f eleven commissioned officers,
three volunteers, and two hundred sailors, &c. The prince of
Nassau-Sieghen obtained leave from the king to go out on this
expedition, and availed himself of it. He sailed from Nantes on the 15th
November, 1766, purposing to make the river La Plata, where two Spanish
frigates, appointed to receive possession of the islands, were to wait
for his arrival. A squall of wind occasioned him much confusion, and
forced him to put into Brest, whence, after having undergone several
repairs and alterations, which the deficient state of his vessel
rendered necessary, he departed on the 5th December, but not without
being obliged to cut his cable, as the east wind and the ebb tide
prevented his tacking about to keep clear of the shore. A pretty
constant and fresh wind accompanied him, till he got sight of the
Salvages on the 17th, in the afternoon. These are uninhabited islands or
rocks, lying to the north of the Canary islands, and belong to the
Portuguese, who, although making little or no use of them, are jealously
careful to prevent others from visiting or profiting by them. The sight
of these rocks convinced M. Bougainville of a considerable error in his
reckoning, during even this short trip. Having rectified it, and made
observations for their position, he took a fresh departure on the 19th
December, at noon, when he got sight of the Isle of Ferro. On the 8th of
January, he crossed the Line between 27 deg. and 28 deg. of longitude, and on
the 31st of the same month, after an easy and uninteresting voyage, came
to an anchor in Monte Video bay, where the Spanish frigates had lain
expecting him four weeks. He made some observations on the currents
noticed during this voyage, which are well known to occasion much error
in the calculations of the navigator; but as these are not interesting
to the general reader, they are omitted here, and the more properly so,
because we have had frequent occasion to notice the subject in our
accounts of other voyages.

Bougainville left Monte Video on the 28th February, in company with the
Spanish ships, but having encountered a storm and a good deal of
contrary wind, he did not quit the river till the 3d March. The voyage
to the Falkland Islands was rough and troublesome, especially to the two
Spanish frigates, which suffered a good deal during the course, and were
for some time separated from Bougainville's ship. On the 23d and 24th of
March, however, they all ar