A Voyage to the Isle of France, the Isle of Bourbon and the Cape of Good Hope; with observations and reflections upon nature and mankind. Translated from the French. To which is added some account of the author

Front matter

HENNEY's CIRCULATING LIBRARY, 343, HIGH-STREET, Adjoinitig the Plough Hotel and Assembly Rooms, CHELTENHAM. ItULES. 1. — Subscribers, or Non-subscribers, keeping Books more than three days, to pay for each volume — 12mo, 3d.; 8vo, 6d.; 4to, Is. for every day exceeding tlie above time. 2. — Any Book written in, torn, or otherwise injured, to be paid for at the published prices. 3. — Non-subscribers to pay for each volume, 12D10, 3d.; 8VO, 6d.; 4to, Is. SUPERFINE WRITING AND OTHER PAPERS. Bibles, Prayer-books, fye in great variety. IRISH WAX, PENS, PENCILS, WAFERS, &C. Smyth's and Gattie's Perfumery. GENUINE PATENT MEDICINES. A VOYAGE TO THE JSLE OF FRANCE. BY J. H. B. DE SAINT PIERRE. A VOYAGE TO THE ISLE OF FRANCE, THE ISLE OF BOURBON, AND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE; WITH OBSERVATIONS .AND REFLECTIONS UPON NATURE AND MANKIND.

BY J. H. B. DE SAINT PIERRE, AUTHOR OF STUDIES OF NATURE. Homo sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto. TER. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. To nuhich is added SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR. LONDON : Printed by J. Cundee, Ivy Lane, FOR VERNOR AND HOOD, IN THE POULTRY; j. CUTHELL, MIDDLE-ROW, HOLBORN; siSl. J. WALKER, PATERNOSTER- ROW 1 800- J. H. B. DE SAINT PIERRE. iL HE very flattering reception given to the Studies of Nature by every description of readers in this country, renders what ever has fallen from the pen of James Henry Bernardin de Saint Pierre of high request. His Voyage to the Isle of Francey which he frequently mentions in this great work, is here republished^ in compliance with public solicitude. And it will be found, by such as peruse it with discern ment, to indicate the same worthy inten tions, the same indefatigable investigation of the various laws which regulate the uni verse, the same aversion to dogmatism and hypothesis, the same extended benevo lence, the same rational and exalted piety, b the VI the same brilliant imagery, and the same majesty of genius which distinguish that masterly performance.

The author is no'otherwise known among us than by his writings, and from the ce lebrity of these to whom is not some account of him now become desirable. All means of communication between the two countries have been long shut up by the sanguinary mandates of war. Even the innocent and useful intercourse of letters is still subjected to this cruel interdiction. Ah! happy for society and human nature, were this horrid conflict attended with evils of no greater magnitude. But even this trenches to a very considerable degree on one of the richest funds of our purest en joyments. Impressed with this sentiment, and eager to get some further intelligence of a favourite writer than is yet before the pub lic, the editor embraced an opportunity that fortunately offered, of requesting a French gentleman resident at Vienna, whose high literary character, and exten sive acquaintance in the learned world, rendered him perfectly competent to tell al] he knew of James Henry Bernardin dc Saint Pierre.

Preface

. " II 'HE following Letters were all regularly written to my friends, during my voyage. I put them in the best order I could on my return, and published them, as a public testi mony of my acknowledgments of the good offices I had received. Having given an account of the plants and animals natural to each country ; and of the soil, both in its unimproved, and improveable, state ; I then speak of the characters and man ners of the inhabitants. Many things suggested in the course of this correspondence, may, perhaps, be deemed a c satire.; THE AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. XXII satire ; but, I can say with truth, that in speaking of men, I have spoken of their good ac tions with satisfaction and alacrity, and of their faults with perfect candor, and even some re luctance. Having spoke of the Colonists, I next enter upon a detail of the vegetables and animals with which they have replenished the country. The industry, the arts, and the commerce, of these countries, are all included in agriculture, It .should seem, that this art, so simple, would be productive of the most amiable manners ; but the life led by the people of the Isle of France, is far from a primitive one. Monsieur de Tolbach, Governor of the Cape, who had been very obliging to me, is alas ! no more. If the place allotted him in these me moirs cannot now serve as acknowledgments, it may, at least, exhibit an useful example of con duct to those Frenchmen who may be ap pointed governors in India.

