RELATION DE l'ILE RODRTGUE. 321 



therefore, posterior to 1730/ and it is by mistake that it has 

 become mixed up with the correspondence of 1760. 



M. Milne-Edwards also remarked that this Carton 29 originally 

 included a Deliberation du Conseil, of the 20th July 1725, 

 on the proposed taking possession of the Island of Diego Ruys, 

 i.e., Rodriguez. There is reason, therefoi'e, to suj^pose, he 

 adds, that, as the result of this deliberation, the Company dis- 

 patched one of its officers to study the resources of this island, 

 and report if it was fit for an establishment to be formed there. 

 The report, forwarded four years latei^ appears to correspond 

 perfectly with the questions of this order for inquiry. , The 

 anonymous author of the following Relation gives all the 

 necessary information for facilitating a disembarcation ; he details 

 all the islets and reefs, and then reviews the animal and vegetable 

 productions, not forgetting the examination of the soil and its 

 arable qualities. 



M. Milne-Edwards states that the report is evidently the work 

 of a practical marine surveyor, but not of a literary man, 

 acquainted with the rules of orthograj^hy. M. Edwards has not 

 published that portion of the report dealing with sailing directions 

 and economic questions, confining himself solely to the descriptive 

 parts relating to the fauna and flora of the island ; moreover, he 

 has corrected the grammatical faults in the original manuscript. 



EELATION DE L ILE RODRIGUE." 



There is so great a quantity of fish within the reefs and about 

 them, that if a morsel of food is thrown into the sea, at once some 

 thirty fishes appear, and immediately swallow it up. There are 

 all sorts, of which I proceed to give the names of a few known to 

 me. 



1 It may be recollected that Leguat did not die until 1735. Vide 

 ante. 



2 Nouveaux Documents sur VEpoque de la Disparition dc la Fmtne 

 ancienne de Vile Eodrirjne, par M. Alph. JNlilne-Edwards, in the Annales 

 des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie et Pcdeontologie, 6me Serie, tome ii, 

 p. 133 et seq., 1875. 



Y 



