Voyage to the Island of Bourbon.—The Mauritius.—Wealth of the Island.—The City of Port Louis.—Manner of Life among the Inhabitants.—Indian Servants.—Grand Dinners.—Country Houses.—Creole Hospitality.
Voyage to the Island of Bourbon.—The Mauritius.—Wealth of the Island.—The City of Port Louis.—Manner of Life among the Inhabitants.—Indian Servants.—Grand Dinners.—Country Houses.—Creole Hospitality.
I madethe voyage from the Cape to the Mauritius in the handsome and entirely new steamer “Governor Higginson,” Captain French, of 150-horse power. The vessel had been built in shares, Mr. Lambert being the chief shareholder. He refused to let me pay for my passage, and would not have allowed me to do so even had he not possessed a single share. He declared that I was now his guest, and must remain so till I finally left the Mauritius.
Our voyage of 2400 sea-miles to the Mauritius was very prosperous. The sea was certainly stormy when we set sail, and we had to struggle much against contrary winds; still, it was said that no other steamer had ever made so quick a passage.
Except some small water-spouts, we saw nothing remarkable till we reached the island of Bourbon.
On this steamer I learned the amount of the current expenses of navigation. Without reckoning coals, it exceeds £500 per month. The crew consisted of forty-seven persons. The consumption of coal was about twenty-five tons in twenty-four hours. These coals are in some places exceedingly dear; at the Cape, for instance, where they cost £2 10s.per ton.
On the morning of the 1st of December we discovered land, and in the afternoon cast anchor in the little-known harbor of St. Denis, the capital of the island of Bourbon.
This pretty little island, also called Ile de la Réunion,lies between the Mauritius and Madagascar, in latitude 20° 21° south, and longitude 52° 53° east. It is forty English miles in length by thirty in breadth, and has about 200,000 inhabitants. Discovered in 1545 by Mascarenhas, a Portuguese, it was occupied by the French in 1642; from 1810 to 1814 it was under English dominion, and since that time it has been a French possession.
Ile de Bourbon has lofty chains of mountains and plains of considerable extent, stretching parallel with the sea-coast. The flats are planted with the sugar-cane, which flourishes here famously, and gives the whole island an appearance of luxuriant verdure.
The town of St. Denis is built far out into the sea, and surrounded by evergreen trees and gardens. In the background rises a hill, crowned by a palatial edifice, which I at first took for the governor’s residence; but it has been built for a nobler purpose—it is the hospital. The Catholic church also stands upon the hill, and against its foot leans a long building of only one story, and with handsome rows of pillars, which make it look like a Roman aqueduct; but, on a nearer inspection, one detects windows and doors, and the place turns out to be the barracks. The whole picture is closed in by a chain of mountains, which divides into two parts, and affords a magnificent glimpse of a deep gorge thickly shaded with plants and trees. All this I saw from the steamer’s deck, for we only staid here a few hours, and these were passed in the usual formalities—the visit of the physician, the officials from the post-office and custom-house, etc. The business was no sooner over than the steam began to puff and gurgle, the wheels were put in motion, and we were off to the island of Mauritius, a hundred miles away.
Next morning we had not only long lost sight of Bourbon, but the Mauritius lay before us; and in the afternoon our steamer anchored in the safe harbor of Port Louis, the capital of the island. But three hours passed before welanded, and I took up my quarters in Mr. Lambert’s country house.
The island of Mauritius, seen from the sea, presents a similar aspect to Bourbon, only that the mountains are higher, and are piled up in successive chains. The town has not so picturesque an appearance as St. Denis; it wants the fine stately buildings which give such an imposing effect to the latter place.
The Mauritius, formerly called “Ile de France,” is situate in the southern hemisphere, between latitude 19° 20°, and longitude 54° 55°. It is thirty-seven miles long by twenty-eight broad, and has a population of 180,000.
Like Bourbon, the Mauritius belongs to Africa. It was taken possession of by the Dutch in 1570, but is said to have been discovered earlier by the Portuguese Mascarenhas. The Dutch gave it the name “Mauritius,” but left the island in 1712. Three years afterward the French took possession, and called the island “Ile de France.” In 1810 the English conquered it, and have kept it ever since. They have also restored its old name of Mauritius.
The island was uninhabited at its first discovery. The whites introduced slaves—negroes, Malabar Indians, and Malagaseys, from whose intermarriages all kinds of shades of color and nationality arose. Since the abolition of slavery in the year 1835, almost all the working-people have come from India. The Anglo-Indian government makes contracts for five years with people who wish to hire themselves out in the Mauritius; at the expiration of that time they have to apply to the government in the Mauritius, at whose cost they are sent back to their own country. Those who fail to report themselves lose their right to a free passage.
The hirer must pay to the government for each laborer two pounds the first year, and one pound every year following; this money covers the expense of the passage outand home. To the laborer himself he has to give five or six rupees a month, and board and lodging. This scale only applies to common laborers; for cooks, artisans, and skilled workmen, the wages are much higher, rising according to their capacity.
