aparilla, and of the five species of the Butua; with these also a
grammar, printed at Lima, of the language of the Incas, which I designed
as a present for M. de Buffon, from whom I received no answer. By that
with which I was honoured from M. Rouille, I learnt that his Majesty had
been pleased to direct that the governor and intendant of Cayenne should
both furnish me with recommendations to the government of Para. Upon
this, I wrote to you, Sir, and you were so obliging as to solicit
passports for me. You moreover favoured me with a letter of
recommendation from Commander La Cerda, minister of Portugal to France,
addressed to the governor of Para, with a letter from M. l'Abbe de la
Ville, which informed you that my passports had been expedited and
forwarded to Para. I inquired respecting them of the governor of that
place, who expressed his entire ignorance of the fact. I repeated my
letters to M. Rouille, who then was no longer in the ministry. Since
that time I renewed my letters every year, four, five, and even six
times, for the purpose of obtaining my passports, and constantly without
effect. Many of my letters were lost, or intercepted, during the war, of
which I the less doubt, from your having ceased to receive any,
notwithstanding I regularly continued my correspondence. At length,
hearing casually that M. le Comte d'Herouvillo was in the confidence of
M. de Choiseul, I ventured, in 1765, to write to the former of these
noblemen, although I had not the honour of being known to him,
explaining, in a few words, who I was, and entreating him to intercede
with the Duc de Choiseul for the transmission of my passports. To the
kindness of this nobleman alone can I attribute the success that
followed this step; for, the tenth month from the date of my letter to
M. le Comte de Herouville, I saw a decked galliot arrive at Cayenne,
equipped at Para by order of the King of Portugal, manned with thirty
oars, and commanded by a captain of the garrison of Para, instructed to
bring me to Para, thence transport me up the river as high as the first
Spanish settlement, to await there till I returned with my family, and
ultimately reconduct me to Cayenne, all at the special charge of his
Most Faithful Majesty; a liberality truly loyal, and such as is little
common among sovereigns. We left Cayenne at the close of November 1765,
in order to take in property belonging to me at the fort of Oyapoc,
where I resided. Here I fell sick, a