306 VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR. 



*' tMs projed is not a cliimeraj it will be 

 carried into execution as foon as I caa 

 ** procure fonds fufEcient to undertake it. 



** But your citadel, faid M. dc Belcombe, 

 ** is a fmall pitiful batter)^, commanded on 

 *^ all fides by the high mountains which 

 ** furround it : this battery of four three- 

 pounders, placed on the fummit of a 

 fmall mount, can never anfwer the end 

 you propofe. Be fides j I here come from 

 France, by orders of the minifter, to in- 

 *' fpe£t your labours, and I cannot avoid 

 " making you acquainted with my reflec- 

 '* tions. Permit me to aik you another quef- 

 tion, no lefs interefting — Where is that 

 grand highway from Louifburgh to Bom-* 

 *' betoc > Enable me, I pray, to give an 

 ** account of it to the minifter, Yoii have 

 explained the advantages of it to him in 

 ** the minuteft manner. You have told 

 ** him that this communication of the eaft- 



