328 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
On leaving this island, and steering west by south-west, M. du Roslan 
perceived a third island, which he named the Isle de VEtoile ; he coasted along 
it at the distance of a league. In the bottom, between the hie du Berger and 
this, there are very perceptible inequalities. The Isle de l' Etoile is nothing more 
than a sand-bank, covered with brush-wood, and may be half a league in length; 
the reef which surrounds it extends on the southern side to about a quarter of a 
league. 
sc At six P. M. a fourth island was discovered, which was called Marie Louise. 
It appeared to be well wooded, was encircled with a reef, and of the same dimensions 
as the Isle Plate. Its latitude is in 6° 12', and its longitude 52 0 19'. 
st On the 14th of December, M. du Roslan saw a fifth island, two leagues to the 
west-south-west of Marie Louise , which he named the Isle des Noeufs. At the 
distance of a league from it he found himself in nine fathom water, with a rocky 
bottom. It appeared to him to be smaller than the others, but equally woody. Its 
latitude is 6° 15', and its longitude 52 0 12'; the depth of water between these isles 
is from twenty-five to thirty fathoms; but on standing away in the least degree to 
the south, the bottom is instantly lost. 
On the same day at noon a sixth island was discovered, distant about three 
leagues and one-third west by north-west of the Isle des Noeufs. It received the 
name of the Isle de la Boudeuse: it is a bank of sand, covered with brush-wood, 
like the Isle de VEtoile. 
cc According to every appearance, these isles are those which are marked on 
the old maps under the name of the Amir antes , although their latitude is not so 
much to the south by 2 0 . M. du Roslan made a very exact survey of them, and 
in his passage from these to the Isle Mahe determined the longitude relatively to 
that of the latter; nor is there any reason to suppose his position to be erroneous. 
<c It appears, that the Isle des Noeufs is that which was seen by M. de Pontevez, 
who commanded the Lys, in 1730, and was denominated by him the Isle Saint 
FrangoiSy which the ship la Gloire perceived in 1756; and that it was among 
those isles that the little vessel, which I have already mentioned, passed in its course 
to Pondicherry. 
To the north of these isles, and to the west-south-west, 5 0 south of the Isle 
Mahe , it is said that there are three or four similar islands. They have been seen 
by a small vessel on its passage to Bengal, which went to the Isles Praslins ; it 