I found the inhabitants of the Mauritius in a state of great excitement. Intelligence had lately arrived from Calcutta that the exportation of coolies, or laborers, was forbidden, as it had been alleged that the men were very badly treated in quarantine, which they are compelled to keep on account of the cholera. They say, however, that the government here is to redress the quarantine grievances with all due care, and they therefore hope the prohibition will soon be relaxed. If this is not done, the island will be threatened with ruin in a few years.
At present it is in the most flourishing condition; the income which this little island yields, not only to the planters, but to the government, is perhaps larger, in proportion to its extent, than the amount yielded by any other territory whatever. In the year 1855, for instance, 2,500,000 cwt. of sugar were grown, the value being £1,777,428 sterling. The revenue of the government for the same year amounted to £348,452. The expenses were much less than the income; and as this is the case nearly every year, and the surplus is not sent to England, but remains in the country, the treasury is always well filled. At the present time it is reported to contain £300,000; and with every year the wealth of this fortunate island increases. In the year 1857 the revenue increased by £100,000, this great sum being raised solely by the new duty on spirituous liquors. That the inhabitants partake of this prosperity is proved by the difference between the exports and imports. In the year 1855, the former exceeded the latter by half a million sterling. Could the same be said of some of our great European states?
The government officials are exceedingly well paid, but not nearly so well as in British India, though the expenses of living are much greater here. The reason is, that the climate of India is considered very unhealthy for Europeans, while that of the Mauritius is salubrious enough. The governor has a house, and £6000 a year salary.
Mr. Lambert’s country house, “Les Pailles,” to which I proceeded, is seven miles from the town, in the district of Mocca. The whole island is divided into eleven districts.
At my kind host’s I found every thing heart could desire—handsome rooms, good living, numerous servants, and the greatest independence; for Mr. Lambert drove to town every morning, and frequently did not return till the evening.
After a few days’ rest I began my wanderings through the island.
First of all, I visited the town of Port Louis. There was little enough to be seen in it. Though of tolerable size (it has a population of 50,000), it possesses not a single fine public building, with the exception of the government house and the bazar. The private houses, too, are generally small, and never exceed one story in height. The bridge across the big river—frequently so destitute of water that it can be easily forded—is built tastefully enough, only they have been so sparing of its breadth that only one carriage can go across at a time; when two meet, one has to wait till the other has passed. Governments seem to act very much like private people: so long as they have little money, or, indeed, are in debt, they are generous, and even extravagant; but from the moment when they become prosperous they grow saving and avaricious. At least this seems to be the case with the government of the Mauritius, which is much more stingy, with its well-filled chest, than our European states that are burdened with debt. Does it not show a miserable want of spirit to have such a narrow bridge in the busiest part of the town?
Two other bridges of hewn stone fairly fell in during my stay; fortunately, no one was hurt. Each governor thinks only of filling the treasury; his greatest pride is in being able to say that under his rule the surplus of income over expenditure had increased by so many thousand pounds. Acting on this principle, the present governor objected strongly to the estimates given in for the building of the two bridges, ordered that they should be constructed at a cheaper rate, and—has the pleasure of building them twice over.
The town possesses a public walk, called the “Champ de Mars,” which is, however, little frequented, and a theatre, in which a French company perform.
The rich people generally live in their country houses, and only come to town for the day.
The mode of life among Europeans and Creoles (under the latter term are understood people born on the island of white parents) is similar to that in the British or Dutch Indies. At sunrise we refreshed ourselves with a cup of coffee, brought into the bedroom; between nine and ten the bell summoned us to a breakfast of rice, curry, and a few hot dishes; and at one came a luncheon of fruit or bread and cheese. The chief meal was taken in the evening, generally after seven o’clock.
Living is very dear here. House rent, the better kind of provisions, servants’ wages, etc., are paid for at very high prices. The simplest establishment of a respectable family with three or four children costs from thirty-five to forty-five pounds per month. The staff of servants, though much smaller than in an Indian household, is as much in excess of a European one. Families who make little appearance must keep a footman, a cook, a man for carrying water and cleaning the crockery, another to wash the linen, and a couple of boys from twelve to fourteen years old. The lady of the house has, besides, a maid for herself and one ormore for the children, according to their number. Those who have carriages keep a coachman for each pair of horses. The monthly wages of servants are from thirty to thirty-six shillings for a man-cook; twenty-four to thirty shillings for a footman or maid; and forty-five to ninety shillings for a coachman. Quite a common helper gets at least eighteen shillings, and the boys six shillings and their clothes: lodging is found for them, but not board. In British India fewer rupees are paid than dollars here. Domestics do not pay more for their board than four shillings a month at the most; they live on rice and red pepper, vegetables, and a few fishes, and these articles they can get for almost nothing. The servants perform their offices worse there than in any country I know, except perhaps at Amboyna in the Moluccas. Every where the visitor must bring his own servants; for if, for instance, he goes into the country and has no attendants with him, he stands a very good chance of finding his bed unmade and his water-jug empty at night. The poor housewives have great difficulty in keeping their houses in any thing like order. In India they are much better off: there the chief of the servants bears the lofty title of “major-domo,” and has the supervision of all household details. All the articles in use in the domestic economy—the plate, linen, and china—are intrusted to his keeping. He is responsible for the safety of all; he superintends the servants—reckons with them, cashiers one and engages another. If cause of discontent should arise, application is at once made to the major-domo. But here the lady of the house must herself undertake this arduous office; and as the Creole ladies are not remarkable for carefulness and love of order, it may be imagined that the interior arrangements of all households are not in the best state. I would not counsel any visitor rashly to set foot in any but the reception-room.
