Laperouse | Page 5

of the individual who owns it,
there can be no doubt that we ought always to spell this name
"Laperouse," as, in fact, successors in the family who have borne it
have done; though in nearly all books, French as well as English, it is
spelt "La Perouse." In the little volume now in the reader's hands, the
example of Laperouse himself has been followed.
On this point it may be remarked concerning another navigator who
was engaged in Australian exploration, that we may lose touch with an

interesting historical fact by not observing the correct form of a name.
On maps of Tasmania appears "D'Entrecasteaux Channel." It was
named by and after Admiral Bruny Dentrecasteaux, who as commander
of the RECHERCHE and ESPERANCE visited Australian waters. We
shall have something to say about his expedition towards the close of
the book. Now, Dentrecasteaux sailed from France in 1791, while the
Revolution was raging. All titles had been abolished by a decree of the
National Assembly on July 19th, 1790. When he made this voyage,
therefore, the Admiral was not Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, a form which
implied a territorial titular distinction; but simply Citizen
Dentrecasteaux. The name is so spelt in the contemporary histories of
his expedition written by Rossel and Labillardiere. It would not have
been likely to be spelt in any other way by a French officer at the time.
Thus, the Marquis de la Fayette became simply Lafayette, and so with
all other bearers of titles in France. Consequently we should, by
observing this little difference, remind ourselves of Dentrecasteaux'
period and circumstances.
That, however, is by the way, and our main concern for the present is
with Laperouse.
As a boy, Jean-Francois developed a love for books of voyages, and
dreamt, as a boy will, of adventures that he would enjoy when he grew
to manhood. A relative tells us that his imagination was enkindled by
reading of the recent discoveries of Anson. As he grew up, and himself
sailed the ocean in command of great ships, he continued to read all the
voyaging literature he could procure. The writings of Byron, Carteret,
Wallis, Louis de Bougainville, "and above all Cook," are mentioned as
those of his heroes. He "burned to follow in their footsteps."
It will be observed that, with one exception, the navigators who are
especially described by one of his own family as having influenced the
bent of Laperouse were Englishmen. He did not, of course, read all of
their works in his boyhood, because some of them were published after
he had embraced a naval career. But we note them in this place, as the
guiding stars by which he shaped his course. He must have been a
young man, already on the way to distinction as an officer, when he

came under the spell of Cook. "And above all Cook," says his relative.
To the end of his life, down to the final days of his very last voyage,
Laperouse revered the name of Cook. Every Australian reader will like
him the better for that. Not many months before his own life ended in
tragedy and mystery, he visited the island where the great English
sailor was slain. When he reflected on the achievements of that
wonderful career, he sat down in his cabin and wrote in his Journal the
passage of which the following is a translation. It is given here out of
its chronological order, but we are dealing with the influences that
made Laperouse what he was, and we can see from these sincere and
feeling words, what Cook meant to him:
"Full of admiration and of respect as I am for the memory of that great
man, he will always be in my eyes the first of navigators. It is he who
has determined the precise position of these islands, who has explored
their shores, who has made known the manners, customs and religion
of the inhabitants, and who has paid with his blood for all the light
which we have to-day concerning these peoples. I would call him the
Christopher Columbus of these countries, of the coast of Alaska, and of
nearly all the isles of the South Seas. Chance might enable the most
ignorant man to discover islands, but it belongs only to great men like
him to leave nothing more to be done regarding the coasts they have
found. Navigators, philosophers, physicians, all find in his Voyages
interesting and useful things which were the object of his concern. All
men, especially all navigators, owe a tribute of praise to his memory.
How could one neglect to pay it at the moment of coming upon the
group of islands where he finished so unfortunately his career?"
We can well understand that a lad whose head was full of