xviii 
PREFACE. 
facts, supported by authentic documents, it would have been better for 
the world; the most important of all sciences, that of knowing the 
history of men and nations which have preceded us, would not then 
have been enveloped in obscurity and contradiction; but the desire 
to shine as brilliant writers, a passion for the marvellous, a rage 
for systems, or prejudice in political and religious opinions, and other 
similar motives, have frequently rendered it impossible, in many works 
of great character, to separate truth from falsehood. 
The general plan of this volume, which is more detailed in the table 
of contents, is as follows. 
It begins by instructing the voyager in the mode of approaching the 
harbours of the Isle of France, which is accompanied with a general 
description of the place, the nature of the air, water, and soil, and the 
geographical positions. But before I enter upon a detail of these circum¬ 
stances, and the branches of Natural History, which arise out of them, 
I give a succinct and chronological account of those persons who have 
been appointed to the government and superintendance of the Island, 
from its first colonial establishment, to the present moment.—I then 
proceed to give a particular history of the animal, vegetable, and mineral 
kingdoms: some account of the inhabitants* both white and black, 
succeeds, with their manners and customs; and is followed by a descrip¬ 
tion of the beautiful scenery with which the Island is adorned. 
I naturally introduce the reader, in the first place, to the Isle of 
France, which is the appropriate object of my History; but I suspend 
its historical narrative, in order to describe the Archipelago, with its 
various islands, that surrounds it: such as those of Bourbon, Rodriguez, 
&c. all of which is so necessary to be known, to facilitate the naviga¬ 
tion of those seas. I then return to the Isle of France, to describe its 
agricultural, maritime, and civil, establishments, as formed by M. de la 
Bourdonnais. I display all the various operations of that distinguished 
character, and his successors; with the astronomical, geographical, and 