If from my account, they are induced to imitate his virtues, I shall then, indeed, do honour to them. What apology can I make for having ventured to treat on subjects with which I am not scientifically THE AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. XXIII tifically acquainted ? I have written upon plants and animals, but am no naturalist.' Natural his tory, however, is not shut up in libraries ; it has rather seemed to me, a volume to be read by the whole world. I have consulted, and traced throughout, the most evident proofs of a Provi dence, which I am always happy to consider, not as a system that is pleasing to my fancy, but as a sentiment with which my heart is filled. At least, I do trust I shall have been of use to mankind, if the faint sketch here given of the miserable lot of the Negro slaves, should save them from one stroke of the whip; and if the Europeans who so loudly exclaim against ty ranny, and among whom are composed such beautiful treatises of morality ; may he induced by my'means, to cease being in India the most barbarous of all tyrants.

I have doubtless done some service to my country, if I prevent but one single man of worth from quitting it, and if I have determined him to cultivate one additional acre in some heath which has never yet felt the plough. A man to be truly penetrated by the love of his country must first quit it. I am attached to mine, THE AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. mine, though neither by my fortune, nor the rank I hold in it : but the place where I first saw the light, is dear to me: There, I have felt, have loved, have spoken. This delightful country, so agreeable and at tractive to strangers, facinates me. Here all that can be desirable, is in abundance ; and France, by the temperature of its climate, the excellence of its vegetables, its delicious fruit its transcendent wines, and the industry of its inhabitants, is to be preferred to either India. In fine, my whole heart, is in my country, where my connections are numerous, where esteem is the most refined, friendship most intimate, and virtue most amiable. A VOYAGE. A VOYAGE,^

Letter I. L'

Orient, Jan. 4, 1768. A T L'Orient we are just arrived, after having •"■ felt the most severe cold. The road was frozen from Paris to within ten leagues of Rennes. This city, which was burnt in 1720, has now a grandeur which it owes to its misfortune. There are several new buildings, two handsome squares, a statue of Lewis XV. and also one of Lewis XIV. The inside of the Parliament-House is handsomely decorated, but with rather too much uniformity. The pannels of the wain scot are painted white, and have gilt moldings. Most of the churches and public buildings are in this taste. In other respects, Rennes is but a dismal town. It is situated at the confluence of the Villaine and the Isle ; two small rivers. Its suburbs are formed of some dirty houses; the streets are ill paved. The common people dress in a coarse brown stuff, which gives them very much an air of poverty.

A vast deal of waste land is still to be seen in Britany. Nothing grows upon it but broom, and b a shrub a shrub with yellow flowers, which appeared to me a composition of thorns. The country people call it furze. They bruise it to feed their cattle The broom serves only to heat their ovens ; it might be turned to better account, and espe cially in a maritime country. The Romans made a cordage of it, which they preferred to hemp, for their shipping. I owe this observation to Pliny, who is known to have commanded the fleets of the Empire. These lands might surely be sown to good pur pose with potatoes, a certain subsistence, which can neither suffer by inclement seasons, nor the storehouses of monopolizers. Industry seems checked equally by an Aristo cratic government, or in a pays d'etats*.

The peasant, who is without a representative in the assembly, is likewise without protection. In Britany he is ill clad, drinks nothing but water, and lives upon black bread. Human misery always increases in the same de gree as men are dependant. I have seen the pea sant rich in Holland ; at his ease in Prussia ; in a tolerable comfortable state in Russia, and labour ing under the greatest penury in Poland : I shall then certainly see the Negro, who is the peasant of our colonies, in a deplorable state. I account thus for what I have said; in a republic there is no sovereign, in a monarchy, but one ; but in an As the text was composed under the old government of France, many allusions are made to the forms theh in use, and this refers to their provincial parliaments. Editor. aristocracy, aristocracy, every peasant is subject to his particular tyrant.

