196 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
so important a part in its establishment and administration, that I should be guilty 
of an inexcusable omission, if I did not give a regular history of him and his trans¬ 
actions to the present moment.* 
Account of the Administration of M. de la Bourdonnais , Governor General of the 
Isles of France and Bourbon. 
1699.—M. de la Bourdonnais was born at St. Malo in 1699, and from his ear¬ 
liest years manifested a decided preference to the naval profession, for which he 
was prepared by the instructions of the best masters. At the age of ten years he made 
his first voyage to the South Seas. In 1713, he made a second, with the rank of 
Ensign, to the East Indies and the Phillipine Islands: in this voyage he studied 
mathematics under a learned professor of the order of Jesuits. 
1717.—In 1716 and 1717, he made a third voyage, to the North Seas, and in 
1718 a fourth voyage, to the Levant. 
3719.—In 1719 he embarked, for the fourth time, in the service of the India 
Company, for Surat, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. 
1723. —In 1723 he went in the same service, and with the rank of First Lieu¬ 
tenant, to India. In the course of this voyage he composed a treatise on the con¬ 
struction of ships. At the same time he rendered a signal service to the Company: 
a ship called, the Bourbon was stranded, and there were no immediate means of 
saving her from destruction; when M. de la Bourdonnais had the courage to ven¬ 
ture in a common boat from the Isle of Bourbon to the Isle of France, from whence 
he brought a ship, which came in time to save the stranded vessel, and to enable 
her to return to Europe. 
1724. —No sooner, was M. de la Bourdonnais returned to France, than he 
re-embarked in 1724 for the Indies, with the rank of Second Captain; and in the 
course of this voyage M. Didier, Engineer to the King, taught him the science of 
fortification and military tactics. 
On his arrival in India, he found at Pondicherry several vessels belonging to 
the Company, ready to sail on an expedition to get possession of Mahe. The 
* We shall proceed to give a detail of the operations of M. de la Bourdonnais, as well in the 
Isles as on the coast of India, to the end of the year. 1744, .before we resume the subsequent parts 
pf the correspondence of Baron Grant, in order that no interruption might be given to the course 
of interesting events, in which M. de la Bourdonnais was so materially concerned. 
