VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAK* HQ 



** fideSj it cannot increafe its provifions for 

 ** exportation, but hj lefTening objects 

 ** much more cflentiaL It will be of no 



ufe for the fubfiftence of troops j it is fo 

 ** fmall that it can never anfwer this pur- 

 ** pofe, even were all the cukivated lands 

 ** in it en? ployed in raifmg grain and ve- 

 ** getables for the table* 



The Ille of France, already ih pre- 

 *' carious by the uncertainty and fmallnefa 

 ** of its crops of grain, has a fault, alfo, in 



regard to ftrength. All the labour of 

 *^ this colony is conligned to flaves, and it 

 *^ is deficient in population, Thefe imper- 



fedions, however, may be corrected by 

 '* forming an cHablifhment at Madagafcar ; 



and tlierefore it is aeceffary to attempt it. 



g^lblc zeal of M, Poivre^ has now given rife to an im- 

 portant branch of commerce, which M, de Modave 

 could not be acquainted with at the time when he 

 wrote this memoir. 



I 4 « The 



