those gigantic seals, the Proboscidea, which assemble in thousands on the coasts, and whose history forms a striking feature of our volume; and he examined the habits and mode of life of a small colony of eleven miserable fishers, who, separated from all the world, prepare in this place the oil and skins of the Seals, which the English traders come at distant intervals to procure. These poor people live in huts, and feed upon the Emu or Cassowary and Kangaroos, caught by dogs trained for the purpose, and upon the Wombats they have domesticated. They readily shared their meagre fare with the strangers, and treated them with a hospitality which is often more strikingly exhibited among a simple and feeble race, than in the midst of civilized society.

During their last sojourn at Timor, Peron completed the observations he had previously commenced there. He had frequent intercourse with the natives, and now more maturely studied their manners, government, and character, because he better understood their language, which is a dialect of the Malay. With no other associate than his friend Lesueur, he did not fear to chase the numerous crocodiles which, to the inhabitants, are objects alike of terror and veneration. Without other help they killed one of these animals, and prepared the skeleton, which now adorns the gallery of the Paris Museum.

Being prevented by contrary winds from touching at New Guinea, they returned to the Isle of France,

where they remained five months. There Peron, after examining his collections, devoted himself to the study of its fish and Mollusca; and, notwithstanding the exertions of preceding Naturalists, ne collected many new species. After this, they remained a month at the Cape, where he improved the time by making the first accurate examination of the singular conformation of a tribe of the Hottentots, known by the name of Bushmen, many of whom happened at the time to be at the Cape.

Finally, after an absence of three years and a half, he landed at L'Orient in April 1804, and immediately proceeded to Paris. He was there engaged for several months in arranging the specimens, and preparing the catalogue, after which they were all deposited in the Museum. Peron then hastened to Cerilly, to visit his mother and sisters. The exhausted state of his health, arising from his long continued fatigue, and still more from the nascent germ of that disease, which was even now working in his frame, made repose absolutely necessary; and, happy in finding himself in the bosom of his family, after having done good service, he thought little on the recompence of his labours. He soon, however, heard that some were endeavouring to persuade the government that the grand objects of the expedition had failed; and this immediately brought him to Paris to refute the calumnious imputation. He visited the Minister of Marine, and, with him, found M. de Fleurieu, and several other savants. Before them all, in a modest and respectful tone, but at the

same time with confident freedom, he demonstrated what his companions had done for geography, mineralogy, and botany; he enumerated the objects which had been procured, the drawings which had been executed, and the observations and descriptions which had been amassed, saying but little of the dangers which had been endured, and the sacrifices which had been made in obtaining the collection. Questions were put to him, which he answered promptly and satisfactorily; and the impression made upon the minister was such, that, after requesting him to visit him at all times, he engaged his services, to prepare for publication the nautical portion of the voyage, and promised to speak to the Minister of the Interior concerning the historical part. Accordingly, he had the same success with this latter functionary, who entertained him in the most flattering manner, and appointed him, along with his friend Lesueur, to publish the account of the whole voyage, including a description of those objects which were new in Natural History.

Thus was Peron, all at once, placed in the ranks of celebrated men; he was courted and surrounded by admirers, and took pleasure in relating what he had witnessed in his voyages; and the interest with which he was listened to often induced him to enter into minute details.

In the meanwhile, the collection, now arranged in the Museum, was to be examined, and a commission named by the Institute was appointed to report

to Government. This commission was composed of Messrs Laplace, Bougainville, Fleurieu, Lacépède, and Cuvier; and their report, drawn up by Baron Cuvier, bore that the collection contained more than 100,000 specimens of animals, amongst which were many new genera; that the number of new species was more than 2500, and that Peron and Lesueur alone, had made us acquainted with more animals than the whole of the travelling Naturalists of modern times; and, finally, that the descriptions of Peron, prepared upon a uniform plan, embracing all the details of the external organization, establishing their characters, in a positive manner, exhibiting their habits, and the economic uses to which they might be applied, would survive the revolutions of arrangements and systems.

Although Peron was now chiefly occupied with his great work, the account of the voyage, yet he deemed it expedient to detach from it a variety of separate memoirs, which he read to the Institute, the Museum, and La Societé de la Medicine. Among these was the memoir on the genus Pyrosoma, that Zoophite so pre-eminently phosphorescent, of which we have already spoken; another was on the temperature of the sea; another on the petrified Zoophites which were found in the mountains of Timor; and others on the dysentery of hot climates; on the Betel; on preserving the health of seamen; on the localities of Seals; and on the strength of savages when compared with civilized men; lastly, he undertook a complete his

tory of the Medusa, concerning which, he had made many observations, and of which he collected a number of new species.

In due time, the first volume of his "Voyage aux Terres Australes" appeared, after being long delayed by the plates, and an opportunity was then afforded of judging of Peron's merits. We find it distinguished by the most scrupulous accuracy with regard to facts, a merit of primary importance in works of this kind. The descriptions of the soil and climate, and the meteorology, present phenomena which are extremely curious; and the comparison of our author's views with those of previous voyagers, often lead to general results. The sketches of the wandering tribes of New Holland, and those inhabiting Van Dieman's Land, make us acquainted with two races of savages of shocking ferocity, and expose the limit of the misery and degradation of the human race. No voyager, with the exception of Mr George Forster, (who, like Peron, is often quoted in the following pages,) has been so successful in seizing the physical and moral qualities which distinguish different tribes, and in marking the connection between their organization, manners, intelligence, and numbers, and the resources which their soil afforded them; and if Forster's narrative is superior, from the excellence of its style, our voyager has the advantage of being free from every systematic bias, and has withheld from his sketches the colouring of romance.

Peron lived to finish only the first half of the