Laperouse | Page 4

the obelisk,
and at the tomb of Pere Receveur near by, without picturing the
departure of the French ships after bidding farewell to the English
officers and colonists. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, one can follow
Laperouse out to sea, with the eye of imagination, until sails, poops and
hulls diminish to the view and disappear below the hazy-blue horizon.
We may be sure that some of Governor Phillip's people watched the
sailing, and the lessening, and the melting away of the vessels, from
just about the same place, one hundred and twenty four years ago.
What they saw, and what we can imagine, was really the end of a
romantic career, and the beginning of a mystery of the sea which even
yet has not lost its fascination.
The story of that life is surely worth telling, and, we trust, worth
reading; for it is that of a good, brave and high-minded man, a great
sailor, and a true gentleman. The author has put into these few pages
what he has gleaned from many volumes, some of them stout, heavy
and dingy tomes, though delightful enough to "those who like that sort
of thing." He hopes that the book may for many readers touch with new
meaning those old weatherworn stones at Botany Bay, and make the
personality of Laperouse live again for such as nourish an interest in
Australian history.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

(Not included in etext)
Portrait of Laperouse, with Autograph Laperouse's Coat of Arms The
Laperouse Family Comte de Fleurieu Louis XVI Giving Instructions to
Laperouse Australia as known athe time of Laperouse's visit The
BOUSSOLE and ASTROLABE Chart of Laperouse's Voyage in the
Pacific Massacre of Captain de Langle's Party Tomb of Pere Receveur
Monument to Laperouse at Botany Bay Admiral Dentrecasteaux Map
of Vanikoro Island Relics of Laperouse

Life of Laperouse
Chapter I.

FAMILY, YOUTH and INFLUENCES
Jean-Francois Galaup, Comte De Laperouse, was born at Albi, on
August 23, 1741. His birthplace is the chief town in the Department of
Tarn, lying at the centre of the fruitful province of Languedoc, in the
south of France. It boasts a fine old Gothic cathedral, enriched with
much noble carving and brilliant fresco painting; and its history gives it
some importance in the lurid and exciting annals of France. From its
name was derived that of a religious sect, the Albigeois, who professed
doctrines condemned as heretical and endured severe persecution
during the thirteenth century.
But among all the many thousands of men who have been born, and
have lived, and died in the old houses of the venerable city, none, not
even among its bishops and counts, has borne a name which lives in the
memory of mankind as does that of the navigator, Laperouse. The
sturdy farmers of the fat and fertile plain which is the granary of France,
who drive in to Albi on market days, the patient peasants of the fields,

and the simple artisans who ply their primitive trades under the shadow
of the dark-red walls of St. Cecile, know few details, perhaps, about the
sailor who sank beneath the waters of the Pacific so many years ago.
Yet very many of them have heard of Laperouse, and are familiar with
his monument cast in bronze in the public square of Albi. They speak
his name respectfully as that of one who grew up among their ancestors,
who trod their streets, sat in their cathedral, won great fame, and met
his death under the strange, distant, southern stars.
His family had for five hundred years been settled, prominent and
prosperous, on estates in the valley of the Tarn. In the middle of the
fifteenth century a Galaup held distinguished office among the citizens
of Albi, and several later ancestors are mentioned honourably in its
records. The father of the navigator, Victor Joseph de Galaup,
succeeded to property which maintained him in a position of influence
and affluence among his neighbours. He married Marguerite de
Resseguier, a woman long remembered in the district for her qualities
of manner and mind. She exercised a strong influence over her
adventurous but affectionate son; and a letter written to her by him at
an interesting crisis of his life, testifies to his eager desire to conform to
his mother's wishes even in a matter that wrenched his heart, and after
years of service in the Navy had taken him far and kept him long from
her kind, concerning eyes.
Jean-Francois derived the name by which he is known in history from
the estate of Peyrouse, one of the possessions of his family. But he
dropped the "y" when assuming the designation, and invariably spelt
the name "Laperouse," as one word. Inasmuch as the final authority on
the spelling of a personal name is that