HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
198 
with the ministers on the state of the' colonies and the commerce of India, the king 
was pleased to appoint him Governor General of the Isles of France and Bourbon. 
1 735*—Thus furnished with every necessary power, both from the government 
and the India Company, he embarked in the beginning of the year 1735, and arrived 
at his government in the month of June. The object of the minister in appointing 
him to this important office, was the re-establishment of good order, in a country 
which was a scene of licentiousness, confusion, and anarchy. 
To give an idea of the situation in which he found these islands when he arrived 
there, it must be observed, that the Isle of Bourbon was first peopled by certain 
Frenchmen who saved themselves from the massacre of Fort Dauphin , at Mada¬ 
gascar , and several handicraftsmen of different vessels, who were joined by other 
Europeans of various descriptions. With respect to the Isle of France, it was not 
inhabited till between the years 1712 and 1720, and even then the number of per¬ 
sons settled on it were so few that, till 1730, the India Company were doubtful 
whether they should keep, or abandon it. At length, however, these two islands 
have had their distinct destinations; the orte to the culture of coffee, and the other to 
afford refreshment to ships employed in the India and China trade. The soil of the 
Isle of Bourbon being proper for plantations of coffee, they have succeeded there, 
and attracted a considerable number of inhabitants. The advantages of the Isle of 
France being of another kind, it became expedient to form a colony there, for the 
purpose of furnishing vessels with provisions and other necessary refreshments. 
The most natural and efficacious means, therefore, was to make an advance of 
live and dead stock, necessary implements, and slaves, to the inhabitants; to put 
them in a condition to form a settlement with the views already mentioned: but the 
Company was disappointed in its expectations, from the injudicious manner in which 
these advances were made, to all kinds of people, without inquiring whether they 
had the industry or the talents necessary to ensure success. In short, till the arrival 
of M. de la Bourdonnais, the Isle of France had been very burthensome to the 
Company, who, exhausted by the continual supplies which it required, had given 
very precise orders to M. de la Bourdonnais, not only to withhold any future advances 
to the inhabitants, but also to exact reimbursements of all those which had been already 
made. It may be readily imagined, that the communication of these indispensable 
orders alienated the minds of the people; but this was not the only difficulty with 
which M. de la Bourdonnais had to contend, in the execution of his commission. 
