HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
2 77 
He accordingly collected some catamarans,* which had weathered out the storm, 
and by dint of pecuniary rewards, he prevailed on a number of boatmen to venture 
out into the tempestuous sea, to convey his letters to the captains of those \essels 
which appeared in sight; and by these he exhorted them to struggle with the diffi¬ 
culties of their situation, and promised to send every succour in his power ; but it 
was from M. Dupleix and the Supreme Council of Pondicherry, that he was to derive 
the means of affording the promised assistance to the crews of the ships. 
The plan which M. de la Bourdonnais had conceived, in the present exigency, 
was as follows. 
If the vessels which were in the road of Pondicherry were in the same situation 
as those of Madras, as there was too much reason to apprehend, he determined 
to send to the former place, and to leave there all the vessels which were rendered 
incapable of putting to sea, and to keep both at Madras and Pondicherry, such ships 
as were capable of being repaired under the cannon of these two places. In the 
mean time, the sailors belonging to them might join the respective garrisons; the 
troops would also be disembarked; and with them he proposed, during the winter, 
to undertake the siege of Gondelour. As the coast was impracticable at that season 
of the year, he could not fear any attack from the enemy’s force by sea; and the 
Nabob feared him too much to give him any trouble by land; he therefore flattered 
himself that he should carry Gondelour in a few days, and ransom it, as he had done 
Madras. 
When he was master of these two places, he proposed to evacuate them only on 
this condition—that the English would furnish him with six ships belonging to their 
company, the price of them to be deducted from the ransoms of the two towns. 
But this project vanished in a moment, when he received intelligence that the ships 
at Pondicherry had not sustained any damage; and he resumed his former project 
on the coast of Malabar ; in the full confidence, that he should be instantly relieved 
from his difficulties by ships which were subject to his command. 
He accordingly wrote to M. Dupleix, to send them to him with all possible expe¬ 
dition ; and, in the mean time, he was occupied night and day in conveying to the 
sea-shore whatever might be necessary to relieve the squadron, which had suffered 
so severely from the hurricane. 
It has already been observed, that M. Dupleix and the Supreme Council of 
• A sort of boat used on the coast of India. 
