Page:History of the French in India.djvu/35

 MADAGASCAR ABANDONED. 13 7, 1665, four large ships, equipped for war as well as CH A p - trade, and carrying five hundred and twenty men, sailed ^— v — from Brest harbour, and reached Madagascar on July 1664. 10th following. The first act of the colonists was to change the name of the island from St. Lawrence, as it had been called by the Portuguese, to Isle Dauphine. in honour of the heir-apparent, then four years old. It proved to be but a poor compliment to the Dauphin, They soon discovered that, instead of profiting by their predecessors' mistakes, they had themselves fallen into those predecessors' errors. The new colonists, like those who went before them, found that their labour was hindered by three causes, by climate, by the nature of the soil, and by the hostility of the natives. This last-mentioned cause produced yet another, for it exposed the unfortunate emigrants to constant exposure and constant fatigue. To such an extent did they suffer, and disclose by their sufferings the hopelessness of the undertaking, that the Company, although for a long time it continued to reinforce the colonists with supplies of men, resolved ultimately to give up all thoughts of permanently colonising Mada- gascar, and to divert their energies to another quarter. The movements of the colonists were however quickened by the action of the natives, who succeeded, in 1672, in surprising Fort Dauphine. and massacring the majority of those who were within its walls. Of the baffled colonists, some proceeded ultimately to India ; others, however, contented themselves with the forma- tion of a small settlement in the island of Mascarenhas, lying with Cerne a little to the east of Madagascar. These islands, under the names of the Isles of France and Bourbon, and again as the Islands of Mauritius and Reunion, have since become well known. The Isle of Mauritius, or Cerne, had been early discovered, and abandoned, by the Portuguese ; occupied in 1598 by the Dutch, who, in honour of Prince Maurice of