or Mascarenhas, (isle of), an island in the Indian ocean, lying to the east of Madagascar, in E. Long. 58° 30' S. Lat. 21° 23'. This island has no port, and is in some places inaccessible. Its length and breadth have not been well determined; but the circumference, according to the account of a person who resided there some time, is about 57 leagues. It is for the most part mountainous, but in some places there are very beautiful and fertile plains. In the south part of the island there is a burning mountain, which has thrown out vast quantities of bitumen, sulphur, and other combustible materials; neither does it cease throwing them out still, so that the country about it is useless, and is called by the inhabitants pays brûlés, that is, burnt land. The shore is high and rocky all round; but though on this account it hath no ports, there are several good roads, particularly one on the west, and another on the north-east. As to its form, this island is irregular, so that it is difficult to judge from the maps whether it is round or long. The air is equally pleasant and wholesome, insomuch that the people live to a great age without feeling either infirmities or diseases. This is occasioned by the hurricanes, of which they have one or two every year. These purge and cleanse the air, so as to render it highly salubrious; the certainty of which is thus distinguished, that when they fail of making their annual visits, as sometimes they do, diseases and death find an entrance into the island, which otherwise would soon be overstocked with inhabitants. The climate is hot, but not to such a degree as might be expected from its situation, the breezes from the mountains being constant and very refreshing. The tops of these mountains are in winter covered with snow; which, melting in the summer, furnishes abundance of rivers and rivulets, with which the country is plentifully watered; so that the soil, though not very deep, is wonderfully fruitful, producing Turkey corn and rice twice a-year, and the latter in great abundance. Most sorts of cattle are found here, good in their kind, and are very cheap; wild goats and wild hogs are found in the woods and on the tops of the mountains; here also are vast quantities of wild fowl of different kinds, fish, and land tortoises, affording at once the most delicate and wholesome food. As to fruits, they have bananas, oranges, citrons, tamarinds, and other kinds; neither does it want valuable commodities, particularly ebony, cotton, white pepper, gum benzoin, aloes, and tobacco; all excellent in their kind, when compared with those of other countries. This island is also happy in its deficiencies; for no animals that are venomous are to be found therein, and only two sorts that are disagreeable to the sight, viz. spiders of the size of a pigeon's egg, which weave nets of a surprising strength, reckoned by some capable of being treated to as to become as valuable as silk; and bats of a most enormous size, which are not only skinned and eaten, but esteemed also the greatest delicacy that they have.

The island of Bourbon was discovered by the Portuguese in 1545, as appears by a date inscribed by them upon a pillar when they first landed; but when the French settled in Madagascar, this island was totally defoliate. Three Frenchmen being banished thither, and left there for three years, made such a report of it at their return as surprized their countrymen. They lived most of that time upon pork; and though they were in a manner naked, yet they affirmed that they never had the least pain or sickness whatever. This tempted one Anthony Taureau to go over thither in 1654, accompanied by seven French and six negroes, who carried with them the cattle from which the island has been stocked ever since. The first thing they did was to erect the arms of France, by order of Mr Falcourt. Falcourt who was governor of Madagascar, and to bestow upon the island a new name. Then they set up huts, and laid out gardens, in which they cultivated melons, different sorts of roots, and tobacco; but just as the last became ripe, the whole plantation was destroyed by a hurricane. The French, however, went to work again; and by having some acquaintance with the climate, succeeded better, and added aloes to the rest of their plantations; but receiving no succour from Madagascar, and being tired of living by themselves in the isle of Bourbon, they very readily embraced the offer of an English captain, and in the year 1658 embarked for Madras. When the last great blow was given to the French at Madagascar by the natives, who surprized and cut them off in one night, there escaped as many men, as with their wives, who were natives, filled two canoes; and these being driven by the wind on the isle of Bourbon, were the next set of people who inhabited it. This last colony, for want of an opportunity to remove, were constrained to cultivate this new country of theirs, and to remain in it. It was not long before a further stock of inhabitants arrived. A pirate that had been committing depredations in the Indies, returning to Europe, ran ashore and was split to pieces upon the rocks, so that the crew were forced to join themselves to the former inhabitants; and as they had on board their vessel a great many Indian women whom they had made prisoners, they lived with them, and in process of time had a numerous posterity.

As East India ships touched frequently here, when too late to double the Cape, many of the sailors, for the sake of the women, deserted at the time of their departure, and staying behind became planters in the isle of Bourbon. As the place grew more populous, the people naturally became more civilized, and desirous of living in a more commodious manner; which induced them to build small villages, that in these they might sometimes make a trip to Madagascar, in order to purchase slaves, whom they employed in their plantations to cultivate aloes, tobacco, and other things, with which they drove a small trade, when ships of any nation anchored in their roads for the sake of refreshments.

