40 AN AMIABLE COUNTRY. [169I. 



the Eeason why there are no Serpents, Eats, nor Venomous 

 Insects in that Isle, is, because the great number of Odori- 

 ferous Flowers with which it is cover'd, are Poj'son to those 

 Animals, which he says he has experienc'd. We cou'd not 

 help praising this Paradise, all of us extoll'd it but the Cap- 

 tain, who ahected to speak the quite contrary, whatever 

 Disposition he then shew'd to it, and however positive his 

 Orders were to Land on that Island, he never intended it ; 

 and 'twas pure chance that brought him so near it, for lie 

 thought he was above forty Leagues off when we discover'd 

 it. He seem'd to be amaz'd when the Pilot told him ho 

 spy'd Land, and believ'd 'twas that we sought after. I sliall 

 not pretend here to give this Man's secret Eeasons for what 

 he did, because I know nothing but by Conjecture, and be- 

 sides, 'tis not to our purpose^ be it one way or t'other. (Alas, 

 I can hardly hold my Pen in my Hand to say it) ; this Cheat, 

 this Pascal, took hold of the weak Condition we were in, 

 drew farther off from the Island by little and little, and 

 sail'd directly to picgo-Ruys. His Ships Crew were all at 

 his Disposal, and we, the Passengers, being all Sick, cou'd 

 not pretend to force him to execute his Connnission. 'Tis 

 easie to imagine how we were surpriz'd and troubled. 



As for the Description of this Amiable Country, since I 

 was not so happy as to visit it my self, which the Eeader 

 has expected I should do from the beginning of the Voyage: 

 I believe he w411 not be displeas'd, if 1 have recourse to a 

 means to procure it for him that will in a great measure 

 make amends for my disappointing him. To this end I will 

 abridge the Eelation^ of the most Eemarkable Earities of this 



goodness of it being such, as to be quite contrary to these Creatures, as 

 it has been found by several Experiments which the French have made 

 upon. Rats." {A Votjage to the East Indies, 1698, p. 12..) 



1 " Now that I have compared Leguat's extracts from Du Quesne 

 with the tract found and reprinted by M. Sauzier in 1887, I feel very 

 doubtful whether M. Sauzier has got hold of the right thing. I don't 

 doubt that his prize is the work of du Quesne, but it reads like an 



