HINDOOS. LA POUCE. 283 



Convicts from India are banished here for life ; at 

 present there are about 800, and they are employ- 

 ed in various public works. Before seeing these 

 people, I had no idea that the inhabitants of India 

 vv^ere such noble-looking figures. Their skin is 

 extremely dark, and many of the older men had 

 large mustaches and beards of a snow-white col- 

 our ; this, together with the fire of their expression, 

 gave them quite an imposing aspect. The greater 

 number had been banished for murder and the 

 worst crimes ; others for causes which can scarce- 

 ly be considered as moral faults, such as for not 

 obeying, from superstitious motives, the English 

 laws. These men are generally quiet and well- 

 conducted ; from their outward conduct, their 

 cleanliness, and faithful observance of their strange 

 religious rites, it was impossible to look at them 

 with the same eyes as on our wretched convicts in 

 New South Wales. 



May 1st. — Sunday. I took a quiet walk along 

 the sea-coast to the north of the town. The plain 

 in this part is quite uncultivated : it consists of a 

 field of black lava, smoothed over with coarse 

 grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas. 

 The scenery may be described as intermediate in 

 character between that of the Galapagos and of 

 Tahiti ; but this will convey a definite idea to very 

 few persons. It is a very pleasant country, but it 

 has not the charms of Tahiti, or the gi'andeur of 

 Brazil. The next day I ascended La Pouce, a 

 mountain so called fi-om a thumb-like projection, 

 which rises close behind the town to a height of 

 2600 feet. The centre of the island consists of a 

 great platform, surrounded by old, broken basaltic 

 mountains, with their strata dipping seawards. 

 The central platform, formed of comparatively re- 

 cent streams of lava, is of an oval shape, thirteen 



