1833. 



RUINED SETTLEMENT. 



271 



Beajjle^s officer. Next morning Brisbane came on board with his 

 papers, and I was quite satisfied with their tenor, and the ex- 

 planation which he gave me of his business. Some misappre- 

 hension having since arisen about his being authorized by Ver- 

 net to act in his stead, I may here mention again (though no 

 longer of any material consequence), that Brisbane''s instruc- 

 tions from Vernet authorized him to act as his private agent 

 only, to look after the remains of his private property, and 

 that they had not the slightest reference to civil or military 

 authority. This settled, I went to Port Louis, but was indeed 

 disappointed. Instead of the cheerful little village I once anti- 

 cipated finding — a few half-ruined stone cottages ; some strag- 

 gling huts built of turf; two or three stove boats; some broken 

 ground where gardens had been, and where a few cabbages or 

 potatoes still grew ; some sheep and goats ; a few long-legged 

 pigs ; some horses and cows ; with here and there a miserable- 

 looking human being, — were scattered over the fore-ground of 

 a view which had dark clouds, ragged-topped hills, and a wild 

 waste of moorland to fill up the distance. 



" How is this said I, in astonishment, to Mr. Brisbane ; 

 " I thought Mr. Vernet''s colony was a thriving and happy set- 

 tlement. Where are the inhabitants ? the place seems deserted 

 as well as ruined.^' " Indeed, Sir, it Avas flourishing," said he, 

 "but the Lexington ruined it: Captain Duncan"*s men did 

 such harm to the houses and gardens. I was myself treated as a 

 pirate — rowed stern foremost on board the Lexington — abused 

 on her quarter-deck most violently by Captain Duncan — 

 treated by him more like a wild beast than a human being — 

 and from that time guarded as a felon, until I was released by 

 order of Commodore Rogers.'''' " But,''* I said, " where are 

 the rest of the settlers ? I see but half a dozen, of whom two 

 are old black women ; where are the gauchos who kill the 

 cattle ?"'■' Sir, they are all in the country. They have been 

 so much alarmed by what has occurred, and they dread the 

 appearance of a ship of war so much, that they keep out of the 

 way till they know what she is going to do.*" I afterwards 

 interrogated an old German, while Brisbane was out of sight, 



