Prisoners in the Maison Despeaux or Garden Prison.

Application to admiral Linois.

Spy-glasses and swords taken.

Some papers restored.

Opinions upon the detention of the Cumberland.

Letter of captain Baudin.

An English squadron arrives off Mauritius: its consequences.

Arrival of a French officer with despatches, and observations thereon.

Passages in the Moniteur, with remarks.

Mr. Aken liberated.

Arrival of cartels from India.

Application made by the marquis Wellesley.

Different treatment of English and French prisoners.

Prizes brought to Mauritius in sixteen months.

Departure of all prisoners of war.

Permission to quit the Garden Prison.

Astronomical observations.

[AT MAURITIUS. GARDEN PRISON.]

APRIL 1804

We lost no time in exploring our new place of confinement, and in making

acquaintance with our fellow prisoners. These were major Shippard and Mr.

W. H. Robertson, who had come from India during the peace on account of

their health, and been detained; the captains Mathews, Dansey, and Loane,

and Mr. McCrae of the Indian army, taken in the Admiral Aplin; and

Messrs. Dale and Seymour of H. M. frigate La DéDaigneuse, who having been

sent with a prize to Bombay had fallen in with the corvette Le Bélier,

and been brought to Mauritius. The officers of merchant ships, at first

confined in the Garden Prison, had a few days before been sent out to

Flacq; and the four remaining officers of the army taken in the Aplin,

were allowed, at the intercession of captain Bergeret, to dwell with

their wives at a plantation in the quarter of Pamplemousses, about six

miles from the port.

M. Bonnefoy, the interpreter, continued to visit us occasionally; and

gave some useful assistance in forming our little establishment, by

procuring the restitution of a part of my private property left in the

Cumberland, and obtaining a permanent permission for my servant to pass

the sentinel at the gate. Our lodging and table in the Café Marengo had

been defrayed by the government; and during the first month, six dollars

per day, being two for each person, had been charged; but the _préfet_,

thinking this too much, had fixed the allowance at 116 dollars per month,

for which the tavern keeper agreed to supply us nearly as before. On

being removed to the Garden Prison, the interpreter informed me with some

degree of shame, that a further reduction of eleven dollars per month had

been ordered, to go towards paying the rent of the house; which is

perhaps the first instance of men being charged for the accommodation of

a prison.

Towards the middle of the month, rear-admiral Linois came into port after

his unsuccessful attempt upon our China fleet, the same in which my

officers and people were passengers. As I believed the want of nautical

information, and especially upon the usages adopted towards voyages of

discovery, had materially contributed to the extraordinary proceedings of

general De Caen, it seemed probable that an examination of my conduct and

papers by the rear-admiral might clear up the affair; and this hope, with

the character of the admiral as an upright and humane man, induced me to

write to him. I described the leading circumstances of my voyage, and

situation at that time; and said, "I should willingly undergo an

examination by the captains of your squadron, and my papers would either

prove or disprove my assertions. If it be found that I have committed any

act of hostility against the French nation or its allies, my passport

will become forfeited, and I expect no favour; but if my conduct hath

been altogether consistent with the passport, I hope to be set at

liberty, or at least to be sent to France for the decision of the

government." Admiral Linois had the politeness to return an immediate

answer; but said, that not being in the port at the time of my arrival,

it belonged to the captain-general to appreciate the motives of my

stopping at the Isle of France, and to determine the time of my momentary

detention. "Nevertheless Sir," he added, "believe, that taking an

interest in your situation, I shall have the honour to speak to the

captain-general concerning it; and shall be flattered in contributing to

your being set at liberty." Unfortunately a difference arose between the

admiral and general De Caen; and the answer given to the application was,

that my case having been submitted to the French government, his request

could not be complied with.

Captain Halgan of the French corvette Le Berceau, having been in England

during the short peace and heard my voyage there mentioned, as well as by

the officers of Le Géographe, did me the favour of a visit more than

once. He testified a lively interest in my situation, and offered

pecuniary assistance if wanted; and being afterwards ordered to France,

applied for me to be sent on board his ship; which being refused, he

obligingly took a letter to captain Melius of Le Géographe, and two

others for England which were punctually sent. In May [MAY 1804] I

addressed a letter to His Excellency the marquis Wellesley,

governor-general of British India, giving an account of my imprisonment.

The character of general De Caen permitted but little hope to be

entertained from the interference of His Lordship, but it seemed proper

to acquaint him with the circumstances; and it was possible that some

unforeseen occurrence might put it in the power of the marquis to demand

my liberty in a way not to be refused: in all these letters I continued

to adhere most scrupulously to the line of perfect neutrality indicated

by the passport.

A detention of some months longer, until orders should arrive from

France, appeared now to be inevitable, and the captain-general, by

withholding the charts, papers, and log book, seemed to desire that

nothing should take off my attention from feeling the weight of his

power; but both Mr. Aken and myself contrived to pass some months neither

uselessly nor disagreeably. We associated at table with Mr. Robertson and

the two young gentlemen of the Dédaigneuse, by which our society was

enlivened; and between the employments of copying my bearing book and

defaced journals, making some astronomical observations, reading, and the

amusements of music, walking in the inclosure, and an old billiard table

left in the house, the days passed along rather lightly than otherwise. A

prisoner or two were occasionally added to our number from the prizes

brought in; but when amounting to six or eight, they were marched off to

join the other merchant officers at Flacq. The seamen there were kept

closely confined; but the officers enjoyed some share of liberty, and

were as happy as they could make themselves upon fourteen dollars a

month, in a place where the necessaries of life were exorbitantly dear;

the hospitality of the French families in the neighbourhood, however,

aided them considerably, and they spoke of the kindness and attention

received in high terms.

JUNE 1804

On June 1, captain Neufville, the officer commanding the guard over the

Prison, demanded all the spy-glasses in our possession; at the same time

promising that each should be returned when the owner had permission to

quit the island, and threatening those with close confinement in the

tower, by whom any glass should be concealed. There was no cause to doubt

the authority captain Neufville had to make the threat, but it should

seem he had none to promise the restitution of the glasses; for I saw all

the officers depart, and to the best of my knowledge not one of them

could obtain their own. When Mr. Robertson quitted the island, and he was

one of the first, his spy-glass was not to be found. The French gentleman

to whom he delegated his claim, wrote to the town major upon the subject;

and the answer was, that all arms and instruments taken from prisoners of

war were the lawful property of the captors, as a reward for their

courage; that for himself, he had not taken advantage of this right, but

had given the glass in question to an officer of La Semillante, to be

used against the enemies of his country. This answer not appearing

satisfactory, the gentleman replied that he did not understand how a

spy-glass, belonging to a surgeon, as Mr. Robertson was, could be

construed into arms or instruments of war. The owner had come to the

island on account of his health, previously to the war, and been

detained, therefore no extraordinary courage had been displayed in his

case; and as these circumstances must have been forgotten by the major,

he hoped the glass would be restored according to promise. To this no

answer was returned; and whether all the glasses were given away, or how

disposed of I did not learn, but had to regret the loss of two.

To the measure of taking away our spy-glasses was added that of nailing

up the door leading to the flat roof of the house. At sunset the sentinel

was accustomed to quit the outer gate, and to be posted before the door

of the prison to prevent any person going into the inclosure after that

time; then it was that a walk upon the roof, after the heat of the day

was passed, became a real pleasure; but of this we were now deprived.* On

the following day a demand was made by a serjeant of invalids, who lived

in the house as police officer, of the swords and all other arms in

possession of the prisoners, and of mine amongst the rest; but not

choosing to deliver up my sword in this manner, I addressed a short

letter to the captain-general, representing that it was inconsistent with

my situation in His Britannic Majesty's service to do so; I was ready to

deliver it to an officer bearing His Excellency's order, but requested

that officer might be of equal rank to myself. In a week captain

Neufville called to say, that it was altogether a mistake of the serjeant

that my arms had been asked for, and he was sorry it had taken place; had

the captain-general meant to demand my sword, it would have been done by

an officer of equal rank; but he had no intention to make me a prisoner

until he should receive orders to that effect. The explanation attending

this apology seemed to be strange; and the next time captain Neufville

came to the house I observed to him, that it appeared singular, after

having been confined six months, to be told I was not a prisoner, and

asked him to explain it. He said, no certainly, I was not a prisoner--my

sword had not been taken away; that I was simply detained for reasons

which he did not pretend to penetrate, and put under _surveillance_ for a

short period.

[* It being afterward suspected, and not without reason, that some of the

gentlemen had forced the door, we were officially informed that the

sentinels had received orders to shoot any one who might be seen on the

roof; this produced greater circumspection, but the pleasure of the walk

and having a view of the sea was such, that it did not wholly remedy the

evil.]

In this affair of the sword I thought myself rather handsomely treated;

but about three months afterward, one of the lower officers of the staff

came to demand it in the name of the town major, by order of the

captain-general. When told the circumstances which had occurred upon the

same subject, he said the general had consented to my wish at that time,

but had since altered his mind; and upon the promise of sending an

officer of equal rank, he said there was no officer of the same rank at

that time in readiness--that colonel D'Arsonval (the town major) would

himself have come had he not been engaged. I might, by a refusal, have

given the officer the trouble of searching my trunks, and perhaps have

received some further degradation; but since the order had come from the

general, who had broken his word, my sword was delivered, with the

observation that I should not forget the manner of its being taken. The

officer described himself as _lieutenant-adjutant de place_; he conducted

himself with politeness, and did not ask if I or Mr. Aken had any other

weapons.

A seaman of the Cumberland and another prisoner from Flacq made their

appearance one morning behind the wall of our inclosure. They had come to

make a complaint of the scantiness of their provisions; for besides

bread, they had only six ounces of meat or fish in the day, without salt

or vegetables, which afforded them but a poor dinner and was their only

meal in twenty-four hours. Several petitions and complaints had been made

to the officer who had charge of them, but without effect; and they at

length resolved that two of their number should escape out of the prison,

and go to the _préfet_ to make their complaint. It was to be feared that

they would be considered as prisoners attempting to escape, if found

openly in the town; and therefore, after giving them money to satisfy

their immediate hunger, my servant was sent with them and a note to the

interpreter, requesting he would be good enough to take them to the town

major's office, where they might tell their story; and the result was,

that they were put on board the prison ship, and kept in irons for

several weeks. Mr. Charrington, my boatswain, had hitherto been treated

as a common seaman; but through the obliging mediation of M. Bonnefoy,

the allowance and portion of liberty granted to mates of merchant ships

were obtained for him; and by two or three opportunities I sent tea and a

few dollars to the seamen, on finding they were so miserably fed.

In the middle of this month, two of the officers who had resided with

their wives at Pamplemousses, obtained permission to go on their parole

to India, through the interest of captain Bergeret. This worthy man had

frequently come to the Garden Prison, and at this time undertook to apply

to the captain-general for my books and papers, and for Mr. Aken and

myself to be removed to Pamplemousses.

JULY 1804

On the 2nd of July he called early with information of having succeeded

in both applications; he had even ventured to propose my being sent to

France, but to this it was answered, that the affair being submitted to

the decision of the government, I must remain until its orders were

received.

