204 GREGAEIOUS MONKEYS. [1696. 



The Governor of Isle Maurice^ before this last, happen'd 

 one day to enter this Wood, and plung'd himself so deep 

 into it before he was aware, that he knew not how to get 

 ont. Both he and his followers had soon made an end of 

 their Provisions, and they were just ready to starve^ when 

 by good fortune they chanc'd to find a way out, after they 

 had vainly sought one for four days. 



The other Woods of tliis Island are easie enough to traverse. 

 There are some very pleasant, and where you find Apes^ of 

 divers kinds. These mischievous Beasts do a great deal of 

 damage to the Inhabitants, inasmuch as they take delight in 

 plucking up whatever is sown. 



This island in general is very Mountainous, and full of 

 Woods, as most Countries are that are slenderly Inhabited. 

 It is water'd by divers rapid liivers,^ on some of which the 



1 M. La Mocius, predecessor to M. Rodolphe Diodati, vide ante, p. 151. 



2 Monkeys were introduced by the Portuguese into the island, 

 according to the Abbe de la Caille. There are two species, both of a 

 middling size, the largest of which has thick hair of a reddish-grey 

 colour, with a long tail ; they are both gregarious. These animals 

 frequently venture in droves, sometimes of sixty or seventy, to plunder 

 the houses of the inhabitants. (Pridham, I. c, p. 226 ; cf. Grant, p. 65.) 



M. Bernardin de St. Pierre has recorded: "The monkey of the 

 Isle of France is of a middling size. It is of a reddish-grey cast, and 

 has a long tail. This animal is fond of society. I have seen them in 

 troops of sixty at a time. They frequently come in droves and pillage 

 the houses. Scouts are placed on the tops of trees and the points of 

 the rocks, who, as soon as they see any dogs or hunters approach, cry 

 out, to alarm the others, who immediately decamp. They will climb 

 up the steepest mountain, and rest upon the slightest edge of a preci- 

 pice,where no other quadruped (?) of its size dare venture." (Op.cit.,i). 67.) 



■5 " The island", writes Bernardin de St. Pierre, " is watered by about 

 sixty rivulets, some of which have no water in the dry season, especially 

 since so much timber has been cut down. The interior part of the 

 island is full of ponds, and in this part it rains nearly all the year 

 round, the clouds being stopped by the mountains and the woods at 

 the top of them." M. de St. Pierre also notices a cotton-mill, worked 

 by water, constructed by M. de Scligny at Grande Riviere ; and he 

 also remarks a large mill, nearly fallen to ruins, at Graud Port. 

 (/. c, p. 66.) 



