336 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
u At forty-five leagues north by north-west of the island of Chagas , between 4 0 39' 
and 5 0 latitude, there is a bank that was discovered by the English ship the Speaker, 
of which a draught has been sent to me. The depths were there found to be very 
unequal, from twenty-two, to twenty, five, six, and eight fathom. This vessel having 
anchored to the south, the longitude was calculated by observation of the mean 
distance of the sun and moon, and found to be 73 0 2' east of Greenwich, which 
answers to 70°37' east of Paris. 
" As to the Isles Adu , the most recent information with respect to them proceeds 
from M. Moreau, who fell in with them in the boat the Favori, in 1757. Accord¬ 
ing to the latitude which he observed, these isles should be in 5 0 , but having remarked 
on his journal, by comparing the observations that he had made of the latitude of 
places well known, that the instrument which he employed gave them from 18' to 
20' too much to the north; it would follow these isles must, in the same propor¬ 
tion, be too much to the south. And hence it is that M. le Chevalier Grenier, who 
followed in the King’s corvettes the L’Heure du Berger and the Verd Galant, the 
parellel of 5 0 , did not perceive these isles, which are not discoverable but when you 
are close upon them. As to their longitude, I believe that it must be placed in 
75 ° 3 q/ j an d not i n 73% according to the reckoning of M. Grenier; as in pricking 
the course of M. Moreau, he should have passed in sight of the island of Cbagar, 
or over the shallows near it, though at the same time he had not seen it. 
“ The same day on which M. Moreau saw the Isles Adu , he discovered others to 
the south-south-east; which appear to be those that the ship London fell in with, 
in 5 0 39' latitude, and 5 0 20' to the west of the east part of the Isle of Ceylon, in 
6° 39' latitude. A draught of them has been transmitted to me, as well as of the bank 
which extends to the south of these isles, which I believe to be those of Candu. 
“ M. Moreau was anxious to make himself acquainted with the Adu isles, and 
accordingly sent a canoe, with an officer and eight men, to examine them ; but he 
was compelled by the winds and currents to abandon his canoe and people, and 
pursue his course to India. 
“ In this situation, the officer and his men, after much difficulty and danger, 
landed on these islands on the 29th of March, 1757. They are about twelve in 
number, and surrounded with reefs. The deserted seamen, however, found where¬ 
withal to sustain them, by cocoa-nuts, which were in great abundance, and birds 
which they contrived to kill. They .continued wandering about from one island to 
