The journey of Freycinet--Rio de Janeiro and its gipsy inhabitants--The Cape and its wines--The Bay of Sharks--Stay at Timor--Ombay Island and its cannibal inhabitants--The Papuan Islands--The pile dwellings of the Alfoers--A dinner with the Governor of Guam--Description of the Marianne Islands and their inhabitants--Particulars concerning the Sandwich Islands--Port Jackson and New South Wales--Shipwreck in Berkeley Sound--The Falkland Islands--Return to France--The voyage of the _Coquille_ under the command of Duperrey--Martin-Vaz and Trinidad-- The Island of St. Catharine--The independence of Brazil--Berkeley Sound and the remains of the _Uranie_--Stay at Conception--The civil war in Chili--The Araucanians--Discoveries in the Dangerous Archipelago--Stay at Otaheite and New Ireland--The Papuans--Stay at Ualan--The Caroline Islands and their inhabitants--Scientific results of the expeditions. The expedition under the command of Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was the result of the leisure which the Peace of 1815 brought to the French navy. The idea was started by one of its most adventurous officers, the same who had accompanied Baudin in his survey of the Australian coasts, and to him was entrusted the task of carrying it out. It was the first voyage which had not hydrography alone for its object. Its chief aim was to survey the shape of the land in the southern hemisphere, and to make observations in terrestrial magnetism, without, at the same time, omitting to give attention to all natural phenomena, and to the manners, customs, and languages of indigenous races. Purely geographical inquiries, though not altogether omitted from the programme, had the least prominent place in it. Among the medical officers of the navy, Freycinet found MM. Quoy, Gaimard, and Gaudichaud, whose attainments in natural history qualified them for being valuable coadjutors; and he also chose to accompany him several distinguished officers who had risen to high rank in the navy, the best known being Duperrey, Lamarche, Berard, and Odet-Pellion, who subsequently became, one a member of the Institute, the others superior officers or admirals. No less care was exercised by Freycinet in composing his crew chiefly of sailors who were also skilled in some trade; so that out of the 120 men who manned the corvette _Uranie_, no less than fifty could serve on occasion as carpenters, ropemakers, sailmakers, blacksmiths, or other mechanics. The _Uranie_, amply supplied with stores for two years, and provided with all sorts of apparatus of proved utility, iron cisterns for fresh water, machines for distilling salt water, preserved provisions, remedies for scurvy, &c. At last, on the 17th of September, 1817, she set sail from Toulon. On board, disguised as a sailor, was the commander's wife, who was not to be deterred from joining her husband by the dangers and hardships of so protracted a voyage.