HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
227 
afford them all the assistance in his power; informing him, at the same time, that 
they could do nothing more, on their part, than send him by the first opportunity 
the crew of the Favori. 
The necessity of affording some assistance to Pondicherry, determined M. de la 
Bourdonnais to keep the Neptune , of forty guns, which was ready to sail for Europe, 
and to dispatch the Charmante thither: he also retained the Bourbon , of forty-four 
guns, the Insulaire , of thirty, the Favourite , of twenty-six, the Renommee , of twenty- 
six, and the Dcc'ouverte> of eighteen guns. 
At the moment when M. de la Eourdonnais had determined,.if possible, to equip 
these vessels for actual service, he was almost destitute of every thing necessary to 
carry his design into execution. An extraordinary drought had occasioned an alarm¬ 
ing scarcity in the preceding year; the harvest of the current year had been ravaged 
by the locusts; the St. Geran , with a large cargo of stores and provisions from 
Europe, had been wrecked; and another vessel, which had been dispatched to 
India for rice, had returned without being able to execute its commission ; in short, 
to complete the scene of distress, there was not more than five or six months provi¬ 
sions in the island : nor did he find a general disposition in the inhabitants to assist 
him at this critical moment. But notwithstanding all these discouraging obstacles, 
he employed his utmost activity and exertions in forwarding an armament, which 
appeared to him as the only means of protecting the ships which the Company must 
send from France to maintain its annual commerce. 
M. de la Bourdonnais exhausted all his resources to collect men to form the 
crews of his ships, and procure stores for their support: but his endeavours were 
thwarted in every quarter. The inhabitants of the Isle of Bourbon were so 
alarmed at the shipwreck of the St. Geran , that those who had requested to be em¬ 
ployed on board the armed ships, now refused to expose themselves to the dangers 
of the sea; at the same time, that island was also in such a state of dearth, as to 
require every assistance which he could afford it: he was, besides, under the 
necessity of victualling the Triton and the Heron , which were laden with merchandize 
for Europe, as well as to procure subsistence for their crews till their departure : he 
was also obliged to furnish daily supplies for the troops, the sailors in harbour, with 
the workmen, and, in general, for all those who did not possess plantations. 
In this difficult situation he addressed himself to the Council; and proposed, that 
a strict account should be taken of the provisions in the possession of the inhabitants; 
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