— 89 — 



was to be expected in the bearer of a name wliicb has 



occupied a prominent place in the annals of Mauritius 



for upwards of a century, a name distinguished in art, 



science, literature, commerce, and agriculture, and for 



generations associated with the progress and principal 



events of the Colony. A I might further remark that 



Mr Pitot's career was but an example of the energy 



and perseverance which have long characterised the 



people of this island, and that if those who think that 



the inhabitants of a tropical climate are essentially 

 indolent, were to visit Mauritius, they would, I think, 



change their opinion. The law of heredity asserts 

 itself in the face of difficulties, and the history of this 

 remote little island furnishes striking instances of its 

 operation. 



But, gentlemen, it is with Mr Pitot's labours in 

 connection with the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences 

 that we are on this occasion more particularly con- 

 cerned. He was elected a member of the Society on 

 the 11th of August, 1869, and a member of its Council 

 on the 26th of January, 1869. From the first, he 

 took a special interest in the Exhibitions which from 

 time to time were got up under the Society's auspices. 

 He was an influential member of the Exhibition Com- 

 mittee of 1870. At our annual meeting held on the 

 8th of February, 1881, he was elected President of 

 the Society, and re-elected in 1882. His love of art, 

 his desire to promote local industry, his activity, and 

 his decision of character, peculiarly fitted him to take 



