HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
261 
it subsided, according to stipulation, to give the deputies an opportunity to return. 
M. de la Bourdonnais took advantage of this interval to inform himself of the height 
of the walls, in order to proportion his ladders to them, and to mark the places 
where they might be scaled with the greatest advantage. In the mean time he sent 
to the ships, to invite such of the crews to join him who were willing to assist in 
the assault, if he should be under the necessity of having recourse to that extremity; 
and four hundred men disembarked, without hesitation, led on by their respective 
officers. Orders were now given to carry this design into execution on the night 
of the 21st. 
At about six in the evening a man, named Francisco Fereiro, arrived in the 
camp. He had formerly been a surgeon in the service of the Nabob of Arcot, and 
having an intimate acquaintance with the principal inhabitants of Madras, requested 
permission to enter the town, in order, as he said, to engage the Governor and 
council to an immediate compliance with the propositions which had been made to 
them-. M. de la Bourdonnais assented to his requisition, on condition that he 
would give him- an exact account of what was passing in the town. On his return, 
Pereiro presented himself as being commissioned by die Governor,' to say, that 
nothing had yet been finally determined, and to request that a cessation of arms 
might take place during the night, in order that the beseiged might come to a final 
resolution as to their conduct: Pereiro added, that he had taken upon himself to 
assure them this request would be granted. M. de la Bourdonnais, equally astonished 
at the message, as well as at the choice of the person who brought it, who had 
neither title nor public character, reprimanded him with great severity for his pre¬ 
sumption, and sent him back instantly with a letter to the Governor, informing 
him that the cannonade should cease on the following morning, from six to eight; 
and at the same time assured him, that if the deputies did not bring a clear and 
decisive determination on the part of the beseiged, he would not receive any future 
proposition. 
At eight in the evening the fire was renewed with augmented fury, and was con¬ 
tinued through the night, as well from the ships as the batteries. 
The next day, being the 21st, the deputies came a second time to the camp, 
and agreed to surrender the town on the conditions that had been proposed—of 
paying a ransom for it. Articles of capitulation were immediately drawn up, and 
Mr. Hally-Burton took them to the Governor, who returned them, with a repre^. 
