442 
1806. 
March. 
A VOYAGE TO [At Mauritius. 
to be sent to France ; where a speedy punishment would put an end 
to my anxieties, if found culpable, or in the contrary case, a few days ' 
would restore me to my country, my family, and occupations. Cap- 
tain Bergeret had the goodness to deliver this letter, and to give it 
his support; but it was unsuccessful, the verbal answer being that 
nothing could be done until the orders of the government were re- 
ceived. To a proposal of taking my parole to deliver myself up in 
France, should the ship be taken on the passage, the general would 
not listen ; though my friend said he had read the letter with atten- 
tion, and promised to repeat his request to the minister for orders. 
A hurricane had desolated the island on the 20th and 2 1st of 
February ; and on the 10th of this month a second came on, causing 
a repetition of mischief in the port and upon the plantations. Several 
vessels were driven on shore or blown out to sea, and more than one 
lost; the fruit trees, sugar cane, maize, &c. were laid flat with the 
earth ; the different streams swelled to an extraordinary size, carry- 
ing away the best of the vegetable soil from the higher habitations, 
mixed with all kinds of produce, branches and trunks of trees, and the 
wrecks of bridges torn away ; and the huts of the slaves, magazines, 
and some houses were either unroofed or blown down. All com- 
munication with the port was cut off’ from the distant quarters, and 
the intercourse between adjoining plantations rendered difficult ; yet 
this chaotic derangement was said to be trifling in comparison with 
what was suffered in the first hurricane at Bourbon, where the ves- 
sels have no better shelter than open roadsteds, and the plantations 
of cloves, coffee and maize are so much more extensive. Some 
American vessels were amongst the sufferers, but as domestic 
occurrences were not allowed to be published here, I learned only a 
very general account from the different reports : happily for our 
cruisers the last had quitted the island in January. 
In the evening of Feb. 20, when the first hurricane came on, 
the swift-passing clouds were tinged at sunset with a deep copper 
colour ; but the moon not being near the full, it excited little appro- 