Social intercourse does not flourish in the Mauritius.There is not even a club here: the chief reason may be that the society consists of French and English in almost equal numbers—two nations whose characters and modes of thinking vary too much ever to amalgamate freely.
Besides this chief obstacle, there are other minor hinderances; for instance, the late dinner-hour, and the great distances between the various houses. As I have observed, the usual dinner-hour is between seven and eight o’clock, and thus the whole evening is lost. In other hot countries, when it is customary for people to live in country houses outside the town, the gentlemen generally come home from their business at five o’clock, and dine at six, so that at seven people are ready to receive visitors and friends.
But here all visits are paid before dinner, as it is too late to do so afterward, and whoever wants to assemble a few people for the evening must invite them solemnly to dinner. These dinners are conducted with great ceremony. Every one appears in full dress, the officials generally in uniform, as if they had received an invitation to court. At table, one is frequently seated between two perfect strangers, and after suffering the horrors of ennui for hours, a move is made at past nine o’clock into the reception-rooms, there to suffer ennui for some time longer. Music is very seldom introduced. Packs of cards are every where displayed on the tables, but I never saw them used. Every guest seems to be waiting with impatience for the time when he may take his leave without appearing rude: he is devoutly thankful when the evening has come to an end, and then accepts the next invitation with the greatest pleasure.
These dinners do not take place very often; for, ready as the good folks are to put up with the dreary ennui in consideration of the good company and the well-furnished table, the generous giver of the feast has to remember that each cover costs him at least from eighteen to twenty-fourshillings. Nor is the thirst of his honored guests to be appeased on easier terms; for Frenchmen and Englishmen are alike judges of good grape-juice, and the Mauritius would be no English colony if the rarest wines of Europe had not found their way there.
If the fortunate guest be not the fortunate possessor of a carriage and horses, a dinner of this kind puts him to some expense likewise; for he has generally four, or six, or more English miles to go, and the hire of a coach costs fifteen shillings at least.
There is more hospitality to be met with in the country than in the town, but its practice is not universal. I received many invitations, among the rest one from the governor, Mr. Higginson, who has a country house at “Reduit,” seven miles from the capital. Most of these invitations I declined, particularly those in which I suspected more etiquette than real friendliness. I have never been an advocate of ceremonious visits and stiff parties, but a small circle of kind, educated persons I am always glad to join. In this respect I was gratified in some houses, particularly in those of the English families Kerr and Robinson, who lived in the Mocca district.
Mr. Kerr had lived long in Austria, and with the language he had acquired all the friendly ways of my dear countrymen; and his wife, too, was quite free from the proverbial English reticence. I came to this friendly family with all my little requests, and felt really at home with them. The Robinsons were also very good, friendly people, and musical withal.
The district of Mocca has an advantage over the other divisions of the island in its agreeable climate, especially in that part distant five or six miles from the town, where the land rises a thousand feet above the sea-level.
The region around is very romantic. The volcanic mountains exhibit themselves in the strangest shapes.The vegetation is most luxuriant. A peculiarity which I rarely noticed in the other districts was the presence of deep, broad clefts, forming gorges or defiles. I explored several of these; among others, one on a little plateau near Mr. Kerr’s country house. It varied from eighty to two hundred feet in depth, and was about forty feet broad at the bottom; at the top the breadth was much more considerable. The sides were richly decked with stately trees, graceful shrubs, and climbing plants, while below, a foaming crystal streamlet, rushing onward, formed several pretty cascades.
One of the finest views, perhaps, in the whole island is to be obtained from Bagatelle, Mr. Robinson’s country seat. On one side the eye rests upon picturesque mountains, on the other it roams over fields luxuriant in verdure, stretching over a sunny plain to the boundless ocean. It is said that on a clear day the island of Bourbon can be discerned from this point.
Of all the country seats I saw in the Mauritius, those of Mr. Robinson and Mr. Barclay seemed to me the handsomest. The dwelling-houses are surrounded by parks and gardens tastefully laid out, where tropical flowers, shrubs, and trees (particularly beautiful palm-trees) are seen in close community with the European plant-world. In Mr. Robinson’s garden we had peaches as fine as any in Germany or France.
The houses of these two gentlemen stand in very advantageous contrast to the other houses in the island. The rooms are high and spacious, the arrangements very convenient; order and cleanliness reign every where.
These praises, unfortunately, can not be extended to the country houses of the Creoles. To speak frankly, I mistook most of the latter establishments for the dwellings of poor peasants. They are generally built of wood, are very small and low, and very much hidden by bushes; onewould never believe that rich people are to be found living in these hovels.
