St LJABBE
[Editor's Note.—This account of a sev
enteetli century scientific expedition was
published in the Auburn (111.1 Citizen,
March !<, IS.S6, as nri item of local in
terest, there living at that place at that
time many descendants of Pauly, the en
gineer—the Poleys, Parkses, Posters, and
other families being represented in the
list. The original manuscript in French
was in the possession of John Pauley of
Kansas, who was at the time of the pub
lication visiting his Illinois kinsmen.
This account Is particularly interest
ing at this time, as it describes the con
ditions prevailing on the coast of Cali
fornia, in 17fi9, an event fittingly celebrat
ed by the Golden Gate City.
The malady described by Pauly, which
decimated the ranks of the French expe
dition. occurred at the same time as sev
eral other writers mention a very severe
prevalence of scurvy in California, and
was probably the same.]
JPnHBjHK observation of the trail
sit of Venus on the 3d of
iWM June, 1796, was an object
of interest to all the
(«} learned. The Royal Acad
r JH erny of Sciences proposed
to the king, Louis XV., to
make the necessary outlay to send to
California for this purpose. The late
M. L'Abbe Chappe undertook this voy
age with a courage worthy of his zeal
for the progress of science. I was se-
lected to accompany him and we set sail for Mex
ico In the mouth of September, 1768.
After a perilous voyage of about 3,000 leagues,
we arrived in Mexico on Easter day, 1769. Time
was passing; we stopped but eight days to re
fresh ourselves. The viceroy procured us mules
and provisions, and we undertook to perform by
land a part of the remainder of our travels, which
was about 300 leagues. Amid lofty mountains,
dreadful precipices and arid deserts, we encoun
tered new dangers every day. We failed from
fear a thousand times. YVe were also oppressed
by the excessive heat, which left us hardly
strength enough to drag ourselves. A thousand
insects of every species gave us no rest by day or
night, and we had constantly to be on our guard
against the very ferocious beasts with which the
country is covered. Moreover, we lacked the nec
essaries of life, for the provisions that we got in
Mexico had been spoiled by the heat. We were
obliged to live on wild cattle and whatever fruits
we could find here and there. We made our halts
near some river or spring, that we might slake
the burning thirst with which we were constantly
consumed; to And one it was often necessary to
march a whole day's journey.
Arrived in the evening in some valley, or on
the side of some hill, we would endeavor to take
upon the ground (et a la belle etoille), the repose
which our cruel fatigue rendered so necessary.
When scarcely asleep we were often aroused by
a storm, and then by the impetuous torrents that
came down upon us from the heights of the moun
tains. Many a dark night we had to save our
selves and our equipage, fearful at every step of
tumbling down some of the precipices.
After running a thousand risks we arrived at
last at the port of San Bias, on the Pacific ocean;
thence we embarked for California on a brigan
tine which the viceroy of Mexico had had pre
pared. The Pacific ocean, although very tran
quil, is not the less dangerous on account of the
(vigies) with which it is filled.
The great calm which prevailed at that time
caused us to despair of arriving in time to accom
plish the object of our voyage. After six weeks'
sailing, during which we made but 150 leagues,
on the greatest breadth of the sea. tile shortness
of the time caused us to risk a hazardous exploit.
The part of California near which we found our
selves was the pu"t of San Jose —so dangerous
that tio one had eve. landed there. The access to
it is guarded by the it.iessant waves that break
Impetuously against the rocks.
The Spanish astronomers who were of our com
pany wished to wait for a favorable wind to land
at Cape St. Lucas, which was distant but ten
leagues. The landing there is indeed less danger
ous, but we did not follow their advice because
we were pressed to ariHve at the place of our des
tination; we resolved t<> attempt to disembark at
the first land we should takeover.
While these yet deliberating,
four Indian sailors and myself let down the long
boat; u<> ? iok with us hull of the instruments. 1
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1909
agreed with the Abbe Chappe that if we per
ished he might find other means to land else
where with the rest, which would be sufficient for
making his observations. I embarked then in
the long boat with my four sailors, steering di
rectly for the coast; the nearer we approached it
the more we were sensible of the difficulty of
landing.
We were constantly thrown back by the accu
mulated waves, and our boat threatened all the
while to ship water. When on the point of losing
courage, one of the sailors discovered, at a dis
tance, the mouth of an unknown river. This dis
covery animated us; we reached the coast by this
mouth but with great difficulty. I sent back the
long boat for the Abbe Chappe and the Spanish
astronomers, who arrived safely enough.
