Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3.: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth CenturyVerne, Jules
History
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3.: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century
Verne, Jules
Discoveries in geography; Explorers; Voyages and travels
On reaching the island of Waihou, Freycinet dropped anchor off
Honolulu. The hearty welcome he received from the European residents
made him regret that he had not come here direct to begin with; for he
was able without any delay to procure all the supplies which he had
found so much difficulty in getting together at the two other islands.
Boki, the governor of Waihou, received baptism from the chaplain of the
_Uranie_. He was prompted apparently by no other motive than a wish to
do as his brother had done, who had previously received this sacrament.
He was far from having the air of intelligence common to the other
natives of the various islands of the Sandwich group hitherto visited.
Many observations on these natives are made in the narrative of the
expedition, which are too interesting to be passed over without a brief
summary here. All navigators are agreed in considering that the class
of chiefs belong to a race excelling the other inhabitants, both in
intelligence and in stature. It is very unusual to find one who is less
than six feet in height. Obesity is very common, but chiefly among the
women, who while still quite young often become enormously corpulent.
The Sandwich type is strongly marked and distinct. Pretty women are
numerous; but the blessing of length of days is seldom enjoyed. An old
man of seventy is a rare phenomenon. This early decline and premature
death must be ascribed to the persistent dissipation in which the
people pass their lives.
On leaving the Sandwich Islands, Freycinet found it necessary to notice
carefully the curves of the magnetic equator in low latitudes.[4]
Accordingly, he crowded all sail in an easterly direction. On the 7th
October the _Uranie_ entered the southern hemisphere, and on the 19th
of the same month the Dangerous Islands came in sight. To the eastward
of the Navigators' archipelago, an island was discovered, not marked on
the charts, which was named "Rose," after Madame Freycinet. This was
the only actual discovery of the voyage.
[Footnote 4: This refers to the line made up of the succession of
points at which the magnetic needle ceases to indicate.--_Trans._]
The position of the islands of Pylstaart and Howe was next rectified,
and on the 13th November the lights of Port Jackson, or Sydney, were at
last sighted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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