BOURBON. 



375 



pitiility and simplicity of mariner;. Th l.uiies are 

 Fond of dancing; have both beauty, and cleg.; 

 shape, a tolerable share of wit, ami more t.'.rite tlian 

 could be expected in such a remote colony. They 

 marry at an early age, and are remarkable for their 

 attention to domestic duties, and their attachment to 

 their husbands and children. " Both men and wo- 

 men," says Admiral Kempenfelt, " are strong and 

 well made, breathe a wholesome air, are in continual 

 exercise, and are distinguished for moderation and 

 temperance." Their houses are chiefly built of wood, 

 and arc very cool and agreeable. They have, how- 

 ever, very little furniture, and many or their apart- 

 ments are without carpets. But this arises not from 

 the poverty or parsimony of the Bourbonese, but be- 

 cause it is impossible to procure here a third of the 

 conveniences of life. Every object of luxury is 

 brought from the Isle of France, where all foreign 

 commodities are most extravagantly dear. 



The Isle of Bourbon was first discovered in 151.1, 

 by Don Pedro Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator, 

 who gave it his own name. Finding it completely 

 destitute of inhabitants, he erected a pillar of pos- 

 session upon the shore, and placed upon it the arms 

 of John IV. king of Portugal. From that time it 

 was occasionally visited by the Spaniards and Portu- 

 guese, for refreshing their crews and getting water, 

 till Ifi 12, whn Prom's, the French commandant at 

 Madagascar, took posse^ion of it in the name of his 

 sovereign, and sent thither twelve malefactors, who 

 had been condemned to perpetual exile. These un- 

 happy men wandered from one extremity of the island 

 to another in search of a precarious subsistence. 

 They lived chiefly upon fruits, and whatever they 

 could procure by hunting ; and though in a manner 

 naked, yet they affirmed, tha', during the three years 

 they remained there, they never had the least pain or 

 sickness. From their description of the country, 

 M. de Flacourt, a director of the French East India 

 company, who had proceeded on a mission to Ma- 

 dagascar, was induced to form a settlement upon its 

 shores. In 16.51, he sent over eight French and six 

 negroes as its first colony, and changed its name into 

 Bourbon. But nothing could be expected from this 

 miserable establishment. Unacquainted with the cli- 

 mate, they lost their first crop by a hurricane ; and 

 soon tiring of their solitary situation, and recei- 

 ving no succour from Madagascar, they quittpd the 

 island, and embarked with all their property in an 

 English vessel for Madras. 



When the French were driven from Madagascar 

 by the natives, who, provoked at their oppression 

 and licentiousness, surprised Fort Dauphine, and 

 massacred every white that fell into their hands, those 

 that escaped took refuge in Bourbon, where they 

 found, at a very small expense of labour, tranquillity 

 and plenty. These, with the crew of a privateer 

 which had been wrecked upon the coast, and some 

 Indian women that were on board, formed a consi- 

 derable settlement. Having planted aloes, tobacco, 

 and various kinds of roots, they carried on a small 

 trade with any ships that anchored in their roads for 

 the sake of refreshment ; and even built some small 

 vessels of their own, in which they made a trip to 

 Madagascar to purchase slaves, which they employ- 



3 



A gorer- 

 nor arrive* 

 from 

 France, 

 and a pro- 

 vincial 

 council 

 e-ublished' 



ed in their plantations. The new colony was thus Bourban. 

 increasing in numbers, and in wealth, when th>: French ' - v '' 

 East India Company put in their claim, and assum- 

 ing the property of the island, sent thither, in 1711, 

 six families and a governor, and established a pro- 

 vincial council dependant upon that of Pondicherry. 

 But the inhabitants, either disappointed in their ex- 

 pectations, or displeased with the government of their 

 new masters, revolted at the instigation of a priest, 

 sei/.ed the governor, clapped him in a dungeon, and 

 kept him there till hunger and sorrow put an end to 

 his existence. The ringleaders of this revolt, how- 

 ever, were afterwards severely punished ; and in 1723, 

 the council of Bourbon was declared supreme and in- 

 dependent. But the seditious and mutinous temper 

 continued, and licentiousness, confusion, and anarchy, 

 were the characteristics of this settlement until 1735, 

 when M. de la Bourdennaye was appointed to the 

 supreme command of the Isle of France, and Bour- 

 bon. By the active exertions of this gentleman, or- 

 der and tranquillity were soon restored to the colony; 

 and the inhabitants found it their interest to obey his 

 directions, and to submit to his authority. Under 

 his government, the island soon began to assume 

 another appearance. Industry and subordination suc- 

 ceeded to idleness and disaffection. New forts and 

 batteries were raised, and so well supplied with 

 cannon, military and naval stores, and every other 

 mean of defence, that when Admiral Boscawen ap- 

 peared before these islands in 1748, he found them 

 so completely fortified, that he was obliged, after 

 some fruitless cannonading, to pursue his voyage. 



Upon the breaking out of the revolution, when 

 the mania for liberty and equality was raging in 

 France, these islands resisted with firmness the exe- 

 cution of the decree, issued by the Directory, for the 

 immediate abolition of slavery throughout all their co- 

 lonies. They, cheerfully, took the oath of allegiance 

 to the new government in the mother country, but 

 would not listen to the emancipation of their ne- 

 groes. They swore that they were prepared to 

 die, rather than expose themselves, their wives, 

 and their children, to the licentious fury of bar- 

 barians, who might signalize their liberty, by in- 

 undating the island with the blood of their mas- 

 ters. By this opposition the colonists were de- 

 prived of all support and assistance from France, 

 and were reduced to the dreadful alternative, 

 of submitting to the enemies of their country, or of 

 sealing their destruction, by obeying the orders of 

 the Directory. Their fall now appeared to be in- 

 evitable, by resisting the attacks of the English, who 

 were interested in their reduction, or by perishing by 

 the poignards of their negroes, whetted by that go- 

 vernment which ought to have been their protection. 

 For eight years they remained in this precarious si- 

 tuation, afraid of every flag that approached their 

 shores, until the Directorial tyranny was abolished ; 

 when France again held out to them the hand of amity. R CCO nci- 

 The English, however, still meditated a decisive blow led to the 

 against these colonies. The harbours and strong for- mothes 

 tifications of the Mauritius had long afforded protection countr y- 

 to the enemy's cruisers and privateers. By these our 

 East India trade has of late years been most terribly 

 annoyed ; and it has, indeed, been matter of surprise, 



The Bour- 

 bonese 

 oppose the 

 decree of 

 ihe Direc- 

 tory. 



