They Staggered On, And At Last All Three Fell
Fainting In Sight Of Their Companions, Who Hurried Forward To Relieve
Them.
There is nothing incredible in Peron's narrative of the sufferings of
himself and his companions on this excursion.
It is not surprising to one
with a knowledge of the local conditions. The exertions they had made
should have earned them commendation, or at least compassion, from the
commandant. But Baudin's view was censorious. Three times during the
evening a gun had been fired from the ship as a signal to the boat to
return. The officer in charge of the shore party considered that it would
be unjustifiable to leave until the three travellers returned, and
trusted that this explanation would be accepted as excusing the delay. A
sea fog now prevented the boat from returning forthwith; but the sailors
had neither food nor water to give to the parched and famished
unfortunates. When at last they did reach the ship, they had been for
forty hours without sup or sip; they were prostrate from sheer weakness;
and Peron himself was reduced to the extremity that his leathern tongue
refused to articulate. The commandant was the only man aboard who had no
pity to spare for their misery. Baudin actually fined the officer in
charge of the boat ten francs for every gun fired, because he had not
obeyed the return signal, and for not "abandoning all three." "Those were
the very words of our chief," wrote Peron; "and yet I had, to save his
life at Timor, given to his physician part of the small stock of
excellent quinine that I had brought for my own use."
This heartless conduct, taken in conjunction with Baudin's abandonment of
Boullanger on the Tasmanian coast, and his strange behaviour to the
Casuarina after the exploration of the gulfs, leaves one in no doubt as
to his singular deficiency in the qualities essential to the commander of
an expedition of discovery. It was his invariable practice, we also read,
to provision boats engaged on any special service for the bare time that
he meant them to be absent; so many ounces of food and so many pints of
water per man per day, and no more, leaving no margin for accidents,
allowing of no excuse for unavoidable delay. A sensible person would not
provide for a picnic on such principles.
The exploration of the west and north-west coasts was continued till the
end of April, when Baudin decided to go once more to Timor. His intention
was, after refreshing his men and taking in supplies at the Dutch
settlement, to spend some time in the Gulf of Carpentaria and along the
southern shores of New Guinea. On May 6, Kupang harbour was entered for
the second time. There it was learnt that Flinders had called at the port
in the Investigator in April, after having concluded his exploration of
the northern gulf. He had been compelled to relinquish his work owing to
the rotten condition of his ship's timbers, and had sailed back to Port
Jackson. As he had reached the Gulf of Carpentaria by sailing up the
eastern side of the continent, and returned through Torres Strait down
the western coast, and through Bass Strait on the south, Flinders was the
first sailor to accomplish the circumnavigation of Australia, as he had
also been the first to circumnavigate Tasmania.* (* Tasman, in 1642,
sailed from Batavia, in Java, thence to Mauritius, Tasmania, New Zealand,
the Friendly Islands, northern New Guinea, and back to Batavia. This was
a wide circumnavigation of the whole of New Holland; but he did not sight
Australia, and as, of course, he did not go near Bass Strait, he did not
circumnavigate the continent proper.)
Le Geographe and the Casuarina remained at Kupang till June
3 - twenty-eight days - enjoying the hospitality of the Dutch. Peron made
several excursions for collecting purposes, and once shot an alligator
nine feet long, which he skinned. He had the hide and head carried down
to the port by Malays on long bamboo poles, this method of conveyance
being necessitated by the superstitious refusal of the natives to touch
even the skin of the dreaded beast. But the labour was to a large extent
wasted, for putrefaction advanced, while the skin was in transit, to such
an extent that all but the head had to be thrown into the sea.
Baudin's plan, after leaving Kupang, was to continue the exploration of
the coasts of Western Australia. But very light breezes, alternating with
calms, prevented substantial progress, and after spending the greater
part of the month ineffectually in traversing only a few leagues, it was
concluded (June 28) that to continue the work in detail from west to east
at that season of the year would merely lead to a futile waste of time.
Here again the logic of facts was required to convince Baudin, who had
previously rejected sound advice that was offered to him, to the effect
that contrary winds would thwart his designs. The winds blow at certain
seasons with steady consistency in these regions, and an experienced
navigator, knowing what he has to expect, makes his plans accordingly.
When Flinders was driven reluctantly to abandon finishing the exploration
of the north coast through the dangerous condition of the Investigator,
he made his way back to Port Jackson by the western route, because,
although it was considerably longer, he thereby secured favourable winds;
and he reached port in safety. If we may judge from his habitual
perversity, Baudin, under similar circumstances, would have taken the
shorter route, regardless of normal conditions, and would have lost his
ship.
Changing his route after much waste of time, Baudin took his vessels
towards the south-west of New Guinea, with the intention of making
investigations there. But again the sailing was for the most part slow,
especially as the Casuarina made very poor progress; and when within a
few leagues from False Cape - called Cape Walshe on the French
charts - circumstances compelled the commander to review his position and
prospects in a serious light.
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