22789 recevant les officiers de l'Astrolabe. Paris, 1830-35. Colour lithograph, 32.5 x 46 cm. (sight). This meeting between the French and the natives of Tikopia, an island of the Vanikoro group, has to do with the investigation into the fate of French explorer La Perouse. An English mariner called Dillon had found many relics here which appeared to have been from the La Perouse voyage. When d'Urville heard of this and visited in 1828 to get more information, the natives "seemed to have agreed on a system of disclaimers". The wreckage of La Perouse's two ships (Boussole and Astrolabe) was eventually located here, but the fate of the survivors, including La Perouse himself was not discovered until much later, when more wreckage was discovered further into the Solomon Islands group. $250.00AUD
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