- " There Was A Projection From Their
Foreheads Or Noses A Foot Long."
Furthermore, Dillon's officers were able to purchase from the islands
such relics as an old sword blade, a rusted razor,
A silver sauce-boat
with fleur-de-lis upon it, a brass mortar, a few small bells, a silver
sword-handle bearing a cypher, apparently a "P" with a crown, part of a
blacksmith's vice, the crown of a small anchor, and many other
articles. An examination of natives brought out a few further
details, as for example, a description of the chief of the strangers,
"who used always to be looking at the stars and the sun and beckoning
to them," which is how a native would be likely to regard a man making
astronomical observations. Dillon, in short had solved the forty years'
mystery. The Pacific had revealed her long-held secret.
It happened that a new French expedition in the ASTROLABE, under the
command of Dumont-D'Urville, was in the southern hemisphere at this
time. While he lay at Hobart on his way to New Zealand, the captain
heard of Dillon's discoveries, and, at once changing his plans, sailed
for the Santa Cruz Islands. He arrived there in February, 1828, and
made some valuable finds to supplement those of the English captain. At
the bottom of the sea, in perfectly clear water, he saw lying,
encrusted with coral, some remains of anchors, chains, guns, bullets,
and other objects which had clearly belonged to the ships of Laperouse.
One of his artists made a drawing of them on the spot.
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