HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
35 
and Bourbon, during the administration of the Duke de Choiseul, in 1766, the Isle 
of France possesses a fertile soil, with brooks that are never dry in the hottest sea¬ 
son, and water the island like a garden: nevertheless the harvest often fails, and 
the place is always, more or less, in a state of want. Since the government of M. 
de la Bourdonnais, which continued for twelve years, and who must be considered 
as the founder of the colony, since he introduced agriculture there, the inhabitants 
have wandered from project to project, and endeavoured to cultivate every kind of 
plant, but without persevering to secure success. Coffee, cotton, indigo, sugar canes, 
the pepper plant, the cinnamon tree, the tea plant, the mulberry tree, the cocoa, and 
the roucou,* have been cultivated in their turns, but without that knowledge and 
attention which is necessary to establish experiment. If they had followed the 
simple plan of their founder, which was, in the first instance, to secure a plentiful 
supply of bread, the island would, at this time, have been in a very flourishing state, 
abundance would have reigned, and the vessels which touched there would have 
found plenty of provisions and refreshments. The cultivation of corn, however, 
though neglected and ill understood, succeeds the best; and the land which is em¬ 
ployed in tillage bears, in the sam e year, a crop of corn, and another of rice or 
the nutmeg and cinnamon trees, which he flattered himself would hereafter furnish France with a 
very valuable article of commerce.—M. Poivre, after having exerted himself to the utmost, for 
the advantage of this settlement, returned to France, and died at Lyons, the place of his nativity, 
on the 6th of January, 1786. The works which he published are sufficient to prove that he was a 
man of sound judgment and philosophic inquiry. They are, 1st. The Voyages of a Philosopher, 
which contain observations on the manners, arts, and agriculture of the people of Asia and Africa, 
ad. A Memoir on the Preparation and dying of Silk. 3. Remarks on the History and Manners 
of the Chinese. 4th. A Discourse addressed to the Inhabitants of the Isles of France and Bourr 
bon ; with various manuscrips, which were collected by the Academy of Lyons, of which he was a 
member. 
In order to enrich the colony committed to his care with the useful productions of other parts 
of the globe, he purchased of the old East India Company the large garden of Montplaisir, in 
order to cultivate and naturalize exotic plants. He undermined the ground in order to com¬ 
plete a radical destruction of the weeds; and, by his persevering spirit, the nutmeg and the 
clove, the r^eina, the bread-tree, and the dry rice of Cochin China, were introduced into this 
island. The care of cultivating and multiplying these valuable exotics has since been entrusted 
to M. Cere. 
• Bixa Orleana, Linn. 
F 2 
