1 69 1.] UNFATLIXG WATEK-SUPPLY. 59 



down the Hills. This Mould is very light, and produces 

 almost without Cultivating. It abounds in fruitful Juices. 



The Valleys are cover'd with Palm-Trees, Plantanes 

 [Lataniers), Ebony's, and several other sorts of Trees ; 

 the Beauty of whose Leaves and Branches may compare 

 with that of the finest of our European Trees. In the low 

 parts of these Valleys we frequently meet with Eivulets of 

 fresh Water, whose Springs are all in the middle of the 

 Island. These pure Streams are never dry, and so conve- 

 niently dispos'd for watering all this little Country, that 

 nothing can be more Commodious. What pity 'tis that a 

 Place so Delicious in all things, shou'd be useless to the 

 Inhabitants of the World. I insist the more on these 

 charming Eivulets, because there are a great many Islands 

 that have none ; and 'tis doubly a wonder to find so many 

 here, and all so happily distributed. 



Several of the other Eivulets besides that near ^^llich 

 as I have said we built our Cabbins, form {des Napes &) 

 Cascades by falling from the top of Eocks : I reckon'd seven 

 Basons, and as many Cascades all together, and all form'd 

 by the same Eiver.^ 



There are abundance of Eels in these Eivers, some of 



1 The reviewer of Legnat's book in the Nouc. lies de la RepiihUque 

 des Leltres, for December 17U7 (p. 611), calls atteution to the very 

 small rainfall being insufficient to supply the sources of the streams. 

 This circumstance, and the fact of the remoteness of the island from any 

 continent, would apparently, he adds, disprove the theory of those who 

 maintain that aU springs are dependent on rainfall, for the dews, 

 though frequent, would not supply enough moisture for these perennial 

 rivulets. Recent accounts give a somewhat different account of the 

 climate. "The island," says Prof. Balfour, "is comparatively dry, 

 the soil is parched and arid, and during the warm season many of the 

 streams are dried up. But the size of the water-cuurses and the 

 enormous boulders filling their beds indicate large torrents in the 

 rainy season. In some places, issuing from the clay, springs occur, of 

 which the water is brackish, has a very disagreeable taste, and is 

 slightly tepid, but has no smell. As a rule the water of the streams is 



