VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR. 1 55 



cording to my ideas, that we ought in fu* 

 ture to confider fucb fettlements as we 

 may wifli to form at Madagafcar, Though 

 M. de Modave approached nearer to the 

 accompliihment of thia objed than any of 

 his prcdeceflTors, it may be plainly feen, by 

 his memoir, that his views were not found- 

 ed upon a bafis fufficiently folid, and capa- 

 ble of rendering the eftablifhment which he 

 was commlflioned to form, long, flourlfhing 

 and happy. This was the opinion of M* 

 Poivre. That truly celebrated man had con- 

 duced, with prudence^ for feveral years, 

 the French eftablifhments beyond tiie Cape 

 of Good Hope, and had refided a long time 

 at Madagafcar, in order to make himfelf 

 acquainted with its moft ufeful produdions. 

 He was intendant of the lOes of France and 

 Bourbon, at the time when M. de Modave 

 began bis fettlement j and it may be readily 

 imagined of what weight the opinion of 

 4 that 



