1825.] 
14th November.—The weather con- 
tinued to be oppressively hot, with hght 
baffling winds, until the 20th, at which 
time the rain ‘set in; and from that 
time ‘to the 26th kept pouring, in the 
heaviest torrents I ever witnessed, ac- 
‘companied by tremendous peals of thun- 
der and the most vivid flashes of light- 
ning that can be imagined. On the 
27th the weather cleared up; the breeze 
freshened, and it became quite fair. No- 
thing worth notice occurred until the 
7th Dec., when being in long. 81° east, 
it was deemed necessary that the ships 
should separate in prosecution of their 
former routes ; and as I was to take my 
passage in the Countess of Harcourt, 
- being charged with despatches relative 
to the expedition, I joined her at 
seven P.M., on that day, and we parted 
company : the Tamar for Point de Galle 
‘and Bombay, and the Countess of Har- 
court for the Isle of France and Eng- 
land. 
‘The wind being fair, and the weather 
remarkably fine, we had a delightful 
run to the Isle of France, where we 
anchored on the evening of the 17th 
December, having passed the Island of 
Rodriguez on the 13th. 
_ The approach to this beautiful island 
is highly picturesque ; the land varying 
in every direction from a fine plain, to 
high mountains, or rather, apparently, 
barren rocks.. The tops of those sur- 
have been selected from volunteers of the 
best character, amongst those whose time 
of transportation had nearly expired. Two 
out of the number are free, and a third 
would be so about the middle of last March. 
Those convicts whose correct good con- 
duct will recommend them to the favour- 
able consideration of the commandant, are 
to have their time of servitude considerably 
shortened; and they will be retained on 
the Government works—get grants of land 
—or be sent to their respective homes, at 
their own option. 
' . The expedition for forming’ a new penal 
settlement for re-transported conyicts (in- 
stead of that at Port McQuarrie, which is 
to become a free port) was to have sailed 
fron ‘ort Jackson in the latter end of 
“August last. (i.e. August twelvemonth) ; 
‘the place fixed on is on that noble 
river, discovered by Lieut. Oxley, sur- 
-veyor-general of Australia, in the latter 
‘part of 1823, which empties itself. into 
‘Morton Bay, and is called Morton River. 
Morton Island, ‘which forms the bay, is in 
lat. 28° 18’, and long. 153° 34/ east, dis- 
.tant from Port Jackson about 450 miles, 
and is indisputably the most delightful 
part of New South Wales, that has as yet 
“béen discovered. =~ rie 
Voyage to Australia, &c. 
delightful garden. 
801 
rounding Port Louis taking: all manner 
of fantastic shapes, from) the different 
views we had of them ‘running down 
the land; at one time, appearing like a 
number of very high steeples at a con- 
siderable distance, at another like’ the 
minarets of a tower; but when seen 
from the harbour of Port Lonis, the 
whole were brought in one, and’ ap- 
peared exactly like the dome of St. 
Paul’s. , : 
The town of Port Louis is situated 
in a valley, or rather on a gentle as- 
cent, rising’ from the sea towards the 
mountains in its rear. It forms a cres- 
cent along the beach, and is nearly sur- 
rounded by mountains. A river which 
takes its rise near their summit waters 
the vicinity. The population may be 
about 22,000, and is divided ‘into 
three classes, viz.—Europeans, creoles, 
and slaves, intermixed with Malays and 
Bengalese. Previous to its being taken 
from the French, the houses were chiefly 
composed of timber; but since it came 
into the hands of the English, they are 
generally built of stone, and some of 
them are remarkably handsome good 
edifices. : ‘ 
I had the curiosity to visit Tomb-bay, 
a beautiful place about seven miles: 
from Port Louis, immortalized by the 
ill-fated loves of Paul and Virginia. 
Their tombs are kept in the very best 
order: they are not on a grand scale, 
‘but uncommonly neat ; and stand on 
two small islands, in the centre of a 
A stream of water 
of about fourteen feet wide divides 
them, and then passes round and forms 
these islands, surrounded by weeping 
willows and cypress, which shed a pleas- 
ing melancholy gloom around the spot. 
This, added to the beauties of the sur- 
rounding country, renders it one of the 
most interesting and delightful situa- 
tions I ever saw. 
The cocoa-nut trees supposed to be . 
planted by Paul—the village church— 
the shaddock grove—(in short, every 
thing mentioned in the little history of 
their loves)—were pointed out to us at 
a little distance. 
The island produces sugar-cane, cot- 
ton, indigo, coffee, cocoa, the greater 
part of European grain and vegetables, 
rice, maize and millet. In fruit,’ the 
produce is citrons, grenadillas, lemons, 
tamarinds, bananas, mangoes, dates, 
figs, grapes and oranges. BION" 
The summer commences’ in ‘Beptem- 
ber, and is extremely hot; ‘and gene- 
rally unhealthy, owing to long calms and 
heavy 
