l6gi.] REMEDY FOR SCURVY. 33 



du Quesneha-dmade with 3 fcssieurs the Directors of the Uast- 

 India Company, from whom we also brought Letters of 

 Eecommendation. "We afterw^ards made the necessary 

 Inquiries for the prosecution of our Voyage, particularly if 

 the French had again taken possession of the Island of 

 Mascaregne, and if there was any news of their Squadron at 

 the Ccqye ? But we cou'd meet with no certain account of 

 either the one or the other. 



Some told us, the Squadron of Seven Men of War had put 

 three hundred Men a-shoar there, in their way to the Indies: 

 Others said, the French who were driv'n out of Siam, had 

 seiz'd the Isle. And others assur'd us, that Squadron never 

 touch'd there, and that there were only a few Families at 

 Mascaregne, who had dwelt there a long time. These Reports 

 being all different, were of no use to us. All agreed, that 

 nothing cou'd compare with the Island of Mascaregne for 

 Beauty and Fertility. That Corn, Grapes, and every thing 

 else proper for the Nourishment of Man, grew there in 

 abundance, and almost without Cultivating. This inade us 

 resolve to depart with all convenient speed for llaurice Isle 

 which is not far from that of Mascaregne or Eden. "We might 

 expect there to be better inform'd of things, and enabled to 

 concert our Measures better, to follow the Orders that were 

 giv'n us in Holland. 



Those of us that were sickest Landed at the Cape, as soon 

 as we arriv'd, to cure our selves of the Scurvy, staying at 

 Land being the only true and sovereign Eemedy for that 

 Distemper. 



The Grapes w-ere just beginning to grow ripe wdien we 

 came there (which was an excellent Eefreshment for our 

 selves, and our Ships Crew :) "We stay'd three Weeks at the 

 Cape, as well to recover our Health, as to refit our Ship. 

 Since my design is to speak more largely of the Cape of 

 Good Hope in the sequel of this Relation, and to give an ac- 

 count of what Remarkable things I saw there in my Return, 



D 



