REUNION ISLAND. COMMERCE. NANTES. 6 Letters: Bourbon Island - Lot 628

REUNION ISLAND. COMMERCE. NANTES. 6 Letters: Bourbon Island (Reunion) ST DENIS October 24, 1829. Letter signed BELLET, to Mrs. BELLET of Toulouse. 4 pages, in-4°: “This morning, my dearest friend, I sent off my No. 31 (his letter) via LE PRUDENT CASIMIR, which is bound for Marseille; since the Nantes steamship is due to depart tomorrow for Nantes, despite my busy schedule, I am writing you a few lines… I have received news from Madagascar; I am told that the expedition will be back in Bourbon, along with the land artillery troops, in early December—the time when we are to set out to return to France. The “Teintinogue” fortification is complete and ready for defense; the government has provided me with the plans… It has not yet been decided exactly how we will return to France—whether on merchant ships or on a transport corvette… however, the season would be most favorable for rounding the Cape of Good Hope, which is not always a very pleasant passage… The heat is beginning to bother me; I suffer from it more than I did in Madagascar… Tomorrow we will spend the day at Mr. Monginet’s botanical garden… Everyone here is preparing for the Feast of St. Charles... ” (Excerpt) + Business letters addressed to BOURCARD & Co., Merchants in NANTES: SAINT-DENIS (Reunion Island), October 1, 1830. Letter from RONTAUNAY & Co.: “… We are saddened to learn that a few days after the ship LA THÉTIS entered the port and unloaded its cargo, news has arrived from England raising fears that the Government may wish to grant freedom to those members of the island’s population from the exclaves who were brought there since 1814…. News from Europe has turned everything upside down, and business has come to a standstill…. We have learned, en route to Bordeaux, of the start of the Algerian expedition and our new elections. May political events not take a turn for the worse and allow our colonies’ relations with France to continue peacefully… the price of our sugar is currently 6 ½, coffee at 14… ” (excerpt from 4 pages, in-4°) + Statement of expenses for Gorée (Gorée Island, Senegal) from the ship LE ROI HAMÉDÉE, Captain Haradeau, bound for Nantes + Marseille, March 18, 1826. The ebony trade off the coast of Senegal. + Bayonne, February 26, 1829: Sale of hams and foodstuffs + Cette (Sète), August 30, 1824: Statement of the sale of Bourbon sugar received by the ship *L’Iris*.