76 Biographical Notice of M. Lislet Geoff roy. 



"In 1787 I was sent by the Governor-General to the Bay of 

 Saint Luce in the south of the island of Madagascar. I drew 

 up the map of this bay, and of the country for fifteen leagues 

 inland, and I likewise visited the thermal waters of the Valley 

 of Amboule, specimens of which I transmitted to M. le Due de 

 Rochefoucauld at Paris. My journal was printed in the Mo- 

 dern voyages. 



" In 1788, I was appointed to draw up the map of a part of 

 the Isle of France ; this was sent to the depot at Paris, and 

 procured me the commission of Geographical Engineer. During 

 the disastrous period of the revolution, I was so fortunate as to 

 assist in preserving this colony from the misfortunes and cala- 

 mities which overturned the rest of our western colonies. True 

 to my principles, I wished to deserve the confidence of my su- 

 periors and that of the people of colour at whose meetings I al- 

 ways presided, and we succeeded in escaping the troubles with 

 which we were threatened in 1794. 



" At this period M. Geoffroy adopted me, by an authentic act, 

 and I assumed his name, that of Lislet-Geoffroy, which I now 

 bear. 



" This same year the Administrators-General sent me on a mis- 

 sion to the Sechelles islands ; I there made various observations 

 on the bays, harbours, islands, and dangers of this archipelago. 

 At my return General Malartic appointed me an assistant-of- 

 ficer in the body of military engineers. 



Captain-General Decaen, on assuming the command of the 

 Eastern Colonies in 1803, confirmed me in the rank of captain. 

 At the capture of the Isle of France, he named me chief of the 

 commission for the inspection of the place. When this opera- 

 tion, and all others that depended on practical engineering, 

 were completed, it was impossible for me to repair to France 

 according to the terms of capitulation, as I was then fifty-five 

 years old, and had the misfortune to lose my wife in 1804, who 

 left me two children of a tender age, the objects of all my cares 

 and solicitude. 



Under the English Government, M. Farquhar, Governor of 

 of the Isle of France, sent a corvette to the coasts of the northern 

 parts of Madagascar, and particularly the bay and harbour of 

 Louiqui. I formed one of the commission appointed for the 

 purpose, and was entrusted with all relating to geography. 