In a few days M. Bonnefoy conducted me to the secretary's office, and I

took out of the sealed trunk all the books, charts, and papers which

required any additions, or were necessary to the finishing of others; as

also a bundle of papers containing my passport

commission, etc., and the shattered accounts of the Investigator's

stores. For these a receipt was required, the same as before; but the

third volume of my log book, for which so many applications had been

made, was still refused. Word had been sent me privately, that _the trunk

had been opened and copies taken of the charts_, but to judge from

appearances this was not true; and on putting the question to colonel

Monistrol, whether the trunk or papers had been disturbed, he answered by

an unqualified negative. In regard to our living in the country, the

general had said to captain Bergeret, "he should think further upon it;"

and this we were given to understand must be considered as a retraction

of his promise: a second example of how little general De Caen respected

his own word.

Charles Lambert, Esq., owner of the Althaea indiaman, brought in some

time before as a prize, having obtained permission to go to England by

the way of America, and no restriction being laid upon him as to taking

letters, had the goodness to receive a packet for the Admiralty,

containing copies of the charts constructed here and several other

papers.

AUGUST 1804

In August I found means of sending to India, for Port Jackson, a letter

addressed to governor King; describing my second passage through Torres'

Strait, and the bad state of the Cumberland which had obliged me to stop

at Mauritius, with the particulars of my imprisonment and the fate of his

despatches. This letter was received in the April following, and extracts

from it were published in the Sydney gazette; wherein was made a

comparison between my treatment in Mauritius and that of captain Baudin

at Port Jackson, as described by himself and captain Melius. This account

was copied into the _Times_ of Oct. 19, 1805, whence it afterwards came

to my knowledge.

One advantage of being confined in the Garden Prison rather than at the

Café Marengo, was in the frequency of visitors to one or other of the

prisoners; permissions were required to be obtained from the town major,

but these were seldom refused to people of respectability. In this manner

we became acquainted with all the public news, and also with the opinions

entertained in the island upon the subject of my imprisonment. Those who

knew that I had a passport, and was confined upon suspicion only, thought

the conduct of the captain-general severe, impolitic, and unjust; and

some who pretended to have information from near the fountain head,

hinted that if his invitation to dinner had been accepted, a few days

would have been the whole of my detention. Others understood my passport

and papers to have been lost in the shipwreck, and that it was uncertain

whether I were the commander of the expedition on discovery or not;

whilst many, not conceiving that their governor could thus treat an

officer employed in the service of science without his having given some

very sufficient cause, naturally enough made a variety of unfavourable

conjectures, and in due time, that is, when these conjectures had passed

through several hands, reports were in circulation of my having chased a

vessel on shore on the south side of the island--of soundings and surveys

of the coast found upon me--and of having quarrelled with the governor of

New South Wales, who had refused to certify on my passport the necessity

of quitting the Investigator and embarking in the Cumberland; and this

last seemed to have acquired credit. I will not pretend to say, that

general De Caen had any part in propagating these reports, for the

purpose of satisfying the curiosity of an inquisitive public and turning

its attention from the truth, though far from thinking it improbable; be

that as it may, the nature of my voyage, our shipwreck, the long passage

made in the little Cumberland, and our severe imprisonment, had excited a

considerable degree of interest; and I was told that this imprisonment

had been mentioned in an anonymous letter to the captain-general, as one

of the many tyrannical acts committed in the short time he had held the

government of the island.

One of the persons who asked permission to see me, was M. Augustin

Baudin, brother of the deceased commander of Le Géographe; he testified

the grateful sense his brother had always entertained of the generous

reception and great assistance received from governor King at Port

Jackson, and expressed his own regret at not being able to do any thing

for my release. On learning from him that a letter still existed, written

by captain Baudin to a member of the tribunal of appeal in Mauritius, I

succeeded in obtaining an extract, of which the following is an exact

translation.

On board Le Geographe, New Holland,

Port Jackson, the 3rd December, 1802.

After having traversed the sea in different directions for nine months

after leaving Timor, I came to Port Jackson to pass the winter. The

scurvy had then made such rapid progress, that I had no more than twelve

men fit for duty when I arrived in this colony. The succours which were

lavishly bestowed, the affectionate and obliging cares of governor King,

his unremitting conduct and proceedings beyond example, every thing in

fine, has concurred to make the effects of this disorder less fatal than

the first (a dysentery contracted at Timor), although the cause was not

less serious. I cannot pass in silence an act of humanity to which our

situation gave rise. These are the facts.

On our arrival at Port Jackson, to the number of a hundred and seventy

persons, the resources in corn were far from abundant; a great inundation

and the overflowing of the River Hawkesbury, having in part destroyed the

harvest which was upon the eve of being got in, and the following one

being distant and uncertain, was not a fortunate circumstance for us.

Nevertheless we were made perfectly welcome, and so soon as our present

and future wants were known, the ration given daily to the inhabitants

and the garrison was reduced one-half. The governor and the civil and

military officers set the example of this generosity, which was

immediately followed by the others. We were not only strangers, but still

at war, for the news of the peace was not yet known.

The original extract in my possession, is certified to be true by the

gentleman to whom the letter was addressed. Its contents afford a

contrast to the proceedings of the governor of Mauritius, too striking to

require any comment.

Amongst the acquaintances formed whilst in the Garden Prison, the most

agreeable, most useful, and at the same time durable, was that of a young

French merchant; a man well informed, a friend to letters, to science,

and the arts; who spoke and wrote English, and had read many of our best

authors. To him I am principally indebted for having passed some

agreeable days in prison, and his name therefore merits a place in this

history of the misfortune which his friendship contributed to alleviate;

nor am I the sole English prisoner who will mention the name of _Thomas

Pitot_ with eulogium.

On the 27th, an English squadron consisting of two ships of the line and

two frigates, under the command of captain John Osborn, arrived to cruise

off the island.

SEPTEMBER 1804

Some days afterward, my boatswain and six of the merchant officers,

prisoners at Flacq, made their escape to one of the ships. The

captain-general, in a paroxysm of rage, ordered the officer commanding at

Flacq to be dismissed, and every Englishman in the island, without

distinction, to be closely confined; neither paroles of honour, nor

sureties, nor permissions previously given to depart, being respected.

Six were brought to the Garden Prison, of whom the captains Moffat and

Henry from Pamplemousses were two, and their wives followed them. The

seamen and remaining officers from Flacq passed our gate under a strong

guard, and were marched to an old hospital about one mile on the

south-west side of the town; where the seamen were shut up in the lower,

and the officers in the upper apartment, there being only two rooms.

The arrival of the squadron gave the prisoners a hope of being released,

either from a general exchange, or for such Frenchmen as our ships might

take whilst cruising off the island; even Mr. Aken and myself, since our

swords had been taken away, conceived some hopes, for we were then

prisoners according to the definition of M. Neufville. There was,

however, no intercourse with the squadron until the 19th, on which, and

the two following days, a frigate was lying off the port with a flag of

truce hoisted, and boats passed and repassed between her and the shore.

Our anxiety to know the result was not a little; and we soon learned that

captain Cockburne of the Phaeton had come in for the purpose of seeing

general De Caen; but on entering the port he had been met, blindfolded,

and taken on board the prison ship, which was also the guard ship; that

finding he could not see the general, and that no officer was sent to

treat with him, he left a packet from captain Osborn and returned in

disgust. His mission, we were told, was to negotiate an exchange of

prisoners, particularly mine; but in the answer given by general De Caen

it was said, that not being a prisoner of war, no exchange for me could

be accepted; nor did any one obtain his liberty in consequence.

OCTOBER 1804

Few persons were admitted to the Garden Prison during the presence of the

English squadron; but it did not prevent captain Bergeret and M. Bonnefoy

from coming occasionally. In the end of October I learned with much

regret, that the interpreter had been dismissed from his employment, in

consequence of having carried only one copy of the same newspaper to

general De Caen, when two had been found in an American vessel which he

had boarded off the port, according to custom; the other had been

communicated to some of his friends, which was deemed an irremissible

offence. This obliging man, to whom I was under obligations for many acts

of attention and some of real service, feared to ask any future

permission to visit the Garden Prison.

Admiral Linois arrived from a cruise on the 31st, with three rich prizes,

and got into Port Bourbon unimpeded by our ships, which were off another

part of the island; and the same evening commodore Osborn quitted

Mauritius. Mr. Robertson and Mr. Webb of the Aplin were now permitted to

go to England by the way of America [NOVEMBER 1804]; and I took the good

opportunity of sending by the first of these gentlemen a copy of the

general chart of Terra Australis, comprehending the whole of my

discoveries and examinations in abridgment, and a paper on the magnetism

of ships addressed to the president of the Royal Society.* Four officers

of the army also obtained permission to go to India, on condition of

returning, should four French officers whose names were specified, be not

sent back in exchange; and two other gentlemen left the Garden Prison,

and the island soon afterward. In lieu of these, were sent in captain

Turner and lieutenant Cartwright of the Indian army, and the officers of

the Princess Charlotte indiaman.

[* This paper was read before the Society, and published in the

Transactions of 1805, Part II.]

By information received from the Grande-Riviere prison, where the

merchant officers and the seamen were confined, it appeared that my six

remaining people, and no doubt many others, were very miserable and

almost naked; having been hurried off suddenly from Flacq, and compelled

to leave their few clothes behind. On this occasion I addressed the

captain-general on the score of humanity, intreating him either to order

their clothes to be restored, or that they should be furnished with

others; and on the same day an answer was returned in the most polite

manner by colonel D'Arsonval, saying that an order had been given for all

the prisoners to be fresh clothed, and their wants supplied. Six weeks

afterward, however, finding that the poor seamen remained in the same

naked state as before, I wrote to remind the town major of what he had

said; requesting at the same time, if it were not intended to give these

unfortunate men any clothing, that Mr. Aken might be permitted to visit

them, in order to relieve their urgent necessities from my own purse. No

answer was returned to this letter, but it produced the desired effect.

DECEMBER 1804

My hopes of a speedy liberation by an order of the first consul became

weakened in December, on seeing nothing arrive to confirm them after a

whole year's imprisonment. On the 17th I wrote to remind the

captain-general that one year had elapsed; and requested him to consider

that the chance of war rendered the arrival of despatches uncertain--that

I was suffering an irretrievable loss of time, and very severely in my

health, advancement, and every thing that man holds dear; I begged him to

reflect, that the rights of the most severe justice would be ensured by

sending me to France, where the decision of my fate was remitted; and

where, should the judgment of the French government be favourable, it

could be immediately followed by a return to my country and family, and

the resumption of my peaceable labours. No answer being given at the end

of a week, a second letter was sent, inclosing a copy of the extract from

captain Baudin; and His Excellency was requested to compare the treatment

of the French commander at Port Jackson with what I had received at

Mauritius, and at least to give Mr. Aken and myself the liberty of some

district in the island where we might take exercise, and find the

amusement necessary to the re-establishment of our health; but neither of

these letters obtained any reply, or the least notice.

