The diſa grandiflora, one of the moſt beautiful plants of the claſs of orchis, grew upon the ſide of the ſmall ſtreams that wind themſelves among theſe mountains.
This excurſion proved the more gratifying to me, as I made it in the company of M. Maſſon, who had acquired a very extenſive acquaintance with botany, in the courſe of his travels.
The following days were employed by me in making new reſearches in the places I had already viſited. Vegetation is here ſo varied, that I continually met with new objects of attention.
An Engliſh frigate, from Tellicherry, had been lying for five days at anchor at the Cape, on its return to England to give an account of an engagement that had taken place between the French frigate La Reſolue, of twelve guns, Captain Calaman, and the Engliſh frigate Phenix, of eighteen. The Engliſh frigate had attempted to make prizes of ſome veſſels under the convoy of La Reſolue.
The Engliſh, according to their uſual cuſtom, attempted to ſpread reports injurious to the character of Captain Calaman, who, according to the accounts we received from Iſle de France, had conducted himſelf with equal courage and generoſity. The Engliſh Commander would have done well to have contradicted theſe reports,