The parent of industry is Liberty. The Swiss peasant is ingenious, the villain of Poland is without imagination. This stupor of the soul, which enables a man, even more than philosophy, to bear up against misfortune, seems to me to be a peculiar blessing. When Jupiter, says Homer, reduces a man to the state of a slave, he takes from him one half of his understanding. Pray excuse my occasional reflections. When I see mankind struggling with great miseries, I cannot help enquiring, what will remedy them, or from whence they arise. Nature seems every where, in Lower Britany, stinted in growth. The hills, vallies, trees, men and animals are all of diminutive size. In several places we meet with quarries of slate, and of black and red marble, and mines of lead, mixed with silver, which is very ductile.

But the real riches of this country are its linens, its threads, and cattle. Industry revives with liberty, from the vicinity of the sea-ports. This is, per haps, the only good consequence of a maritime commerce, which is little else than an avarice, pointed out by law. Strange lot of man, that he should frequently deduce greater benefits from the indulgence of his passions, than from the exercise of his reason. Here the peasant is much at his ease j he looks upon himself at liberty, from the neighbourhood of an element, all the roads to which are open. b 2 Oppression Oppression cannot extend itself to any thing be yond his fortune: Is he hard pressed, he embarks himself, and on shipboard finds the oak of his own inclosures; the linens woven by his own family, and grain, the growth of his own fields : Houshold Gods by whom he has been abandoned 1 In the commander of the vessel, he frequently recognizes the Lord of his own village, and in their common misery sees him a man, whose for tune is more to be complained of than his own.

At liberty to judge of his own situation, he be comes master of it; and seated on the yard-arm, decides in the fury of a storm upon that, which on shore, he durst not make an object of enquiry. Port L'Orient I have not yet seen. Half a league before our arrival, we crossed a small arm of the sea in a ferry-boat : I could scarcely distinguish the town. A thick fog covered the horizon : This is occasioned by the vicinity of the sea ; but the winter is the less severe on this account. Such is generally the case as well in the neighbourhood of pools and lakes, as of the sea. May not this be to favour the propagation of a multitude of insects, and water vermin that inhabit the sands of the shore? Whether this conjecture is right or not, the facility of living there, and the mild temperature, draw from the North an infinite number of sea and water-fowls.

Who knows not that nature may well reserve for them some portion of the coast, and of mild air, when she has allotted to the fishes alone, above half the world. I am, &c. LET-

Letter II

L'Orient, Jan. 18, 1768. HPHIS is a small town in Britany, which the -**- commerce • of the East Indies renders daily more flourishing. It is, like all other new towns, regular, the streets in strait lines, but unfinished. It is but indifferently fortified. There are some fine warehouses, the Hotel del Ventes, and a tower, whence one may see, wharfs which are only just begun, and ground plats whereon buildings are marked out. — It is situated at the bottom of a bay which receives the rivers Blavet and Ponscorfs they are navigable, and a vast many ships come down by them to L'Orient. The entrance to this bay is narrow, and defended by a work they call Port Louis, or Blavet. The citadel of which is too much raised, and must occasion the shot fired from it, to be, but of little effect. Its flanks, too narrow in themselves, have also Orillons, which are never of use, but for defending the ditch ; and there is none here but the sea, which washes the foot of the ramparts.

What an old, and deserted city, is Port Louis ! 'Tis a gentleman of an ancient family in the neigh bourhood of an East India nabob. The people of fashion live at Port Louis ; but the merchants, the muslin, and silk warehouses, the money, and the pretty women, are all at L'Orient. Their manners are the same here as in other commercial b 3 ports ports. Every man's purse is open: but he lends money in the gross only ; the interest of a sum for the Indies is twenty-five or thirty per cent, per ann. The borrower is much worse off than he that lends ; his profits are uncertain, his bonds are not so. The law authorises this lending of money by contracts, and they give the creditors a sort of claim upon the whole ship's cargo. A power which extends over the entire fortune of most of the seafaring people.