Mr. Aken had been removed to the hospital in September, and after a stay

of six weeks had returned, more from finding himself so ill accommodated

and fed than from the improvement in his health. He now declined rapidly;

[JANUARY 1805] and my own health was impaired by a constitutional

gravelly complaint to which confinement had given accelerated force, and

by a bilious disorder arising partly from the same cause, from the return

of hot weather, and discouraging reflections on our prospects. We were

therefore visited by Dr. Laborde, principal physician of the medical

staff, who judged the air and exercises of the country to be the most

certain means of restoration; and in order to our procuring them, he gave

a certificate which I sent to general De Caen through colonel Monistrol,

then become town major. No answer was returned; but after some days it

was told me that Dr. Laborde had received a message from the general,

desiring him not to interfere with matters which did not concern him; and

this was the sole mark of attention paid to his certificate or to our

situation.*

[* The doctor had said in his certificate, "J'estime qu'il faut prévenir

'augmentation de ses maux; et en le secourant apropos, c'est assurer la

conservation d'un homme dont les travaux doivent servir aux progrès des

sciences, et a 1'utilité de ses semblables."]

Being thus disappointed in every attempt to procure an amelioration for

my companion and myself, I sought the means of dispensing with the

captain-general's humanity. I rose very early, and took much exercise in

our inclosure before the heat of the sun, became too powerful; and

applied closely to the charts and accounts of my voyage, which ill health

and a languid melancholy had for some time caused to be neglected. By

perseverance in these means, my disorders were at least prevented from

becoming worse; but more particularly I acquired a tranquil state of

mind, and had even the happiness of forgetting general De Caen, sometimes

for days together. The strength of my companion was too much exhausted

for such a regimen; and he was obliged to return to the hospital, being

so much reduced that there was reason to fear for his life.

Several military and merchant officers obtained permissions at this time

to depart on parole, some to India, others to America; which furnished

opportunities of writing many letters. I addressed one to admiral

Rainier, the commander in chief of His Majesty's ships in India, upon the

subject of my detention; and another to lord William Bentinck, governor

of Madras, in favour of two relations of my friend Pitot, who were

prisoners under his government; and it is with much gratitude to His

Lordship that I add his more than compliance with the request: he not

only set the two prisoners at liberty, but used his endeavours to procure

my release from general De Caen.

On the 29th, an American vessel arrived from France with many passengers,

and amongst them monsieur Barrois, the brother-in-law of the general. He

was charged with despatches; and I was told upon good authorities that he

had been sent to France in Le Géographe upon the same service, in

December 1803. The knowledge of this fact gave an insight into various

circumstances which took place at, and soon after my arrival at

Mauritius. Le Géographe having an English passport, was equally bound

with myself to observe a strict neutrality; and the conveyance of an

officer with public despatches in time of war was therefore improper.

Common report said, that captain Melius objected to it, as compromising

the safety of his ship and results of the voyage; but on its being known

from the signals that an English vessel was on the south side of the

island, M. Barrois embarked secretly, and the ship was ordered off the

same evening. Hence I missed seeing her, and was arrested on arriving at

Port Louis without examination; and hence it appeared to have been, that

an embargo was immediately laid on all foreign ships for ten days, that

none of our cruisers might get information of the circumstance and stop

Le Géographe; hence also the truth of what was told me in the Café

Marengo, that _my confinement did not arise from any thing I had done_.

Such was the respect paid by general De Caen to the English passport; and

how little sacred he held that given by his own government for the

protection of the Investigator's voyage, will in part have already

appeared. The conduct of the British government and its officers in these

two cases was widely different. In consequence of the English passport,

the Géographe and Naturaliste were received at Port Jackson as friends,

and treated with the kindness due to their employment and distressed

situation, as will satisfactorily appear from M. Peron's account of their

voyage; and with regard to the French passport, it may be remembered that

the Admiralty directed me, on leaving England, not even to take letters

or packets other than such as might be received from that office, or that

of the secretary of state; and the despatches sent from those offices

were to governor King alone, and related solely to the Investigator's

voyage. I was ordered to stop at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, but

neither to the officers commanding His Majesty's land or sea forces at

one, nor at the other place was any despatch sent; although no

opportunity of writing to the Cape had for some time presented itself.

FEBRUARY 1805

The return of M. Barrois gave a reasonable hope that the captain-general

might have received orders concerning me, and that some thing would be

immediately determined; but a whole month passed in silence as so many

others had before done. It was reported, however, as having come from the

general, that the council of state had approved of the precautions he had

taken; but whether it had decided upon my being set at liberty, sent to

France, or continued a prisoner, was not said.

There were at this time only six officers in the Garden Prison, Mr. Aken

being still at the hospital; lieutenant Manwaring of the Bombay marine,

before commander of the Fly packet, with two of his officers had

possession of one part of the house, and Messrs. Dale and Seymour,

midshipmen of the Dédaigneuse, lived with me in the other. These two

young gentlemen, the first in particular, aided me in making copies of

charts and memoirs, in calculating astronomical observations, etc.; and I

had much pleasure in furnishing them with books and assisting their

studies.

MARCH 1805

In the beginning of March, I was surprised to see in the official gazette

of the French government, the Moniteur of July 7, 1804, a long letter

from Dunkirk addressed to the editor; containing many particulars of my

voyage, praising the zeal with which it had been conducted, and

describing my detention in Mauritius as a circumstance which had

originated in a mistake and was understood to be terminated. In the

succeeding Moniteur of the 11th, some observations were made upon this

letter on the part of the government, which afforded some insight into

what was alleged against me; and these being important to the elucidation

of general De Caen's policy, a translation of them is here given.

MONITEUR, No. 292.

Wednesday 22 Messidor, year 12; or July 11, 1804.

In a letter from Dunkirk, addressed to the editor of the Moniteur, and

inserted in the paper of the 18th of this month, No. 288, we read an

account of the voyage of Mr. Flinders, an English navigator, who arrived

at the Isle of France the 24 Frimaire last, in the schooner Cumberland.

The author of the letter in the Moniteur says, that Mr. Flinders, _"not

knowing of the war, stopped at the Isle of France which was in his route,

to obtain water and refreshments: that some secret articles in his

instructions gave rise to suspicions upon which the captain-general at

first thought it his duty to detain him prisoner; but that, nevertheless,

the passports he had obtained from the French government and all other

nations, the nature even of his expedition which interested all civilized

people, were not long in procuring his release."_

The fact is, that Mr. Flinders not knowing of, but suspecting the war,

ventured to come to the Isle of France; where having learned its

declaration, he doubted whether the passport granted him by the French

government in the year 9, would serve him. In reality, the passport was

exclusively for the sloop _Investigator, of which it contained the

description_; and it is not in the Investigator that he has been

arrested, but in the Cumberland.

The same passport did not permit Mr. Flinders to stop at French colonies

but on condition that he should not deviate from his route to go there;

and Mr. Flinders acknowledges in his journal that he deviated

voluntarily, (for the Isle of France was not in his passage, as the

author of the above cited letter says). In fine, the passport granted to

Mr. Flinders did not admit of any equivocation upon the objects of the

expedition for which it was given: but we read in one part of his

journal, _that he suspected the war_; and in another, _that he had

resolved to touch at the Isle of France, as well in the hope of selling

his vessel advantageously, as from the desire of knowing the present

state of that colony, and the utility of which it and its dependencies in

Madagascar could be to Port Jackson._

As the passport given by the French government to Mr. Flinders, an

English navigator, was far from admitting an examination of that nature

in a French colony; it is not at all surprising that the captain-general

of that colony has arrested him; and nothing announces as yet, that he

has thought it necessary to release him.

An elaborate refutation of these trifling, and in part false and

contradictory charges, will not, I should hope, be thought necessary. By

turning to Chapter 3 (December), and comparing my reasons for putting in

at Mauritius with what the Moniteur says, it will be seen that the

necessity of the measure, arising from the bad state of the Cumberland,

is kept wholly out of sight; and that in giving the subordinate reasons,

there is much omission and misrepresentation. The charges, even as they

stand in the Moniteur, amount to nothing, if my suspicion of the war be

taken away; and it has no other foundation than that, being a stranger to

what had passed in Europe for twelve months, I thought there was a

possibility of war between England and France; and thence deduced an

additional reason for stopping at Mauritius where my passport would be

respected, in preference to going on to the Cape of Good Hope where it

might not. This suspicion, which is twice brought forward, is moreover

contradicted by inference, in the Moniteur itself. It says, "Mr. Flinders

not knowing of, but suspecting the war, ventured to come to the Isle of

France; where having learned its declaration, he doubted whether the

passport would serve him." Now it is not credible, that with such a

suspicion, and being aware, consequently, of the great importance of the

passport, I should wait until arriving at the island before seeking to

know its particular contents; but going to Mauritius under the belief of

peace, and finding war declared, an examination of the passport was then

natural. It is true that I did then entertain some apprehensions, from

not finding any provision made for another vessel in case of shipwreck or

other accident to the Investigator; but my confidence in the justice and

liberality of the French government overcame them; and had general

Magallon remained governor, this confidence would most probably have been

justified by the event.

How my reasons for stopping at Mauritius were worded in the log book, I

certainly do not remember correctly, nor how far they were accompanied

with explanations; and particular care has been taken to prevent me

giving the words themselves; but is it possible to suppose, that

suspecting the war and entertaining inimical designs, I should have

inserted this suspicion and these designs in my common journal? Or that,

having done so, the book would have been put into the hands of general De

Caen's secretary, and these very passages pointed out for him to copy?

Yet the reasons alleged in the Moniteur, to be true, require no less.

The assertion that I acknowledge to have deviated _voluntarily_ from my

route, for the Isle of France was not in my passage--if voluntarily mean,

_without necessity_, must be false altogether. I had intended to pass the

island without stopping, and probably said so; but that the intention was

altered voluntarily, could not have been said, for the _necessity_

arising from the bad state of the schooner was alleged for it. Whether

Mauritius be in the passage from Timor to the Cape of Good Hope, any

seaman or geographer who knows the trade winds, can tell: it is as much

in the passage as is the Cape in going from Europe to India. The above

assertion induced me to examine captain Cook's track from Timor to the

Cape, as it is traced upon Arrowsmith's general chart, and to measure the

distance from a certain part of it to Port Louis, and from thence to

regain the track really made; and I found that his distance would not

have been increased so much as _one hundred miles_; or less than the half

of what ships augment their distance by stopping at Table Bay, in their

route to India. It may perhaps be said, that my _voluntary_ deviation and

the island not being in the passage, apply only to my intention of

passing Mauritius and then changing it. If so, the assertion could only

be made for superficial readers, and contains nothing; such, in fact, are

all the charges when duly examined, not excepting the pretence that the

passport was _exclusively for the Investigator_; and more has already

been said upon them than is due to their real importance.

