2C)6 VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR. 



A4. de Bclcombc and M, Chevreau when 

 they inrpeded Benyowfki's eilabUiliments 

 at Madagafcar. 



" When I arrived," fays he, " at Foule^ 

 poiiite, on the 17th of September 1776, 

 the population of the villages in ihe 

 " neighbourhood of the fort had decreafed 

 " one half ; bloody wars had defolated the 

 " whole country ; the crops were entirely 

 " deflroyed ; and agriculture was fo niuch 

 ** nci^leded that we could hardly procure 

 " three hundred pounds of rice. A fcarcity 

 ** of oiher provifions was equally felt. My 

 ** furprife, on this account, was very great ; 

 ** for, when I was in the fame fpot three 

 ** years before, I obferved commerce and 

 ** agiiculture flourifliing ; the markets were 

 " abundantly fuppHed j and ten large vef- 

 fels found a fufficiency of rice to load 

 them, without any iocreafe taking place 

 f* in the value of that necefTary commodity. 



7 « This 