Here are three ships ready to sail for the Isle of France, the Digue, the Conde, and the Marquis de Castries. Others are fitting out, and some more on the stocks. The noise of the carpenters and caulkers, the concourse of strangers, and the perpetual moving about of vessels in the road, ex cite in the people a thirst after every thing that is maritime : the idea of fortune, constantly accom panying that of the Indies, adds to the illusion. You would think yourself a thousand leagues from Paris. The people ofthe country no longer speak French ; those in town, know no other master, than the East India Company. The better sort of people talk of the Isle of France and Pondicherry, as if they were just by. You will suppose that counting-house disputes come here in the bales from India, for interest rather tends to separate rnen from each other, than to bring them together. I am, &c. LET,

Letter III

Port L'Orient, Feb. 20, 1771. A FAIR wind to set sail only keeps us here. ■*-^~ My passage is taken on board the Marquis de Castries, a ship of eight hundred tons, and one hundred and forty-six men, loaden with naval stores for Bengal. My birth is a little recess from the great cabin. There are fifteen passengers, most of whom are lodged in the gun-room, the place where they put the cartouches, and ordnance stores. The master gunner has the care of this part, and lodges here, as do also the secretary, chaplain, and surgeon. Over this is the great cabin, where the passengers dine with the captain. Over this again is the * council chamber, and the captains cabin ; it is decorated on the outside with a gallery, and is the finest room in the ship. The officers cabins are before you come to these abovementioned, that they may with the more ease look to what is going forward upon deck.

The forecastle is the birth allotted for the crew, and between decks, a dismal hole, where one can see nothing. The f galliards are the length of the whole ship, which is level with the great cabin, and has a gangway before it, as the cabin has. The kitchen, or cook-room, is under the * Called in English, the coach. E. t Galliards; the ship must, from this description, have had a spare deck. E. B 4 has forecastle. The provisions and merchandizes in the hold; and the powder-room is under the gun room. This is a general sketch of the disposition of our ship; but to describe the disorder of it, is impossible. There is no getting along for the casks, of Champagne, wine, trunks, chests, and boxes, every where about. Sailors swearing, cattle low ing, birds and poultry screaming upon the poop, and, as it blows hard, we have the additional noise of the whistling of the ropes, and the crack ing of the timbers and rigging as the ship rolls about at anchor.

Several other ships lay near us, and we are deafened by the hallowing of their officers to us, through their speaking trumpets. Distracted by this uproar, I got into a boat and went ashore at Port Louis. We walked through the streets, but met nobody. The wind blew fresh. From the walls of the citadel, I saw the horizon very black, and the island of Groi covered withathick fog ; upon the shore crouds of women chilled with cold and fear, and a centinel at the point of the bastion, in asto nishment at the hardiness of the poor wretches, who were fishing in the midst ofthe tempest. Close buttoned up, wet through, and holding on our hats with our hands, we made shift to return. As we went along, the streets were covered with fish ; white and purple skait, thorn backs, dog-fish, conger eels of a monstrous size, large baskets full of crabs and lobsters, heaps of oysters, muscles and cockles, codlings, soles, and turbots; turbots; in short, as miraculous a draught as that of the apostles.

When they fish for pilchards, a priest goes in the first boat, and gives his benediction to the water. One might see among them the conjugal affection of old times ; for as they came dropping in, their wives and children hung about their necks : it is among these hard working people, that some remains of virtue is to be found, as if man re tained his morals no longer than while he was in a state between hope and fear. No part of the coast abounds more in fish than this : each species of which is, in general, larger than they are elsewhere ; but their taste is inferior. I was assured, that the pilchard fishery brought in four millions of livres, annually, to the revenue of the province. It is rather singular, that there are no craw-fish in the rivers of Britany ; occasioned, perhaps, by the stillness of the water.

