8 9 8 B E N Y O W S K Y. 
with fuccefs againfl the fort itfelf, and, entering hy means 
of tlie drawbridge, difpatched the twelve remaining guards 
who were then within it. “Madame Nilow and her chil¬ 
dren,” fays the count, “ at fight of me implored my pro¬ 
tection to fave their father and h-ufband. I immediately 
flattened to his apartment, and begged him to go to his 
children’s room to preferve his life ; but he anfwered that 
he w'ould firfl take mine, and inftantly fired a piftol, which 
wounded me. I was defirous neverthelefs of preferving 
him, and continued to reprefent that all refiftance would 
be ufelefs, for which reafon I entreated him to retire. His 
wife and children threw themfelves on their knees, but 
nothing would avail : he flew upon me, feized me by the 
throat, and left me no other alternative than either to give 
up my own life, or run my fword through his body. At this 
period the petard, by which my aflociates attempted to 
make a breach, exploded, and burft the outer gate. 
The fecond was open ; and I faw Mr. Panovv enter at the 
head of a party. He entreated the governor to let me go ; 
but, not being able to prevail on him, he let me at liberty 
by fplitting his fknll.” The count by this event became 
complete governor of Kamfchatka ; and having time, 
without danger, to prepare every thing neceflary for 
the intended departure, he amufed himfelf with ranfack- 
ing the archives of the town, where he found feveral ma- 
nufcripts of voyages made to the eaftward of Kamfchatka. 
The count alfo, “to profit by the leifure time he enjoyed, 
and to divert difagreeable reflections,” w'as led to form a 
chart, with details refpeCting Siberia and the fea-coaft of 
Kamfchatka, and a defcription of the Kurelles and Aleu- 
thes iflands ; but this chart has not furvived the fate of its 
compofer. 
We are now to behold him, not in the character of a 
defigning captive meditating fchemes for the attainment of 
his liberty, but in that of an intrepid commander, at the 
head of a troop of obedient followers, boldly leeking their 
vagrant fortunes as fate or fancy pointed out the way. 
The confpirators, previous to their hoflilities againfl the 
governor, had previoufly fecured a corvette of the name 
of St. Peter and St. Paul, which then rode at anchor in the 
port of Bolfiia; and their fubfequent fuccefs afforded them 
the means of providing her with fuch (lores as were necef- 
fary for the intended voyage. On the nth of May 1771, 
the count, as commander in chief, attended by Mr. Cruf- 
tiew as fecond, by fixteen of his fellow-captives as quar¬ 
ter-guards, and by fifty-feven foremaff men, together 
with twelve paflengers and nine women, among whom 
was the lovely Aphanafia, difguifed in failor’s apparel, 
went on board this vefl'el ; and on the next day weighed 
anchor, and failed out of the harbour on a fouthern courfe, 
intending to continue their voyage to China. After expe¬ 
riencing many hardfhips and dangers at fea, they arrived 
on Sunday the 28th of Auguft at the ifland of Formofa. 
The inhabitants of Formofa at firfl appeared inclined to 
treat the count with refpeCl and civility, particularly don 
Hieronymo Pacheco, formerly captain at the port of Cavith 
at Manilla, who had fled from that employment to the 
ifland of Formofa, in confequence of his having in a mo¬ 
ment of rage maffacred his wife and a Dominican whom he 
had found in her company : but thefe profeflions were 
foon found to be deceitful; for, on fending his men on fliore 
to fetch water, they were attacked by a party of twenty 
Ind’ans, many of them dangeroufly wounded, and Mr. 
Panow, the count’s mod faithful friend, killed. Don 
Hieronymo, however, contrived to exculpate himfelf from 
any knowledge of, or concern in, this treachery, and to 
advife the count to feek revenge by a cOnqueft of the 
ifland ; but he contented himfelf with provoking the na¬ 
tives to a fecond attack, and repulfing them with confide- 
rable (laughter. His men, however, infilled on going in 
tpuefi of the Indians, in order to make them feel their far¬ 
ther vengeance. The remonftrances of the count were to 
no effect, and at length, complying with their delires, he 
requefled don Hieronymo to guide them towards the prin¬ 
cipal refidence of the nation who had given him fo bad a 
1 
reception, Where, a-fter a fhort and unequal conflifl, he 
killed eleven hundred and fifty-fix, took fix hundred and 
forty-three prifoners, who had profirated themfelves on 
the ground to beg for mercy from their affailants, and fet 
fire to their town. The prince of the country, notwith- 
ftanding this maflacre of his fubjedfs, was introduced to 
the count by his Spanifh friend, and a cordiality at length 
took place between them to fuch a degree, that the count 
entered into a formal treaty for returning and fettling at 
Formofa ; but his motives for making this engagement 
appear to have been, the execution of a project he had fe- 
cretly conceived of eftablifhing a colony on the ifland. 
