332 
and the segments doubled over each other so as to conceal 
the nut from view. 
* From M. de Jean's we came to the Lieutenant-Governor's 
place, and, after an early dinner, rode home to St. Denis in 
the evening of the eighth day from the period of our de- 
parture. 
* The Island of Bourbon is of an oval figure, and near 
fifty miles in its greatest diameter. It consists of two 
volcanic mountains rising gradually from the sea, and con- 
nected by an intermediate plain. That which stands at the 
northern extremity terminates in the Piton des Neiges, the 
highest land in the island, and estimated at 10,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. Though this mountain has long 
ceased its eruptions, the character of its igneous origin is 
too unequivocally stamped to escape the notice of the most 
superficial observer. The volcano, properly so called, rises 
at the southern extremity, and still retains its full energy; 
a year scarcely passing without an eruption; and it has 
been remarked, within the last thirty years, that in ten 
of these eruptions the lava flowed as far as the sea. These 
mountains are connected by a barren tract called the * Plaine 
des Caffres,’ varying in height from 4,000 to 5,000 feet. —. 
“The feature which most strongly distinguishes this 
island from all others, is the prodigious depth of the chasms 
by which it is intersected. These are bounded by mural 
ramparts of solid rock, seyeral hundred fathoms in height, 
and approaching so close, that not more than three or four 
degrees of the celestial arch are visible from the bottom of 
the chasm. The ramparts are composed of successive 
of compact lava, interstratified with others of stony frag- 
ments, consolidated by an earthy or cineritious cement 
The latter being more prone to decomposition, crumble 
away, leaving the lava impending in the air in huge pro 
Jecting shelves. Undermined to a certain depth, these also 
give way, and, shattered to a thousand fragments in their 
fall, are swept away by the torrent and rolled into the 5€% 
Sometimes the whole side of a hill, with all its trees, slides 
down at once with a thundering noise into the abyss, 9? 
