454 MAURITIUS. [chap. xxi. 



very pretty little theatre, in which operas are excellently per- 

 formed. We were also surprised at seeing large booksellers' 

 shops, with well-stored shelves ; music and reading bespeak our 

 approach to the old world of civilization ; for in truth both Aus- 

 tralia and America are new worlds. 



The various races of men walking in the streets afford the 

 most interesting spectacle in Port Louis. Convicts from India 

 are banished here for life ; at present there are about 800, and 

 they are employed in various public works. Before seeing these 

 people, I had no idea that the inhabitants of India were such 

 noble-looking figures. Their skin is extremely dark, and many 

 of the older men had large mustaches and beards of a snow-white 

 colour ; this, together with the fire of their expression, gave 

 them quite an imposing aspect. The greater number had been 

 banished for murder and the worst crimes ; others for causes 

 which can scarcely be considered as moral faults, such as for not 

 obeying, from superstitious motives, the English laws. These 

 men are generally quiet and well conducted ; from their outward 

 conduct, their cleanliness, and faithful observance of their 

 strange religious rites, it was impossible to look at them with 

 the same eyes as on our wretched convicts in New South Wales. 



May 1st. Sunday. I took a quiet walk along the sea-coast 

 to the north of the town. The plain in this part is quite uncul- 

 tivated ; it consists of a field of black lava, smoothed over with 

 coarse grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas. The 

 scenery may be described as intermediate in character between 

 that of the Galapagos and of Tahiti ; but this will convey a 

 definite idea to very few persons. It is a very pleasant country, 

 but it has not the charms of Tahiti, or the grandeur of Brazil. 

 The next day I ascended La Pouce, a mountain so called from a 

 thumb-like projection, which rises close behind the town to a 

 height of 2600 feet. The centre of the island consists of a great 

 platform, surrounded by old broken basaltic mountains, with their 

 strata dipping seawards. The central platform, formed of com- 

 paratively recent streams of lava, is of an oval shape, thirteen 

 geographical miles across, in the line of its shorter axis. The 

 exterior bounding mountains come into that class of structures 

 called Craters of Elevation, which are supposed to have been 

 formed not like ordinary craters, but by a great and sudden 



