580 NAUSCOPIE FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. 



service of the East India Company. In 1 764 he held a situation in 

 the Isle of France in the engineer department. It was about this 

 period that he found out a certain method of discovering land, on the 

 approach of vessels at a distance of 250 leagues, in combining the 

 effects produced by the latter upon the atmosphere, or on the sea. Mr. 

 Bottineau states that the discovery, of which he gave an account in 

 1770, caused him to undergo every kind of persecution, and through 

 the malice of his enemies he was treated as a slave and sent to Mada- 

 gascar during the war of 1778. On his return to the Isle of France 

 he continued his experiments, and with such success, that, upon 

 several occasions, the government, in consequence of his announcing 

 the arrival of convoys, frequently sent out vessels to meet them. In 

 1785 he proceeded to Paris, in order to communicate his discovery to 

 the Minister of Marine, and solicit a remuneration. The certificates 

 of the governor, and of the officers in the island, fully prove the ad- 

 vantage to be derived from this important discovery, and assert in 

 strong terms, that every confidence may be placed in his statements ; 

 that, indeed, his predictions have invariably been correct. Notwith- 

 standing the honourable testimonials and recommendatory letters 

 which Mr. Bottineau presented to the minister, he met with a very 

 cool reception from Marshal de Castries, and this indifference shown to 

 a man possessed of so wonderful a secret can only be ascribed to the 

 fact of Mr. Bottineau having written a memoir, in which he vitu- 

 perated the conduct of the authorities of the Isle of France. The 

 inhabitants of this island, whom I have had frequent opportunities 

 of consulting respecting Mr. Bottineau, state, that he is still living 

 (1810); that he continues to complain of the injustice of mankind, 

 and bitterly regrets the loss sustained to the world by the neg- 

 lect he has experienced. He has already communicated enough, 

 he says, to enable some more fortunate individual to derive that 

 benefit from his discovery which he ought to have received. The 

 inhabitants of the Isle of France, with whom I conversed upon the 

 subject, do not entertain the slightest doubt about the discovery. This 

 poor man is truly to be pitied. During my residence at Colombo, in 

 Ceylon, Mr. Bottineau predicted the arrival of a vessel, and the 

 vessel appeared in sight at the time he had mentioned. I was a 

 witness to this fact. 



THE LIVE AND DEAD OFFICE. 



THE portals of the military Morgue, were not yet opened they 

 waited for the usual signal from the clock of the Horse Guards. 

 Two important looking functionaries stood at the window, one gravely 

 engaged in picking his teeth, the other in paring his nails. Both 

 were choice specimens of the government office martinet. 



A small but interesting group had gathered about the door : the 

 principal figures were three females. The first of these, an old woman, 

 though bending beneath the weight of years, still eclipsed in stature 

 those who stood about her ; many a storm had left its mark on her 



