His family had for five hundred years been settled, prominent and
prosperous, on estates in the valley of the Tarn. In the middle of the
fifteenth century a Galaup held distinguished office among the citizens
of Albi, and several later ancestors are mentioned honourably in its
records. The father of the navigator, Victor Joseph de Galaup,
succeeded to property which maintained him in a position of influence
and affluence among his neighbours. He married Marguerite de
Resseguier, a woman long remembered in the district for her qualities
of manner and mind. She exercised a strong influence over her
adventurous but affectionate son; and a letter written to her by him at
an interesting crisis of his life, testifies to his eager desire to
conform to his mother's wishes even in a matter that wrenched his
heart, and after years of service in the Navy had taken him far and
kept him long from her kind, concerning eyes.

Jean-Francois derived the name by which he is known in history from the
estate of Peyrouse, one of the possessions of his family. But he
dropped the "y" when assuming the designation, and invariably
spelt the name "Laperouse," as one word. Inasmuch as the final
authority on the spelling of a personal name is that of the individual
who owns it, there can be no doubt that we ought always to spell this
name "Laperouse," as, in fact, successors in the family who have borne
it have done; though in nearly all books, French as well as English, it
is spelt "La Perouse." In the little volume now in the reader's hands,
the example of Laperouse himself has been followed.

On this point it may be remarked concerning another navigator who was
engaged in Australian exploration, that we may lose touch with an
interesting historical fact by not observing the correct form of a
name. On maps of Tasmania appears "D'Entrecasteaux Channel." It was
named by and after Admiral Bruny Dentrecasteaux, who as commander of
the RECHERCHE and ESPERANCE visited Australian waters. We shall have
something to say about his expedition towards the close of the book.
Now, Dentrecasteaux sailed from France in 1791, while the Revolution
was raging. All titles had been abolished by a decree of the National
Assembly on July 19th, 1790. When he made this voyage, therefore, the
Admiral was not Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, a form which implied a
territorial titular distinction; but simply Citizen Dentrecasteaux. The
name is so spelt in the contemporary histo