HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
136 
been already mentioned. De la Haye having asked the goldsmith what it was, the 
latter quietly replied that it was a gum, which was employed as tar at Mauritius; 
that great quantities of it were found in certain trees, and that it was of little or no 
value : De la Haye, therefore, very cheerfully threw it into the bargain that had 
been made between them: he, however, kept a few small pieces as objects of 
curiosity. 
fic The following day some one having informed him that this pretended gum 
was real ambergris, this circumstance produced a very sharp and angry dispute 
between the two artisans; and De la Haye thought it right to apply to the Com¬ 
mandant for justice ; when it appeared, in the course of various discussions of the 
subject, that he had applied to his own advantage whatever ambergris he could 
collect, though the India Company laid an exclusive claim to it, and had absolutely 
ordained, thrit whoever found any of it should immediately cede it, at a fixed price, 
to their agents, for their sole advantage. The Commandant, therefore, was alarmed 
at the probability that this history might reach Batavia by our means, and that the 
Company would not only make him render an account of his peculation, but punish 
him with great severity for the commission of it: he accordingly meditated our 
destruction ; and as a preliminary step to his design, he committed our boat to the 
flames, and distributed our sails, which were made of fine holland, among his 
huntsmen. 
M He began to mark his discontent by lodging us in an hut, and supplying our 
table with the remains of what had been served to the servants of the Company. 
In a short time after, he forbade us to go further from our hut than the distance of a 
thousand paces: he also deprived us of the servant which had remained with us, by 
employing him in the service of the Company; and, as he had already engaged the 
other in his own service, we were now reduced to five persons. 
“ This conduct, so opposite to his former friendly behaviour, caused us to look 
forward with apprehension to the consequences that might follow : but as there are 
in all societies certain characters, who are more impatient and uneasy than the rest, 
those of that temper among us. La Case and Testard , formed a project to seize, a 
small sloop belonging to the Company, and take refuge at Mascaregnas, now the 
Isle of Bourbon, which is not more than forty leagues from Mauritius: but as they 
had every reason to imagine that the rest of us would firmly oppose such a strata¬ 
gem, they concealed it so successfully, that we entertained not the least suspieioa 