These Moniteurs, however, informed me of two material circumstances--that

there was at least one person in France who viewed my detention in its

true light, and that the government had either been deceived by the

representations of general De Caen, or coincided with his views from some

secret motive; consequently, that too much reliance ought not to be

placed in an early liberation by its orders. I then determined to write

to monsieur De Fleurieu, author of the instructions to La Pérouse, etc.,

and counsellor of state, who might be supposed to interest himself in my

voyage; and annexed to the letter copies of papers showing the reception

given to the French ships at Port Jackson, and the necessity which had

forced me to stop at Mauritius; and begged him in the name of humanity

and the sciences, to use his influence that I might either be permitted

to continue the voyage, or otherwise be ordered to France for

examination. My worthy friend Pitot wrote to the same effect, to M. De

Bougainville, the navigator and counsellor of state--to M. De la Lande,

the astronomer--to M. Chaptal, minister of the interior--and to M.

Dupuis, counsellor of state; and admiral Linois had the goodness to write

to M. De Fleurieu in favour of my request. At the same time I wrote to

the secretary of the Admiralty, inclosing a copy of the first letter; and

all these being sent away in duplicate, by opportunities which occurred

soon afterward, every step seemed to have been taken that could afford

any hope of liberty and the restitution of my books and papers.

APRIL 1805

The fate of my officers and people on board the Rolla had been a subject

of some anxiety; but about this time I had the satisfaction to learn from

the public papers, that they had arrived safely in England; that

lieutenant Fowler and the officers and company of the Porpoise had been

honourably acquitted of all blame for the loss of the ship, and that Mr.

Fowler had much distinguished himself in the action between the China

fleet and admiral Linois' squadron.

MAY 1805

Permissions being granted to several prisoners to go away on their parole

in American vessels, Mr. Aken, who still remained at the hospital,

conceived hopes that his might pass amongst the rest, if he applied. In

this notion I encouraged him, since my own prospects were so obscure; and

recommended that his plea should turn wholly upon his long-continued ill

health, and to say nothing of his connexion with me. The application was

made accordingly; and on the 7th, he came to the Garden Prison with the

unexpected information of being then at liberty to depart, on giving his

parole "not to serve against France or its allies, until after having

been legally exchanged;" that is, as a _prisoner of war._

It seemed doubtful whether this permission had been granted from motives

of humanity, from forgetfulness, or from some new plan having been

adopted; the general might possibly have received orders, permitting him

to dispose of us as he should think proper, and have no objection to

getting rid of me also, as a prisoner of war, provided an application

gave him the opportunity. In this uncertainty of what might be his

intentions, I wrote to colonel Monistrol, requesting him to state the

length of my imprisonment and ill health; and to move His Excellency to

let me depart on parole, or in any other way he should judge proper; but

it appeared after waiting several days, that the colonel foreseeing the

request could answer no purpose, had not laid it before the

captain-general. I then resolved to make good use of the opportunity

presented by Mr. Aken's departure, and from this time to that of his

sailing, was fully occupied in making up my despatches; and Mr. Aken's

health being improved, he took up his residence in the Garden Prison for

the purpose of giving his assistance.

Besides a general chart of Terra Australis, showing the whole of my

discoveries, examinations and tracks in abridgment, this packet for the

Admiralty contained nine sheets upon a scale of four inches to a degree

of longitude, and three sheets of particular parts in a larger size; also

five chapters of a memoir explanatory of their construction, of the

changes in the variation on shipboard, etc.; an enlarged copy of my log

book, with remarks and astronomical observations from the commencement of

the voyage to quitting the north coast of Terra Australis in March 1803;

and a book containing all the bearings and angles which entered into the

construction of the charts. The time keeper, with the mathematical and

nautical instruments belonging to the Navy Board were also sent; and in

fine, either the original or a copy of every thing in my possession which

related either to the Investigator or the voyage.

Mr. Campbell, commander of the American ship James, bound to New York,

liberally gave Mr. Aken and some other prisoners a passage free of

expense;* and the paroles they were required to sign laying no other

injunction than that of not serving until legally exchanged, the books.

etc. above mentioned, with many letters both public and private, were

safely embarked; and on the 20th in the evening, the ship got under sail,

to my great satisfaction. Of the ten officers and men who had come with

me to Mauritius, only four now remained; one was in the hospital with a

broken leg, another with me in the Garden Prison, and two were shut up at

the Grande Rivière. A seaman had been allowed to go with Mr. Aken in the

James, and all our endeavours were used to obtain permission for the two

in prison to embark also, but without effect; about a month afterwards,

however, they were suffered to enter on board an American ship, at the

request of the commander.

[* It gives me pleasure to say, that almost the whole of the American

commanders were ready to accommodate the English prisoners who, from time

to time, obtained leave to depart, and the greater number without any

other expense than that of laying in provisions for themselves; some were

received on board as officers for wages, and others had a table found for

them without any specified duty being required. In most cases these were

beneficent actions, for, as will readily be imagined, the greater part of

the prisoners had no means of obtaining money in Mauritius; the military

officers, however, and those who had money at their disposal, were

required to pay for their passages, and in some cases, dear enough.]

JUNE 1805

On June 4, a fortnight after Mr. Aken had sailed, captain Osborn again

came off the island, with His Majesty's ships Tremendous, Grampus, Pitt,

and Terpsichore; and an embargo on all foreign vessels was, as usual, the

immediate consequence. On the 23rd, the ship Thetis arrived from Bengal

under cartel colours, having on board captain Bergeret, with such of his

officers and people as had not been killed in the action he had sustained

against our frigate the St. Fiorenzo. This arrival animated the spirits

of all the prisoners in the island; and the return of my friend Bergeret

even gave me some hopes, particularly after the reception of a note from

him, promising to use his exertions to obtain a favourable change in my

situation. Mr. Richardson, commander of the Thetis, informed us some days

afterward [JULY 1805], that all the prisoners of war would be allowed to

go to India in his ship, and that hopes were entertained of an

application for me also being successful. Captain Bergeret did not call

until the 3rd of July, after having used his promised endeavours in vain,

as I had foreseen from the delay of his visit; for every good Frenchman

has an invincible dislike to be the bearer of disagreeable intelligence.

On the 5th, a letter came from Mr. Lumsden, chief secretary of the

government at Calcutta, acknowledging the receipt of mine addressed to

the marquis Wellesley in May 1804; he said in reply, "that although the

governor-general had felt the deepest regret at the circumstances of my

detention and imprisonment, it had not been in His Excellency's power to

remedy either before the present time. The ship Thetis," he added, "now

proceeds to the Isle of France as a cartel; and I have the honour to

transmit to you the annexed extract from the letter of the

governor-general to His Excellency general De Caen, captain-general of

the French establishments to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope. The

governor-general entertains no doubt that the captain-general of the Isle

of France will release you immediately on receipt of that letter."

EXTRACT.--I avail myself of this opportunity to request your Excelleney's

particular attention to the truly severe case of captain Flinders; and I

earnestly request Your Excellency to release captain Flinders

immediately, and to allow him either to take his passage to India in the

Thetis, or to return to India in the first neutral ship.

Mr. Lumsden's letter and the above extract were inclosed to me by the

secretary of general De Caen, who at the same time said, "I wish with all

my heart that the captain-general could accede to the request of His

Excellency the marquis Wellesley; but the motives of your detention

having been of a nature to be submitted to the French government, the

captain-general cannot, before he has received an answer, change any

thing in the measures which have been adopted on your account." Thus

whatever hope had been entertained of liberation from the side of India

was done away, but I did not feel less gratitude to the noble marquis for

his attempt; after eighteen months of indignities, this attention, and

the previous arrival of the two relations of my friend Pitot, set at

liberty by lord William Bentinck, were gratifying proofs that my

situation was known and excited an interest in India.

An exchange of prisoners was soon afterwards agreed upon between

commodore Osborn and colonel Monistrol, with the exception of

post-captains and commanders in the navy and officers of similar rank in

the army; it was not said that the exceptions had any reference to

captain Bergeret or myself, the sole officers in Mauritius of the ranks

specified, but it seemed probable.

On the 28th, the ship Prime arrived from Bombay with French prisoners,

having on board lieutenant Blast of the Company's marine, as agent;

admiral Linois had met the ship near Ceylon, and taken seventy-nine of

the French seamen on board his squadron, notwithstanding the

representation of Mr. Blast that no exchange had yet been settled. This

proceeding was said to be disapproved by general De Caen; and afterwards

to be the cause of the exchange being declared void by Sir Edward Pellew,

then become commander in chief in the Indian seas.

AUGUST 1805

There was at this time an almost uncontrolled liberty to enter the Garden

Prison, and I was favoured with frequent visits by Mr. Richardson of the

Thetis, and by Messrs. Blast, Madegon, and Davies of the Prime; these

gentlemen, finding they should be obliged to leave me behind and alone,

rendered every service I could permit myself to receive at their hands,

and made an impression by their kindness which will ever be retained.

From their conversation I learned what was the treatment of French

prisoners at Bengal and Bombay; and the contrast it formed with that of

English officers and seamen in Mauritius, both in the degree of liberty

and allowance for subsistence, was indeed striking. Something has already

been said upon this subject, and much more might be said; but it is a

more agreeable task to bestow praise where it can with truth be given. It

is therefore with pleasure, and with gratitude on the part of my

unfortunate countrymen to admiral Linois and the officers of his

squadron, as also to the commanders of privateers, that I declare no one

of the several prisoners I conversed with to have made any complaint of

them; on the contrary, almost all acknowledged to have been treated with

kindness _whilst on board_, and except sometimes a little pilfering by

the sailors, to have lost nothing of what they had a right to keep by the

received usages of war; the trunks of many were not searched, it being

only required of the possessor to declare, that it was his private

property and that no letters or journals were contained therein. When the

Fly packet was taken by the privateer La Fortune, lieutenant Manwaring's

table plate and time keeper were returned to him; and his treatment by M.

Lamême was altogether so liberal, when compared with the usual conduct of

privateers in Europe, as to merit being cited.

In order to give some notion of the mischief done to British commerce in

India, by ships from Mauritius, an abstract of all the captures made in

the first sixteen months of the war, so far as they came to our knowledge

in the Garden Prison, is subjoined. There are probably several omissions;

and the supposed values annexed to them are the least that can be

estimated, perhaps not exceeding two-thirds of the prime cost.

By admiral Linois' squadron, three Indiamen and

five country ships mostly large, £ 505,000

By La Psyché privateer, one Indiaman and two

private ships, 95,000

La Henriette, six ships and small vessels, 150,000

La Fortune, one packet, three ships, four small vessels, 103,000

Cutter commanded by Surcouf, four vessels, 75,000

L'Alfred, one ship, 10,000

Le Pariah, one ship, 10,000

--------

Brought into Port Louis, 948,000

Ships known to have been sent to France or

Batavia, run on shore, or sunk at sea, 200,000

Mischief done at Bencoolen by admiral Linois' squadron, 800,000

--------

Estimated loss to British commerce in 16 months, 1948,000

--------

The sailing of the Thetis and Prime, and of a little brig named the Ariel

which had brought prisoners from Ceylon, was delayed until the cruising

squadron had left the island. On the 13th commodore Osborn took his

departure, and my young friends Dale and Seymour quitted the Garden

Prison; the first carrying for me a letter to Sir Edward Pellew, giving

an account of my situation, and another to Mr. Lumsden, informing him of

the little success attending the governor-general's request. In the

evening of the same day the cartels sailed; and I remained with my

servant, who refused to profit by the occasion of obtaining his liberty,

and my lame seaman, the sole English prisoners at Mauritius.

