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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 Avhich 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. 



" 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 is 

 nothing but a continued succession of ascents and descents 

 in 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 in a 



