nsumption. He was buried beneath a tree at
the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, and an inscription pointed to his
grave.[18] This was found by M. Perouse defaced, who restored it. On his
arrival at Botany Bay, he interred the naturalist of his expedition: the
memorial he set up was destroyed by the natives, and Governor Phillip
repaid, by the substitution of another, the honor done to his own
countryman.[19]

De L'Angle, the companion of Perouse, with eleven officers and men, lost
their lives by a misunderstanding at the Navigators' Isles: the manner
of his own death may be inferred from the native tradition.[20]

The end of D'Entrecasteaux and Huon, was hardly less melancholy: both
commanders were buried by their crews; the admiral at Louisiade, and
Huon at New Caledonia. The vessels were detained by the Dutch at Java,
and many of the seamen died in captivity. There the calamities of their
country became known to them: some sided with the royalists, others with
the jacobins, but few regained their native land; among these, however,
was Labillardiere.[21]

The fate of Captain Flinders is already told; that of Dr. Bass is
involved in obscurity. A rumour that he was alive in 1812, in South
America, was circulated in London.[22] In the colonies it was reported,
that the vessel in his charge foundered at sea; others alleged that he
attempted a contraband trade in the Spanish colonies, was taken
prisoner, and with his companions sent to the quicksilver mines, and
there died.[23]

The whale-boat of Bass, which first swept the waters of the strait, was
long preserved at Port Jackson. Of its keel snuff boxes were wrought,
and regarded as valuable relics. A fragment, mounted with silver,
engraven with the particulars of the passage, was presented to M.
Baudin, as a memorial of the man whose example had stimulated colonial
discovery.

Flinders[24] predicted that the name of Bass would be conspicuous among
the benefactors of mankind: the glory of his own will enlarge with the
value of his discoveries. They resulted not from accident, which may
give reputation to success without merit, but were the reward of prudent
enthusiasm. A small community cannot, indeed, rear a monument worthy the
destinies of their names: private memorials may be perishable, like the
sympathies which inscribed them, but a future and opulent era will
display the moral grandeur of their enterprise, and posterity will pay
public honors to their fame.