INTRODUCTION* 



I have here faid almoft every thing re- 

 fpeding the iQes of France aad Bourboti 



that 



china* Having fLicceeded In this undertaking, he was, 

 in 1766, fent by the Duke de Choifeul to the ifles of 

 France and Bourbon, to fupcrintend thofe cdonies* 

 In thii fituation he perfedly anfwercd the cxpcdadom 

 of the French miniftcr. He excite<l among the inha- 

 bitant« of thofe iflands a fpirit for improving agricuilr 

 turc and the arta. He fcnt to Madagaicar for a fupply 

 «f cattle and fliecp, in order to ftock tliem with provi- 

 fions* He naturalized in them the bread-fruit tree ; 

 xnd, after much danger and dilBcnlty, procured plant! 

 «f the nutmeg and cmnamoii trees, which being pft>- 

 perly cultivated there, arc now in a tliriving conditionj 

 and likely to fupply France with a valuable article of 

 commerce. M, Poivre afterwards returned to France, 

 and died of a dropfy in the breaft, at Lyons, the place 

 of his nativity, on the 6th of January 1786, in the 

 fixty-feventh year of his age. He left behind him iomc 

 fmall works, which (htw* that he was a judicious ob- 

 fcrver, as well as a philofophical writer. Thcfc are, 

 yc}'etgf d*un Philofiphft containing obfervatioas on the 



