were arrested in France, as hostages for the vessels
and men said to have been stopped by our ships before the declaration of
war.

MARCH 1806

My proposed letter to general De Caen was then sent; and after pointing
out the uncertainty of orders arriving, or even that the marine minister
should find time to think of a prisoner in a distant island, I repeated
for the third time my request to be sent to France; where a speedy
punishment would put an end to my anxieties, if found culpable, or in the
contrary case, a few days would restore me to my country, my family, and
occupations. Captain Bergeret had the goodness to deliver this letter,
and to give it his support; but it was unsuccessful, the verbal answer
being that nothing could be done until the orders of the government were
received. To a proposal of taking my parole to deliver myself up in
France, should the ship be taken on the passage, the general would not
listen; though my friend said he had read the letter with attention, and
promised to repeat his request to the minister for orders.

A hurricane had desolated the island on the 20th and 21st of February;
and on the 10th of this month a second came on, causing a repetition of
mischief in the port and upon the plantations. Several vessels were
driven on shore or blown out to sea, and more than one lost; the fruit
trees, sugar cane, maize, etc. were laid flat with the earth; the
different streams swelled to an extraordinary size, carrying away the
best of the vegetable soil from the higher habitations, mixed with all
kinds of produce, branches and trunks of trees, and the wrecks of bridges
torn away; and the huts of the slaves, magazines, and some houses were
either unroofed or blown down. All communication with the port was cut
off from the distant quarters, and the intercourse between adjoining
plantations rendered difficult; yet this chaotic derangement was said to
be trifling in comparison with what was suffered in the first hurricane
at Bourbon, where the vessels have no better shelter than open roadsteds,
and the plantations of cloves, coffee and maize are so much more
extensive. Some American vessels were amongst the sufferers, but as
domestic occurrences were not allowed to be published here, I learned
only a very general account from the different reports: happily for our
cruisers the last had quitted the island in January.

In the evening of Feb. 20, when the first hurricane came on, the
swift-pas