326 



it. The morning was serene, and the sky without a cloud. 

 The sun had just cleared the horizon, and tinged with his 

 golden beams the summits of numerous small conical hills 

 that stood scattered over the plain, amidst cultivated fields, 

 clumps of wood, and tracts of vitrified lava. On the right 

 hand lay the coast, fortified by a rocky rampart of fuliginous 

 aspect, recently expelled from the bowels of the earth by the 

 force of one element, but now opposing, with sullen defiance, 

 the assaults of another. On the left, we had a distant view 

 of the burning dome of the volcano, towering above the 

 neighbouring peaks, and shaded by its smoky parasol. 



"Having crossed the ravine, we soon arrived at the residence 

 of M. Loiseau, where we breakfasted, and rested for a couple 

 of hours. We thence continued our journey by a path that 

 led throu";h the scene which had enchanted us in the morn- 

 ing. But the encliantment was now gone. The imposing 

 grandeur which distance lent to these irregularities of nature 

 vanished when we came to view them in detail, and gave 

 place to a very different sentiment when they met us as 

 obstacles not easily to be got over. After a tedious day's 

 journey, we arrived in the evening at the house of a M. Deley, 

 where we were received with great hospitality. 



" The settlement of this district is of recent date. Its dis- 

 tance from the seat of Government ; the general sterility of 

 its soil ; an inaccessible coast on one side, and on the other 

 a burning mountain, always active and threatening every thing 

 with instantaneous ruin ; these were obstacles sufficient to 

 deter adventurers of ordinary resolution from settling in 

 St. Joseph's, and notliing, one would suppose, but misfortune 

 or crime, could urge human beings to secrete themselves in 

 such a desolate region. Thinly scattered over a rugged soil, 

 that yields but a precarious return to the cultivator, the 

 inhabitants of this district have lost, in a great measure, the 

 loquacious and gregarious disposition that forms so prominent 

 a feature in the French character; and have acquired, in lieu 

 of it, the recluse, taciturn, independent habits of the boors of 

 South Africa. 



" About six miles beyond Deley's residence, the tract of 



