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Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, the Ladrone Islands, and the Philippines, in the Years 1771–72

1891; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 44; Issue: 1143 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/044492c0

1476-4687

Julien Marie Crozet, Henry Ling Roth, James R. Boosé,

Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

IN 1769 a Tahitian was brought to Europe by Bougainville as “a human curiosity.” Afterwards he was sent to the Mauritius, the Governor of which was instructed to forward him to his destination. The task of restoring him to his native land was undertaken by Marion du Fresne, who was then a well-to-do resident in the Île de France; and thus originated the expedition the story of which is recorded in the present volume. The party started in two vessels, and Marion proposed, in the course of the voyage, to do much exploring work—a kind of enterprise for which he seems to have been well fitted, as he had been a distinguished officer of the French navy. Unhappily, some members of the expedition, including Marion himself were massacred by the Maories. The voyage, however, was continued, and in 1783 an account of it was published which had been compiled and edited by the Abbé Rochon, the well-known traveller, from the log of M. Crozet, who, after Marion's death, commanded one of his two ships. It is this account which Mr. Ling Roth has translated. The work will be read with interest by students of the history of geographical discovery, and a good many of M. Crozet's statements about savage life have considerable value from the point of view of the ethnographer and the anthropologist. A preface, and a brief reference to the literature of New Zealand, are contributed by Mr. J. R. Boosé, Librarian of the Colonial Institute; and the volume contains, besides maps, very good illustrations of some works of Maori art.