Arrived on the peninsula the twenty-first of
May, 1769, 13 days before the epoch of the tran
sit of Venus. We found no (azile a pouvolr nous
mettre a labir), the inclemency of the weather.
The savages that repaired to us said that a con
tagion was prevailing in this country which rav
aged it completely. The Interpreter who trans
lated this added that they said that in order to
withdraw ourselves from the influence of this ter
rible malady, it was necessary to remove some
hundred or more leagues farther to the north.
The means of undertaking this new journey,
broken down with fatigue as we were; we had
neither horses nor carriers to transport our bag
gage; it was impossible to march on foot, and we
shrank from a journey through a desert. All these
reasons decided us to occupy ourselves with no
business tut that which had brought us.
We labored to construct an observatory, which
was ready the twenty-eighth day of May, six days
before the epoch when we would have need of it.
We made our observations on the third of June,
with the greatest exactness.
The contagion made new progress every day;
a general sorrow reigned in all this part of Cali
fornia; we were not long without participating in
it in a distressing manner. This dreadful malady
came upon us six or seven days after the observa
tion. We were wholly without succor; we could
not be useful to one another, because we were at
tacked almost all at once.
The little medicine that we had brought from
France was useless, from want of knowing how
to apply it.
Nevertheless, the abbe, all sick as he was, con
tinued his observations all the time. After ob
serving an eclipse of the moon, he at last yield
ed to his fnintness, the delirium of his disease left
him but little time to examine himself; he died
the first of August, 1769. We were all dying (1
and the companions of our voyage), when 1 had
the sorrow to close his eyelids.
Our situation and our want of strength induced
us in this case to bury him without much cere
mony. I devoted some moments to regret for the
loss I had suffered, and in the height of a disease
from which I did not expect to recover, I took the
precaution to collect all t.he papers relating to the
object of the voyage. I placed them in a casket
with an address to the viceroy of Mexico. 1
earnestly begged some Indian chiefs who were
about me to make this casket safe in case we
should all die, and to transmit it to the vessel
which ought to arrive in the month of September
to take us. My intention in this was to secure to
my country this valuable depot. I remained in
my condition of sickness, pain and wretchedness
until the twenty-ninth of September.
At last the captain of the vessel arrived; he
had landed at the island of Ceralvo, which is situ
ated some 30 leagues from San Jose. My joy was
so much the greater in seeing hira that he pressed
me to quit the fearful place where M. L'Abbe
"Dhappe and all the rest had died. We were car
ried to Ceralvo. 1 forgot to say that this cruel
contagion had taken from us the chaplain and
nearly ail the persons that formed our little com
pany.
Although sick and oppressed with grief, I was
compelled to undertake the perilous route which
I had followod in coming, sometimes upon mules,
sometimes upon the backs of the Indians, when It
was necessary to cross the streams. With all
this trouble, I reached Mexico the twenty-third
day of November, 1769.
There I was received by monsieur the marquis
of Croix, the viceroy of that country, with a com
passion worthy of that good patriot. He had had
the kindness to send to meet me a carriage and
his physician. Arrived at the capital of Mexico,
and having paid my respects to the viceroy I was
lodged by his orders at the expense of the city.
When I left Mexico the marquis de Croix rec
ommended me cordially to the commander of
the Spanish fleet, in which I embarked. We land
ed at Cadia the twenty-first of July, 1770. The
court was at the Escurial. I Lad myself taken
thither, and presented myself to the marquis d'Os
sun, then French ambassador in Spain. He re
ceived me with marks of kindness and consider
ation, and gave orders to show me whatever they
have to show strangers in this royal house.
He caused me to dispatch in advance of the
party, the strictest orders through the minister of
customs, that at no pass on my route must bo
searched either myself or the chests in which
were the observations which I bore.
1 did not arrive in Paris till the filth of the fol
lowing December. I sent to the Academy the ob
servations that we made in California. This so
ciety expressed the greatest satisfaction with my
zeal and my services. They presented me to the
king, and to all his ministers. They solicited for
me a recommendation of my labors. His majesty,
Louis XV. granted me a small pension of SOOf.
