From The
Circumstance That His Quarters Were On The ASTROLABE, And That,
Therefore, He Was Not Brought Very Much Under The Notice Of Laperouse,
We Read Scarcely Anything About Him In The Commander's Book.
Once
during the voyage some acids used by him for scientific purposes
ignited, and set fire to the ship, but the danger was quickly
suppressed.
This incident, and that of the wounding of Receveur at
Manua, are nearly all we are told about him from the commander. But he
struck King as being "a man of letters and genius." He was a collector
of natural curiosities, having under his care "a great number of
philosophical instruments." King's few lines, giving the impression
derived from a necessarily brief conversation, seem to bring the Abbe
before us in a flash. "A man of letters and genius": how gladly we
would know more of one of whom those words could be written! Receveur
died shortly before Laperouse sailed away, and was buried at the foot
of a tree, to which were nailed a couple of boards bearing an
inscription. Governor Phillip, when the boards fell down, had
the inscription engraved on a copper plate. The tomb, which is now so
prominent an object at Botany Bay, was erected by the Baron de
Bougainville in 1825. The memorials to the celebrated navigator and the
simple scholar stand together.
King, in common with Tench, records the admiring way in which Laperouse
spoke of Cook. He "informed me that every place where he has touched or
been near, he found all the astronomical and nautical works of Captain
Cook to be very exact and true, and concluded by saying, 'Enfin,
Monsieur Cook a tant fait qu'il ne m'a rien laisse a faire que d'
admirer ses oeuvres.'" (In short, Mr. Cook has done so much that he has
left me nothing to do but to admire his works).
There is very little more to tell about those few weeks spent at Botany
Bay before the navigator and his companions "vanished trackless into
blue immensity," as Carlyle puts it.
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