X 
Editor s Preface 
Telfair, who presented the copy to the Society in 1833, 
died before he could give information on this point. 
The original little book, from which the MS. journal was 
transcribed at Port Louis in the first decade of the present 
century, 1 is a rare duodecimo volume published by Claude 
Barbin in 1674. This book was noticed in the Biographie 
Universelle (vol. xii. p. 70) as early as 1814, under the 
heading Dubois , the real name of the author, which 
is found subscribed to the dedication omitted from the 
manuscript copy; but the existence of this book does not 
seem to have been recognised by naturalists 2 in England 
until it was pointed out in 1852 by Mr. Pinkerton in 
Notes and Queries , vol. vi. p. 83, although it seems to 
have been known in Reunion, where it was noticed by 
Dr. Coquerel 3 and M. Maillard 4 in 1862-63. It was more 
prominently set forth by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, 
who, in 1866, reprinted the whole of the ornithological 
portion of the work. 5 
In furtherance of the wish expressed by Strickland 
in his monograph on the Dodo, an English version of 
Dubois’ ingenuous little book is now presented by 
the Editor, 
S. Pasfield Oliver. 
FlNDON,/^^«ry 30, 1897. 
1 As General Decaen surrendered Port Napoleon to General Abercromby in 
1810, it might be that the transcript was made subsequent to the capitulation, 
possibly in 1811-1812, when Mr. Telfair was secretary to Governor Farquhar. 
2 Vide The Ibis for July 1876, p. 286 : Messrs. Alfred and Edward Newton 
on the Psittaci of the Mascarene Islands, note. 
3 Album de Pile de la Reunion. 2 vols. in 4to. Saint-Denis, 1860-62. 
4 Notes sur Vile de la Reunion. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1863. 
5 Annales des Sciences Naturelles (Zoologie ). Serie v. vi. p. 42, note. A 
portion of the Voyages du Sieur D. B. has also been reprinted at Port Louis, 
Mauritius, in the Revue Historique et Litteraire de Vile Maurice , 1889. 
