£80 
A VOYAGE TO 
\At Mauritius. 
1804. 
January. 
We were lodged and supplied with meals in the tavern at the 
public expense ; but having lost part of our clothes in the shipwreck, 
and distributed some to those of our companions who had saved 
nothing, both Mr. Aken and myself were much in want of linen and 
other necessaries ; and after the few dollars I chanced to have about 
me were gone, we knew not how to pay for our washing. All 
strangers being refused admittance took away the chance of nego- 
tiating bills, for the surgeon spoke no English and the interpreter 
always avoided the subject; one morning however, having pre- 
viously ascertained that it would not give umbrage, the interpreter 
offered to attempt the negotiation of a bill drawn upon the commis- 
sioners of the navy; but the sentinel, seeing him take a paper, gave 
information, and M. Bonnefoy was scarcely out of the room when 
a file of soldiers made him prisoner ; nor, although a public officer, 
was he liberated until it was ascertained that he acted with permis- 
sion, and had received no other paper than the bill. In the evening 
he brought the full sum, at a time when bills upon England could 
obtain cash with difficulty at a discount of thirty per cent. It was 
the chevalier Pelgrom, who filled the offices of Danish and Imperial 
consul, that had acted thus liberally ; and he caused me to be in- 
formed, that the fear of incurring the general’s displeasure had alone 
prevented him from offering his assistance sooner. 
Although Mr. Aken and myself were strictly confined and 
closely watched, my servant was left at liberty to go upon my com- 
missions ; and once a week I sent him on board the prison ship, to 
take Mr. Charrington and the seamen a basket of fruit and vegeta- 
bles from the market. They had always been permitted to walk 
upon deck in the day time, and latterly been sometimes allowed to 
go into the town, accompanied by a soldier; and since from all we 
could learn, the final decision of the captain-general was yet in sus- 
pense, I augured favourably of the result from this relaxation towards 
the men. My hopes became strengthened on the 14th, by learning 
from M. Bonnefoy that it was believed we should be permitted to 
