BOURBON. 



The town of St Rose lies in the bosom of a small 

 bay, and consists entirely of a few cottages, with the 

 church in the centre. It has a convenient harbour, 

 nml is most favourably situated for commerce. Sepa- 

 rated from the rest of the island by a torrent often 



,'hle, anil living on the declivity of the v< 

 at the very mime of which the other islanders tix-m- 

 ble, the inhabitants of this parish have acquired a 

 character analogous to their insulated situation, and 

 ;' fierceness of manners, which, how- 

 ever, is now beginning to be softened by their inter- 

 course with the other parts of the country. They 

 are almost entirely ignorant of the use of money. 

 All their I) made in merchandize; ;md those 



who supply them with arrack, blue cloth, Hints, 

 pipes, powder, and lead, which arc their principal 

 necessaries, receive 1 in return coffee and honey. 



The parish of St Joseph is also, in a manner, se- 

 parated from the rest of Bourbon. A furious sea, and 

 inaccessible coasts ; and a stony and ungrateful soil, 

 producr.ig only ferns and impenetrable forests, were 

 the obstacles which long opposed every attempt to 

 colonise it. Maf6Ht, or runaway slaves, wild goats, 

 and a few other animals, were of late its only inha- 

 bitants : and it was but in 1785 that this parish was 

 first established, and peopled with men of colour. 

 Bv>rn free, from father to son, these men look upon 

 themselves as whites. They will not suffer the least 

 reflection upon their complexion, and consider it an 

 unpardonable outrage to be called a man of colour, 

 or a free black. Too proud to stoop to labour, 

 which they think dishonourable, they live chiefly 

 upon the produce of the rivers and the woods ; and 

 habituated to every privation, they are at the same 

 time active, indefatigable, and idle. Just, but severe 

 towards their slave.;, they are inflexible and cruel 

 to the marons when they fall into their power. They 

 are, however, open, full of csndour, incapable of de- 

 ceit, hospitable, and generous. 



St Pierre is a considerable village, but widely scat- 

 tered by reason of the gardens, with which every par- 

 ticular property is surrounded. Some of the houses 

 are neatly built of stone, and have double stories. 

 Cotton, of an excellent quality, was formerly the 

 principal commodity of this parish ; but since colonial 

 produce has become of so little value in the Euro- 

 pean markets, their attention is now chiefly confined 

 to the cultivation of corn, two-thirds of which are 

 annually exported to the Isle of France. Here the 

 climate is warmer, than in any other part of the 

 island; and from the nakedness of the country, the 

 form of the habitations, the greatness of the tempera- 

 ture, and the clearness of the sky rarely oversha- 

 dowed by a cloud one might imagine himself in 

 Arabia, or in the centre of Africa. 



St Paul is the most considerable village next to St 

 Denis, and the best peopled parish of the island. It is 

 surrounded on the land side by a semicircular rampart, 

 extending nearly six miles from the Pointe du quaie 

 Houssaie to the Riviere des Galets, and varying in 

 height from 100 to 250 feet. The town is built at 

 the bottom of a steep mountain, on both sides of a 

 fresh water lake. This lake might easily be con- 

 verted into a safe and commodious harbour ; and for 

 this reason, it ought to have decided the French go- 



vernment, when they took possession of Bourbon, to Bourbon, 

 fix the capital of the island ut St Paul. The road- * " v 

 stead has good anchorage ground of a hard sand, 

 reaching two mile; from the shore. Its figure is se- 

 micircular, a little open, and it is well protected on 

 the north by a cape, which forms the mouth of the 

 Riviere des Galets, and on the south-west by m 

 and the Potnte du quaic Iloussaie. The other pa- 

 rishes have a fruitful soil, and are in general well cul- 

 tivated, but possess nothing d. j i-ei ving of notice, ex- 

 cept St Leu, which is famous for its coffee, its wealth, 

 and the inhospitable disposition of its inhabitants. 



The climate of Bourbon varies greatly in different Climate. 

 situations. While the inhabitants on :ome parts of 

 the coast are exposed to all the inconveniences of the 

 tropical heats, those on the more elevated regions 

 enjoy all the richness and coolness of the temperate 

 zones ; and in the Plaine des Cafres the cold is so in- 

 tense, that it is very dangerous to enter upon it when 

 in the least degree overheated. An icy ar.d sudden 

 wind from the neighbouring mountains may in a mo- 

 ment prove fatal to the coi.stitution ; and the bones 

 of men and of animals, which are to be found in the 

 cavities by the way side, attest its pernicious influ- 

 ence. No where, however, is the climate so hot, as 

 might be expected from the latitude of the island. 

 The air is pleasant and wholesome, and the inhabi- 

 tants, in general, live to a very great age. They are 

 refreshed by continual breezes from the mountains, 

 and the snow, which accumulates during the winter 

 upon these heights, furnish, during the summer, a 

 plentiful supply of water to the parched hefbage of 

 the plains. But Bourbon owes its salubrity, in a Hurri- 

 great measure, to the hurricanes, which purify and cane. 

 deau.se the atmosphere of every deleterious and noxi- 

 ous ingredient. They have, in general, one or two 

 of these every year, which seldom exceed two days 

 in continuance. They happen between the months 

 of December and March ; and it has been observed 

 by the inhabitants, that the want of these periodical 

 storms is invariably succeeded by unwholesome sea- 

 sons. Their approach is prognosticated by a fright- 

 ful and hollow noise in the mountains, accompanied 

 by a dead calm, both at sea and on shore ; and the 

 night preceding the storm, the moon appears of a 

 crimson colour. By these prognostics the Bour- 

 bonesc are enabled to make a timely provision against 

 their consequences. Though it is an opinion, that 

 earthquakes are the attendants of volcanoes, and are 

 most frequent and violent about the commencement 

 and extinction of their combustion, yet this inland 

 has been seldom vibited by any of these terrible con- 

 cussion* ; but has enjoyed, in this respect, more tran- 

 quillity, than many countries less exposed to volcanic 

 eruptions. 



In Bourbon, the soil is no where of any great ! '"' 

 depth, there being immediately underneath a black 

 burnt rock, resembling the Pays Brulc : but though 

 not deep, it is wonderfully fruitful, producing corn, 

 coffee, sugar, cotton, and cloves in great abundance ; 

 and, in 176.'5, upon an extent of 1 2J, 909 acres of cul- 

 tivated land, there was gathered as much cassava as 

 would feed their slaves, 1,13.5,000 pounds weight of 

 corn, 844,100 pounds of rice, 2,879,H!0 pounds of 

 maize, and 2,535,1 00 pounds of cMTe*, which 



