ry had prevented the governor from allowing us any
fresh meat; but some oxen belonging to government were now killed for the
distressed strangers; and by returning an equal quantity of salt meat,
which was exceedingly scarce at this time, I obtained a quarter of beef
for my people. The distress of the French navigators had indeed been
great; but every means were used by the governor and the principal
inhabitants of the colony, to make them forget both their sufferings and
the war which existed between the two nations.*

[* These liberal proceedings, which do so much honour to governor King
and the colonists, are handsomely acknowledged by M. Peron in his account
of the French voyage.]

JULY 1802

His Excellency, Governor King, had done me the honour to visit the
Investigator, and to accept of a dinner on board; on which occasion he
had been received with the marks of respect due to his rank of
captain-general; and shortly afterward, the Captains Baudin and Hamelin,
with Monsieur Peron and some other French officers, as also Colonel
Paterson, the lieutenant-governor, did me the same favour; when they were
received under a salute of eleven guns. The intelligence of peace, which
had just been received, contributed to enliven the party, and rendered
our meeting more particularly agreeable. I showed to Captain Baudin one
of my charts of the south coast, containing the part first explored by
him, and distinctly marked as his discovery. He made no objection to the
justice of the limits therein pointed out; but found his portion to be
smaller than he had supposed, not having before been aware of the extent
of the discoveries previously made by Captain Grant. After examining the
chart, he said, apparently as a reason for not producing any of his own,
that his charts were not constructed on board the ship; but that he
transmitted to Paris all his bearings and observations, with a regular
series of views of the land, and from them the charts were to be made at
a future time. This mode appeared to me extraordinary, and not to be
worthy of imitation; conceiving that a rough chart, at least, should be
made whilst the land is in sight, when any error in bearing or
observation can be corrected; a plan which was adopted in the
commencement, and followed throughout the course of my voyage.

Amongst our employments was that of fitting up a green house on the
quarter deck, and sawing plank to make boxes for the reception of such
plants