

f 



281 



Climate, position, and the work already so well done by La 

 Bourdonnais made him select this house for his experiments. H 

 " prepared, sowed, and planted the ground to a great extent, but 

 people, in whose way I stood, destroyed with as much ardour as 

 I had expended in building up, so I was forced to leave this place 

 next autumn (i.e., six or seven months after my arrival) takin 



^ with me everything that had been spared and could be to 



planted. Paonplemousse was henceforward devoted solely to 



S 



culture of vegetables for the Hospital, the Government, and the 

 vessels going to India or returning to France!" 



"In another property ' Le Ileduit,' I collected all I could 

 procure of rare, useful or curious plants. I started a big farm- 

 yard, I had considerable grazing grounds, I increased the culture 

 of lucerne and fatak. I planted useful trees, I rounded up all 

 the cattle belonging to the Company (who were losing their 

 produce and were often losing beasts) and had them coralled. I 

 distributed a number of cows among the inhabitants on condition 

 that half the produce should be returned to the Company, thus 

 greatly helping to increase their numbers." 



to 



In the midst of these occupations the gift of a so-called 

 nutmeg tree and of nutmegs by M. le Poivre, caused me much 

 annoyance, as I neither could nor would recognise this tree or its 

 fruit for the true nutmeg of commerce. I reported to the Com- 

 pany to this effect, and thus made many personal enemies, who 

 took their revenge in slandering* me." 



ww AU . ^v*«^^-^^ D 



The M. le Poivre referred to was the traveller and naturalist 

 Pierre Poivre, who landed on the island in 1775 on his second 

 voyage, and introduced some seedling' nutmeg trees which he 



had brought from the Moluccas, and presented to the Conseil 



Superieur of the He de France. 



Aublet persisted in his refusal to recognise these nutmeg trees 

 or to plant them, until formally ordered to do so by the Conseil 

 Superieur. The nutmegs, however, died. Aublet was suspected 

 of foul play, and it was even whispered that the young plants had 

 been watered with boiling* water! 



Poivre. — After a series of travels in the Indies, China and 

 Coehinchina, in the course of which he twice visited Mauritius, 

 Poivre returned to France with a store of interesting observations 

 on the Natural History, and with a very perfect knowledge of the 

 customs, language and products of the countries he had visited. 



The French Government ordered him to open up direct com- 

 mercial intercourse with Cochinchina, and to import into the 

 He de France and to Bourbon the spices hitherto only cultivated 

 by the Dutch in the Moluccas. In 1767 he was appointed 

 " Intendant Ordonnateur " and President of the Superior 



Councils of the two Islands. 



On his arrival in July, 1767, at the same time as Governor 

 Dumas, Poivre settled at Mon Plaisir, having observed that 

 the climate of that region suited the culture of the spice and other 

 plants imported by him from the Dutch Indies. He bestowed 

 the greatest care on these new introductions, among which were 

 the pepper and the cinnamon trees, some fruit trees, and others 



