The account given in the above letter is partly borne out by the following announcement, which appeared in the _Moniteur_, the French official newspaper, in March, 1844; the substance of it is here copied from _The Times_ of the 14th March, and there can be little doubt concerning the object of the French in taking the active step alluded to. We must hope, therefore, that our interests in that quarter will be properly watched, particularly when we remember what serious injury would be inflicted upon the whole of our Eastern trade, in case of war, by the establishment of the French in good harbours to the eastward of the Cape. The announcement is as follows:--"Captain Des Fossés has been appointed Commander of the station at MADAGASCAR, and Bourbon, which was hitherto placed under the orders of the Governor of Bourbon. This station now acquires a greater degree of importance. Captain Des Fossés having under his orders _five_ or _six_ ships of war, will exhibit our flag along the _whole coast of Africa_, and in the Arabian Seas. He will endeavour to extend our _relations with Abyssinia_, and our _influence in Madagascar_." CHAPTER IX. The next place towards which the Nemesis was destined to shape her course was the island of Ceylon, where at length was to be made known to her the ultimate service upon which she was to be employed. It was not until the 10th that she lost sight of Comoro island, the northernmost of the group of that name, and, if measured in a direct line, considerably less than one hundred miles from Johanna. Horsburgh particularly notices the light, baffling winds, and the strong, south-west and southerly currents, which prevail during the months of October and November among the Comoro Islands. But it was found upon this voyage that these difficulties presented themselves sometimes much earlier than stated by him. It was now only the beginning of September, and the southerly current was found setting down at the rate of even sixty miles a day. Indeed, both the winds and currents in the Mozambique Channel had been found very different from what had been expected. It was the season of the south-west monsoon when she entered it in the month of August; and as it is usually stated that this wind continues to blow until early in November, the Nemesis ought to have had favourable winds to carry her quite through, even later in the season. On the contrary, she met with a strong head-wind, and a much stronger southerly current than she had reason to expect. The opinion of Horsburgh seems to be fully confirmed, that late in the season it is better for ships to avoid the Mozambique Channel, and rather to proceed to the eastward of Madagascar, and then pass between Diego Garcia and the Seychelle Islands. Steamers, however, would have less need of this were coal to be had at Mozambique.