i86 
THE MASCARENES 
of Mascarene Island; diis appellation was afterwards 
extended to all three islands; after 1649 it was called 
Bourbon; in 1734 its official designation became He 
de la Reunion, and in 1805 Bonaparte. In 1815 
the earlier name, Bourbon, was restored, but was changed 
again later into Reunion. 
The first immigrants arrived in 1646. These, as has 
been mentioned, were 12 banished Frenchmen who had 
taken part in the rising at Fort Dauphin. They found 
the land wooded down to the sea coast, but so healthy 
and fertile that Flacourt, in his capacity of ruler of the 
young colony of Madagascar, took formal possession of 
the island in a 645. New comers founded the earliest 
town, St. Paul, in the west; gradually new settlements 
arose in the north on the arrival of further colonist 
families, as Ste. Suzanne in 1667 and St. Denis in 1669. 
At the end of the 17th century the colony was still in 
its infancy, and its population numbered only 500 souls. 
In order to assist them the government sought to in¬ 
troduce profitable objects of culture. They made an order 
in 1717 that all inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 
60 should be obliged to plant and tend a hundred coffee 
bushes per head. Instead of the bad wild coffee they 
introduced an excellent sort from Mocha in Arabia, 
which flourished so well in the island that the export of 
coffee quickly increased. During 1734 as much as 9 tons 
were exported, and by 1789 the export of coffee amounted 
to 2000, and in 1801 even to 3500, tons. Among the 
governors who in the last century developed great 
organizing ability and brought about a well-ordered 
condition of things, Mahe de Labourdonnais deserves to 
be distinguished as the greatest. 
Troublous times set in with the present century, when 
there were complications with England. As early as 
1806 the English captured a P'rench ship with its cargo 
in the roadstead of St. Denis, without anyone’s having 
