HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
258 
Bourbon; four hundred sepoys, and three or four hundred blacks of the isles 
There remained on board all the vessels, about seventeen hundred men. 
As the troops of the first debarkation found themselves greatly fatigued, M. de la 
Bourdonnais ordered them to encamp near a pagoda, surrounded by country houses. 
As soon as he had given orders for the safety of the camp, he sent the Count de 
Restaing, Captain of Artillery and Engineer, with a detachment of an hundred men 
to reconnoitre; and during that time he descended to the sea coast, where he 
formed a small palisadoed camp, as a depot for the ammunition and provisions 
necessary for the siege. At length, on the report of the two officers who had exa¬ 
mined the environs of the place, he transported himself to an height above the sea, 
which appeared to him the most proper situation for a battery of mortars, as from 
thence, the town might be battered, and the ships protected at the same time. 
In the evening an Englishman arrived, of the name of Barnaval; and though he 
had no passport, M. de la Bourdonnais would not arrest him as a prisoner, because 
he was the son-in-law of M. Dupleix. This person brought a request from the 
English government, that the women might have permission to leave the town: this 
demand was granted to the wives of the Governor and M. Barnaval, but to no other; 
and those ladies refused to receive it on those conditions. 
On the 16th, approaches were made towards the town, and the camp was re¬ 
moved to a village which was within half a cannon shot of it. This whole day was 
employed to transport the artillery and form the batteries. 
On the 17th, the sepoys, in the pay of the English, fired upon the latter camp; 
but they were so soon and so vigorously repulsed, that, instead of re-entering the 
town, they fled away into the country. 
On the same day we took possession of the suburbs, and the Governor’s country 
house, which was within musquet shot of the works. 
On the following day the town was battered by twelve mortars on the land side, 
and at night, the three strongest vessels of the squadron began to cannonade it. 
In the night M. de la Bourdonnais received an express from M. Dupleix, which 
involved him in the greatest perplexity, as it informed him that ships had appeared 
off Pondicherry. He had therefore but one measure to pursue, on the supposition 
that the English squadron was approaching to relieve the place; and that was, to 
push the siege with the utmost vigour, so as to get possession of the town before 
