110 



EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



imported for agricultural labor. The white population is nine or ten thousand. Of these the 

 larger part are Creoles of French origin, and speak the French language. They also form the 

 wealthier portion of the white population. The English in Mauritius having, for the most 

 part, a connexion, direct or indirect, with the colonial government, are somewhat exclusive in 



Costumes, Mauritius. 



their social relations. The French are not less tenacious, and hence, though there are no open 

 dissensions between them, yet to the impartial stranger, who mingles freely with both, it is 

 quite apparent that there is little real harmony between them, and a feeling of nationality 

 exists which would probably induce the majority to hail with pleasure a return to the dominion 

 of France. As in most countries which, like Mauritius, have involuntarily changed their 

 nationality, the females indulge, in a greater degree than the other sex, the prejudices of 

 country; perhaps because they mix less with the new comers. 



Both classes of the population, however, English and French, were exceedingly kind and 

 hospitable to the members of the expedition. On arriving in an armed United States vessel at 

 any of the English colonial settlements, great hospitality is usually extended to our officers, 

 and visits of ceremony, with a constant interchange of dinner parties and other courtesies, 

 commonly leave to the commander but little opportunity for quiet observation of that which 

 may characterize the people generally. In fact, he is for a time unavoidably subjected to the 

 bondage of official restraint, and is sometimes made a prisoner even by the friendly tyranny of 

 kindness and hospitality. 



