his officers at Batavia. Our amazement was ſtill greater, when we underſtood that Commodore Hunter had not only not ſuffered any thing to tranſpire during his ſtay at the Cape, which could give ground to believe that he had ſeen ſavages dreſſed in the uniforms of the French marines, but that he had even expreſsly declared to ſeveral of the members of the regency, and in particular to his friend Mr. Gordon, that he knew nothing of the facts reported upon the arrival of the Atalante: neither was there any reaſon to ſuſpect that the reports left at the Cape, by Captain Bolle, came from Commodore Hunter himſelf.
Captain Bligh, Commander of the Engliſh ſloop Providence, which had been fitted out for the purpoſe of ſearching for the bread-fruit tree in the Society Iſlands, had caſt anchor in Table-bay ſhortly after the Atalante had ſailed from thence. It appeared that Captain Bligh had heard nothing from Commodore Hunter relative to the depoſitions of the two French captains; but, that upon the information communicated to him by perſons who had ſpoken with the captain of the Atalante, he had aſſured Colonel Gordon, that when he returned to the Society Iſlands, he would make what enquiries he was able in thoſe parts where La Pérouſe was reported to have been caſt
away,