Captain Bergeret informed me two days afterward, that the general was

disposed to permit of my residence in the interior part of the island;

and he advised a written application to be made, specifying the place of

my choice. After consulting with M. Pitot, who had received several

offers to accommodate me from different parts of the island, I wrote on

the 17th, pointing out the plantation of Madame D'Arifat at Wilhems

Plains; which being at some distance from the sea, seemed least liable to

objection. On the 19th, a polite note from colonel Monistrol said that my

request was granted; and he sent word next day, that I was at liberty to

quit the Garden Prison, and pass two or three days in town previously to

going into the country; and being importuned by my friend Pitot to spend

the evening with him, immediate advantage was taken of the permission.

On taking leave of the old serjeant, who had behaved kindly to all the

prisoners, and finding myself without side the iron gate, I felt that

even a prison one has long inhabited is not quitted without some

sentiment of regret, unless it be to receive liberty. Of the twenty

months which my detention had now reached, more than sixteen had been

passed in the Garden Prison, sometimes rather lightly, but the greater

part in bitterness; and my strength and appearance were so changed, that

I felt to be scarcely recognisable for the same person who had supported

so much fatigue in exploring the coasts of Terra Australis.

Various observations had been taken in the Garden Prison, both by Mr.

Aken and myself, principally for our amusement and to exercise Messrs.

Dale and Seymour in the calculations. The corrected results of my

observations were as follow:

_Latitude_ from eight meridian altitudes of the sun, taken with a sextant

and artificial horizon, 20° 9' 13.5" S.

_Longitude_ from twenty-seven sets of lunar distances, the particulars of

which are given in Table IX. of the first Appendix to this volume, 57°

30' 42" E.

_Variation_ of the theodolite from azimuths a.m. and p.m. 11° 42' 30" W.

The middle of the town being nearly one mile south-west from the prison,

its situation should be: Port Louis, latitude 20° 9' 56" south, longitude

57° 29' 57" east.

CHAPTER VI.

Parole given.

Journey into the interior of Mauritius.

The governor's country seat.

Residence at the Refuge, in that Part of Wilhems Plains called Vacouas.

Its situation and climate, with the mountains, rivers, cascades, and

views near it.

The Mare aux Vacouas and Grand Bassin.

State of cultivation and produce of Vacouas;

its black ebony, game, and wild fruits; and freedom from noxious insects.

[AT MAURITIUS. PORT LOUIS.]

AUGUST 1805

My first visit after being liberated from the Garden Prison, was to

captain Bergeret, whose interposition I considered to have been the

principal cause of this favourable change; he obligingly offered me the

accommodation of his lodging whilst in town, but M. Pitot had previously

engaged my residence with him. Next morning I accompanied captain

Bergeret to the town major's office for the purpose of giving my parole,

which colonel Monistrol proposed to take verbally; but to avoid all

future misunderstanding, I desired that it might be taken in writing, and

two days afterward it was made out as follows.

His Excellency the captain-general De Caen having given me permission to

reside at Wilhems Plains, at the habitation of Madame D'Arifat, I do

hereby promise, upon my parole of honour, not to go more than the

distance of two leagues from the said habitation, without His

Excellency's permission; and to conduct myself with that proper degree of

reserve, becoming an officer residing in a country with which his nation

is at war. I will also answer for the proper conduct of my two servants.

Town of Port North-west,

Matthew Flinders.

August 23, 1805

The habitation, for so plantations are here called, which was to be my

residence, belonged to a respectable widow with a large family; and was

represented to be five French leagues, or twelve miles from the town, in

a S. S. W. direction. The permission to range two leagues all round I

considered to be an approach towards liberality; and a proof that, if

general De Caen had ever really believed me to be a spy, he had ceased to

think so; it was not indeed consistent with the reason alleged for my

imprisonment, to grant a parole at all, but this it was no part of my

business to point out. On the other hand, by signing this parole I cut

myself off from the possibility of an escape; but it seemed incredible,

after the various letters written and representations made both in

England and France, that a favourable order should not arrive in six or

eight months. I moreover entertained some hopes of Mauritius being

attacked, for it was not to be imagined that either the East-India

company or the government should quietly submit to such losses as it

caused to British commerce; and if attacked with judgment, it appeared to

me that a moderate force would carry it; upon this subject, however, an

absolute silence was preserved in my letters, for although the passport

had been so violated by general De Caen, I was determined to adhere to it

strictly.

During four days stay in the to town of Port Louis no restriction of any

kind was imposed; I visited the theatre, and several families to whom my

friends Pitot and Bergeret introduced me, and passed the time as

pleasantly as any one who spoke no French could do in such a situation. A

young Englishman, who under the name of an American expected to sail

immediately for Europe, took charge of a box containing letters and

papers for the Admiralty and president of the Royal Society, one of which

was upon the effect produced on the marine barometer by sea and land

winds;* and on the 24th in the afternoon I set off with M. Pitot's family

for their country house, which was four miles on the way to my intended

residence.

[* This paper appeared in the Society's Transactions of 1806, Part II.]

[AT MAURITIUS. WILHEMS PLAINS.]

On the following day we visited the country seat of the governor, called

the _Reduit_, about seven miles from the town, and at the edge of my

limit of two leagues from the habitation at Wilhems Plains. It stands

upon an elevated point of land between the Rivière de Mocha, which comes

from the east, and an equally large stream which collects the waters of

Wilhems Plains from the southward; their junction at this place forms the

Grande Rivière, and the Reduit commands a view of its windings in the low

land to the north, until it is discharged into the sea about a mile on

the west side of Port Louis. There was little water in the two rivers at

this time; but the extraordinary depth of their channels, which seemed to

be not less than a hundred feet, and to have been cut through the solid

rock, bespoke that the current must be immense during the hurricanes and

heavy summer rains; and the views which the different falls of water

amongst the overhanging woods will then present, cannot be otherwise than

highly picturesque. At the Reduit the sides of these ravines were planted

with the waving bamboo, and the road leading up to the house, with the

gardens around it, were shaded by the mango and various other fruit

trees; but all was in great disorder, having suffered more than neglect

during the turbulent period of the French revolution. The house was said

to be capable of containing thirty-five beds, and was at this time in a

state of preparation for general De Caen; and when completed, and the

gardens, alleys, fish ponds, and roads put into order, it would be an

elegant residence for the governor of the island. Our inspection was

confined to the gardens and prospects, from the house being shut up; we

afterwards made a rural dinner under the shade of a banian tree, and my

friend Pitot, with M. Bayard, a judge in the court of appeal, then

separated from their families to conduct me onward to my asylum.

Instead of taking the direct road, they pursued a winding route more to

the eastward, to pay a visit to M. Plumet, a friend of the judge; and we

reached his habitation not much before sunset, though still four or five

miles short of our destination. Thus far I found the country to be stony

and not very fertile, the roads bad and irregular, with several places in

them which must be impracticable in the heavy rains; here and there,

however, we were gratified with the view of country houses, surrounded

with fruit trees and well watered gardens; and once turned out of the

road to see a water fall made by a considerable stream down a precipice

of at least a hundred feet. The cultivated fields seemed to be generally

planted either with sugar cane, maize, or manioc, but we were often in

the shade of the primitive woods.

M. Plumet had passed many years in India, in the service of Scindeah, the

Mahratta chief, and spoke some English; he received us so kindly that we

remained with him until the following afternoon, and his habitation being

within my limits, he invited me to visit him afterwards. From the time of

quitting the port we had been continually ascending; so that here the

elevation was probably not less than a thousand feet, and the climate and

productions were much altered. Coffee seemed to be a great object of

attention, and there were some rising plantations of clove trees; I found

also strawberries, and even a few young oaks of tolerable growth. A vast

advantage, as well as ornament in this and many other parts of the

island, is the abundance of never failing streams; by which the gardens

are embellished with cascades and fish ponds, and their fruit trees and

vegetables watered at little expense.

Quitting M. Plumet in the afternoon of the 26th, we rode in intricate

paths and crossed various plantations to get into the direct road. In

these, besides sugar cane, coffee, maize, and manioc, some fields were

totally covered with a creeping plant bearing a heart-shaped leaf; this

was the _patate_, or sweet potatoe, a root of great utility to the

nourishment of the slaves; and in the higher parts of the island, where

it succeeds best, is a favourite object of cultivation, being little

subject to injury from the hurricanes. As we advanced the streams became

smaller and more numerous, and the uncleared woods more extensive; the

country was still partly covered with large stones; but I remarked with

some surprise, that the productions of the stony land were generally the

most vigorous.

Neither of my conductors were acquainted with the place of my retreat;

they inquired of every black man on the road, as to the right path and

the distance that yet remained; but often could get no answer--sometimes

it was three-quarters, and sometimes two leagues; at length we found

ourselves surrounded on all sides by wood, the road had diminished to a

foot path, it was dark, and began to rain. It was then judged necessary

to turn back and make for a light near the road, to obtain a guide; and

it seemed odd that the person applied to should answer in English, that

the plantation of Madame D'Arifat was just bye. He proved to be an

Irishman named Druse, who had been settled more than twenty years in this

distant island as a carpenter; he had known that an English officer was

coming to reside here, and undertook to be our guide, seeming to be not a

little pleased at again using his native language.

A black man who had charge of the plantation in the absence of the

proprietor, had received orders to accommodate us; but not finding my

servant and lame seaman who should have arrived the day before, we walked

half a league to the habitation of M. de Chazal, a friend of M. Pitot who

had the goodness to send out my baggage. Next morning we returned, and my

abode was fixed in one of two little pavilions detached from the house,

the other being appropriated to my two men; and M. Pitot having brought

me acquainted with a family resident on an adjoining plantation, and made

some inquiries and arrangements as to supplies of provisions, he and his

companion M. Bayard then returned to the town.

SEPTEMBER 1805

My attention for the first several weeks was principally directed to

acquiring a knowledge of the surrounding country, its natural curiosities

and romantic views; and as these are well worth notice, a description of

the most remarkable objects, with an account of the cultivation and

produce of this secluded part of Mauritius, may probably be acceptable to

some readers.

The district or quarter called Wilhems Plains, occupies a considerable

portion of the interior of the island; its northern extremity borders on

the sea by the side of the district of Port Louis, from which it is

separated by the Grande Rivière; and it extends southward from thence,

rising gradually in elevation and increasing in breadth. The body of the

quarter is bounded to the N. E. by the district of Mocha--to the S. E. by

that of Port Bourbon or the Grand Port--to the south by the quarter of La

Savanne--and to the west by the Plains of St. Piérre. Its length from the

sea to the Grand Bassin at its southern extremity, is about five

geographic leagues in a straight line, and mean breadth nearly two

leagues; whence the superficial extent of this district should not be

much less than ninety square miles. In the upper part is a lake called

the _Mare aux Vacouas_, apparently so named from the number of pandanus

trees, called vacouas, on its borders; and that part of Wilhems Plains by

which the lake is surrounded, at the distance of a league, more or less,

bears the appellation of Vacouas; in this part my residence was situate,

in a country overspread with thick woods, a few plantations excepted,

which had been mostly cleared within a few years.

