INTRODUCTION. 



T 



degree of the truth. I muft, however, 

 allow that» being fhort-fighted, obfervation 

 to me becomes much more difficuh and ia- 

 convenient than it would perhaps be to 

 another. 



Though the commerce which the Moors 

 carried on in the Afiatic feas cannot, in any 

 refpe^t, be compared to that which has been 

 fmce carried on by the European nations^ 

 it was not ahogether contemptible. So 

 many celebrated writers have given the his- 

 tory of the rife and decline of the European 

 cftablifhments in India, that it would be en- 

 tirely ufelefs for me to fay any thing here 

 on that fubjedt. My defign, in this work^ 

 is, to give an account of the ifland of Ma- 

 dagafcar, and of the advantages which might 

 be derived from fettlements there, were they 

 made in fuch a manner as to promote the 

 happinefs and inftrudion of the iflanders. 

 But, notwithftanding every precaution, 

 a 3 and 



