xlvi INTRODUCTION. 



the tortoises and turtles suffered deportation to the 

 hospitals of Bourbon and Mauritius ; but Abbe 

 Pingre's surmise as to the improbability of the 

 English ever finding the advantage of holding 

 Kodriguez as an entrepot, from which to organise an 

 attack on Mauritius, was destined to be put to proof 

 most decisively. As a preparatory measure to the 

 project of capturing the He de France and the He 

 Bonaparte (now Reunion), as the He de Bourbon 

 had been then lately renamed. Vice- Admiral Bertie, 

 commanding the Cape naval station, entrusted 

 Captain Rowley^ with the strict blockade of the 

 Mascarene Islands in 1809 ; and early in that year a 

 small advanced force of 200 Indian troops, accom- 

 si i^FsrESSEiK panied by 200 of the 56th Foot, under Lieut. -Col. 

 /^-. t^ A/our Keating, embarked from Bombay and occupied 

 ^•- Aa/^ fssi'X J{odriguez, on the 4th of August, where a depot 

 was established for the supply of the cruisers 

 blockading the islands, and a small fort was erected. 

 From Rodriguez an expeditionary force of 368 

 officers and men, with 100 bluejackets and 136 

 marines from the squadron, proceeded in September 

 to the He Bourbon, and captured the insignificant 

 works at St. Paul's, where a landing was effected 

 and the shipping burnt ; but the island was not 

 occupied, and Colonel Keating retreated his force 

 to Rodriguez, where preparations were continued 

 for the attack on Mauritius, and the force in the 

 British j9^rtce dJarmes at Rodriguez was augmented 

 by 1,700 Europeans and about 1,800 Sepoys. This 



1 Afterwards Admiral Sir J. Rowley. 



