Upon the 5th of September, 1792, the French joyfully anchored in the roadstead of Amboyna. There were many sufferers from scurvy on board, and officers and crew alike needed a lengthened rest. The naturalists, astronomers, and other scientific men immediately landed, and took the necessary steps for the prosecution of their various observations. The naturalists were particularly successful in acquiring new facts. La Billardiere congratulates himself upon the multiplicity of new plants and animals that he was able to obtain. "Once when upon the shore," he says, "I heard what appeared to be wind instruments, the tones now harmonious, now discordant, yet never unpleasing. These harmonious and distinct sounds appeared to come from a distance, and I imagined the natives were making music some six or seven miles beyond the roadstead. But my ear deceived me, for I found that I was not a hundred yards from the instrument. A bamboo cane, at least sixty feet high, was fixed vertically upon the shore. At each notch a slit had been made, about two and a half inches long and one and a quarter broad. These slits made so many openings for the wind, which, passing through them, produced varied and pleasant sounds. As the notches in this cane were very numerous, the slits had been made all round, so that whichever way the wind blew it went through some of them. I can only compare the sound of this instrument to that of an harmonium." During this long stay of a month in one place the vessels were well caulked, the sails and rigging attended to, and every precaution taken for a voyage in tropical and damp climates. A few details on the roadstead of Amboyna, and the manners and customs of the native population, will not be out of place. "Amboyna roadstead," says La Billardiere, "forms a channel some thirteen or fourteen miles in length, and about two and a half miles in breadth. It affords good anchorage, although the bottom is partly of coral. "The fort, called Victory Fort, is built of bricks; the governor and some of the members of government reside there. It was at this time falling into ruins, and every discharge of cannon did evident damage. "The garrison consisted of about two hundred men, of which the natives of the island composed a considerable part; the remainder consisted of a few retired European soldiers and a small detachment of a Wurtemberg regiment. "The mortality amongst officers living in the Indies makes the lives of those who have been some time in the climate precious; the Dutch Company is therefore seldom true to its promise to allow them to return to Europe at the expiration of their time of service. I met with several of these unfortunate men who had been detained for more than twenty years, when, according to agreement, they ought to have been freed long before.