112 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



trophe which happened on one of the coral reefs surrounding the island furnished a hasis of facts 

 on which he reared his interesting fiction. 



One is rather reluctant to destroy the illusion produced hy the romantic narrative of St. 

 Pierre ; hut, in soher truth, he was indebted to his imagination for the picture of the storm, and 

 the brave and generous Paul is but a myth. The facts are these : On the night of the 18th of 

 August, 1744;, the French ship St. G^van was wrecked on one of the reefs on the northeastern 

 coast of the island. On board the ship were two young ladies, by name Mallet and Caillon, 

 (who were returning as passengers from France, whither they had been sent for education,) 

 both of whom were lost. The depositions taken at the time by the French officials, and from 

 which these facts are gathered, state that Mademoiselle Caillon was last seen upon the top-gallant 

 forecastle of the wrecked vessel^, with a gentleman. Monsieur Longchamps de Montendre, who 

 was at the time endeavoring to persuade her to trust herself to his efforts to save her. To 

 enable him, however, to accomplish the object, it was necessary for her to disencumber herself 

 of some portion of her clothing, and this, from a sense of modesty, she declined doing, and so 

 perished with Monsieur Montendre and the larger part of the crew of the ill-fated vessel. It 

 was conjectured that Monsieur Montendre was the lover of Mademoiselle Caillon, as, after 

 lowering himself down the ship's side to throw himself into the sea, he returned and earnestly 

 endeavored to prevail on the young lady to leave the vessel with him, and on her refusal would 

 not again leave her. 



Mademoiselle Mallet was on the quarter deck with Monsieur de Peramont, who never left her 

 for a moment. On these facts as a basis St. Pierre framed his story. The celebrity given to it 

 has always awakened the interest of strangers visiting the island, who have naturally desired 

 to look upon scenes consecrated by the pen of genius^ and associated in their minds with 

 incidents which, if not literally true, have at least deeply touched their sensibilities. The 

 officers of the ship were^ therefore^ glad to land^, and among other objects visited, strange to say, 

 they were conducted to what the islanders are pleased to call the graves of Paul and Virginia. 

 The history of these resting places of the imaginary dead is this : An eccentric French gentleman 

 having a country residence about eight miles from St. Louis, and possibly near the supposed 

 graves of some of the lost, erected in his garden two monuments to the memory of the unfortu- 

 nate fictitious Paul and Virginia, (Mademoiselle Caillon and Monsieur Montendre.) The object 

 was simply to add the stimulus of curiosity to the other attractions of his residence, and thus 

 draw around him a more numerous circle, to whom he might extend that hospitality for which 

 he, in common with the French of his day, was famous, and thus enjoy the pleasures of society. 

 This benevolent and eccentric being has been long dead, but the tombs are still standing, 

 though in a state of dilapidation, and still attract strangers. Alas 1 no hospitable greeting now 

 awaits the visitor. His money is demanded at the garden gate, all sentiment evaporates, and 

 he walks in to see the show. This custom of demanding payment from visitors to places of 

 public interest is almost peculiar to the English, and its existence is to many of the people of 

 England themselves a source of mortification and annoyance. There are certain places in which 

 payment is perfectly proper, but there are others in which, though regularly exacted, it should 

 not be asked. The sight of Long wood and a glance at Napoleon's tomb were both paid for by 

 the gentlemen of the expedition at St. Helena ; but the custom alluded to is one which may be 

 found throughout the extent of her Majesty's dominions. 



So much was said at Mauritius of the hurricanes, or cyclones, common to this part of the 



