Relation 
One can 
build con¬ 
veniently 
forges for 
iron at 
70 
[1671 
leek, white & red beetroots, carrots, chervil, salsify, turnips, 
radishes, French peas, haricots, &c. 
The Settlers have a quantity of Blacks on their settle¬ 
ments, to each of which there ’s a village of these Blacks, 
to whom the Settlers are as Seigneurs. These Blacks 
cultivate the land for them, & rear the cattle. They are 
oblig’d to make the plantations & works necessary for 
the French, who are, as I have said, the Seigneurs on their 
land. There’s always in each Village & Settlement a 
Black, who is master of the Village, named Hondsau . He 
has charge of all things, to enforce the carrying out of the 
works, & he commands the other Blacks. 
The Rice is planted in the Province of Anosse in the 
Lakes, or Bogs, where there’s always water; they call 
these bogs Horacs . Every year, when they wish to 
plant the rice, they drive a good number of oxen into 
these Horacs, which are forced to walk & trample, stirring 
the earth or muck, then they sow the rice without any 
other labour. They call it making Mahosse. All the 
other Plantings are done in dry soil; ’tis only in this Pro¬ 
vince where the Rice is planted in this fashion. 
The French go to trade with the Blacks, who take 
Samesam, Cornelian, Beads, & Mannelers of Copper or 
Tin. They bring back Oxen, Cows, Sheep, Goats, Honey, 
Fowls, Rice, Gold & Silver in Mannelers, Ambergris, 
& other merchandise, on all of which things they make 
good gain. 
The Company of the East Indies has desir’d to make 
establishments in this Island. Many Colonies have been 
brought over there with this object, which have never suc¬ 
ceeded. Meantime one can derive much profit & utility 
from the Island, in what I’ve already said. There are many 
iron mines. One could easily make here Iron-Works, 
from which one could derive a good quantity to carry to 
the Great Indies, because the iron is very good merchan- 
