Volume I Part 3 (1/2)
COLUMN 8: REMARKS.
April 21 : - : 5 : 7.2 : 22 : 55 : 27.0 : s.h.i.+p before the wind with a heavy following sea.
April 23 : 8 : 5 : 6 : 20 : 43 : 24.5 : s.h.i.+p before the wind with a heavy following sea.
April 24 : 6 : 4 : 6 : 20 : 50 : 24 : s.h.i.+p before the wind with a heavy following sea.
April 25 : 9 : 4 : 5 : - : 37 : 22.1 : s.h.i.+p before the wind with a heavy following sea.
April 26 : - : 4 : 6 : - : 33 : 22.1 : s.h.i.+p before the wind with a heavy following sea.
May 2 : 6 : 4 and 5 : 7 : 22 : 57 : 26.2 : Sea irregular, observations not very good.
May 3 : 7 : 5 : 7 and 8 : 17 : 35 : 22.0 : Wind and sea on port quarter.
(*Footnote. The height was determined by watching when the crest of the wave was on a level with the observer's eye (the height above the trough of the sea being known) either while standing on the p.o.o.p or in the mizzen rigging; this must be reduced to one half to obtain the absolute height of the wave above the mean level of the sea. The length and velocity were found by noting the time taken by the wave to traverse the measured distance (100 yards) between the s.h.i.+p and the spar towing astern. In column 3, the number 4 denotes a moderate breeze, and 5 a fresh breeze.)
Oceanic birds were plentiful in our wake, and gradually dropped off as we approached the tropic. On May 2 the vicinity of land was denoted by the appearance of four tropic birds (Phaeton aethereus) and a tern; and next evening, shortly before sunset, we sighted the Island of Mauritius, the Bamboo Mountain at Grand Port being the first part seen. We rapidly closed in with the land, and during the night were near enough to see the surf on the coral reefs fringing the sh.o.r.e, it a.s.suming the appearance, in the bright moons.h.i.+ne, of a sandy beach of glittering whiteness.
Captain Stanley remarks, that ”The reef on the east side of the island projects further than is laid down on the Admiralty chart, and as from the prevalence of the south-east trade a current is constantly setting to the westward, vessels approaching this part of the island should be very cautious, even with a leading wind, not to get too close in with the land until the pa.s.sage between Gunner's and Round Island is well under the lee. At night, also, the distance from the land, when off the north-east end of the island, is very deceiving, as the plains of Pamplemousses are very low. The Rattlesnake, in pa.s.sing at night between the Gunner's Quoin and Flat Island, experienced a strong set of nearly three miles an hour to the westward, which at times is said to be much stronger, and partakes in some measure of the nature of the tide.”
ARRIVE AT MAURITIUS.
May 4th.
When I came upon deck I found that we had rounded the north end of the island, and were beating up for Port Louis. It was a delightful morning, with bright suns.h.i.+ne, smooth water, a gentle trade wind, and an unclouded sky. The view was very beautiful, and quite equalled my expectations, based, though they were, upon the glowing descriptions of La Pierre. The extremes of the island are low, but the centre is occupied by the partially wooded crest-like ridge, rugged and pinnacled, connecting La Pouce with the famous Peter Botte. Viewed in a ma.s.s, the country looked burnt up, of a dull yellowish red hue--the higher hills were dark green, and the lower grounds partially so. To the left was the fertile plain of Pamplemousses, even now, in the beginning of winter, one ma.s.s of green of various degrees of intensity. As we approached we began to make out more distinctly the sugar plantations, the groves of coconut trees and casuarinas, the features of the town, and the dense ma.s.s of s.h.i.+pping in the harbour. We hove to off the Bell Buoy (denoting the outer anchorage) for the steamer which towed us to our berth abreast of Cooper's Island.
PORT LOUIS.
The harbour of Port Louis is of singular formation. It is entered by a narrow pa.s.sage or break in the coral reef surrounding the island, leading into a large basin, the central portion only of which has sufficient water for s.h.i.+pping. The bottom is mud, which, they say, is fast acc.u.mulating, especially in a small bight called the Trou Fanfaron, where a few years ago a line-of-battle s.h.i.+p could float, but which has now scarcely water enough for a large corvette. The reefs about the entrance are nearly dry at low-water, at which time one may wade to their outer margin, as is daily practised by hundreds of fishermen.
