404 Geographical l)efcripiio7t'f)f' 



been fufed, ihey are to be pounded very fine in the nfual 

 manner, and may be employed as tlie common glazing of 

 lead. The colour of this glazing inclines a little to gre.y> 

 but by the addition of the common calcareous fpar it ac- 

 iquires a yellov/ colour : manganefe gives it a brown colour ; 

 and the addition of copper afhes a green colour. To avoid, 

 however, every thing that has the appearance of being per- 

 nicious, this mixture of copper aflies fliould be employed 

 only for veflels which are to be ufed in wafhing. If this 

 glazing is required for any particular purpofe to be difficult 

 of fufion, a little lefs litharge may be added to it; but the 

 quantity in all cafes mull be fo fmall as to leave no room for 

 apprehending the leaft bad confcquences. This fubftitute 

 for the common glazing is ftrongly recommended by Pro- 

 felTbr Leonhardi. 



XVIII. Geographical Defcrlptlon of the Jjles of France 

 end Bourbon*. 



_L HE IHc of France was difcovered in the fifteenth cen* 

 tury by the Portugucfc, who called it the Ifle of jlcerno. 

 The? Dutch took pofleffion of it in the year 1-598, and gave 

 it the name of the Mauritius, in honour of their Stadtholder 

 Prince Maurice. It was not, hou-ever, till the year 1640 

 that they form.ed a fettlement there, at a harbour in the 

 fouth-eaft, which they abandoned in 17 12, either on account 

 of the little progrcfs it made., or on account of their ellablilli- 

 ment at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1715 the French 

 landed at the harbour in the north-weft fide, and named 

 the iiland Jjle de France. Soon after, in 1721, the inha- 

 bitants of the Ifle of Bourbon, at prefent called Ijlc de la 

 Reunlouy which is lituatcd at the diftance of about ninety 

 miles to the vceft of the lile of France, formed a new fettle- 

 ment under the direftion of Durongay. During fifteen years 

 tiiis colony was in a very languifliing condition. It was 



* From Labarthe's Aunaki Mjxititr.ct el Colon'ialcs- 



rendered 



