de Grandes Ciclades, to which, however, the name of New Hebrides has been given in preference. I readily believed, he says, that it was its extreme southern point which Ragavine saw under the eleventh parallel, in which he named Tinhoven and Groningue. But when we arrived there, everything led us to believe that we were in the southern land of Espíritu Santo. Every appearance seemed to coincide with Quiroz's narrative, and the discoveries we made every day encouraged us in our search. It is singular that precisely in the same latitude and longitude as that which Quiroz gives to his St. Philip and St. James's Bays, upon a shore which at first sight appeared like a continent, we found a passage equal in size to that which he gives to the opening of his bays. Did the Spanish navigator see badly, or did he wish to hide his discoveries? Had geographers merely guessed in making the Tierra del Espíritu Santo identical with New Guinea? To ascertain the truth, we must follow the same parallel for over 350 leagues. I resolved upon doing so, although the state and quantity of our provisions warned us to seek a European settlement as soon as possible. It will be seen that we narrowly escaped being the victims of our own persistence. Whilst Bougainville was in these latitudes, certain business matters required his presence on board the Étoile, and he there found out a singular fact, which had already been largely discussed by his crew.

M de Comerson had a servant named Barret. In defatigable, intelligent, and already inexperienced botanist, Barret had been seen taking an active part in the herbarizing excursions, carrying boxes, provisions, the weapons, and books of plants, with endurance which obtained from the botanist the nickname of his beast of burden. For some time past, Barret had been supposed to be a woman. His smooth face, the tone of his voice, his reserve, and certain other signs, appeared to justify the supposition. When on arriving at Tahiti, suspicions were changed into certainty. Mocir de Comerson landed to botanize, and according to custom, Barret followed him with the boxes when he was surrounded by natives, who, exclaiming that it was a woman, were disposed to verify their opinion. Amid shipmen, Mocir Beaumont had the greatest trouble in rescuing her from the natives and escorting her back to the ship. When Bougainville visited the Étoile, he received Barret's confession. In tears, the assistant botanist confessed her sex and excused herself for having deceived her master by presenting herself in man's clothes at the very moment of embarkation. Having no family and having been ruined by a lawsuit, this girl had donned man's clothes to ensure respect. She was aware, before she embarked, that she was going on a voyage round the world, and the prospect, far from frightening her, only confirmed her in her resolution.

She will be the first woman who has been round the world, says Bougainville, and I must do her the justice to admit that she has conducted herself with the most scrupulous discretion. She is neither ugly nor pretty, and at most is only twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. It must be admitted that had the two vessels suffered shipwreck upon a desert island, it would have been a singular experience for Barré. The expedition lost sight of land on the twenty-ninth of May. The route was directed westward. On the fourth of June a very dangerous rock, so slightly above water that at two leagues distant it was not visible from the lookout, was discovered in latitude fifteen degrees fifty minutes, and one hundred forty-eight degrees ten minutes longitude. The constant recurrence of breakers, trunks of trees in large quantities, fruits and sea-rack, and the smoothness of the sea, all indicated the neighborhood of extensive land to the south-east. It was New Holland. Bougainville determined to leave these dangerous latitudes, where he was likely to meet with nothing but barren lands, and a sea strewn with rocks and full of shallows. There were other urgent reasons for changing the route. Provisions were getting low. The salt-meat was so tainted that the rats caught on board were eaten in preference. Bread enough for two months, and vegetables for forty days alone remained. All clamored for a return to the north. Unfortunately, the south winds had ceased, and when they recommenced, they brought the expedition within an inch of destruction.