ount, taking the
daughter of the governor with him, went on board them, with a hundred
companions, and made sail to the southward. The Count had taken
precautions against pursuit; indeed, there were probably no Russian
men-of-war in those waters at the time, and thus he made good his
escape. He touched at a variety of places. He reached Canton in
safety. Here he wisely sold his ships, as, had he fallen in with any
Russian men-of-war, his destruction would have been certain. At Canton
he and his companions embarked on board two French vessels, in which
they proceeded to the Isle of France. Here he announced his intention
of forming a colony in Madagascar, or perhaps of conquering the country
for France.

His plans, as I have said, excited the jealousy of the governor of the
Mauritius, and of other people of authority in that island, who
determined to oppose him. Notwithstanding, he proceeded to France,
where he so completely gained the good opinion of the French minister
that he was appointed to take command of an expedition to found the
proposed settlement, with the title of governor-general. He had married
the daughter of the Russian governor, and she accompanied him in all his
travels, but what was her ultimate fate I do not remember having heard.
After returning to the Isle of France, where the governor still kept up
his hostility, and opposed him by every means in his power, he set sail
with about three hundred men for Madagascar. He landed at Antongil Bay,
where he was well received by the chiefs, but he at first was subject to
a good deal of opposition from the natives generally. He did his best
to conciliate them, but as he had often to employ force, and to keep up
a strict military rule at the same time, it must have been difficult to
persuade them that his intentions were pacific and philanthropic. He
seems to have met with heroic courage all the innumerable difficulties
by which he was beset. He lost many of his officers and men by
sickness, as the position where he attempted to found his first
settlement, from being surrounded by marshes, was very unhealthy. Among
others, his only boy lost his life by fever. He was left without the
necessary supplies he expected from the Isle of France, the governor
purposely neglecting to send them. The natives also were incited by
emissaries of the governor to oppose him, while, of the officers sent to
him, some were incapable, and others came with the expres