478 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius 
1810. 
January. 
March. 
CHAPTER IX. 
A prospect of liberty , which is officially confirmed. Occurrences during 
eleven weeks residence in the town of Port Louis and on board the 
Harriet cartel. Parole and certificates. Departure from Port Louis, 
and embarkation in the Otter. Eulogium on the inhabitants of Mau- 
ritius. Review of the conduct of general De Caen. Passage to the 
Cape of Good Hope, and after seven weeks stay , from thence to England. 
Conclusion. 
The French cartel for the Cape of Good Hope had sailed two 
days when a packet boat arrived with despatches from Bayonne, and 
from the unusual degree of secrecy observed respecting them, some 
persons were willing to suppose that orders to set me at liberty 
formed part of their contents ; pf this, the most prudent mode to gain 
information was to wait patiently for the sailing of the English cartel 
for India, when my embarkation therein or being again left the sole 
British prisoner in the island, would afford a practical solution of the 
question. In the time of waiting for this event, I revised some notes 
upon the magnetism of the earth and of ships, and considered the 
experiments necessary to elucidate the opinions formed from obser- 
vations made in the Investigator ; and I was thus occupied when, 
on March 13th, a letter came from Mr. Hope, the commissary of pri- 
soners, to inform me that he had obtained the captain-general’s pro- 
mise for my liberty, and departure from the island with him in 
the Harriet. This unhoped for intelligence would have produced 
excessive joy, had not experience taught me to distrust even the 
promises of the general ; and especially when, as in the present 
case, there was no cause assigned for this change in his conduct. 
