98 Relation of Fort Dauphin, &c. [1672 
having any Vessel for their return, they live in this Pro¬ 
vince, & have made themselves Sovereigns ; they inter- 
marry’d with the women of the country, & ’tis wherefore 
those who have descend’d are Mulattoes, their Fathers 
being white, & their Mothers black. 
These Matatannes are the most polish’d & wise people 
which there are in the Island, & the most adroit in works ; 
& they write in Arabic, & have very ancient Books: they 
dabble in Astrology. 
I was ask’d by Monsieur de Champmargou & by the 
Sieur de la Bretesche to stay at Fort Dauphin. They 
offered me the charge of the Store-Houses of the King, 
but I was not in a state to accept this offer, feeling, since 
the short time that I return’d into this island, a recom¬ 
mencement of the malady which I had had, which had 
render’d me entirely impotent, & in this state I was incap¬ 
able of anything. 