The government is too equitable to leave me in
want, in the flower of my age, afflicted with the
evils which I have incurred for the service, and
indispensably obliged to have a servant to lead
me. 1 hope, then, from his justice and from his
goodness, that he will gr:mt me an increase of the
pension sufficient to enable me to accomplish with
decency the rest of my public caree^
SIX DEAD; SIX INJURED
OPEN SWITCH CAUSES A FATAL
WRECK ON RAILROAD.
Pennsylvania Passenger and a Freight
Train Collide at Collinsville, O. —
Engines Demolished.
Hamilton, O. —Six persons are dead i
and six injured as the result of i
a collission between a Pennsylvania
passenger and a freight train 011 an
open switch at Collinsville, O. The
passenger train, southbound on the
Chicago and Cincinnati division of the
road, was booming through the village
at about GO miles an hour. The freight
train had taken the siding to let it
pass.
Two blocks west of the station the
rapidly running train struck the open
switch and ran onto the siding. A ter
rific collision resulted, despite the fact
that Engineer Elmer Brown of the
express train threw on the air brakes
at once. His act doubtless saved the
passengers, none of whom was killed.
The collision wrecked both engines,
destroyed many coal cars, and piled
up the mail, express and baggage cars.
The mail clerks who lost their lives
were buried under the wreckage of
their car. The smoker and coach were
prevented from turning over by the
fact that they leaned against Shollen
barger's grain elevator, adjoining the
siding. All the passengers injured
were in the smoker, and none is seri
ously hurt.
A northbound freight had taken the
siding to allow a passenger train to
pass an hour before the wreck. It is
said that when this freight left the
siding some one failed to close the
switch. It developed that Station
Agent Wright had been accustomed
to close the switch, but Edward John
son of Seven Mile, 0., had taken his
place temporarily and knew little of
his duties.
Villagers and passengers came to
the aid of the injured and put out a
fire that started in the wreckage. They
also got the Injured and the dead from
under the wreckage before the wreck
ing crew from Richmond. lud., arrived.
DEATH CONQUERS M'GARREN |
Brooklyn Democratic Leader Rose j
from Cooper's Apprentice to Be
a Power in State Politics.
New York City.—Patrick H. Mc-
Carren, state senator and Demo
cratic leader of Brooklyn, died at St.
Catherine's hospital, Brooklyn, never
having completely rallied from the ef
fects of an operation for appendicitis
which was performed on October 13.
Senator McCarren remained fully con
scious all day and seemed to realize
that he was soon to die. In fact, he
has held the belief for months that he
had not long to live, and said so to
the physicians in consultation over
him.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I know what
you have come here for. There is no
need for a consultation. I knew I was
dying the day I walked into this hos
pital. I have made a study of my own
case, and I find that my trouble is an
old heart and an old stomach."
Patrick Henry McCarren, by trade a
cooper, by profession a lawyer, and by
vocation a politician, was one of the
most picturesque figures in the politi
cal history of Greater New York. No
leader was ever more roundly con
demned, yet at the close of the 61
years of his life he probably was the
most strongly entrenched leader in
New York state, and had even wielded
some influence in national politics.
Born in East Cambridge, Mass., he
settled in Brooklyn when he was 8
years old and was graduated from the
public schools. He was apprenticed
to a cooper when 16, but, having mas
tered his trade, heard the call to some
thing more intellectual. He took up
the law, and from the law went into
politics.
WEEKLY OF TRADE
Every Report Ranges from Moderate
Improvement to Extraordinary
Buoyancy in the Country.
New York City.—R. G. Dun &
Co.'s Weekly Review of Trade says:
"Overshadowing all other develop
ments of the week is the advance in
the Bank of England rate of discount
to 5 per cent. As the advance to 6
per cent about three years ago was,
as it were, the raising of storm sig
nals, so the present advance is, as is
said by Sir Felix Schuster, a sign of
trade revival.
"In the United States every report
of the week ranges from moderate im
provement to extraordinary buoyancy.
The advices from the leading cities
are uniformly favorable, with especi
ally brilliant reports from the western
centers. As against these accumu
lated, and still accumulating, evi
dences of trade expansion, the two
factors that speak for conservatism
are the advancing prices and the dan
ger that speculation may make such
demands on the money market as pre
maturely to consume the free capital
of the world required to finance a new
era of prosperity."
Senator Gallinger's Son Drops Dead.
