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, several 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 beds 

 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 sea. 

 Sometimes the whole side of a hill, with all its trees, slides 

 down at once with a thundering noise into the abyss, and 