The interior arrangements are quite in conformity with the exterior. The reception-room, and perhaps the dining-room, are passable; but the sleeping-rooms are so small that one or two beds and a few chairs fill them completely. And this in the Mauritius, a country where the heat is oppressive, and lofty and roomy apartments almost a necessity! To fill up the measure of inconvenience, many people have had the odd fancy of partly roofing their houses with white metal. The visitor who is unfortunate enough to be lodged in a room just under one of these roofs can form a lively idea of the sufferings endured by the unhappy captives of old in the lead-roofed prisons of Venice. Every time my unlucky destiny led me into such a house, I looked forward with terror to the night, which I was sure to pass in sleepless discomfort, burning with heat, and half stifled for want of air. In Ceylon the roofs are also sometimes covered with lead or zinc; but the houses are much more lofty, and the metal is not exposed to the burning rays of the sun, but covered with wood or straw.
I found many of the houses in such a dilapidated condition, and so tottering in appearance, that I marveled greatly at the courage of the people who dared to inhabit them; for my part, I am not ashamed to confess that I feared every gust of wind would blow the house to pieces, the more so as the winds in the Mauritius are very violent, and there are frequent hurricanes. The worthy Creoles quoted these same winds and hurricanes as an excuse for the mean architecture of their hovel-like homes, declaring that loftier buildings would be unable to resist the storm. If they were as badly built as these huts, certainly; but the country houses of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Robinson have always held their own against wind and storm, though they are lofty and spacious, and have been built many years.
I have often noticed that there is more true hospitality in the country than in towns; but the rule will not apply universally, as I found by personal experience. For though, in the houses of such worthy people as Mr. Kerr, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Lambert, I felt thoroughly at home, it sometimes happened, on the other hand, that I allowed myself to be tempted by the seeming friendship of Creoles to accept invitations involving disagreeable consequences, which made me rejoice greatly when I regained my freedom.
Persons of high position and great influence must, of course, every where be received with consideration, but strangers and ordinary guests, from whom there is nothing to be expected, are sometimes very cavalierly treated in these parts. There is enough to eat and drink, but a “plentiful lack” of every thing besides. The unimportant guests are lodged in the “pavilion,” a little hut frequently a hundred yards distant from the dwelling-house, necessitating a pleasant walk in the rain or in the broiling sunshine every time the family assembles for a meal; and as the main building itself is generally ruinous, the state of the pavilion may easily be imagined.
That delectable retreat generally consists of two or three little rooms, where neither door nor windows can be induced to shut, where the rain beats in through the broken panes, where the lock of the entrance-door is so rusty that the door must be barricaded from within, or every gust of wind would blow it open. Each of the little rooms is provided with a bed, a rickety table, and one or two chairs. Of a cupboard I never saw a trace. My clothes and linen could never be unpacked, and I was obliged to stoop and unlock my boxes whenever I wanted the most trifling article.
But these discomforts would have been of little moment if any friendliness or readiness to oblige on the part of host or hostess had made amends. Unfortunately, such readiness is rarely found. In most houses the guest is left to himself all day long. No one takes any trouble about him, or cares to do any thing to make the time pass pleasantly. Nearly every establishment boasts five or six horses; but these are intended exclusively for the master of the house, or perhaps for his sons. The guest is never offered the use of them, and the lady of the house herself is seldom able to say, “I will take a drive to-day.”
Even the luxury of a cold bath, necessary as it is to health in a hot climate like that of the Mauritius, I found unattainable except when it rained. Then, indeed, I had it perforce—in my bedroom; for the roof was generally so ruinous that the water poured in on all sides.
The Sugar-cane Plantations.—Indian Laborers.—A Lawsuit.—The Botanic Garden.—Plants and Animals.—Singular Monument.—The Waterfall.—Mont Orgeuil.—Trou du Cerf.—The Creoles and the French.—Farewell to the Mauritius.
The Sugar-cane Plantations.—Indian Laborers.—A Lawsuit.—The Botanic Garden.—Plants and Animals.—Singular Monument.—The Waterfall.—Mont Orgeuil.—Trou du Cerf.—The Creoles and the French.—Farewell to the Mauritius.
Thegreatest sugar-cane plantations are in the district of Pamplemousse, in which also the Botanical Gardens are situated. I visited the Monchoisy plantation, the property of Mr. Lambert. The manager, Mr. Gilat, was kind enough to escort me through the fields and buildings, and to give me such a lucid explanation of the method of growing and preparing the sugar-cane, that I can not do better than give his own words, as nearly as I can remember them.
“The sugar-cane is not raised from seed, but pieces of cane are planted. The first cane requires eighteen months to ripen; but as, during this time, the chief stem puts out shoots, each of the following harvests can be gathered in at intervals of twelve months, so that three crops are obtained in four years and a half. After the fourth harvest the field must be thoroughly cleared of the cane. If the land is virgin soil on which no former crop has been raised, fresh slips of cane can at once be planted, and thus eight crops may be obtained in nine years. If this is not the case, ambrezades must be planted—a leafy plant, which grows to the height of eight or nine feet, and whose leaves, continually falling, decay on the ground and fertilize it. After two years the plants are rooted out, and the land becomes a sugar plantation again.”
For about the last ten years the custom has prevailed of dressing the land with guano, and very good results havebeen obtained. On good ground 8000 lbs. per acre have been raised, and on bad soil, that formerly yielded 2000 lbs. at the most, the produce has been doubled.
