In Encounter Bay he met the French ship Geogmphe; hailed her; hove to; "* veered round as Le Geofjraphe was passing, so as to keep our broadside to her, lest the flag of truce should be a deception ;'* went on board with Mr. Brown the naturalist, who spoke French, and learned that the Frenchman had been bxplorrng the south and east parts of Van Diemen's Land, had been separated by rough weather from the Naturaliste, had been to Western Port, and **had explored the south coast from Western Port to the place of our meethig, without finding any river, or the large island, said to be at the western entrance of Bass's Strait." Cap- tain Baudin spoke English, and received information from Flinders which the latter thought full, but M. Peron, the French narrator, thought guarded. The voyagers then j,parted wdth mutual goodwill — to receive very different treatment at the hands of those whose passports they held* '^ As Bass had surveyed the coast from Cape Howe to Western Port, and Grant and Murray had examined it westward to Cape Northumberland, there was no part of the coast which the French could lind unnamed except in the few miles between Cape Northumberland and Encounter Bay- With regard to Port Philhp, the French were in utter ignorance, j Captain Baudin having informed Flinders that *^he had I coasted along from Western Port in fine w'eather and had
- found no inlet of any kind."
When F Under s with his maps and journals was after- W'ards imprisoned at the Mauritius, and the French I Government appropriated his discoveries, they attempted to change all the names given by Flinders, They did not know that before leaving Sydney Fihiders had left two copies of his charts with Governor King. They did know from Flinders' journal that when he discovered Port Phillip, he had the magnanimity to respect Murray's prior visit, and as they knew that there were (m Sydney) records of that visit, they claimed credit for respecting the claim of Murray. **Noub le desiguames sous le nom de Port du Debut; mais ayant appris dans la suite qu'il avoit ete Lreconnu i>liX3 en detail par le brick Anglois, the Ladij } Nelson, et qu'il avait etc nomme Port Phillipj nous lui conserverons avec d'autant plus de plaisir ce dernier nom, , cehii du fondateur d*une colonie dans lac^ueWe hom^ ^mqvl^ t2