Once more are we got to our inn ; the noise of the wind and sea still buzzing in our ears. Two Parisians, the Sieurs B***, father and son, who were to have gone in our ship, without saying a word to us, ordered a chaise, and are gone to Paris. LET-

Letter IV

On board the Marquis de Castries, March 3, Eleven in the Morning. HPIME is only just allowed me to say — adieu ; ~ we are setting sail. Pray take care of the letters inclosed ; three are for Russia, Prussia, and Poland. Wherever I have travelled, I left some body whom I regret. Our anchor is a-peak. I hear the noise of the boatswain's whistle, the capstern, and the sailors heaving anchor. The last gun is just fired. We are under sail, and the shore, the ramparts, and roofs of Port Louis begin to disappear. Adieu, ye friends, who are dearer to me than the treasures of India. Adieu ! Adieu ! JOURNAL. JOURNAL. MARCH, 1768. "OTE were under way on the third at a quarter past eleven in the morning, the wind at N. E. the tide not being high enough, we were very near touching upon a rock, to the right of the Channel.

When we were abreast ofthe island of Groi, we lay to for some ofthe passengers and officers. The weather was fine on the 4; but the wind began to rise, and the sea to run high in the evening. A violent storm arose on the 5 ; the ship was on her way under her courses. I was terribly sea sick. At half past ten in the morning, being in bed, I felt a great shock ; somebody cried out, that the ship had struck, I went upon deck, where I found all the people in consternation. A wave struck us on the starboard-side and carried away the yawl, with the mate and three men. One of them only remained, entangled in the shrouds of the main-mast, from whence he was taken, with his shoulder and hand shattered to pieces. It was impossible to save the others; they were seen no more. The disaster was occasioned by the vessel not answering the helm.

Her poop was too low in the water, to suffer the rudder to act properly upon her. The bad weather lasted all day, and the the motion of the ship killed most of the poultry. I had a dog on board, that panted incessantly with uneasiness. The only animals that seemed insensible, were some sparrows and canary birds, accustomed to a perpetual motion. These birds are carried to India as curiosities. All the other passengers, and myself amongst the rest, were exceedingly sick. There is no remedy for this evil, which occasions the most dreadful Teachings. It is good, however, to take some dry food, and above all acid fruits. The weather being fine on the 6, we offered up our prayers for the souls of the poor sailors we lost in the late storm. The sea, in breaking upon the vessel, had split the beam that goes round the hatchway, though it was ten inches thick.

We reckoned ourselves to be in the latitude of Cape Finistere the 7, where gusts of wind, and a great sea, as at all other capes, are very common. We had a beautiful sea and fair wind on the 8. We saw flying about, some white birds with black borders round their wings ; they call them Manches de Velours Velvet Sleeves. The air grew sensibly hotter, and the sky more pleasing on the 9 and 10. We approached the Fortunate island the Azores if it be true, that heaven has placed good fortune in any particular island. We had a calm the 11, the sea was covered with bonnets de feu bonnets of fire a kind of 1 mucilage, VOYAGE TO TIIE ISLE OF FRANCE. 13 mucilage, formed into the shape of a cap, with a progressive motion. In the morning we saw a ship. Some good regulations were made the 1-2 and 13. It was agreed that each passenger should have but one bottle of water a day.

Breakfast was to be at ten every morning, and was to con sist of salted meats and dry vegetables. Our after noon meal, at four o'clock, was a rather better repast. All fires were to be put out at eight o'clock. We expected to see the island of Madeira on the 14, but were too much westward; it was calm all day. We saw two birds, brown, and of the size of a pigeon, flying to the westward, as high as the masts. We took them for land birds, and judged, from their appearing, that some island was to our left hand. We continued calm the 1 5 ; but the wind rose a little towards night : an English brig passed us in the afternoon, and saluted us with her flag. About sun-rise, we saw the island of Palma before us the 16; on the left is the island of Teneriffe with its Pike, which is in the shape of a dome, with a pyramid on the top.