In consequence of the elevation of Vacouas, the climate is as much

different from that of the low parts of the island as if it were several

degrees without the tropic; June, July, and August are the driest months

at Port Louis, but here they are most rainy, and the thermometer stands

from 7° to 12° lower upon an average throughout the year.* In a west

direction, across that part of the Plains of St. Pierre called Le

Tamarin, the sea is not more distant than six miles; the descent is

therefore rapid, and is rendered more so from three-fourths of the space

being flat, low land; in comparison with Le Tamarin, Vacouas is in fact

an irregular plain upon the top of the mountains, to which there is

almost no other access than by making a circuit of four or five miles

round by the lower part of Wilhems Plains. Three rugged peaks called the

Trois Mamelles, and another, the Montagne du Rempart, all of them

conspicuous at sea, are the highest points of a ridge somewhat elevated

above this irregular plain, and bounding it to the westward; and the road

forming the ordinary communication between the high and low land passes

round them. My retreat, which very appropriately to the circumstances of

my situation bore the name of _The Refuge_, lay two or three miles to the

south-east of the Trois Mamelles.

[* The mean height of the thermometer in July 1805, which is the middle

of winter, was 67¼°, and of the barometer in French inches and lines,

26.7¾; and during February 1806, the middle of summer. 76° and 26.5¾ were

the mean heights. At M. Pitot's house in the town of Port Louis, the

averages in the same February were 86° and 27.7¾. According to De Luc,

the difference between the logarithms of the two heights of the barometer

expresses very nearly the difference of elevation in thousand toises,

when the thermometer stands at 70° in both places; and therefore the

approximate elevation of Vacouas above M. Pitot's house, should be

187¼ toises, or in French feet, 1123

Correction for excess of thermometers above 70°, + 25

Supposed elevation of M. Pitot's house above the sea, + 40

----

Elevation of Vacouas in French feet, 1188

The English foot being to the French, as 12 is to 12.816, the height of

Vacouas above the level of the sea should be nearly 1269 English feet.]

The principal rivers in the neighbourhood are the R. du Tamarin and the

R. du Rempart, each branching into two principal arms; these collect all

the smaller streams in this portion of the island, and arriving by

different routes at the same point, make their junction at the head of

the Baye du Tamarin, where their waters are discharged into the sea. In

wet weather these rivers run with great force, but in ordinary times they

do not contain much water; and their smaller branches are mostly dried up

in October and November. Both arms of the R. du Rempart take their rise

between one and two miles to the S. by E. of the Refuge, and within half

a mile of the Mare aux Vacouas, from which it is thought their sources

are derived; the western arm bears the name of R. des Papayas, probably

from the number of those trees found on its banks;* and taking its course

northward, is the boundary between two series of plantations, until it

joins the other branch at the foot of the Montagne du Rempart and its

name is lost. The Refuge was one of these plantations bounded by the R.

des Papayes, being situate on its eastern bank, and receiving from it an

accession of value; for this arm does not dry up in the most unfavourable

seasons, neither does it overflow in the hurricanes.

[* The papaye, papaya, or papaw, is a tree well known in the East and

West Indies, and is common in Mauritius; the acrid milk of the green

fruit, when softened with an equal quantity of honey, is considered to be

the best remedy against worms, with which the negroes and young children,

who live mostly on vegetable diet, are much troubled.]

The eastern arm bears the name of R. du Rempart throughout, from its

source near the _mare_ or lake to its embouchure. Its course is nearly

parallel to that of the sister stream, the distance between them varying

only from about half a mile to one hundred and twenty yards; and the

Refuge, as also the greater number of plantations on the eastern, or

right bank of the R. des Papayes, is divided by it into two unequal

parts, and bridges are necessary to keep up a communication between them.

Although the source of this arm be never dried up, yet much of its water

is lost in the passage; and during five or six months of the year that

nothing is received from the small branches, greater or less portions of

its bed are left dry; there seems, however, to be springs in the bed, for

at a distance from where the water disappears a stream is found running

lower down, which is also lost and another appears further on. In the

summer rains, more especially in the hurricanes, the R. du Rempart

receives numberless re-enforcements, and its torrent then becomes

impetuous, carrying away the bridges, loose rocks, and every moveable

obstruction; its partial inundations do great damage to the coffee trees,

which cannot bear the water, and in washing off the best of the vegetable

soil. During these times, the communication between those parts of the

plantations on different sides of the river is cut off, until the waters

have in part subsided; and this occurred thrice in one year and a half.

At the western end of the Mare aux Vacouas is an outlet through which a

constant stream flows, and this is the commencement of the principal

branch of the R. du Tamarin; the other branch, called the R. des

Aigrettes, is said to take its rise near a more distant lake, named the

Grand Bassin; and their junction is made about one mile to the S. S. W.

of the Refuge, near the boundary ridge of the high land, through which

they have made a deep cut, and formed a valley of a very romantic

character. A short distance above their junction, each branch takes a

leap downward of about seventy feet; and when united, they do not run

above a quarter of a mile northward before they descend with redoubled

force a precipice of nearly one hundred and twenty feet; there are then

one or two small cascades, and in a short distance another of eighty or a

hundred feet; and from thence to the bottom of the valley, the descent is

made by smaller cascades and numberless rapids. After the united stream

has run about half a mile northward, and in that space descended near a

thousand feet from the level of Vacouas, the river turns west; and

passing through the deep cut or chasm in the boundary ridge, enters the

plain of Le Tamarin and winds in a serpentine course to the sea.

The R. du Tamarin is at no time a trifling stream, and in rainy weather

the quantity of water thrown down the cascades is considerable; by a

calculation from the estimated width, depth, and rate of the current

after a hurricane, the water then precipitated was 1500 tons in a minute.

There are some points on the high land whence most of the cascades may be

seen at one view, about a mile distant; from a nearer point some of them

are perceived to the left, the Trois Mamelles tower over the woods to the

right, and almost perpendicularly under foot is the impetuous stream of

the river, driving its way amongst the rocks and woods at the bottom of

the valley. In front is the steep gap, through which the river rushes to

the low land of Le Tamarin; and there the eye quits it to survey the

sugar plantations, the alleys of tamarinds and mangoes, the villages of

huts, and all the party-coloured vegetation with which that district is

adorned; but soon it passes on to the Baye du Tamarin, to the breakers on

the coral reefs which skirt the shore, and to the sea expanded out to a

very distant horizon. An elevation of ten or eleven hundred feet, and the

distance of three or four miles which a spectator is placed from the

plantations, gives a part of this view all the softness of a

well-finished drawing; and when the sun sets in front of the gap, and

vessels are seen passing before it along the coast, nothing seems wanting

to complete this charming and romantic prospect.

Amongst the natural curiosities of Mauritius may be reckoned the _Mare

aux Vacouas_, situate about two miles S. by E. of the Refuge. It is an

irregular piece of fresh water of about one mile in length, surrounded

with many hundred acres of swampy land, through which run four or five

little streams from the back hills; in some places it is from 20 to 25

fathoms deep, as reported, and is well stocked with eels, prawns and a

small red fish called _dame-ceré_, originally brought from China. The

eels and prawns are indigenous, and reach to a large size; the latter are

sometimes found of six inches long without the beard, and the eels

commonly offered for sale ran from six to twenty, and some were said to

attain the enormous weight of eighty pounds. This fish is delicate

eating, and the largest are accounted the best; its form has more

affinity to the conger than to our fresh-water eel, and much resembles,

if it be not exactly the same species caught in the small streams of

Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean. Whence it is that fresh-water fish

should be found on small islands, frequently at several hundred leagues

from other land, will probably long remain one of the secrets of nature;

if it were granted that they might come by sea, the difficulty would

scarcely be less to know how they should have mounted precipices of many

hundred feet, to reach lakes at the tops of mountains where they are not

uncommonly seen.

Five or six miles to the south of the Refuge lies another lake of fresh

water, called the _Grand Bassin_; its situation is more elevated than

Vacouas, and except the ridges and tops of mountains, it seemed to be in

the highest part of the island. This basin is nearly half a mile in

diameter, of a form not far from circular, and is certainly deep; but

that it should be 84 fathoms as was said, is scarcely credible. The banks

are rocky, and appear like a mound thrown up to keep the water from

overflowing; and the surrounding land, particularly to the south, being

lower than the surface of the water, gives the Grand Bassin an appearance

of a cauldron three-quarters full. No perceptible stream runs into it,

but several go out, draining through hollow parts of the rocky bank, and

forming the commencement of so many rivers; the Rivières des Anguilles,

Dragon, and du Poste fall into the sea on the south or south-east parts

of the island; the R. des Aigrettes before mentioned, and the R. Noire

which runs westward, rise not far off, but their asserted subterraneous

communication with the basin is doubtful. No great difference takes place

in the level of the water except after heavy rains; when the supply,

which must principally come from springs in the bottom, so far exceeds

the quantity thrown out, as to raise it sometimes as much as six feet.

On the western bank is a peaked hill, from which the Grand Bassin is not

only seen to much advantage, but the view extends over great part of

Mauritius, and in several places to the horizon of the sea. It was

apparent from hence, that between the mountains behind Port Louis and

those of La Savanne to the south, and from the R. Noire eastward to Port

Bourbon, not one-half, probably not a third part of the primitive woods

were cut down; and this space comprehends three-fifths of the island, but

excludes great part of the shores, near which the plantations are most

numerous.

The elevated bank round the Grand Bassin consists partly of stones thrown

loosely together; though porous, the stone is heavy and hard, of a dark

grey colour, and contains numerous specks of what seemed to be

feldtspath, with sometimes particles of mica and olivine; it is more or

less ferruginous, gives a bell-like sound when struck, and in some parts

appeared to have run in the manner of lava. From this description, and

the circular form and elevated position of this basin, the geologist will

probably be induced to think it the crater of an ancient volcano; and

since there are other large holes nearly similar to it, and many caverns

and streams under ground in other parts, it may perhaps be concluded that

if the island do not owe its origin to subterraneous fire, it has yet

been subject to volcanic eruptions, and that the Grand Bassin was one of

the vents.

Such were the rivers, lakes, and views which most excited my excursions

to the north, the west, and south of the Refuge. To the east at a league

distance, there was, according to my information, a lake called the Mare

aux Joncs, from whence rises the R. du Menil; and taking its course

northward, joins the R. de Wilhems and at length falls into the Grande

Rivière. At a further distance several other streams were said to rise,

some running northward to the same destination as the above, and others

south-eastward towards Port Bourbon; but having never visited this part

of my limits, I can speak of it only from report, corroborated by a view

of the chart. The country was represented as less inhabited than Vacouas,

owing to the want of roads and consequent difficulty of conveyance to the

town, upon which the value of land very much depends: an uncleared

_habitation_* near the Mare aux Joncs was sold for 500 dollars, whilst

the same quantity of land at Vacouas was worth six times that sum.

