ANNUAL REPORT 
Of the proceedings of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences 
1859-60, read at the meeting held on the 13 th December 
1860. 
Your Excellency — G entlemen, — 
The last Annual Meeting of the Society was held on the 
1st December, and its labors of the present year were com- 
menced on the 23rd January. The principal share fell to 
Dr. Ayres, Capt. Mann, Mr. Bernard, Mr. Paruit, Dr. Sene- 
que and the Secretary. 
Several rather interesting communications were also ad- 
dressed to the Society by its correspondents and the section 
of History, in particular has been enriched by fragments of 
old works of voyages to Mauritius by the Dutch, the English 
and the French, extracted from the large public libraries of 
London and at Radcliffe’s Library Oxford. 
Thanks are due to the agent of the Society in London, for 
the trouble he has taken. It is to him that the Society owes 
the extracts that it possesses from the exceedingly rare work 
of Van Neck. There will only remain to be procured the 
earlv voyages of the Portuguese and the Society will then 
have the earliest and most curious records relative to the Co- 
lony. 
The researches made by our agent in London in the old 
documents relative to Mauritius induce him to acknowledge 
this fact that all the early part of its history will have to be 
rewritten — for the confusion of names, persons and place is 
so great that there is nothing positive until the time of the 
Dutch. All the English writers have copied from Grant who 
had no Portuguese authority for what he states about Al- 
meida and Mascarenlias and to prove this, says our agent, I 
ordered the Asia Portuguese to be translated in which the 
reign of that great man is recited, as Steven’s translation was 
