1693-] DUTCH COLONISTS. 147 



by Dutch Families, Miio receiv'd us very kindly. These 

 People have discover'd and cultivated as much Land, as they 

 tliought fit in a Pleasant and fertile Valley. Their Gardens 

 abound with our Plants, as well as those of the Indies, and 

 they have a particular fancy for Planting Tobacco. Their 

 Back-yards^ are full of our Poultry, wdiicli was no small 

 Pleasure for us to see, after the long Pesidence we had made 

 in our Island, where we had hardly met with any thing we 

 ever saw before. I believ'd my Companions, who had been 

 so long disus'd from Women, wou'd not be able to contain 

 themselves, when they again beheld those amiable Objects, 

 or at least that they wou'd surfeit themselves with looking 

 on them ; but I was not a little mistaken, when I found they 

 were no more mov'd with them, than with the sight of 

 Cows ; so true it is, the shadow of Enjoyment many times 

 mortifies the strongest Inclinations. The Huts of this little 

 Colony were cover'd, in like manner with ours, with Flan- 

 tanc-Lcavcs^ but then the Eoofs were higher, and the Eooms 

 much larger, because this Island is less expos'd than Roclrigo 

 to Whirl-winds and Tempests. 



These good People live partly upon Hunting, having Dogs 

 proper for that Sport.^ After we had continued with them 

 about a Month, five of our Company were pitch'd upon to 

 go and give the Governor Advice of our Arrival. The Place^ 



batteries and a military port, now deserted. The locality has been 

 celebrated by Bernardin de St. Pierre in Paid et Virgin'e. 



1 [n orig. ; " Leurs cours.'' ^ Leaves of the Latanier. 



3 Vide ante., p. 96. '' In orig.: "eurent commission." 



5 The old Dutch seat of Government was situated on the north side 

 of Grand Port (Warwick Haven), under the Bamboo Mountains. It 

 should be remembered that this was in reality a penal or convict 

 establishment for Batavia and the other Dutch Colonies, and that the 

 interior was in the hands of runaway slaves and convicts. 



The settlement was afterwards removed to the southern side of the 

 bay, at the mouth of the Riviere Chaux, by General de Caen, in 1805, 

 and named Mahebourg, after M. Mahe de Labourdonnais. 



The ruins of the old settlement of the Dutch Governors were stand- 



L 2 



