i 
Port Louis.-] TERRA AUSTRALTS, 
to be my residence, belonged to a respectable widow with a large 
family; and was represented to be five French leagues, or twelve miles 
fro in the town, in a S. S. W. direction. The permission to range 
two leagues all round I considered to be an approach towards liber- 
ality ; and a proof that, if general De Caen had ever really believed 
me to be a spy, he had ceased to think so ; it was not indeed con- 
sistent with the reason alleged for my imprisonment, to grant a 
parole at all, but this it was no part of my business to point out. On 
the other hand, by signing this parole I cut myself off from the 
possibility of an escape ; but it seemed incredible, after the various 
letters written and representations made both in England and France, 
that a favourable order should not arrive in six or eight months. I 
moreover entertained some hopes of Mauritius being attacked, for it 
was not to be imagined that either the East-India company or the 
government should quietly submit to such losses as it caused to 
British commerce ; and if attacked with judgment, it appeared to 
me that a moderate force would carry it ; upon this subject, how- 
ever, an absolute silence was preserved in my letters, for although 
the passport had been so violated by general De Caen, I was deter- 
mined to adhere to it strictly. 
During four days stay in the town of Port Louis no restric- 
tion of any kind was imposed ; I visited the theatre, and several 
families to whom my friends Pitot and Bergeret introduced me, and 
passed thetime as pleasantly as any one who spoke no French could 
do in such a situation. A young Englishman, who under the name 
of an American expected to sail immediately for Europe, took charge 
of a box containing letters and papers for the Admiralty and presi- 
dent of the Royal Society, one of which was upon the effect produced 
on the marine barometer by sea and land winds ;* and on the 24th in 
the afternoon I set off with M. Pitot's family for their country house, 
which was four miles on the way to my intended residence. 
On the following day we visited the country seat of the 
* This paper appeared in the Society’s Transactions of 1806, Part II. 
4l£ 
1805 . 
August 
