diſorders. The ſmall-pox is the diſeaſe moſt dreaded by the inhabitants; for not being endemic, it occaſions here, as well as in every part of India, the moſt dreadful ravages, whenever it is imported amongſt them from foreign countries.
The maſter of a merchant veſſel from Bourdeaux, which had arrived here a few days before us, immediately came to acquaint us that the Commander of the naval forces at Iſle de France, having received ſome information relative to the fate of La Pérouſe, had diſpatched a frigate to the Cape, in order to communicate his intelligence to the Commander of the expedition ſent in ſearch of that unfortunate navigator. The frigate had ſailed from Iſle de France a few days before our arrival.
Our Commander Dentrecaſteaux diſpatched an officer to the Governor of the Cape to arrange the ceremonial of the ſalute. This officer received from the Chargé d'Affaires of France the diſpatches which Citizen Saint-Felix, Commander of our naval forces in the Indian ſeas, had ſent to Dentrecaſteaux by the frigate Atalante, Captain Bolle, which had immediately ſailed back for Iſle de France.
I ſhall here inſert the letter addreſſed to our Commander, with the depoſitions of two maſters of merchant veſſels, who were at Batavia during
the