I was much astonished to see the beautiful widespread plains of Pamplemousse covered with great pieces of lava. It would appear as if nothing could grow under such circumstances; but I heard that this peculiarity of the soil is favorable to the sugar-cane, which will not bear a long drought. It is planted between these fragments of rock, and the rain-water, collecting in pools in the clefts and holes, keeps the ground moist for a long time.
When the canes are ripe and the harvest begins, no more is cut down each day than can be pressed and boiled at once, for the great heat soon spoils the sap in the canes. The cane is pressed between two rollers, turned by steam, with such force that it is crushed quite flat and dry; it is then used as fuel for boiling the kettles.
The juice runs successively into six kettles or pans, of which the first is most fiercely heated; the force of the fire is made to diminish under each of the others. In the last kettle the sugar is found almost half produced. It is then placed on great wooden tables where it is left to cool, and here the mass granulates into crystals of the size of a pin’s head. As a final operation, it is poured into wooden vessels perforated with small holes, through which the molasses still contained in the sugar may filter. The whole process requires eight or ten days for its completion. Before the sugar is packed, it is spread out on great terraces to dry for some hours in the sun. It is shipped in bags containing 150 lbs. each.
Mr. Lambert’s sugar plantation contains 2000 acres of land, but of course only a part of this is planted each year. He has 600 laborers, who are engaged for seven months in the year in the field, and during the other five in getting in the crop and boiling it. In a good year—that is, when therainy season sets in early and lasts long—Mr. Lambert gets three million pounds of sugar from his plantation; but he is well content with two millions and a half. A hundred pounds of sugar are worth from nine to twelve shillings.
The largest planter in the Mauritius is a Mr. Rocheconte, who is said to produce nearly seven million pounds of sugar annually.
Sugar, and nothing but sugar, is to be seen in this island. Every undertaking has reference to sugar, and all the conversation is about sugar. Mauritius might be called the sugar island, and its coat of arms should be a bundle of sugar-canes and three sugar-bags rampant.
During a residence of some weeks I had opportunities of observing the condition and circumstances of the laborers. They are called “coolies,” and come, as I have mentioned, from all parts of India. They hire themselves for five years, and the planter who hires them has to give each laborer 8s. or 10s. a month, 50 lbs. of rice, 4 lbs. of dried fish, 4 lbs. of beans, 4 lbs. of fat or oil, a sufficiency of salt, and a little hut to live in, besides the sum he has to pay to the government for their passage.
The laborer’s condition is not nearly so good as that of a servant. He has to work heavily in the cane-field and the boiling-house, and is much more exposed than the domestic servant to the arbitrary power of his master; for he may not leave until his five years’ contract has expired. He may certainly go and complain if he is hardly used, for there are judges to hear, and laws to redress his woes; but as the judges are frequently planters themselves, the poor laborer seldom finds the verdict given in his favor. The laborer has also frequently to walk eight or ten miles before he gets to the court. In the week he has no time to go, and on Sundays he finds it closed. If, after much trouble, he at length succeeds in reaching the abode of justice, he finds, perhaps, that the court is engaged in a multiplicity of affairs, and is told to go and come again some other day. To make the thing more difficult for him, he is not admitted at all unless he brings witnesses. How is he to get these? None of his companions in misfortune will dare to render him such a service, for fear of punishment, or even corporal ill usage at the hands of his master.
I will relate an incident which happened during my residence in the Mauritius.
On one of the plantations ten laborers wished, upon the expiration of their contract, to quit their employer and take service with another. The planter heard of this, and three weeks before the articles of these ten men expired, he persuaded ten others to give in the papers of the malcontents as their own, and to have the contract renewed for a year. Then he called the discontented laborers separately before him, showed each one the contract, and told him he had another year to serve. Of course the people persisted that this was impossible, as they had not been at the court at all, and had never had the writing in their hands. The planter replied that the contract was perfectly valid, and declared that if they complained before the court they would not be heard, and that corporal chastisement would most likely be their reward. Moreover, if they went, he would not pay the wages he owed them for five months’ work, unless under compulsion.
The poor fellows were at a loss what to do. Fortunately, an official of high position lived close by, and one who was known as an honest, philanthropic man. To him they went, told their story, and begged his protection, which he at once promised. The affair came before the court, but the trial went on very slowly, as none of the planter’s people dared to give evidence. Even if they had the will, it would have been difficult for them to do so, as the planter forbade his people to go out, and had them carefully watched and prevented from communicating with any one all the time the action was proceeding.
In the course of some ten weeks, five sittings or hearings took place. The first three were held before a single judge, who was a planter into the bargain. The protector of the poor plaintiffs insisted that three judges should be appointed, as the law demands, and protested against the one judge, who could not but appear as influenced by his position as a planter. As this demand proceeded from a man in a high position, and was, moreover, strictly legal, it was complied with, and the first judge only attended the two subsequent sittings to give explanations respecting the former three.
At the fifth sitting the action was certainly decided in favor of the coolies, but the verdict was given in a manner I should never have thought possible in a land under English rule.
The judge, or planter, who had heard the plaintiffs in the first three sittings declared that when the ten people first came to him, he could not know whether they were the real proprietors of the papers, for that hundreds of laborers came to him with similar complaints every day.
