160 
Our historian remarks, however, that the directors 
took special care not to send any person there whose 
loss would prove at all injurious to society. 
In the mean time Gosse appears to have been very 
assiduous in his attentions to Betie, who was strongly 
attached to him. Her mother formed several plots 
for the destruction of the French, but Betie as often 
counteracted them, until at length she brought such a 
heavy accusation against Gosse, that Betie dared no 
longer to advocate his cause. 
The charge was no less than that of having dared 
to infringe upon the sacredness of her late husbands 
tomb, for the sake of the riches which it was well 
known to contain. We know not whether this accu¬ 
sation was true or false; but it raised such a ferment, 
that the destruction of the French was from that mo¬ 
ment determined on. The period fixed was Christ¬ 
mas Eve, 1754, when the islanders rose in a body, fell 
upon the establishment, and massacred them to a man. 
As soon as this dreadful event was known at the 
Isle of France, the governor ordered an armed vessel 
to proceed to St. Mary, and punish the natives with 
the utmost severity. They performed their task to 
the very letter. While the troops ravaged the island, 
burned the villages, and massacred the inhabitants, 
the vessel got their guns to bear upon the piroguas of 
those who attempted to escape to the main land. 
Some of these, full of natives, were sunk: in one of 
them was the widow of Tamsimalo, who had embarked 
with an intention of getting to the bay of Antongil, 
