They arrived in port on the 16th of June, and continued their journey by land, and, as they were obliged to wait for the artillery, they constructed huts of the materials of their now useless vessels. After a halt of eight days the march was begun.
The Bishop, although in bad health, had to follow on horse-back. The journey, through a country destitute of houses or inhabitants, was extremely arduous. The route lay across forest clad mountains, and through miry valleys interspersed with ponds and streams, which latter, on account of their sinuous course, had to be crossed several times by fords where shallow, but in places where the waters were deep, they were obliged to cross on bridges made of a couple of bamboos.
The beasts of burden died on the way and the progress of the army was thus considerably delayed, owing to the lack of transport available for the commissariat and baggage.
At last Tavoy was reached where famine caused them new suffering. A basket of rice, the usual monthly rations for one man was sold for 25 or 30 piastres. The aborigines were seen to devour corpses. The bishop gave his pastoral ring to an Armenian who had generously provided for the Christians.
Everything seemed hopeless and all waited for certain death, when an English ship laden with rice appeared in the Tavoy river followed a few days later by two others of larger size and laden with a similar cargo.
The bishop went on board the ship and was received by the English captain with all the characteristic open-heartedness of his nation. The Captain, Rivers by name invited him to remain on his ship and the bishop consented only on condition that all who had accompanied him should be included in the invitation.
While the ship remained in harbour they had no further anxieties, and the generous Englishman provided for all their requirements until October 26th when he set sail.
The French bishop was weary of captivity so much the more so as he met with no results of his zeal. He made use of a Malabar convert who stood highly in the governor's favour and by his good offices obtained permission to embark for the Coromandel Coast with three pupils and a Chinese servant on a French ship named the 'Hector.' Owing to the calms, the voyage was slow, but on his arrival at Pondicherry he learned that a Malay potentate had become a vassal of the King of Burma, hoping to obtain the necessary assistance to keep certain territories spared by fire and war.
The bishop decided to return to France to seek a remedy for such ills. M. Lau and all the members of the council who took a keen interest in the progress of the faith in the Indies gave him a passage on a ship which arrived at l'Orient on October 30th 1769.
Since his return he has retired into the seminary for Foreign Missions where busied with the losses sustained by the faith, he implores assistance to reassemble his scattered flock. His demands are supported by Religion and Policy and we think that the success of his enterprise will be assured under more favourable auspices.