[* The original concessions of land in Mauritius were usually of 156½

_arpents_, of 40,000 French square feet each, making about 160½ acres

English; this is called _un terrein d'habitation_, and in abridgment a

_habitation_, although no house should be built, nor a tree cut down; by

corruption however, the word is also used for any farm or plantation,

though of much smaller extent.]

Upon the high land near the Grand Bassin and in some other central parts

of Mauritius, a day seldom passes throughout the year without rain; even

at Vacouas it falls more or less during six or eight months, whilst in

the low lands there is very little except from December to March. This

moisture creates an abundance of vegetation, and should have rendered the

middle parts of the island extremely fertile; as they would be if the

soil were not washed down to the low lands and into the sea, almost as

soon as formed. Large timber, whose roots are not seen on the surface,

and a black soil, are here the exterior marks of fertility; but near the

Grand Bassin the trees are small, though thickly set, and the roots,

unable to penetrate below, spread along the ground. The little soil which

has accumulated seemed to be good, and it will increase, though slowly;

for the decayed wood adds something to its quantity every year, whilst

the trunks and roots of the trees save a part from being washed away.

Both these advantages are lost in the cleared lands of Vacouas, which

besides are made to produce from two to four crops every year; the soil

is therefore soon exhausted, and manuring is scarcely known. A plantation

covered with loose rocks is found to retain its fertility longest;

apparently from the stones preserving the vegetable earth against the

heavy rains, as the roots of the trees did before the ground was cleared.

Much of the lower part of Wilhems Plains has been long cleared and

occupied, and this is one of the most agreeable portions of the island;

but Vacouas is in its infancy of cultivation, three-fourths of it being

still covered with wood. This neglect it owes to the coldness and

moisture of the climate rendering it unfit for the produce of sugar and

cotton, to its being remote from the sea side, and more than all to its

distance from the town of Port Louis, the great mart for all kinds of

productions. Mauritius is not laid out like the counties in England and

other parts of Europe, with a city or market town at every ten or twenty

miles; nor yet like the neighbouring isle Bourbon, where there are two or

three towns and some villages; it has but one town, which is the seat of

government and commerce for both islands. In other parts the plantations

are scattered irregularly; and although half a dozen houses may sometimes

be found near together, families within a mile of each other are

considered as next door neighbours. There being few tradesmen except in

the town, the more considerable planters have blacksmiths, carpenters,

and one or more taylors and shoemakers amongst their slaves, with forges

and workshops on their plantations; but every thing they have occasion to

buy, even the bread for daily consumption, is generally brought from Port

Louis.

The produce of the different districts in Mauritius varies according to

the elevation and climate of each; and the temperature of Vacouas being

better suited to European vegetables, the daily supply of the bazar or

market with them, is a great object to the inhabitants. Owing to the bad

roads and excessive price of beasts of burthen, the manner universally

adopted of sending these supplies is upon the heads of slaves; and the

distance being twelve heavy miles, this employment occupies nearly the

whole time of two or more strong negroes, besides that of a trusty man in

the town to make the necessary purchases and sales. The distance of a

plantation from Port Louis therefore causes a material increase of

expense and inconvenience for this object alone, and is one reason why

Vacouas is less cultivated than many other districts; in proportion,

however, as timber becomes more scarce in the neighbourhood of the town,

the woods of Vacouas will rise in value and present a greater inducement

to clear the lands. Timber and planks for ships, and also for building

houses, with shingles to cover them, were fast increasing in demand; and

the frequent presence of English cruisers, which prevented supplies being

sent from La Savanne and other woody parts of the sea coast, tended

powerfully to throw this lucrative branch of internal commerce more into

the hands of the landholders at Vacouas, and to clear the district of its

superfluous woods.

Besides various kinds of excellent timber for building, these woods

contain the black ebony, the heart of which is sold by weight. The tree

is tall and slender, having but few branches which are near the top; its

exterior bark is blackish, the foliage thick, and the leaf, of a dark

green above and pale below, is smooth, not very pointed, and larger than

those of most forest trees. It produces clusters of an oblong fruit, of

the size of a plum, and full of a viscous, sweetish juice, rather

agreeable to the taste. The ordinary circumference of a good tree is

three or four feet; when cut down, the head lopped off and exterior white

wood chipped away, a black log remains of about six inches in diameter,

and from twelve to fifteen feet in length, the weight of which is

something above 300 pounds. In 1806 several inhabitants permitted a

contractor to cut down their ebony, on condition of receiving half a

Spanish dollar for each hundred pounds of the black wood; others cut it

down themselves, trimmed and piled the logs together, and sold them on

the spot for one dollar the hundred; but those who possessed means of

transporting the wood to town, obtained from 1½ to 2½ dollars, the price

depending upon the supply, and the number of American vessels in port,

bound to China, whither it was principally carried. Many of the

plantations in Vacouas were thus exhausted of their ebony; and the tree

is of so slow a growth, that the occupiers could expect afterwards to cut

those only which, being too small, they had before spared; these were

very few, for the object of the planter being generally to realize a sum

which should enable him to return to Europe, the future was mostly

sacrificed to present convenience.

Such cleared parts of Vacouas as are not planted with maize, manioc, or

sweet potatoes for the support of the slaves, or with vegetables and

fruits for the bazar, are commonly laid out in coffee plantations, which

were becoming more an object of attention, as they have long been at

Bourbon; the great demand made for coffee by the Americans, and its

consequent high price, had caused this object of commerce to flourish in

both islands, notwithstanding the war. Indigo and the clove tree were

also obtaining a footing at Vacouas; but the extensive plantations of

sugar cane and cotton shrubs found in the low parts of the island,

appeared not to have been attempted, and it is certain that the cotton

would not succeed.

The portions of each habitation allotted to different objects of culture,

are usually separated by a double row of some tree or shrub, either

useful or ornamental, with a road or path running between the lines.

Amongst the useful is the vacoua or pandanus; whose leaves being strongly

fibrous, long, spreading, and armed with prickles, both form a tolerable

fence and supply a good material for making sacks, bags, etc. It is only

whilst young that the vacoua answers this double purpose; but the tree is

twelve or fifteen years before it arrives at maturity, and the leaves may

be annually cut: no other use is made of the fruit than to plant it for

the production of other trees. A double row of the tall jamb-rosa, or

rose apple, makes the principal divisions in some plantations, forming

agreeable, shady walks; and from the shelter it affords is preferred for

surrounding the coffee trees, which require the utmost care to protect

them from hurricanes. A tree once violently shaken, dies five or six

months afterward, as it does if water stand several days together round

its foot; sloping situations, where the water may run off, are therefore

preferred for it, and if rocky they are the more advantageous, from the

firmness which the roots thereby acquire to resist the hurricanes. Rows

of the banana, of which the island possesses a great variety of species,

are also planted by the sides of the paths leading through the

habitations, sometimes behind the vacoua, but often alone; the pine apple

serves the same purpose in others, as do the peach and other fruit trees

where the paths are more considerable. A long and strong grass, called

_vitti-vert_, is occasionally preferred for the lines of division; this

is cut twice or thrice in the year to be used as thatch, for which it is

well adapted. Hedges of the ever-flowering China rose, and of the

_netshouly_, a bushy shrub from India which prospers in every soil, are

often used in place of the tall jamb-rosa to form alleys leading up to

the house of the planter, and also the principal walks in his garden; the

waving bamboo, whose numberless uses are well known, is planted by the

sides of the rivers and canals.

A notion of the working and produce of a plantation at Vacouas will be

most concisely given by a statement of the ordinary expenses and returns;

and to render it more nearly applicable to the case of such persons in

Europe as might form the project of becoming settlers, I will suppose a

young man, with his wife and child, arrived at Mauritius with the

intention of employing his time and means on a plantation in this

district; and at the end of five years other affairs call him thence, and

he sells every thing. He is supposed to possess 18,000 dollars in money

or property, to be active, industrious, and frugal, and though

unacquainted with the business of a planter, to be sufficiently

intelligent to gain the necessary information in one year. With these

requisites, I would examine whether he will have been able to subsist his

family comfortably during the five years, and what will then be the state

of his funds.

EXPENSES. Dollars.

In town the first year, 1,800

Price of an uncleared habitation, 3,000

Twenty negroes, some being mechanics, 4,000

Ten negresses, 1,500

Ten children of different ages, 1,000

Maize 500 lbs. (7½ D.), sweet potatoes

1250 lbs. (3¾ D.) to subsist each slave

the first year, 450

Head tax for 5 years, at .1 D. each per an. 100

Maroon tax for ditto 100

Surgeon to attend the slaves, 200

Building and furnishing a house,

magazine, etc., exclusive of wood and

labourers from the plantation, 2,500

Agricultural utensils, hand mills, etc. 300

100 fowls and 50 ducks for a breed, 100

Ten goats, 60

Ten pigs, 100

A horse, saddle, etc. 250

A good ass, side saddle, etc. 120

Seeds and fruit trees, 50

Coffee plants 30,000 for 20 acres, 450

Expenses at the plantation in 4 years,

exclusive of domestic supplies, 3,600

Losses from two hurricanes, 2,000

------

Total 21,680

RECEIPTS. Dollars.

Of 60 acres cleared to raise provisions,

30 are necessary to support the slaves;

from the rest may be sold 150,000 lbs.

of maize in 4 years, for 2,250

Ebony, timber, planks and shingles, sold

on the spot during 5 years, 3,000

Coffee reaped on the 5th year, 50 bales

(100 lbs. each) at 15 D. per bale, 750

Vegetables and fruit sold at the bazar, aver

age 2 D. per day, during four years, 2,920

Fowls and ducks 2000 at ½ D. 1,000

Thirty goats sold, 180

Thirty hogs, 600

At the end of 5 years, the plantation,

buildings, etc., will probably bring, 7,000

Probable value of the slaves, 5,500

Pigs, goats, and poultry remaining, 260

Horse, ass, etc. probably not more than 200

------

Whole receipts 23,660

Expenses and losses 21,680

------

Increase 1,980

The taxes and price of provisions, coffee, etc. in the above calculation,

are taken as they usually stood in time of war, under the government of

general De Caen; and every thing is taken against, rather than in favour

of the planter. In his expenses a sufficiency is allowed to live

comfortably, to see his friends at times, and something for the pleasure

of himself and wife; but if he choose to be very economical, 2000 dollars

might be saved from the sums allotted.

In selling his plantation at the end of five years, he is in a great

measure losing the fruit of his labour; for the coffee alone might be

reasonably expected to produce annually one hundred bales for the

following ten years, and make his revenue exceed 3000 dollars per annum;

and if he continued to live economically upon the plantation, this, with

the rising interest of his surplus money, would double his property in a

short time. It is therefore better, supposing a man to possess the

requisite knowledge, to purchase a habitation already established, than

to commence upon a new one.

The same person going to Vaucouas with the intention of quitting it at

the end of five years, would not plant coffee, but turn his attention to

providing different kinds of wood and sending it to Port Louis. With this

object principally in view, he would purchase two habitations instead of

one; and as this and other expenses incident to the new arrangement would

require a greater sum than he is supposed to possess, he must borrow, at

high interest, what is necessary to make up the deficiency. The amount of

his receipts and expenses for the five years. would then be nearly as

follows.

