HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
3 1 9 
too great a confidence in the authority of the old charts, or a want of precision in 
the orders given them, this undertaking was not commenced till a long time after 
our establishment. M. Mahe de la Bourdonnais, Governor of these isles, was the 
first projector of it, and in 1742 employed two small vessels in carrying it into exe¬ 
cution. The war of 1744 occupied the Governor in a very different manner, and 
his recall to France put an end to the useful expeditions which he meditated. 
“ The track which Admiral Boscawen pursued in 1748, with a fleet of twenty- 
six ships, on leaving the Isle of France, which he was disposed to attack, to go to 
the Indies, and where he arrived in a very short time, by traversing this Archipelago, 
plainly proves that this course is preferable to the common one, that makes a north¬ 
ern part of Madagascar, as it shortens the passage upwards of three hundred leagues. 
“ I held, in a great measure, the same course as Admiral Boscawen, in a ship 
called the Monteran, in 1754, without encountering either island or shoal. The 
snow Rubis, which also sailed through the Archipelago in 1758, perceived the island 
Agalega, and continued her passage to Negapatam, where she was taken by the 
English. 
“ Though the success of this attempt is, in some degree, a sufficient authority to 
engage navigators to abandon their ancient route, and to adopt one which is equally 
safe and much shorter, and particularly in circumstances requiring dispatch, our ships 
have not deviated from the track which they have pursued since the year 1722. It 
may be necessary, therefore, in order to tranquillize the generality of navigators 
on the dangers which they have supposed in this passage, to enter into a connected 
examination of it. 
" In 1767, the Chevalier Grenier was appointed to command a corvette, called 
L’Heure du Berger, in the King’s service, destined for the Isles of France and 
Bourbon. He formed the project to make such discoveries as would be of the great¬ 
est importance to the navigation of these seas; and he accordingly associated with 
him the Abbe Rochon, of the Marine Academy, for the astronomical department. 
“ The minister favoured his views, and, in consequence of his protection, he was 
assisted by the Chevalier Desroches, Commandant of the Isles of France and Bour¬ 
bon, and M. Poivre, Commissary-general, who, to the corvette L’Heure du Berger,, 
joined the corvette Le Verd Galant, commanded by M. la Fontaine. His voyage 
to the Indies, as well as his return, was accompanied with many useful discoveries, 
which I shall relate in this memoir. With respect to the means which he proposed 
