Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/44

34 in the same expedition, namely, the Citizens Riche, Beaupré, and Pierson.

We arrived at Brest on the 10th of September. Some of the finest ships in the French navy, such as the Majestueux, the Etats de Bourgogne, the America, &c. were then in the harbour.

While our astronomers were engaged in making the observations necessary for determining the movements of our time-keepers, those who designed to make Natural History the principal object of their attention were employed in furnishing themselves with all the requisites for preparing the collections, which they purposed to make in the unknown countries we were about to visit.

As it was my intention to devote myself chiefly to the observation of the vegetable kingdom, I stood in need of a great quantity of paper, and wished to provide myself with some of a very large size. It was, however, not without great difficulty that I was able to procure twenty-two reams; almost all that remained in the warehouses having been lately appropriated to the service of the artillery.

I employed a part of the time that I had at my own disposal in examining the botanical garden, which is kept in very good order. There is also, in this place, a small cabinet of natural history, which