8 Biographical Mevioir of Baron de Beauvois. 



took with him two of his domestics, and communicated his en- 

 thusiasm to his .brother-in-law, insomuch as to make him resolve 

 to accompany him, and personally devote himself to all the fa- 

 tigues and perils of the enterprise. The dangers of the climate, 

 of which Landolphe did not leave him ignorant, had no more 

 power over him than ail the other reasons which might have in- 

 duced him to remain, and he embarked at Rochefort, on the 

 17th July 1786, for a voyage which he had calculated upon 

 lasting four years, but which numberless events prolonged far 

 beyond that period. 



The little squadron remained two months at Lisbon, eight days 

 at Chamah, a Dutch factory on the Gold Coast, between Cape 

 Three-Points and Cape Corse ; two days at Koto, a Danish fac- 

 tory on the same coast, on the river Volta ; and as many at 

 Amokou, a French factory ; and at Juida. 



M. de Beauvois omitted no opportunities of collecting or of 

 transmitting the products by all the vessels that he met with, to 

 his master M. de Jussieu. 



They at length arrived at the place where he hoped to find a 

 more abundant harvest. The ships entered the river of For- 

 mosa, on the 17th November, and were received by the inhabi- 

 tants of Oware, with the greatest cordiality ; but scarcely had 

 the new colonists disembarked, when they perceived, to their 

 grief, that, to make a solid settlement in Africa, something 

 more was necessary than to be invited by the Negro princes, 

 and well received by their subjects. 



All those inconveniences, of which so little is anticipated, when 

 the thirst of gold or the ardour of discovery lead to distant cli- 

 mates, were accumulated upon them. The heat burnt them by 

 day ; the cold humidity was insupportable by night ; sleep could 

 not quiet their sufferings. Lying on the moist ground, enor- 

 mous rats sported over their bodies, and devoured their provi- 

 sions ; the mosquitoes covered them with blood by their punc- 

 tures; the Negroes, accustomed to these inconveniences, did not 

 imagine it necessary to guard against them, and scarcely afford- 

 ed them any assistance. Prince Boudakan, on whose protection 

 such flattering hopes had been founded, ashamed of being no 

 longer but a common man, avoided as much as he could his old 

 friends from France. When his European clothes were worn 



