Feb.]
OF LA PEROUSE.
143
CHAP. IV.
Departure from the Cape of Good Hope.—Death of the Maſter-Carpenter of the Recherche.—Divers Occurrences.—Singular Flight of the Albatroſs.—The Iſle of St. Paul ſeen.—Conflagration of its Foreſts—Prodigious Swarms of Inſects in our Ship's Biſcuit—Violent Effects of the Surge—The Commander dangerouſly wounded—Luminous Points at the Extremity of the Conductors—Large phoſphoreſcent Corpuſcles—In Conſequence of an erroneous Obſervation taken by Willaumez, we enter by Miſtake into Tempeſt Bay inſtead of Adventure Bay—General Obſervations upon the Variations of the Magnetic Needle—Gradual Diminution of the Phoſphoreſcency of the Water, proportionate to our Diſtance from the Land—Courſe of the Currents—We are obliged to heat the Place where our Time-keepers are kept—Anchorage in Port Dentrecaſteaux.
16th FEBRUARY.
We waited only for a favourable wind to quit our ſtation at the the Cape, when a ſouth-eaſt breeze ſpringing up about ten o'clock in the forenoon, enabled us to get under way. Scarcely had we ſpread our ſails, when a ſudden
ſquall
