316 



and the sighing murmur of the breeze through its filiform 

 leaves, excites a most agreeable sensation. 



" Our next day's journey was only an hour's Avalk to M. 

 Mounerou's residence at Port-Souillac, a small inlet at the 

 mouth of the Riviere de la Savanne, and one of the safest 

 harbours in the island for coasters. It is defended by a 

 battery of three guns, erected on a commanding position 

 on the left side of the entrance. At this point, the Coral- 

 reef ceases, and the sea comes rolling in to the base of the 

 rock, breaking over it with a tremendous surge. From 

 this cove to the Pointe du Souffleur, a distance of sixteen 

 miles, the shore is equally- abrupt, deep, and void of coral; 

 a fact which I regard as corroborating the opinion I have 

 already hazarded on the nature of the coralline insects. 



" This estate possesses the most complete establishment 

 in the island for the preparation of sugar. It is constructed 

 on the same principle as those of our West India estates, 

 but with the addition of refining apparatus. The sugar 

 mill is composed of three perpendicular rollers, sheathed 

 with plates of metal. The central roller is connected with 

 a large wheel, which is turned by water. All the rollers 

 are indented on the upper edge, and the central one turns 

 the others, each on its proper pivot. The canes are pre- 

 sented between the central and the right-hand roller, the 

 rotatory motion of which being inwards, the cane is drawn 

 in and deprived of the greater part of its juice. A simple 

 contrivance on the opposite side directs the half-pressed 

 canes round the middle roller, and returns it between that 

 and the left roller, which, being more contiguous to it, the 

 canes, in their passage, undergo a thorough pressure, and 

 are ejected entirely deprived of their juice. The juice is 

 collected in a reservoir surrounding the base of the rollers, 

 and thence conveyed by a small trough into the boilers, 

 where it is boiled with a slight addition of quick-lime, and 

 the impurities carefully removed as they rise. As soon as 

 it has acquired the consistence of syrup, it is poured into 

 shallow vessels, where the sugar granulates as the liquor 

 cools. The sugar is then removed into conical earthen 



