Art. XXV. LIST OF WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY, The Art of Improving the Breed of Domestic Animals, in a Letter addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. By Sir John Saunders Sebright, M. P. 2s. 6d.

The Island of Walcheren on a scale of tant Organs of the Human Body; con.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We thank Amans Prudentiae for his respectful and candid letter. The article, after which he inquires, has been delayed by causes widely remote from those which he surmises, Critic' may be assured that we have not lost sight of his object.

ERRATA.

Page 376. 1. 9. for his read the.

567. 1. 2. from bottom, for complacently read complaisantly

610. 1. 11, for 21st. letter read 21 letters.

678. 1. 10. for προσείπε read προσεειπε.

796. 1. 28. before 197 insert III.

797. 1. 19. for should be read should not be.

906. 1. for Chemie read Chimie

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

For NOVEMBER, 1809.

Art. I. Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, executé par Ordre de S. M. Empereur et Roi, &c. Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere, performed by order of H. M. the Emperor and King, in the Sloops Geographe and Naturaliste, and the Schooner Casuarina, in the Years 1800-1804; published in Conformity with an imperial Decree, under the Direction of M. de Champagny; compiled by M. F. Péron, Naturalist attached to the Expedition, Corresponding Member of the French Institute. 2 vols. 4to. with a Vol. of Plates and Charts. Paris, Imperial Printing Office, 1807. Vol. I. Price 61. 68. Dulau, London. 1809.

NEARLY all the voyages of discovery, undertaken within

our own time by the French, have proved unfortunate; not so much from any narrowness of views or inadequacy of provision on the part of the projectors, as from the rashness, self-sufficiency, or dissension, that has prevailed among the conductors. The voyage described in this valuable work, partook, though comparatively to a small extent, of the ill-fortune of Pérouse and d'Entrecasteaux. The chief of the expedition, (Baudin, we believe) was of such a strange, selfwilled, unaccommodating disposition, that almost all its designs, for the improvement of science, were thwarted, and occasionally frustrated, by his perverseness. Hence has arisen the total silence, which is observed in the first volume (for only one has reached England) respecting his name: he is no where designated in any other way, than as le commandant, and notre chef. Notwithstanding the dissensions, however, between him, and his officers, as well as the naturalists and men of science who accompanied the expedition; and notwithstanding the ravages of disease which, chiefly in consequence of his obstinate disregard of his instructions, afflicted the crews of both vessels originally employed,* it has conferred most important benefits on the sciences of geography, natural history, and philosophy. No other expedition, since The Casuarina was purchased at Port Jackson. 4 D

VOL. V. PART II.

that of Vancouver, has pursued a track so interesting to our countrymen and geographers at large; its results are at least as splendid as those of that patient and laborious navigator; and M. Péron's history of its adventures and toils, which we have now the satisfaction to announce, is singularly concise, perspicuous, and instructive.

In October, 1800, the Geographe and Naturaliste sailed from Havre, being provided with passports from the English government; and arrived in March following at the Isle of France. The compiler, with much propriety, passes very cursorily over the daily occurrences of this part of the voyage; but enriches it with the results of his meteorological observations, and the experiments and remarks he made on the temperature, the saltness, and the phosphorescence of the sea; together with the natural history of many individuals of those neglected tribes of mollusca and marine zoophytes that people its vast extent. A chapter devoted to a description of the Isle of France concludes the first book.

The land of the Leeuwin was the first part of New Holland at which our voyagers touched. Coasting along the western side of that continent, they successively surveyed Edel's land, Eendracht's land, Shark's bay (erroneously translated here Baie des chiens marins) and de Witt's land, whence they proceeded to Timor for the strange purpose of building a longboat in lieu of one the Geographe had lost. The two vessels were separated during great part of this survey; but rejoined each other at Timor. From Timor, we are in the third book conducted direct to the southern extremity of Van Diemen's land, where the expedition was occupied in verifying, correcting, and augmenting the preceding discoveries of Tasman, Furneaux, Cook, Marion, and d' Entrecasteaux. On the coast of Van Diemen's land the vessels were again separated; and the Geographe, proceeding through Bass's streights, discovered that part of New Holland which lies between point Wilson, the farthest western station of the English from Port Jackson, and the islands of St. Peter and St. Francis which are at the eastern extremity of Nuyts's land. this extensive space they have given the name of Terre Napoleon. Instead of the nearly strait imaginary line which the maps of New Holland present from Nuyts's land to Western Port, the form of the continent assumes a complicated, irregular, and broken appearance. It is by grand features,' says M. Péron, that the new objects which here present themselves must be described. Beyond a bay of about 10 miles across, and which received the name of Mollien bay, is the peninsula of Fleurieu, from 15 to 16 leagues long,

To

consisting of very high land. To the westward of this peninsula, a gulph, which was named Golfe Josephine, penetrates 100 miles into the interior of the country. At the mouths of this gulph, lies the island Decrès, 210 miles in circumference; the western side of the gulph is bounded by the peninsula of Cambacérés, 120 miles in length; eight islands called the isles of Vauban succeed; and beyond them New Holland opens itself anew to form a second gulph 200 miles in depth, and which washes upwards of 600 miles of coast; this received the name of golfe Bonaparte. It terminates, gradually contracting its extent, in shallows and sandbanks. On the western side of the gulph lies port Champagny, one of the finest and safest of New Holland.

The ground is every where good, and there is from 10 to 12 fathoms water almost close to the shore. Across its entrance lies isle Lagrange, from 4 to 5 leagues in circumference, and which, placed exactly in the middle, leaves a passage of two or three miles broad on each side, the navigation of which is as safe as it is easy. As if nature meant likewise to make an exception in favour of port Champagny, as to the character of monotonous sterility which she has imprinted upon all the neighbouring regions, its shores consist of high land, and are covered with thick forests. It is true, indeed, that we did not discover any fresh water: but the strength and verdure of the vegetation, and the elevation of the land, appeared to be certain indications of the existence either of rivulets or of springs. It is at this most favoured part of Napoleon's land, that there doubtless exist the inost numerous tribes of native inhabitants, for the whole coast seemed to be covered with their fires. So many singular advantages uniting in port Champagny insure to it a high degree of importance; and it may safely be asserted, that it is the best adapted for the establish ment of an European colony, of any spot of these regions.'

Two groupes of islands within the gulph, were named the archipelagos of Leoben, and of Berthier. From cape Brune, a great promontory not far from golfe Bonaparte, the coast recedes back for about 60 miles, and there forms another cape near which is a groupe of islands called ile Jerome. The coast appears studded with islands, and indented with bays, all the way to the islands of St. Peter and St. Francis; and, adding these to all that appear along the terre Napoleon, beginning at point Wilson, they form an aggregate of upwards of one hundred and sixty islands.

• But to these numerous islands, still more than to the continent itself, does the desolate picture apply, which I have been so often obliged to trace in the course of this narrative. They are all low, of a grey, yellow, or dusky hue; almost all of them shew the most frightful aridity; very few offer a single tree, or even a shrub: melancholy lichens alone seem to cover their surface. Upon the largest of them, isle Decrès, which was certainly the least barren, and which