ASCENT OF THE GUADELOUPE SOUFRIERE. 329 



1694. Two years later he was sent to Guadeloupe. 

 Later, returning to Martinique, lie found his place 

 occupied by another, and was, as a mark of confi- 

 dence, appointed -procurcur general of the mission. 

 In this capacity he visited all the isles of the Antilles, 

 French, English, and Dutch; but passed the greater 

 portion of his time in Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

 In 1703 he founded the town of Basse Terre, and 

 took an active part in the defence of the island against 

 the attack of the English, in March of the same year. 

 The " Bellicose Pere Blanc" as he was called by the 

 people of the island, could not prevent his monastery 

 from being burned, by which disaster he lost all his 

 books, manuscripts, and instruments. He returned to 

 France in 1705, resided in Paris and Rome, and in 

 the former city prepared his different voyages for 

 publication. He there died in 1738. His most im- 

 portant work, "Noaveau Voyage anx lies d'Amer- 

 ique," is as valuable as it is at the present time rare. 

 It was published in Paris in 1722. He wrote, besides, 

 six large works of travel, chiefly from the manuscripts 

 of other travelers. A genus of plants, containing a 

 species indigenous to Cuba and one to Cayenne, was 

 named, in his honor, Labatia. The old Basilique re- 

 mains, in defiance of earthquakes and hurricanes, a 

 monument to the activity and zeal of this good father. 

 Its front, however, was rebuilt a few years ago. 



During my stay in Basse Terre I was struck by the 

 number of children fatherless and motherless, and 

 upon inquiry was told that these orphans, whose 

 sweet faces so appealed to one's sympathy, were sur- 

 vivors of the great cholera plague not many years 

 since, in which some fifteen thousand persons, I be- 



