Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/404

342 barking in this expedition. She had left a very young child behind her in France.

The corvette La Nathalie, having Citizen Riche on board, had been dispatched from Isle de France to Batavia in order to demand our vessels from the Regency; but, after she had arrived in the roads, she was detained for five months under the cannon of two Dutch ships of war, and all that she could obtain was to sail back with those persons belonging to our expedition who were in confinement, and some other French prisoners of war.

At length, on the 29th of March 1795, we set sail for the Isle de France.

It was high time for me to be released from my confinement amongst the marshes of Fort Anké, as I had laboured already more than a month under a dysentery, which was making a very rapid progress. But as soon as I was removed into a purer air, my malady diminished from day to day.

On the 18th of May we arrived at Isle de France. I made frequent excursions among the mountains, where I observed a great variety of natural productions.

I had long been waiting for an opportunity of returning to my native country, when at length