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rice. Its colour in this state is an extremely rich yellow; and 
it forms a palatable and nutritious article of food. This being 
the only sort of grain used for feeding horses, there is a con- 
stant demand for it in Port-Louis, where it usually fetches 
from one and a half to three dollars per cwt. When a field 
is planted with Manioc, it is the general practice to plant the 
intervals with Maize; the latter being of more rapid growth, 
screens the young shoots of the other from the sun. It ripens 
in the course of six months. 
**'The Creole Rice, as it is termed, is equal in quality to any 
in the world; its grain particularly large, and of a pearly 
whiteness. It is of the sort called * dry rice, which, as it 
does not require artificial irrigation, is peculiarly adapted for 
the hilly, uneven ground of this island. Chamarel showed 
us several fields under a crop of this grain, which promised 
an ample return. These fields are surrounded with rows of 
an elegant species of Palm, (Areca lutescens,) a native of the 
island. There are four species of this Palm indigenous to 
the forests of Mauritius and Bourbon, and known by the 
general appellation of * Chou Palmiste? or Cabbage-palm. 
What is termed the Cabbage is the rudiment of the young 
leaves crowning the stem, still convoluted, and sheathed by 
the base of the full-grown ones. When cut down, and 
divested of this envelope, the cabbage, or edible part, appears. 
It is as white as snow, and has the sweet luscious taste of the 
filbert. It is boiled and eaten as cabbage, or cut in shreds 
and mixed up raw, as a sallad. In the latter state it 15 
peculiarly grateful. As this morsel, however, cannot he 
enjoyed without destroying the tree, all but the epicure will 
acknowledge that it is purchased at too dear a rate. 
* Our communicative host informed us, in the course of 
conversation, that when he entered on possession of 
estate, fifteen years ago, the whole of it was an impenetrable 
forest: and that he commenced his operations as à planter, 
with a young wife, three slaves, and a debt of six hund 
dollars. By unremitted industry, he succeeded in clearing 9 
large tract of ground, and the abundant returns yielded by * 
rich virgin soil, rendered him in a short time independent- 
