from the new governor-general, who anthorized him to show the orders of the king to Poincy. He endeavored to enforce his claim by arms, but was defeated and obliged to take refuge among the English, who surrendered him to Poincy, and lie was kept a prisoner until the following year. He then set about founding a colony in Grenada, where the West India company had made several vain attempts at a settlement. The farne of his just dealings with the natives of Martinique had reached those of Grenada, who begged him to come among them. He arrived in Grenada in June, 1050, and Kaickruan, a Carib chief, said that if he wanted to make himself master of their island he must consent to trade with them. Duparquet received the proposal joyfully, and .agreed to give the inhabitants a certain quantity of glass beads, crystals, knives, and other wares in exchange for the island. When the bai'gain was concluded, he made the necessary arrange- ments for establishing the colony, and returned to Martinique. But the savages forgot their agree- ment, and attacked the French, who quickly re- duced them to subjection. Some time afterward the English of St. Lucia, whom Duparquet had vainly warned of the plots that the natives of that island were forming against them, were massacred or forced to leave it, and he planted a colony there, which rapidly became prosperous. Then he went to France and purchased the pro- prietorship of the three islands, the king appoint- ing him his lieutenant-general. In 1654 he i-eceived hospitably and settled in Martinique a luimber of Dutch families who had been banished from Brazil. In 1656 he averted a famine in Guadeloupe, which had been devastated by a hurri- cane, by a seasonable supply of provisions. The expenses of his colony in Grenada absorbed a large part of his income, and he gladly consented to a proposal for its purchase from Father Dutertre, who acted as agent in the matter for a M. de Cerillac. The rest of his life was devoted to the people of Martinique, who repaid his zeal for tiieir welfare with ingratitude during his life, but appreciated his great qualities after his death.
DUPERREY, Louis Isidore, French naval
officer, b. in Paris, 21 Oct., 1786 ; d. there, 10 Sept.,
1865. He entered the French navy in 1803, was
promoted 2d lieutenant, and sailed in 1817 for a
A^oyage round the world in the corvette " Uranie,"
which vessel was wrecked on the Malouine islands,
and Duperrey, picked up by an American vessel, re-
turned to Prance, and was promoted to 1st lieu-
tenant. In 1822 he received his commission as captain, and, in command of the corvette " La Coquille," sailed on a scientific expedition to the
South American coasts and the Pacific ocean, from
which he returned on 24 March, 1825. During
that time he visited repeatedly the coasts of ChiU
and Peru, whence he sent to the navy department
interesting reports upon the geology and institu-
tions of those countries, and brought home many
thousand zoological and botanical specimens. The
observations of the pendulum taken during this
voyage at many different points proved the flatten-
ing of the earth at the poles, and Duperrey also de-
termined the position of the magnetic poles and
the figure of the magnetic equator. He designed
«harts of the coast of South America which are
valued, especially one showing the bifurcation of
the current at the mouth of the Plate. Duperrey in
1836 was appointed officer of the Legion of Honor,
-and in 1842 a member of the French academy. He
published " Voyage autour du Monde, etc., pen-
dant les annees"l8"22-'3-'4-'5" (Paris, 1826-30).
DU POISSON, missionary, b. in France about
1695 ; d. in Louisiana in 1729. He came to this
country in 1726, with other Jesuits, in answer to
an invitation from the Mississippi company, and
descended the Mississippi, accompanied by Father
Souel. He described the dangers he encountered
in a letter that was pul)lished shortly afterward.
They rested for some time among the Tonicas,
reached Natchez on 13 June, and embarked with
Father Dumas in a boat for the Yazoos. After a
stay of three days he set out for the Arkansas In-
dians, to whom he had been specially commissioned.
He was well received, and as the boat drew near the
village all the people came out to welcome him. He
next went to the village of the Santhouis, one of the
Arkansas tribes, where there were some French
settlers. He was welcomed by the chief, and ex-
plained his mission to the assembled people through
an interpreter. He found that they were much de-
moralized by their intercourse with the Frencli
traders, and devoted himself to the latter till he
could learn the language of the natives. His la-
bors among the Indians were at first not very suc-
cessful, but after several months he was enabled to
fix their attention by some engravings, and he con-
verted several. He continued his labors here for
two years, and, as his tribe was obliged to come
down to the banks of the Mississippi during the
winter of 1729, he resolved to visit Perrier, governor
of New Orleans. He readied Natchez on 26 Nov.,
and was preparing to embark two days later, when
the Indians, who had received some injviries at the
hands of the French, attacked and killed him.
DUPONCEAU, Pierre Etienne, author, b. in
Prance in 1760; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1844,
He landed at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1777, and was
attached to Baron Steuben's staff. He became a
citizen of the United States in 1781, studied law,
and while practising his profession translated sev-
eral works on law, and pvtblished legal essays. He
was the first to draw attention to the ethnological
labors of early Catholic missionaries in this coun-
try. His works include " Memoire sur le systeme
grammatical des langues de quelques nations In-
diennes de I'Amerique du Nord " (Paris. 1838), for
which he received the Volnev prize of $2,000.
DU PONT DE NEMOURS, Pierre Samuel, political economist, b. in Paris, France, 14 Dec, 1739 ; d. near Wilmington, Del., 6 Aug., 1817. He was of Huguenot parentage. At the age of twenty- three he published two pamphlets on the finances, which attracted the attention of the celebrated Quesnay, and led to Du Font's enrolment among the " economists," as the believers in Quesnay's
newly discovered principles of political economy were called. They waged unrelenting warfare against the errors and abuses that dwarfed commercial enterprise and ruined the tillers of the soil. Du Pont devoted himself to the cause with zeal, and did more than any one else to give currency to the philanthropic doctrines of the school. His
first important book, "De l'exportation et de l'importation des grains" (Soissons, 1764), had a great success. Turgot, then intendant at Limoges, sought the young author's acquaintance, and a close and lasting intimacy ensued. During the next few years Du Pout's chief publications were "Physiocratie," a compendium of Quesnay's system (Paris, 1768); "De l'origine et du progres d'une science nouvelle"
(1767); "bu commerce de la compagniedes Indes" (177Q); "Histoire abregee des finances de I'Angleterre" (1769); "Analyse du poeme des saisons"; and "Observations sur les effets de la liberte du commerce des grains et sur ceux des prohibitions" (1770). He also edited the "Journal de l'agricult-