Pa.s.sing through the closely packed lines of s.h.i.+pping, and landing as a stranger at Port Louis, perhaps the first thing to engage attention is the strange mixture of nations--representatives, he might at first be inclined to imagine, of half the countries of the earth. He stares at a Coolie from Madras with a breech-cloth and soldier's jacket, or a stately, bearded Moor, striking a bargain with a Pa.r.s.ee merchant; a Chinaman, with two bundles slung on a bamboo, hurries past, jostling a group of young Creole exquisites smoking their cheroots at a corner, and talking of last night's Norma, or the programme of the evening's performance at the Hippodrome in the Champ de Mars; his eye next catches a couple of sailors reeling out of a grog-shop, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of a group of laughing negresses in white muslin dresses of the latest Parisian fas.h.i.+on, contrasting strongly with a modestly attired Cingalese woman, and an Indian ayah with her young charge. Amidst all this the French language prevails; everything more or less pertains of the French character, and an Englishman can scarcely believe that he is in one of the colonies of his own country.
VISIT TO PAMPLEMOUSSES.
May 16th.
Few pa.s.sing visitors, like ourselves, leave the Isle of France without performing a pilgrimage to Pamplemousses, a pretty village seven miles distant, near which are the (so-called) tombs of Paul and Virginia, and the Botanic Gardens. For this purpose--as we sail the day after tomorrow, I started at daylight. The road, even at this early hour, was crowded with people--Coolies, Chinamen, Negroes, and others, bringing in their produce to market, while every now and then a carriage pa.s.sed by filled with well-dressed Creoles enjoying the coolness of the morning air, or bent upon making a holiday of it, for the day was Sunday. I breakfasted in one of the numerous cabarets by the roadside, dignified with the name of Hotel de ----, etc. Numerous small streams crossed the road, and the country, so far as seen, exhibited a refres.h.i.+ng greenness and richness of vegetation.
Les Tombeaux are situated in a garden surrounded by trees, and a grove of coffee plants, behind the residence of a gentleman who must be heartily sick of being so constantly disturbed by strangers. They exhibit nothing more remarkable than two dilapidated monumental urns on opposite sides of the garden, shaded by a clump of bamboos and casuarinas, the latter usually mistaken for cypresses. In the coffee plantation close by, I was delighted to find great numbers of a large and handsome land sh.e.l.l, Achatina mauritiana--it burrows in the earth during dry weather, but some rain which had fallen during the night brought it out in abundance.
BOTANICAL GARDENS.
The Botanical Gardens are close to the church. Among the plants are some magnificent sago palms, almost rivalling those I had seen in New Guinea, during the voyage of the Fly,* and many clove and nutmeg trees, the cultivation of which in the island it had been the intention of Government to introduce. Here are some very fine shady walks with ponds of water and rivulets, but although these cool retreats are admirably adapted for solitary rambles and the holding of merry picnic parties, I found with regret that the t.i.tle of botanical had misled me.
On my return I was not surprised to see in an island colonised by the French--so little outward respect paid to the Sabbath. Many people were at work in the fields, and washerwomen in the streams--a party of Chinamen were employed roofing a house, and blacksmiths hammered away within gun-shot of the church, while many of the shops and all the taverns were open in the villages.
(*Footnote. Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. Fly in Torres Strait, New Guinea, and other Islands of the Asiatic Archipelago by J.
Beete Jukes.)
LA POUCE MOUNTAIN.
On a former occasion I had made an excursion to the summit of La Pouce, a remarkable k.n.o.b-like peak on the sharp crateriform ridge behind Port Louis. Following a path, leading from the town directly to Wilhelm's Plains, one crosses a small stream and skirts the steep face of the hill over rough ground covered with burnt up gra.s.s, and straggling bushes. To this succeeds a region of evergreens (among which the wild mango is the prevailing tree) where a species of monkey introduced many years ago into the island has taken up its abode. I saw none, however, but occasionally heard their chattering as they hurried along among the bushes. Where the path crosses the ridge, it widens out into a succession of rounded eminences, with the summit of La Pouce rising suddenly from its centre in a thumb-like form. Its base is watered by a small gus.h.i.+ng rill, and the vegetation now is very luxuriant from the continual supply of moisture.
The most striking plants are the tree-ferns (Cyathea excelsa and C.
bourbonica) some of which attain a height of from fifteen to twenty feet.
From the eastern margin of the ridge the view is very fine; a sloping precipice, several hundred feet in height, covered with stunted bushes, overlooks Wilhelm's Plains, nearly all under cultivation and studded with sugar plantations. The soil, when newly turned up, appeared of a dull red colour. Numbers of tropic birds were flying along the face of the cliff where they probably breed. Eight species of land sh.e.l.ls were picked up here, either creeping up the gra.s.s or under stones and logs; they were of the genera Caracolla, Helix, and Pupa.
A narrow path, difficult to find among the long gra.s.s, leads to the summit of the mountain, 2600 feet above the level of the sea. The view from the top embraces the greater part of this fine island. The coral reef fringing the sh.o.r.es is well seen--the pale green of the shoal water is separated from the deep blue of the ocean by a line of snow-white surf.