:— 91 — 



pical plains, broad on the west side of the ridge, 

 narrow on the east, and this long girdle of untouched 

 primeval forest. 



The population of the island is vaguely estimated 

 at 5 millions. There is a vast extent of country in 

 the plains where the soil is fertile which ia without 

 inhabitants ; and there are wide tracts of land be- 

 tween the territory occupied by the different tribes in 

 the hill country, as for instance what is called " No 

 man's land," (not so called by the natives however) 

 between Imerina and the Betsileo which are only 

 peopled very thinly or not at all. As scarcely any of 

 it is desert or rainless, it could doubtless support ten 

 or twenty time its present population ; and there is 

 probably no where in the tropical zone such a wide 

 extent of country so little interfered with or where 

 man has done less to modify the natural distribution 

 of animals and plants. 



Climate.— There are very few precise date bearing 

 on the subject of climate, but what is known about 

 Mauritius will indicate all that is necessary for this 

 paper. At Port Louis the average annual mean is 

 78° F. in the shade, and the average daily range is 

 from 70° at sunrise to 86o in the middle of the after- 

 noon. In Reunion the mean temperature throughout 

 the year is stated to be 77o in the shade, that in ex- 

 posed places often rising to 50° more ; the average 

 minimum of the day throughout the year being 72° and 

 the average maximum 82o. No doubt this may be 