These islands were enveloped in a fog all day, and at night in storms of lightning: an appearance which terrified the mariners who first discovered them. It is known, that the Romans had heard of them ; because Sertorius was desirous of retiring to them. The Carthaginians, who traded on the coast of Africa, Africa, knew them well. Juba, the historian, says, there are five of them ; and describes them at large: he calls one of them the Isle of Snow, because it is covered with it all the year. The Pike, is, in fact, covered with snow, though the air is so hot. These islands are 'the ruins ot that large island of Atlantis, of which Plato speaks. By the depth of the cavities, out of which their mountains are raised, one would think they were the ruins of this original world, when overturned by an event, the tradition of which remains among all nations.

According to Juba, the island of Canary took its name from the large dogs bred there. The Spaniards, to whom they belong, got excellent Malmsey from thence. We passed through the midst of these islands, having Teneriffe on our left, and Palma on our right, the 17, 18, and 19. Gomera was to the eastward. I took a draught of these islands, which are cut in with very deep ravines or furrows. Here a flying fish was distinctly seen. A lap wing came and perched on our ship, and took its flight to the west ; it was of an orange-colour, its wings and aigrette mottled with black and white, its beak is black as ebony, and a little bent. We left the island of Ferro the 20, to the west, and lost sight of all the Canaries. The sight of those islands, situated in so fina a climate, excited in us many fruitless wishes.

We compared the repose and abundance, the union and pleasures of these islands, to our own unquiet life life of agitation. Perhaps, at seeing us pass by, some unhappy Canarian was upon a burning rock, wishing himself on board a ship, that steered under full sail for the East Indies. We saw a land-swallow, and afterwards a shark, the 2 1 . While we were in the latitude of these islands, we were becalmed all day, the wind rising in the evening only. The weather became so hot by the 22, as to occasion several bottles of Champagne to break, though they were cased in salt ; this is a store, that most of the officers going to India take with them ; it is sold there at a pistole a bottle. This inundation, which penetrated every thing, de stroyed some lettices and cresses, that I had sown in wet moss, where these plants grow surprizingly.

This salted liquor was so very corrosive, as to en tirely spoil all my papers that got wetted with it. We had a very fresh wind the 23 ; the sea appeared to be grey and greenish, as upon banks, or in soundings; they pretend to find soundings above eighty leagues from the coast of Africa, which is but little raised in these latitudes. We saw a ship bearing away for Senegal. The trade-wind prevailed from the N. W. on the 24. The ship rolled very much. With fine weather and fair wind, the 25 and 26, we passed the latitude of the Cape de Verd islands, but did not see them ; they belong to Portugal; fresh provisions are to be had there; but water, the chief article, is very scarce. We saw saw some flying fishes and a land swallow. The French wheat, in the bread-room, heated to such a degree, that there was no bearing one's hand in it.

It has happened sometimes, that ships have been set on fire by this means. In 1760, an English ship, loaden with hemp, was burnt in the Baltic. The hemp took fire of itself. I saw the wreck of her on the coast off the isle of Bornholm. From head to stern an awning was spread the 27, to shelter the people from the heat. We saw some galeres, a species of living mucilage. We saw flying-fish, and a great number of tunny-fish, the 28 and 29. Our men got ready for fishing the 30, and took ten tunny-fish, the least of which weighed sixty pounds ; we saw a shark. The heat in creased, and the crew bore their thirst with great impatience. We "took a bonnito the 3 1 ; some thirty sailors in the night opened the water jars of several pas sengers, who by that means found themselves, as the crew were, reduced to a pint of water a day.

SEAFARING PEOPLE. IT may not be improper here to say a few words of the influence the sea has upon these men, in order that those faults, which are the consequences of their way of life, may meet with suitable indulgence. Dispatch VOYAGE TO THE ISLE OE FRANCE 17 Dispatch in every thing so absolutely necessary m operations on board a ship, renders them coarse in their expressions. Living at a distance from land, they think themselves independent; hence it is that they frequently speak of princes, laws or religion, with a freedom equal to their ignorance. Not but they are, in some circumstances, devout and superstitious. I have known more than one, who would not so much as touch a rope on a Sunday or Friday. But, in general, their religion depends upon the weather. Their lounging and gossiping habits make them fond of scandal and stories.