335 



" These islands afford, as might be expected, no great scope 

 to the researches of the Zoologist. Of the Mammalia I can 

 only recollect one species of Simia, two of Vesperfilio, the 

 Manati, Musk-shrew, Tandrec, the common JRat and Mouse, 

 the Hare, the Ceylon Deer, the wild Goat and wild Hog. Of 

 these animals, scanty as the catalogue is, the most important 

 have been introduced since the discovery of the islands ; and 

 along with them, it is said, that the Portuguese navigators 

 introduced horses and black cattle, both of which were found, 

 on the arrival of the French settlers, to have prodigiously 

 multiplied. That goats, hogs, and deer, should have pros- 

 pered in a wooded country, is by no means improbable : that 

 a certain proportion even of black cattle might have sub- 

 sisted on the scanty, sickly herbage produced in such a 

 situation, there can be no reason to doubt; but when we 

 view the external features of these islands, more especially 

 of Bourbon — its surface strewed with lava, intersected by 

 ravines, and covered to the water's edge with an impenetrable 

 forest — it requires all our faith to believe that the horse 

 should have multiplied on such a spot, for no situation could 

 be imagined less favourable for the propagation of a lively, 

 high-spirited animal, destined, from its speed and activity, to 

 range in freedom over the open regions of the globe. 



