320 
landed. The Government-House stands within two hun- 
dred yards of the landing-place; and the village is situated 
to the right, on a plain of alluvial sand, resting on a bed of 
lava. In the nucleus, or older part of the village, the 
houses are pretty much crowded, and the streets paved, to 
the grievous annoyance of the walking public, with water- 
worn pebbles from the beach. The more modern part is 
divided into square compartments, by streets intersecting 
each other at right angles. Each of these compartments is 
occupied by a dwelling-house, surrounded by its pavilions, 
offices, and kitchen; and the outline planted with a row of 
mango, tamarind, and acacia trees. 
“ The River of St. Denis flows into the sea close by 
the left of the village. It has cleared for itself a bed at 
least four hundred yards in diameter, through a mass of 
lava, the mural section of which stands now on each side 
of it at the height of two hundred feet. The ordinary 
current of the river, however, does not occupy one-twentieth 
part of this space, and a great portion of it has been con- 
verted into garden plots. During summer, the stream has 
no apparent outlet, but oozes imperceptibly through a bar 
of pebbles thrown up by the surge. But the fragments of a 
stone bridge strewed along its channel, sufficiently attest 
the strength and rapidity of its winter course. es 
“ My principal object in visiting Bourbon, was to acquire 
some knowledge of its vegetable productions. After having 
explored the mountains and ravines in the vicinity of St 
Denis, I projected a tour round the island, in which Dr. 
Strachan, the chief medical officer on the station, agreed to 
accompany me. Having made our arrangements for the 
Journey, we left St. Denis on the 12th November. The 
road between St Denis and Possession is the most difficult 
in the whole island. For the space of ten miles, it 15 
nothing but a continued succession of ascents and. descen 
im Zigzag, cut in the precipitous sides of the mountain over | 
which it leads. To avoid the personal fatigue of this part 
of the journey, we despatched our horses overland in charge 
‘of a couple of blacks, and took our passage by water ™ E 