He had written out the new contract on unstamped paper, as he happened to have none with a stamp by him, and the people, not one of whom could write, had attached their crosses as signatures. Afterward he had the contract rewritten on stamped paper, as it would otherwise have been invalid, and in order not to call up the people again, his clerk had affixed the crosses. As the people had, therefore, not signed with their own hands, the contract was void, and the coolies were free; and thus the action was decided.
The real circumstances of the case were entirely different. If the poor coolies had not found an influential protector, the planter-judge would have decided the affair in favor of the employer. The appearance of the official personageupon the stage compelled the judges to show at least an appearance of justice; and so they saved themselves by finding out aFORGERY, for which, in any other country, the judge and his clerk would not only have lost their places to a certainty, but have been provided with board and lodging, and a restricted number of companions, in a certain great public establishment.
The planter got off unpunished, though, even according to the Mauritian laws, framed with great regard for the planter’s convenience, he should have been subjected to a fine and a year’s imprisonment.
To crown his worthy action, he cheated the poor coolies, and mulcted them of a month’s pay, under the pretext that they had done little work, broken some of their implements, and stolen others.
This paltry person is very much looked up to in the Mauritius, and is received with pleasure in society. He is rich certainly, and is a regular attendant at church, and here, as elsewhere, people have peculiar ideas as to wealth and religion—ideas which plain honest folks are too dull to appreciate.
I would not quit the district of Pamplemousse without visiting the Botanical Garden, which is under the superintendence of the accomplished botanist and director, Mr. Duncan.
Scarcely had I spent a quarter of an hour with this amiable man, a Scotchman by birth, before he invited me, in the most friendly manner, to spend a few days in his house, that I might be able to examine the treasures of the garden at my leisure. Though I had become somewhat careful in the matter of Mauritian invitations, I could not resist the real good-nature of Mr. Duncan. I staid with him, and had no cause to repent it. Mr. Duncan was a man of a few words, but hedidwhat he could to make my residence in his house agreeable. When he saw that I was collectinginsects, he himself helped me in my search, and often brought me some new specimens for my collection.
I walked several times with him through the Botanical Garden, which is very rich in plants and trees from all parts of the world. Here I saw for the first time trees and shrubs from Madagascar, indigenous to that island. I particularly admired a water-plant, theHydrogiton fenestralis, whose leaves, three inches in length and one in breadth, are quite pierced through, as if by artificial means pieces had been broken out. A tree, theAdansonia digitata, is remarkable, not for its beauty, but for its ugliness. The stem is of uniform clumsy thickness to a height of eight or ten feet; then it becomes suddenly thin: the bark is of a light, unsightly color, quite smooth and almost shining.
There were many spice-trees, and a few specimens of the beautiful water-palm, which I have already seen and described in my “Second Voyage round the World.”
I am no botanist, and therefore can give no detailed description of the garden; but competent persons have assured me that it is very judiciously and scientifically laid out. To look at the varied and numerous plants, and the extensive plantations, sometimes requiring great labor to cultivate, no one would believe that Mr. Duncan has very restricted resources at his command. The government only allows him twenty-five laborers, Malabars and Bengalees, who certainly do not get through as much work as eight or ten strong Europeans would accomplish.
As I am on the subject of plants and trees, I will mention the fruits produced in the Mauritius. Among the most common are many kinds of bananas and mangoes, citchy, butter-fruit, splendid pine-apples, sweet melons and watermelons. The watermelons here attain an enormous size, some weighing more than thirty pounds, but they have little flavor. Peaches are abundant, but require much care to bring them to perfection. Pomegranates are also found ofgreat size, besides papayas and other similar fruits. I have described all these in my former works, to which I accordingly refer my readers.
As regards the animal world, the Mauritius is fortunate in possessing neither beasts of prey nor poisonous reptiles. The centipedes and scorpions found here are small; their sting is painful, but not dangerous. Ants are also not so numerous here as in India and South America. I could sometimes leave the insects I had collected for half a day together on the table, and the ants did not get at them, while in other hot countries these depredators would be devouring their prey within a few minutes. The musquitoes are troublesome enough, and sometimes drive strangers to desperation. Those who have been resident here for some years are said, like the natives, to enjoy a comparative immunity from their attacks.
The disagreeable kakerlak sometimes plays his pranks here, but is far less obnoxious than in other countries. They say that very exciting combats sometimes takes place between the kakerlak and the beautiful green fly calledSphex viridi-cyanea. I was not fortunate enough to witness such a fight, but only read the account of one in the “Voyages of Monsieur Bory de St. Vincent.” The fly flutters round the kakerlak until the latter becomes motionless, as if magnetized; then she seizes him, drags him to a hole already selected for the purpose, lays eggs in his body, stops up the hole with a kind of cement, and leaves her victim to his enforced companions, by whom he is quickly devoured.
I had almost forgotten to mention an object of interest in the district of Pamplemousse—a tomb, in remembrance of the pretty story of “Paul and Virginia,” the scene of which Bernardin de St. Pierre has laid in this island.
