XVlil INTH ODU C TIOWp 



Their firft crops exceeded their expefla* 

 tions; and in a little time the fuccefs of the 

 colony was no longer doubtful. The life 

 of the ancient patriarchs does not exhibit a 

 tmer pidure of tlie happinefs always infe- 

 parable from man, when he approaches to 

 a ftate of nature, and lives under a ferene 

 iky, amid ft innocence and labour, than the 

 fituation of thefe colonifts. 



The inhabitants of Bourbon employed 

 their fugar-canes in making a kind of fer- 

 mented liquor. The iflanders of Mada- 

 gafcar had taught them the method of mak- 

 ing this beverage, which, in my opinion, is 

 preferable to the befl: cider of Normandy* 

 It is a pity that a liquor fo ufefui cannot be 

 kept more than twenty-four hours after it 

 ferments. 



The fmall number of oxen and ftieep, 

 tranfported from Madagifcar to Bourbon, 

 inftead of perifhing, acquired every day, in 

 f this 



