INTRODUCTIOK. %m 



/pots where tbey had been eftablifhed. The 

 Ifle of France has two good harbours, and 

 h only thirty -four leagues diftant from that 

 of Bourbon, Though the air is falubrious, 

 the iiland is neither fo fertile nor fo ex- 

 tenfive as Bourbon : but thefe difadvantages 

 are counterbalanced by the excellence of its 

 ports, and by its being fituated to the wind^- 

 ward- 



In i754» the French Eaft-India com- 

 pany having determined to form feme con- 

 fiderable eftablilhments here, the care of that 

 enterprize was entrufted to the celebrated 

 Mahe de la Bourdonnais, That gentleman, 

 born to command, becaufe he had abilities 

 which enabled him to know mankind, 

 and to enforce obedience, fhewed in thofe 

 jdiftant countries that he was as able a go- 

 vernor as a fkilful mariner : the iHaad is 

 indebted to him, and to him alone, for its 

 aqucduds, bridges, hofpitak, and principal 

 b 3 maga- 



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