EXPENSES. Dollars.

As before, deducting coffee plants, 21,230

An additional habitation, 3,000

Twenty asses, at 90 D. each, 1,800

Harnesses for three teams, 300

Three waggons built on the plantation, 150

Three additional slaves, 600

Interest of 6,000 dollars borrowed for

three years, at 18 per cent. per an. 3,240

------

Total 30,320

Total receipts 41,922

------

Increase 11,602

RECEIPTS. Dollars.

As before, deducting wood, coffee,

plantation and buildings, 12,910

Trimmed ebony sent to the town 375,

6000 lbs. at 2 D. per 100, 7,512

Timber sent to Port Louis in 4 years,

640 loads at 25 D. each, 16,000

Two habitations stripped of the best

wood may sell for, with buildings, 4,000

Asses and additional slaves, 1,500

------

Total 41,922

These statements will give a general idea of a plantation at Vacouas, the

employments of the more considerable inhabitants, of the food of the

slaves, etc., and will render unnecessary any further explanation on

these heads.

It was considered a fair estimate, that a habitation should give yearly

20 per cent. on the capital employed, after allowance made for all common

losses; and money placed on good security obtained from 9 to 18 per cent.

in time of war, and 12 to 24 in the preceding peace. Had my planter put

his 18,000 dollars out at interest, instead of employing them on a

plantation at Vacouas, and been able to obtain 15 per cent, he would at

the end of five years, after expending 150 dollars each month in the town

of Port Louis, have increased his capital nearly 5,000 dollars; but it is

more than probable that he would have fallen into the luxury of the

place, and have rather diminished than increased his fortune.

The woods of Vacouas are exceedingly thick, and so interwoven with

different kinds of climbing plants, that it is difficult to force a

passage through; and to take a ride where no roads have been cut, is as

impossible as to take a flight in the air. Except morasses and the

borders of lakes, I did not see a space of five square yards in these

woods, which was covered with grass and unencumbered with shrubs or

trees; even the paths not much frequented, if not impassable, are

rendered very embarrassing by the raspberries, wild tobacco, and other

shrubs with which they are quickly overgrown. Cleared lands which have

ceased to be cultivated, are usually clothed with a strong, coarse grass,

called _chien-dent_, intermixed with ferns, wild tobacco, and other

noxious weeds. In the low districts the grass is of a better kind, and

supplies the cattle with tolerable food during three or four months that

it is young and tender, and for most of the year in marshy places; at

other times they are partly fed with maize straw, the refuse of the sugar

mills, and the leaves and tender branches of some trees.

A few short-legged hares and some scattered partridges are found near the

skirts of the plantations, and further in the woods there are some deer

and wild hogs. Monkeys are more numerous, and when the maize is ripe they

venture into the plantations to steal; which obliges the inhabitants to

set a watch over the fields in the day, as the maroons and other thieves

do at night. There are some wood pigeons and two species of doves, and

the marshy places are frequented by a few water hens; but neither wild

geese nor ducks are known in the island. Game of all kinds was at this

time so little abundant in the woods of Vacouas, that even a creole, who

is an intrepid hunter and a good shot, and can live where an European

would starve, could not subsist himself and his dogs upon the produce of

the chase. Before the revolution this was said to have been possible; but

in that time of disorder the citizen mulattoes preferred hunting to work,

and the woods were nearly depopulated of hares and deer.

Of indigenous fruits there are none worth notice, for that produced by

the ebony scarcely deserves the name; a large, but almost tasteless

raspberry is however now found every where by the road side, and citrons

of two kinds grow in the woods. A small species of cabbage tree, called

here _palmiste_, is not rare and is much esteemed; the undeveloped leaves

at the head of the tree, when eaten raw, resemble in taste a walnut, and

a cauliflower when boiled; dressed as a salad they are superior to

perhaps any other, and make an excellent pickle. Upon the deserted

plantations, peaches, guavas, pine apples, bananas, mulberries and

strawberries are often left growing; these are considered to be the

property of the first comer, and usually fall to the lot of the maroons,

or to the slaves in the neighbourhood who watch their ripening; the wild

bees also furnish them with an occasional regale of honey.

With respect to noxious insects, the scourge of most tropical countries,

the wet and cold weather which renders Vacouas a disagreeable residence

in the winter, is of singular advantage; the numerous musketoes and sand

flies, the swarms of wasps, the ants, centipedes, scorpions, bugs and

lizards, with which the lower parts of the island are more or less

tormented, are almost unknown here; and fleas and cockroaches are less

numerous. A serpent is not known to exist in Mauritius, though several

have been found on some of the neighbouring islets; it is therefore not

the climate which destroys them, nor has it been ascertained what is the

cause.*

[* Mauritius is not singular in being free of serpents whilst they exist

on lands within sight, or not far off; but a late account says that one

of great size has been killed on that island near the Reduit, supposed to

have escaped out of a ship from India, wrecked on the coast a few years

before.]

From this account of the situation of my retreat, it will be perceived

that it was a vast acquisition to exchange the Garden Prison for Vacouas;

there, it had been too warm to take exercise, except in the mornings and

evenings, had there been room and inducements; whilst at the Refuge I was

obliged to clothe in woollen, had space to range in, and a variety of

interesting objects, with the charm of novelty to keep me in continual

motion. I bathed frequently in the R. du Rempart, walked out every fine

day, and in a few weeks my former health was in a great measure

recovered. Those who can receive gratification from opening the door to

an imprisoned bird, and remarking the joy with which it hops from spray

to spray, tastes of every seed and sips from every rill, will readily

conceive the sensations of a man during the first days of liberation from

a long confinement.

CHAPTER VII.

Occupations at Vacouas.

Hospitality of the inhabitants.

Letters from England.

Refusal to be sent to France repeated.

Account of two hurricanes, of a subterraneous stream and circular pit.

Habitation of La Pérouse.

Letters to the French marine minister, National Institute, etc.

Letters from Sir Edward Pellew.

Caverns in the Plains of St. Piérre.

Visit to Port Louis.

Narrative transmitted to England.

Letter to captain Bergeret on his departure for France.

[AT MAURITIUS. WILHEMS PLAINS.]

SEPTEMBER 1805

The latter end of August and beginning of September appertain to the

winter in the southern hemisphere, during which it rains frequently at

Vacouas; in the first month after my arrival there were few days that

continued fine throughout, and although all opportunities were taken to

make excursions in the neighbourhood, a considerable part of the time was

necessarily passed within doors. Having sent away my charts and

instruments, and most of the books and papers, no object of my voyage

could be prosecuted until a further supply should be obtained from the

captain-general De Caen; and this being the time, should it ever arrive,

to which I had looked for gaining some knowledge of the French language,

the study of it was now made a serious employment.

Amongst the principal habitations near the Refuge, the proprietor of one

only was resident in the country; and the introduction of my friend Pitot

having produced an invitation, I profited by it to spend there several

evenings, which, besides being passed agreeably, facilitated the study to

which my attention was directed. There was living in the family an

unemployed commander of a merchant ship, M. Murat, who had made the

voyage with Etienne Marchand, the account of which is so ably written by

M. de Fleurieu; he was obliging enough to accompany me in several

excursions, and amongst them in a walk of five miles to the house of M.

Giblot, commandant of the quarter of Wilhems Plains, to whom it seemed

proper to show myself and pay a visit of ceremony. The commandant was

unacquainted with my residence in his district, which was so far

gratifying that it showed I was not an object of suspicion in the eye of

the government.

OCTOBER 1805

M. Pitot came to pass a day with me at the end of a month, as did captain

Bergeret; and on the 9th of October, the proprietor of the Refuge arrived

with two of her sons and three daughters, to take up their residence on

the plantation. On the following day I received a proposal from Madame

D'Arifat, as liberal as the terms in which it was couched were obliging,

to partake of her table with the family, which after some necessary

stipulations, was accepted; and in a short time I had the happiness to

enumerate amongst my friends one of the most worthy families in the

island. The arrival of two other proprietors from the town increased the

number of our neighbours, and of those who sought by their hospitable

kindness to make my time pass agreeably. To M. de Chazal I was indebted

for sending out my baggage, and in the sequel for many acts of civility

and service; this gentleman had passed two years in England, during the

tyranny of Robespiérre, and consequently my want of knowledge in the

French language, at first an obstacle to communication with others, was

none to reaping the advantage of his information.

On the 22nd, a packet of letters brought intelligence from my family and

friends in England, of whom I had not heard for more than three years;

Mr. Robertson, my former companion in the Garden Prison, had found means

to forward it to M. Pitot, by whom it was immediately sent to Vacouas. A

letter from the president of the Royal Society informed me that the

misunderstanding between the French and British governments was so great,

that no communication existed between them; but that the president

himself, having obtained the approbation of the ministry, had made an

application in my behalf to the National Institute, from which a

favourable answer had been received; and there were strong hopes that so

soon as the emperor Napoléon should return from Italy, an order for my

liberation would be obtained. Our frigates, the Pitt and Terpsichore,

came to cruise off Mauritius a short time afterward [NOVEMBER 1805], for

which I was as sorry on one account as any of the inhabitants; every week

might produce the arrival of the expected order, but it would probably be

thrown overboard if the vessel should be chased, or have an engagement

with our ships.

FEBRUARY 1806

Three months thus passed in fruitless expectation; at length an

aide-de-camp of the general arrived, and gave a spur to my hopes; but

after many days of anxiety to know the result, I learned from captain

Bergeret that the despatches said nothing upon my imprisonment. This

silence of the marine minister and the great events rising in Europe,

admitted little hope of my situation being remembered; and I was thence

led to entertain the project of once more requesting general De Caen to

send me to France for trial; but the brother of the general and another

officer being also expected, it was deferred at that time. In effect, M.

De Caen arrived on the 25th, in the frigate La Canonnière from Cherbourg,

and excited a renewal of hope only to be again disappointed; the news of

victories gained by the French over the Austrians seemed to occupy every

attention, and threw a dark shade over all expectation of present

liberty. I learned, however, and a prisoner's mind would not fail to

speculate thereon, that my detention was well known in Paris, and thought

to be hard; but it was also said, that I was considered in the same light

as those persons who were arrested in France, as hostages for the vessels

and men said to have been stopped by our ships before the declaration of

war.

MARCH 1806

My proposed letter to general De Caen was then sent; and after pointing

out the uncertainty of orders arriving, or even that the marine minister

should find time to think of a prisoner in a distant island, I repeated

for the third time my request to be sent to France; where a speedy

punishment would put an end to my anxieties, if found culpable, or in the

contrary case, a few days would restore me to my country, my family, and

occupations. Captain Bergeret had the goodness to deliver this letter,

and to give it his support; but it was unsuccessful, the verbal answer

being that nothing could be done until the orders of the government were

received. To a proposal of taking my parole to deliver myself up in

France, should the ship be taken on the passage, the general would not

listen; though my friend said he had read the letter with attention, and

promised to repeat his request to the minister for orders.