west side of Cape Liptrap. They also
bought goods to the extent of 359 pounds 10 shillings from "Mr. George
Basse."* (* Manuscript accounts of Baudin, Archives Nationales BB4 999.)

Bass now secured fishing concessions in New Zealand waters, from which he
hoped much. "The fishery is not to be put in motion till after my return
to old England," he wrote in January, 1803. Then, he said playfully, "I
mean to seize upon my dear Bess, bring her out here, and make a poissarde
of her, where she cannot fail to find plenty of ease for her tongue. We
have, I assure you, great plans in our heads, but, like the basket of
eggs, all depends upon the success of the voyage I am now upon." It was
the voyage from which he never returned.

There is another charming allusion to his wife in a letter written from
Tahiti: "I would joke Bess upon the attractive charms of Tahiti females
but that they have been so much belied in their beauty that she might
think me attracted in good earnest. However, there is nothing to fear
here." He speaks of her again in writing to his brother: "I have written
to my beloved wife, and do most sincerely lament that we are so far
asunder. The next voyage I have she must make with me, for I shall badly
pass it without her." The pathos of his reference to her in a letter of
October, 1801, can be felt in its note of manly sympathy, and is deepened
by the recollection that the young bride never saw him again. "Our dear
Bess talks of seeing me in eighteen months. Alas! poor Bess, the when is
uncertain, very uncertain in everything except its long distances. Turn
our eyes where we will, we see nothing but glutted markets around us."

The pork-procuring ventures continued till 1803. In that year Bass
arranged to sail beyond Tahiti to the Chilian coast, to buy other
provisions for the use of the colony. Whether he intended to force the
hand of fortune by engaging in the contraband trade can only be inferred.
That there was certainly a large amount of illicit traffic with South
America on the part of venturesome captains who made use of Port Jackson
as a harbour of refuge, is clear from extant documents.

The position was this. The persistent policy of Spain in the government
of her South American possessions was to conserve trade exclusively for
Spanish ships and Spanish merchants; and for this purpose several
restrictions were imposed upon unauthorised foreign traders. Nevertheless
the inhabitants of these colonies u