xlii INTRODUCTION. 



betook himself to Holland, where he embarked the following; 

 year on the ship Hirondelle. He intended, in company with 

 several other French refugees, to found the nursery of a new 

 colony, either at Bourbon Island, which he believed had been 

 abandoned by the French, or at Eodriguez. In fact, they disem- 

 barked at Rodriguez, to the number of eight, on the 10th 

 of May 1691 ; they established their abode in the aforesaid 

 locality, and remained there until the olst of May 1693, 

 when, tired of their solitude, they abandoned themselves to 

 the sea in a kind of boat which they had constructed for the 

 purpose. A stiff breeze occurred, and was taken by them 

 for a storm ; they, nevertheless, arrived safe and sound at 

 Mauritius, on the eighth of the following month. Lcs 

 Voyages et Avcntnrcs de Frangois Leguat have been printed 

 in two vols, in 12°, at Amsterdam, in 1708. This work i^asse 

 j)Our un tissii de fables ; fen ay trouvd leaucoup mains que je 

 ne my aUcndois. We find in the narrative of Leguat a 

 plan of Eodriguez, which does not at all resemble that island. 

 [Compare maps, pp. xvii, 1.] That which I give here is 

 the result of a journey which we have made — M. Thuillier 

 and myself — around the island ; we have traversed many 

 times nearly all the northern coast line. As the sight of 

 M. Thuillier is far better than mine, I have let him take 

 nearly all the angles. The triangles which we have formed 

 round the island have been connected with a base which 

 we laid out in our enfoncemcnt de Frangois Leguat, and 

 which measures four hundred and eight toises (eight 

 hundred and three yards) " 



The taking of Hodriguez by the English under 

 Captain Kempenfelt prevented the astronomers 

 completmg their survey of the island. 



We get a ghmpse of the little colony from the 

 Abbe's journal. He says : — 



" The island of Eodriguez is generally inhabited only by a 

 French officer, who commands a dozen or fifteen blacks, 

 whose principal occupation is to catch the tortoises in the 



