possess
some interest, and be read without ennui, by those especially who
are desirous of learning the customs of the savage tribes amongst
whom I have resided.

CHAPTER I.

A Family Sketch--My Youthful Days--I Study for the Medical
Profession--Obtain a Naval Surgeon's Diploma--Early Voyages--Sail
for Manilla in the Cultivateur--Adventurous Habits--Cholera and
Massacre at Manilla and Cavite--Captain Drouant's Rescue--Personal
Dangers and Timely Escapes--How Business may make Friends of
one's Enemies--An Unprincipled Captain--Tranquility restored at
Manila--Pleasures of the Chase--The Cultivateur sails without
me--First Embarrassments.

My father was born at Nantes, and held the rank of captain in the
regiment of Auvergne. The Revolution caused him the loss of his
commission and his fortune, and left him, as sole remaining resource,
a little property called La Planche, belonging to my mother, and
situated about two leagues from Nantes, in the parish of Vertoux.

At the commencement of the Empire he wished to enter the service again;
but at that period his name was an obstacle, and he failed in every
attempt to obtain even the rank of lieutenant. With scarcely the means
of existence, he retired to La Planche with his family. There he lived
for some years, suffering the grief and the many annoyances caused
by the sudden change from opulence to want, and by the impossibility
of supplying all the requirements of his numerous family. A short
illness terminated his distressed existence, and his mortal remains
were deposited in the cemetery of Vertoux. My mother, a pattern
of courage and devotedness, remained a widow, with six children,
two girls and four boys; she continued to reside in the country,
imparting to us the first elements of instruction.

The free life of the fields, and the athletic exercises to which
my elder brothers and I accustomed ourselves, tended to make me
hardy, and rendered me capable of enduring every kind of fatigue
and privation. This country life, with its liberty, and I may well
say its happiness, passed too quickly away; and the period soon came
when my education compelled me to pursue my daily studies in a school
at Nantes. I had four leagues to walk, but I trudged the distance
light-heartedly, and at night, when I returned home, I ever found
awaiting me the kind solicitude of our dear mother, and the attentive
cares of two sisters whom I tenderly