station. The sky was clear, the breeze light, and we were about to go to rest, when the watch descried a canoe. Presently another was perceived, and in a few moments notice was given, that several were surrounding the ship.

Immediately orders were given with calmness and precision. The captain stationed each at his post, watched the motions of the enemy as much as the darkness of the night allowed, and waited the event with coolness. Our arms were ready, guns loaded and run out, matches lighted. We were tired of waiting idly; burned to come to action with these enemies of all nations; and, though we had every thing to dread from their cruelty if we were overrun, the presence of danger gave rise to a sentiment of pleasure in our hearts, which was depicted on every countenance. It was not that we wanted blood: not one of us, certainly, desired to shed any; but it seemed unlikely that we should sail round the world without some event of the kind; and, as it now presented itself, we met it cheerfully. Probably, however, our preparations for defence, and the size of our ship inspired the pirates with fear, and they made off with as much caution as they used in approaching us. Thus we were left at leisure to avail ourselves of a breeze that. sprung up a few instants after, to get out of a strait in which we saw our resources and our constancy likely to fail us.

One idea, however, occurred to me amid the bustle the Malays excited on board us. I remembered, with a slight sentiment of uneasiness, that Antony had lost a battle, because he would not lose a mistress.

LETTER LXXI.

Under sail.

I SHALL not attempt, my friend, to describe to you the prospect we enjoyed to-day: the drawing that will meet your eye, faithful as it is, can give you but a faint idea of it. When I shall have told you, that the night of the.... surprised us in the midst of more than fifty pointed rocks resembling so many steeples; when I shall have added, that the sun, striking on them in the morning with its rising rays, gave to each a different tint, according to its nakedness, its distance, or its verdant appearance; when, anchored as by enchantment amid so many shoals, I shall have informed you that we thought we had passed them, when the currents drove us into the middle of them, and the squalls, that rose with rapidity in the horizon, did not cease to conceal them from our sight, till it was no longer possible to avoid them; when my pen shall have attempted to communicate to you the different emotions we experienced, on seeing our keel so near these dangerous reefs, for we were anchored only in three fathoms and half of water, you will have but a very imperfect idea of our situation, and of the joy felt by all our crew, at the sight of perils so certain and already escaped*. It is not in the midst of a vast ocean, and buffeted by waves in constant agitation, that the mariner finds most dangers to surmount: a good ship braves their fury; but it is amid an archipelago little known that the seaman must have recourse to prudence, and display all

I call this bay the Bay of Steeples. I believe it is known by the name of Boula-Boula.

the resources of his art. A single false manœuvre may be his ruin, and a thousand skilful evolutions cannot always secure him.

Honored be the zealous and intrepid mariners, who have exposed themselves to perils innumerable in extending the boundaries of our knowledge, and have so often braved death for the benefit of mankind.

Here M. Freycinet manoeuvred his ship with prudence and precision, and availed himself of the time we were at anchor to send out a boat, to take soundings around the rocks that environed us, while the waves broke sullenly at their feet. M. Ferrand was despatched on this duty, and acquitted himself with the zeal and courage that he displayed in every business entrusted to him.

Squalls of rain, and a pretty strong breeze, soon carried us off this dangerous coast; and nothing interesting occurred, till we made Pisang, a very lofty peak, covered with verdure, uninhabited, and still a part of the archipelago of the Moluccas. Our commander, presuming some discoveries in natural history might be made there, sent off a boat with Messrs. Quoy and Gaudichaud, and gave M. Bérard and myself leave to accompany them. The ship was two leagues off, and we were more than three hours in reaching the shore, in consequence of the calm, and the currents that retarded our progress.

The vegetation on this mountain is so vigorous, that it extends even down into the sea, and the beach, at the widest, is not above five or six paces. A few scattered rocks, washed by the waves, which never run high at this part of the island, are the only spots where it is not difficult to land. The ascent of the peak was so steep, that we could not climb it; and we soon perceived that our researches must be very limited. However, to make the most of our situation, we took different directions, without apprehending any attack; and persuaded that the shells and