The month of April was already coming round, and, excepting in my excursions in the district of Pamplemousseand a few drives in and about Mocca, I had seen nothing of the Mauritius. I was loth to quit the island without at least visiting the most interesting points, but how to manage this was the question. The friendly judge, Mr. Satis, invited me to an excursion to the Tamarin waterfall. On the way we passed the country house of Mr. Moon, who had been invited by Mr. Satis to join our party.
We soon came to the waterfall, distant scarcely an English mile from Mr. Moon’s country house; and just opposite to the cascade, under some shady trees, Mr. Satis had taken care to have a good luncheon ready for us.
A more beautiful spot could scarcely have been chosen. We encamped on an elevated plateau, 1160 feet above the level of the sea; on one side was a gorge 800 feet deep, and at least 500 broad at its top, but narrowing toward the sea. Into this gorge the stream leaps headlong, forming seven beautiful waterfalls, two of them more than 100 feet in depth. It rushes, foaming in headlong haste, through a region clothed with the richest verdure, and closes in the neighboring sea its short but troubled course. The appearance of the fall is said to be much more majestic after long rains, when the smaller cascades become absorbed into one great fall, and the whole mass of water rushes down into its deep bed in only two leaps.
This delightful day will be always a bright spot in my memory, not only for the beautiful spectacle I saw, but for the pleasure I derived from my acquaintance with the amiable Moon family. I became as friendly with Mrs. Moon as if I had known her a long time, and very glad was I when she heartily invited me to stay some time in her house. Unhappily, the time fixed for my departure for Madagascar was at hand, and I could only spend three days with the family—three happy days, which made amends for many previous disappointments.
In Mrs. Moon I not only made the acquaintance of a veryamiable but of a very accomplished lady; her talent for painting is quite remarkable. At the request of the directors of the British Museum she has made colored drawings of all the 120 different kinds of mangoes, and also of the medicinal plants found in the Mauritius.
Mr. and Mrs. Moon, and their equally obliging relative, Mr. Caldwell, were at once eager to show me the “lions” of their island, and the next day they took me to “Mont Orgueil,” from which the best view of the country and of the mountains can be had. On one side appears the “Morne Brabant,” a mountain extending far out into the sea, and connected with the main land only by a narrow tongue of earth; not far from this rises the “Piton de la Rivière Noire,” the highest mountain in the island, 2564 feet. In another direction the “Tamarin” and “Rempart” rear their heads; and in a fourth is to be seen a mountain with three tops, called “Les Trois Mammelles.” Very near these summits there opens a deep caldron, two of whose sides have almost completely fallen in, while the remaining two rise high and steep. Besides these mountains there are the “Corps de Garde du Port Louis de Mocca;” “Le Pouce,” with its narrow top rising suddenly up out of a little mountain plateau, like a thumb or finger; and the marvelous “Peter Booth.” This mountain takes its name from the first man who ascended to its summit, which was long regarded as inaccessible. Peter Booth managed to do this by shooting an arrow, with a strong twine thereto attached, over the summit. Luckily, the arrow fell upon an accessible spot on the other side of the mountain. To this twine a strong rope was fastened, which was thus drawn over the mountain-top and secured on both sides; and Peter Booth hauled himself up by it, and attained at once the summit and the honor of immortalizing his name. The last of the mountains seen from this point is the “Nouvelle Découverte.”
The mountains of this island are remarkable for their manifold and beautiful shapes. Some are in the form of broad perpendicular walls; others rise like pyramids; some are covered to their summits with rich forests, while others are only covered to half their height, and their high rocky points rise abruptly, smooth and bald, from amid the green sea of leaves. Beautiful valleys and deep gorges lie between, and above appears a cloudless sky. I could scarcely tear myself away from the charming picture, and the longer I gazed upon it, the greater the beauties I discovered.
Our next, and, unfortunately, our last excursion was to the “Trou du Cerf,” or “Stag’s Hole,” a crater of perfectly regular form, filled with rich vegetation. This crater produces a very startling effect, for nothing betrays its existence till the visitor stands upon its very brink. Though the sides are steep enough, a path leads down to the centre, which is filled with water during the rainy season.
From the edge of the crater the visitor has a striking view over three fourths of the island. Before him rise majestic mountains with their luxuriant virgin forests, from which the steep, smooth mountain-tops come peering forth; wide-spreading plains, rich with sugar-cane plantations, bright with green foliage all the year round; and the azure sea, whose foaming waves fringe the coast with a margin of white foam—a wondrous landscape, wanting only a few rivers to make its beauty perfect.
The island does not suffer from want of water, but is too small to possess a real river; this, however, has not prevented the inhabitants from dignifying some of the larger streamlets with that title.
I left the Moon family with the greatest regret. It was through their friendship that I was enabled to visit any points of interest in the Mauritius: in the last few days of my stay I saw more than in the four long months I had previously spent in the island.
In most houses, especially in those of the Creoles, people made all kinds of protestations, and promised all manner of things; but the promises remained unperformed. Not the smallest service was rendered, not one of those attentions offered which are much more gratifying to a stranger than the board and lodging which every one can procure by paying for them. Still less did any among them think of making excursions to the more beautiful points. The people themselves have no idea that the beauties of Nature are pleasant things to see, and wonder that strangers should expose themselves to the slightest fatigue merely to see a waterfall, a mountain, or a fine view.