In this situation they were, when the French East India company put in their claim; and assuming the property of the island, sent thither five or six families and a governor. At first the inhabitants expected to reap some benefit from their new masters; but finding very little, and thinking the governor took too much upon him, they revolted at the instigation of a priest, seized their governor and put him into a dungeon, where he died of hunger and grief. For this some of the ringleaders were punished, a kind of fort was erected, some guns placed on it, and the French flag kept flying; but in other respects, so little care was taken, that till within these 40 years, the island was in no state of defence.

The number of inhabitants, in the year 1717, was computed at 2000; viz. 900 free, and 1100 slaves. Amongst these people the usual distinction of whites and blacks entirely fails; for even the free are of different colours; and a French writer assures us, that he saw in a church one family, consisting of five generations, of all complexions. The eldest was a female, 108 years of age, of a brown black, like the Indians of Madagascar; her daughter, a mulatto; her grand-daughter, a mulatto; her great-grand-daughter, of a dusky yellow; her daughter, again, of an olive colour; and the daughter of this last, as fair as any English girl of the same age. These people are, generally speaking, of a gentle quiet disposition; very industrious; and submissive enough to authority, provided it is exercised with a tolerable degree of equity and decency; for otherwise the whole of them are apt to rise in rebellion at once; and the slaves have so little reason to complain of their masters, that they are always on the same side. The island is divided into four quarters. The first is that of St Paul, which is the largest and best peopled: their houses are built at the foot of a steep mountain, on both sides of a fresh water lake. As for the plantations, they are on the top of a mountain, which they ascend by a very rough and troublesome passage. On the summit there is a spacious plain, a great part of which is divided into plantations of rice, tobacco, corn, sugar, and fruits. The quarter of St Dennis lies seven leagues from that of St Paul, towards the east; and there the governor resides. It is not so well peopled as the former; but the country is more pleasant, and the situation better. At two leagues distance, proceeding along the sea coast, is the quarter of St Mary's, which is but thinly peopled. The last and most fertile quarter is that of St Sannah, which is at the distance of four leagues from St Dennis. The road between these two quarters is tolerable, though part of it has been cut with much difficulty through a wood; but the passage from St Dennis to St Paul is only by sea.

When the present company of India became, by their perpetual establishment, possessed of the island of Bourbon, they began to improve it exceedingly: raising new forts and batteries, so as to render it in a manner inaccessible; and importing coffee-trees from Arabia, which have succeeded so well, that it is believed they produce an eighth, according to some a fifth, part as much coffee as is raised in the kingdom of Yemen in Arabia, and it is likewise held next in goodness to that.

In 1763, the population amounted to 4627 white people, and 15490 blacks; the cattle consisted of 8702 beves, 4084 sheep, 7405 goats, and 7619 hogs. Upon an extent of 125,900 acres of cultivated land, they gathered as much coffee as would feed their slaves, 1,135,000 pounds weight of corn, 844,100 pounds of rice, 2,879,100 pounds of maize, and 2,153,100 pounds of coffee; which last the company bought up at about 3 d. per pound.

In 1748, Admiral Bolcawen appeared before this island with a British fleet; but found it so well fortified both by nature and art, that he was obliged, after some cannonading to very little purpose, to pursue his voyage.

Bourbon (Nicholas), a famous Latin poet in the 16th century, was a native of Vandeur near Langres, and the son of a wealthy man who was master of several forges. Margaret de Valois appointed him preceptor to her daughter Jane d'Albret of Navarre, the mother of king Henry IV. At length he retired to Conde, where he had a benefice, and died about the year 1550. He wrote eight books of Epigrams; and a poem on the forge, which he has intitled Ferraria. He had great knowledge of antiquity and of the Greek language. Erasmus praises his epigrams.

Bourbon (Nicholas), a celebrated Greek and Latin poet, poet, was nephew of the preceding. He taught rhetoric in several colleges of Paris; and the cardinal de Perron caused him to be nominated professor of eloquence in the Royal College: he was also canon of Langres, and one of the 40 of the French academy. At length he retired to the fathers of the oratory, where he died in 1644, aged 70. He is esteemed one of the greatest Latin poets France has produced. His poems were printed at Paris in 1630.

Bourbon-Lancy, a town of France, in the duchy of Burgundy, and in the Autunnois. It is remarkable for its castle and baths; and there is a large marble pavement, called the great bath, which is a work of the Romans. It is seated near the river Loire, in E. Long. 3° 46'. N. Lat. 46° 37'.

Bourbon L'Archambaud, a small town of France, remarkable for its baths, which are exceedingly hot. E. Long. 3° 28'. N. Lat. 46° 35'.

Family of Bourbon are the reigning princes in the kingdom of France. Henry IV. in 1589, though of the 10th generation, was the nearest heir; and succeeded Henry III. (the last of the Valois race), whose brother Francis II. married Mary Queen of Scots, and both died without issue. Louis XVI. is the 5th king of this family in succession. This family also mounted the throne of Spain in 1700, by Philip V., grandson to Louis XIV., which was the occasion of the long and bloody war that ended in the peace of Utrecht. A branch of the Spanish family likewise mounted the throne of the two Sicilies in 1734. These three branches entered into a treaty offensive and defensive in 1701, which goes by the name of the family compact.