Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/405

] General Malartic dispatched the Minerva to France, under the command of Citizen Laignel, one of my companions in misfortune. I embarked in this vessel, which sailed from Isle de France on the 20th of November.

It is remarkable, that during a run of upwards of 600,000 toises west-north-west, from 25° N. lat. and 31° W. long. we found the sea covered with a prodigious quantity of fucus natans, which indicate the existence of some very extensive banks upon which this sea-weed is produced. This is a subject well worthy of the investigation of navigators.

On the 12th of March 1796, we cast anchor at the Isle of Bar, from whence I soon returned to Paris.

Soon after I arrived in that city, I was informed that my collections of natural history had been sent to England. The French Government immediately put in their claim for them, which, being supported by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London, with all the exertions that were to have been expected from his known love for the sciences, I soon had the satisfaction of finding myself again in possession of the requisite materials, for making known to the world the natural productions which I had dis-