28 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS; 
shall only observe in this place, that the first company, which .was.,established in 
France, with a view to make settlements in Madagascar, was not that which was 
erected by the famous Colbert, in 1664, but which served as a kind of superstruc¬ 
ture to it. 
The account given by M. de Flacourt of the reverses sustained by the French 
settlement at Madagascar, and the particulars of the establishment he had just formed 
in the island of Bourbon, with the wreck of that at Madagascar, induced the com¬ 
pany to pay attention to the new object; a circumstance which caused the little 
colony to wear an increasing appearance. Since that period we have little to com¬ 
municate concerning this island, but a chronological statement of the governors 
who have presided over it to the present moment. 
The population of the Isle of Bourbon having become considerable in 1712, an 
opportunity was offered of forming a French settlement on the island of Mauritius, 
which the Dutch had at this time abandoned. Accordingly a small number of 
French people landed there at this time, and changed its name to that of the Isle de 
France. It was not, however, formally taken possession of in the king’s name till 
the year 1721* 
* The following account is taken from the Geographical Dictionary of M. de la Martiniere.— 
" The Isle of France was called Mauritius by the Dutch, and is marked by that name, not only 
in all the ancient maps, but in those of M. de LTsle. In 1721, the Chevalier Fougeray finding 
it advantageous for the French East India Company, took possession, fixed a pole in the ground 
of forty feet in height, decorated with a white flag, and to which was attached the following 
inscription: 
Vivat Ludovicus XV. Rex Galliarum et Navarae 
in sternum vivat. 
Hanc ipse insulam suis dictionibus voluit 
adjungi, illamque jure vindicatam in 
posterum insulam francicam nuncupari. 
In gratiam honoremque tanti principis,. 
istud vexillum niveum extulit Joannes 
Baptista Gamier de Fougeray, Dux 
Navis dictse, le Triton ex Urbe 
San Maclovio oriundus, in minori Britannia, 
cum ipse hue appulerit, die 23 Septembris, 
eodem anno, in Galliam navigaturus. 
Des favente anchoras solirt.” 
Within a cannon shot of this place he set up a cross, on one side of whose transverse beam was 