On the 1 2th of September the count and his affociates 
failed from Formofa; on the Thurfday following the coafi: 
of China appeared in fight; and two days afterwards his 
veffel was piloted into the port of Macao. At this place 
he was treated with great refpedt by the governor and the 
principal men of the town; and on the 3d of October 1771, 
captain Gore, then in the fervice of the Englifh Eafl-lndia 
company, made an offer of fervices to him on the part of the 
directors, and a free paffage to Europe, provided he would 
bind himfelf to entruft his manufcripts to the company, 
■engage to enter into their fervice, and make no commu¬ 
nication of the difcoveries he had made. But, having ac¬ 
cepted propofais from the French directors, the offers of 
captain Gore were rejected, and the cotint foon afterwards 
returned from Macao to Europe on-board a French (hip. 
He arrived on the 8th of Auguft 1772 in Champagne, 
where the duke d’Aiguillon, the minilter of France, then 
was ; “and he received me,” fays the count, “ with cor¬ 
diality and diftinCtion, and propofed to me to enter the 
fervice of his mafler, with the offer of a regiment of infan¬ 
try ; which I accepted, on condition that his tnajeffy 
would be pleafed to employ me in forming eftablifliments 
beyond the Cape.” In confequence of this condition, the 
duke his patron propofed to him from his majefty to form 
an eflablifliment on the ifland of Madagafcar, upon the 
fame footing as he had propofed upon the ifland of For¬ 
mofa, the whole fcheme of which is publifhed in his me¬ 
moirs of his own life, and difcovers vaft. knowledge of the 
interefts of commerce, and a deep infight into the charac¬ 
ters of men. 
To a romantic mind and adventurous fpirit fuch as the 
count poffeffed, a propofal like the prefent was irrefiftible ; 
and after receiving the mod poiitive affuranees from the 
French miniflry, that he fhould confiantly receive from 
them the regular fupplies neceflary to promote the fuccefs 
of his undertaking, he fet fail on the 22d of March 1773 
from port l’Orient for Madagafcar, under the treacherous 
aufpices of recommendatory letters to M. de Ternay, go¬ 
vernor of the ifle of France, where he landed with a com¬ 
pany of between four and five hundred men on the 22d of 
September following. Inftead of receiving the promifed 
afliflance at this place, the governor endeavoured by every 
means in his power to thwart the fuccefs of his enterprife; 
and “ no other Hep,” fays the count, “remained for me 
to take, than that of haftening my departure for Mada¬ 
gafcar, at the rifque of being expofed to the lad mifery, 
and abandoned in the mod cruel manner.” The count 
accordingly fet fail in the Des Torges, a veffel badly pro¬ 
vided with thofe dores that were mod likely to be of ufe, 
and came to an anchor at Madagafcar on the 14th of Fe¬ 
bruary 1774. The oppofition which he met from the fe¬ 
veral nations placed him in a delicate and dangerous fitu- 
ation ; but by the fpirit and addrefs that marked every 
action of his life, he at length, with great difficulty, form¬ 
ed an edablidmient on Foul Point, entered into a commer¬ 
cial intercourfe, and formed treaties of frienddiip and alli¬ 
ance with the greater part of the inhabitants of this exten- 
five ifland; “and if I had not been,” fays the count, 
“ totally abandoned by the minider, which w’as the (ource 
of the difeafes, ntiferies, and mortality, to which mvfelf 
and my people w'ere expofed, the ifland of Madagafcar, in 
alliance with France, would have formed a power capable 
of fupporting her colonies in the files of France and Bour¬ 
bon, 