New York City.—William Gallin
ger, eldest sou of United States Sena
tor Gallinger of New Hampshire, fell
dead in a bedroom in the apartment'
of his cousin, Mrs. A. E. Johnstone, of j
heart disease.
Shortage in Coal Cars.
Baltimore, Md. The threatened
shortage of coal cars in the min
ing regions of Maryland and West Vir i
ginia is here and the railroads seem
powerless to relieve the situation, ac- ]
cording to leaders in the coal trade. I
ANOTHER
WOMAN
CURED
By Lydia E. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound
Gardiner, Maine.—" I have been a
great sufferer from organic troubles
r " and a severe female
doctor said I would
l'UVf go to tliO
could not bear to
cided to try Lydia
K . E. I'inkham's Veg
and Sanative Wash
—and wasentirely
|f^'*iVn*V.'.•» icured after three
months' use of them."—Mrs. S. A.
WILLIAM 8, R. F. D. No. 14, Box 39,
Gardiner, Me.
No woman should submit to a surgi
cal operation, which may mean death,
until she has given Lydia E. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound, made exclusive
ly from roots and herbs, a fair trial.
This famous medicine for women
has for thirty years proved to be the
most valuable tonic and renewer of
the female organism. Women resid
ing in almost every city and town in
the United States bear willing testi
mony to the wonderful virtue of Lydia
E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.
It cures female ills, and creates radi
ant, buoyant female health. If vou
are ill, for your own sake as well as
those you love, give it a trial.
Mrs. Pinkbam, at Lynn, Mass.,
invites all sick women to write
her for advice. Her advice is free,
and always helpful.
IT IS.
i _fL=r xr 11
She —John Henry! 1 wonder how
you can sit there and look ine in the
face.
He—So do I, my love; but it's sur
prising what a recklessly brave man
can do!
The Soft Answer.
At a dinner in Bar Harbor a Boston
woman praised the wit of the late Ed
ward Everett Hale.
"Walking on the outskirts of Boston
one day," she said, "he and I inadvert
ently entered a field that had a 'No
Trespassing' sign nailed to a tree.
"Soon a farmer appeared.
" 'Trespassers in this field are prose
cuted,' he said in a grim tone.
"Dr. Hale smiled blandly.
" 'But we are not trespassers, my
good man,' he said.
" 'What are you then?' asked the
amazed farmer.
" 'We're Unitarians,' said Dr. Hale."
—Washington Star.
Joke Medicine.
He is a very practical, serious
minded man of business. The other
day he met a friend, and related to
him an alleged joke, and at its con
clusion laughed long and heartily.
The friend looked awkward for a
moment, and then said:
"You'll have to excuse me, old man,
but I don't see the point."
"Why, to tell you the truth, I don't
just see the point myself. But I've
made It a rule to laugh at all jokes;
I think it's good for the health."
How She Knew.
The cartoonist's wife was talking to
a friend.
"I just know Fred didn't want to
work at the office last night," she
said.
"Why, how do you know?" was
asked.
"Because in his sleep he said: 'Well,
I'll stay, but I don't want to draw.'
Lippincott's Magazine.
A BANKER'S NERVE
Broken by Coffee and Restored by
Postum.
A banker needs perfect control of
the nerves, and a clear, quick, accu
rate brain. A prominent banker of
Chattanooga tells how he keeps him
self in condition:
"Up to 17 years of age I was not
allowed to drink coffee, but as soon aa
I got out in the world I began to use
it and grew very fond of it. For some
years I noticed no bad effects from its
use, but in time it began to affect me
unfavorably. My hands trembled, the
muscles of my face twitched, my men
tal processes seemed slow and in other
ways my system got out of order.
These conditions grew so bad at. last
that I had to give up coffee altogether.
"My attention having been drawn to
Postum, I began its use on leaving off
the coffee, and it gives me pleasure to
testify to its value. I find it a delicious
beverage; like it just as well as I did
coffee, and during the years that I
have used Postum I have been free
from the distressing symptoms that ac
companied the use of coffee. The nerv
ousness has entirely disappeared, and
I am as steady of hand as a boy of
25, though I am more than 92 years
old. I owe all this to Postum."
"There's a Reason." Read the little
book, "The Road to Wellville," in
pkgs. Grocers sell.
Ever rentl the nlinvf letter? A new
OTIC NP|IOIIRN from time to time. They
ore irenuliie, true, nn«l full of human
IntcrcNt.
3