230 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Male, to obtain intelligence from the Coast of Coromandel, and receive answers to 
the letters which you had forwarded to M. Dupleix, by the Expedition frigate. 
These vessels must not remain at Mahe a moment longer than is absolutely neces¬ 
sary ; and I am of opinion, that it would be right for you to embark in one of them, 
and the rest of your squadron should receive orders to wait for you at Achem. It 
certainly would be impolitic for you to appear with your whole squadron off the 
Coast of Malabar, as that would spread an alarm throughout India; so that you would 
not meet a single vessel on the seas. 
u Your rendezvous, therefore, will then be at Achem, according to the plan already 
proposed. You must accordingly repair thither towards the end of October, or the 
beginning of November, to take in water, wood, and refreshments: from thence 
you will get up to the East, in order to cruize off the mouth of the Ganges before 
the eighteenth of December. You may remain there, with all your ships, till the 
fifteenth of January; you will then detach two of your vessels, to carry to Pondi¬ 
cherry the two hundred thousand marcs de piastres , that you will have on board 
tire squadron. They will exercise all possible diligence in taking in their cargoes, 
in order to proceed to the Isle of France; they will then complete their lading 
of coffee at the Isle of Bourbon, to be enabled to double the Cape of Good Hope 
at a favourable season, in Company with the three vessels from China, which will, 
I trust, be arrived there before them. The expedition to Pondicherry cannot take 
place, unless you have received intelligence that there are no English ships of war 
on the Coast of Coromandel. You may, however, continue to cruize off the mouth 
of the Ganges till you shall think it right to return to Pondicherry, stretching 
close in shore, in order to capture such of the enemy’s ships which may be at 
Madras, or elsewhere. You will afterwards quit Pondicherry to cruize, for some 
time, either in the Straits of Malacca or Sunda, and any other part of the Indian 
seas which will, in your opinion, promote the objects of your expedition ; ordering 
your course, nevertheless, in such a manner, that you may return to the Isle of 
France in June, to careen your ships there, that they may be in a state to return to 
France at the end of 1746, or the beginning of 1747. 
“ But though this plan appears to me well adapted to attain the object of the expe¬ 
dition, I have nevertheless that confidence in your zeal and abilities, which engages 
me to authorize you, to make any alteration which you may think conducive to the 