The men are solely and exclusively engaged in the business of acquiring wealth as quickly as possible: sugar is a sort of golden calf to them, and whatever has no reference to sugar is to them worthless. The women are not much better. They have too little education, and too much of the indolence so frequently found in hot countries to take an interest in any serious subject. With the exception of the care of their own valuable selves, the only thing that can rouse them into life is the agreeable occupation of inventing or disseminating slanderous gossip; and I have even found gentlemen who, in this charitable and exciting amusement, would for a few moments forget the claims of sugar. I did not escape the common fate. The amiable inhabitants, male and female, of Port Louis, have absolutely done me the honor to represent me as apoisoner; they absolutely asserted that I had been hired by the English government to poison Mr. Lambert!
That gentleman had brought from Paris some very valuable presents for the Queen of Madagascar, and had been so wanting in proper consideration for the feelings of people generally as to neglect to tell every one what the object of these presents really was. Of course, said Mauritian good-nature, it must be some secret political movement of theFrench cabinet, which the English government had found out, and had commissioned me accordingly to put this dangerous man out of the way.
Stupid as this fiction was, it obtained credence among the Creoles, and even among the French, and prevented me from undertaking an interesting little journey. Before setting out on his journey to Madagascar, Mr. Lambert went to Zanzibar and Mozambique, commissioned by the French government to hire negroes and bring them to the Ile de Bourbon. This is a new kind of mitigated slave-trade, discovered by France and countenanced by England. The negro is only in servitude for five years, and receives two dollars per month from his master, besides board and lodging. After five years he has leave to continue toiling, or he may die of hunger if he does not choose to work. He may buy himself this privilege earlier for fifty dollars (between seven and eight pounds), and may even return to his own country if he has money enough to take him home.
Mr. Lambert, knowing my fondness for traveling, and my eagerness to avail myself of every opportunity of seeing new lands, offered to take me with him. The French agent heard of this, and immediately went to Mr. Lambert to request him not to take me, alleging that I was employed as a spy by the English government. Whence this hatred of Creoles and French toward me, poor insignificant being that I was? The only reason I can suggest is that I associated almost exclusively with English families. But it was surely not my fault that English families sought me out, and always treated me with great kindness when I accepted their invitations? Why did not the French do likewise? All the favors and all the kindness I received came from English people: among the French residents, only Mr. Lambert and Mr. Genève showed me hearty friendship. The rest, like the Creoles, contented themselves with empty promises. I must confess that I contracted such a disliketo the French population of this part of the world, that I could not make up my mind to visit the neighboring island of Bourbon, gladly as I would, under other circumstances, have done so.
I am glad indeed that, when the desire to travel awoke so strongly in me fourteen years ago, I did not begin with the Mauritius. My zeal would soon have grown cold. Well—perhaps my readers would have been saved many a wearisome hour.
But then, on the other hand, I should not have visited Russia, and learned the notable fact that, in this much-abused despotic empire, there are many institutions more liberal in character than those of a colony of England, the country especially proud of its progress.
And yet it is so—notably as regards the passport system. If a traveler wishes to leave St. Petersburg, or any of the great towns in Russia, to start on a journey, he has to give notice of his intention a week before he departs. The traveler’s name is published three times in the newspaper, so that, if he has debts, his creditors may take the requisite steps. Here, on this vast and extensive island, a week is considered far too short a notice. Three weeks are required, or, as in Russia, a surety must be provided.
I was so little prepared to find such an old-world regulation in force in an English colony, that I did not take any trouble about my passport. A few days before my departure, however, I asked the French consul for hisvisa, more, as I thought, as an attention than from necessity.
By chance, I heard at dinner the same day that this was not enough, and that the permission of the police to depart was also necessary. I was dining at Mr. O——’s, a partner of Mr. Lambert; and as several gentlemen were present, I asked if any of them would have the kindness to go through what appeared to me a mere formality on my behalf, and be bail for me. To my great astonishment, thegallant, refined Frenchmen exhausted themselves in empty excuses; not one would do me the service I required. Next morning I went to Mr. Kerr, an Englishman, and in a few hours I had my passport.
To my sorrow, I must confess that at last I was treated with lack of courtesy by an Englishman, and that Englishman was the governor.
When I first arrived in the Mauritius, this gentleman had received me very courteously; he even asked me to his country house, and had, unasked, offered me a letter to the Queen of Madagascar. On my going to him, a short time before my departure, for the promised letter, he likewise put me off with an excuse. I was going to visit the Queen of Madagascar in company with Mr. Lambert, and he pronounced my companion to be politically a dangerous man. Verily great honor was mine in the Mauritius; the French took me for an English spy, and the English governor for a spy of the French government!
After all these pleasant experiences, no one will wonder when I say that I looked forward with longing expectation to the moment when I might leave this little island, with its still more little-minded inhabitants. I will try to keep no other remembrance of it than the memory of its natural beauty, and of the friendship and kindness I received from the good people whose names I have mentioned, and from some others. I have not had an opportunity of naming them all; for others, Messrs. Fernyhough, Beke, Gonnet, etc., rendered me many a good service. To one and all I return my heartiest thanks.