XX 
Introduction 
—hostile to the French settlers, the result of Father Etienne’s 
untimely zeal for the forcible conversion of the natives—a 
fault which the Lazarist priest had expiated by his tragic 
fate. Meantime in France colonists were recruited, to en¬ 
courage whom medals and coins were struck bearing the 
insignia of the Colonia Madagascarica. In the following 
year, 1666, another expedition on a far grander scale set 
sail from La Rochelle, under the command of the Marquis 
de Montdevergue, created Viceroy of the Indies and 
Governor of Isle Dauphine, as Madagascar was now 
named, 1 with all the glorious pomp and circumstance 
attending an adventurous cruise whose fortune and suc¬ 
cess had been preassured. But it is obvious that Louis 
XIV. had quite omitted from his calculations the possibility 
of a reverse. The fates proved unkind, or rather the winds 
were contrary. The meteorology of the Atlantic Ocean, 
an important factor in the conditions, had not been taken 
into account; the warnings of old sea-captains had 
been scoffed at, and months passed in waiting for in¬ 
telligence of the squadron. As it happened, the fleet of 
Montdevergue had been forced to put into Pernambuco 
by stress of weather, it had been obliged to remain there 
a long time refitting, and, in fact, the French ships did 
not reach the shores of Madagascar for at least a year 
after leaving France. Worst of all, during the long voyage 
all the supplies of provision were consumed, so that the 
first batch of unfortunate colonists landed in a state of 
destitution at Fort Dauphin, where the former settlers and 
garrison were themselves expecting relief from the stores 
1 ‘ Pour reconnoistre envers Dieu la grace qu’il verse tous les jours si abon- 
damment sur nostre famille royale, et particulierement d’avoir beny nostre 
mariage de la naissance d’un Dauphin, qui dans son enfance nous donne desj& 
de si belles esperances de seconder en son temps la piete et la vertu de nos 
ayeuls. Nous Voulons que ladite isle de Madagascar soit doresnavant appellee 
VIsle Dauphine , et soit marquee et reconnue sous ce nom dans tous les actes 
publics qui se feront dans nostre Conseil Souverain de ladite isle et generalement 
partout ailleurs ou on en fera mention. . . .’—Vide Pauliat, op. cit ., p. 172, 
