1696.] IDLK AND LAZY COLONISTfi. 207 



because the Trees that were formerly there were burnt, but 

 there have several come up since in their stead, although 

 the Soil be Rocky. 



Potatoes^ thrive here wonderfully everywhere, and are 

 the ordinary food of the Inhabitants. These sort of Topi- 

 namhous^ serve tliem for Bread, in like manner as to the 

 common People of Ireland. When they liave a mind to 

 have any Eice, they buy it of the Gomyany. It is not but 

 that Grain will grow here,^ the Water and Earth being 

 proper for it in divers Places, but these People are too Idle 

 and Lazy to cultivate it, this sort of Grain requiring a more 

 than ordinary Care : The common Meat here is Venison.* 



Sec", is a curious district, dreary in the extreme, where thousands of 

 dried-up skeletons of trees, blanched to a ghastly -whiteness, meet the 

 eye on every side, contrasting with the neighbouring evergreen woods. 

 It is the portion of a forest which has, apparently, been blighted by 

 the poisonous exhalations from some volcanic fissure, in connection, 

 possibly, with the adjacent extinct crater-lake, Grand Bassin, now 

 tilled with water. (See Pike, I. c, p. 0I8.) The district within the 

 active sphere of the volcano in Reunion is still named Le pays bride. 



1 Patates, wrongly translated potatoes, are the various species of so- 

 called sweet potato {Convolvulus Batatas), of which a number of excel- 

 lent varieties are grown in the island. The American potatoes, ^jo?H7?ifs 

 de terre (Solanum tuberosum), grow almost wild on the heights of the 

 Reunion Mountains, and are exported thence to Mauritius, 



2 Topinambours are Jerusalem artichokes [Helianthus tuherosus). 



3 " ii!iVe, the best and perhaps the most wholesome of all aliments, 

 thrives very much. It keeps longer than wheat, and yields more 

 plentifully. A wet soil agrees with it best. There are above seven 

 different species of it in Asia, one of which grows best in a dry soil ; 

 it were to be wished that this grain were cultivated in Europe, on 

 accountof its extraordinary fertility." (B. de iSt. Fierre, op. cit., p. 112.) 



4 "• There are in the woods wild goats, wild hogs, and especially 

 stags, which had multiplied to such a degree, that whole squadrons 

 were supplied with venison for provisions. Their flesh is very good, 

 especially during the mouths of April, May, June, July, and August." 

 {Ibid., p. VU.) 



"■ Between the two mouths of the Black River, a stag pursued by 

 hounds and hunters came straight towards me. The poor beast wept 

 and panted ; as I could not save it, and was unwilling to kill it, I 

 fired one of my charges in the air. He then took to ihe water, and 



