208 DEER, HOGS, AND CATTLE. [1696. 



The Deer are so fat, that after having ran a quarter of a 

 League they drop down, and submit themselves to the 

 mercy of the Dogs : Here are likewise great numbers of 

 Goats ; they are very fat, and their Flesh has no ill Tast. 

 They are much eaten, while the Deer are in their Eutting- 

 time, because the Venison has a stinking and insupportable 

 Tast : Here are Hogs of the China kind. ^ Altho' these are 

 not near so good as our wild Boars, yet they are much 

 eaten for all that : These Beasts do a great deal of Damage 

 to the Inhabitants, by devouring all the young Animals 

 they can catch. 



The Bulls and Cows of the better kind have been brought 

 hither from Madagascar^ and they have multiply'd exceed- 

 ingly ; they have a bunch upon their backs. The Cows 

 afford but very little milk. One Holland one yields six times 

 as much, neither is their Beef near so Q;ood as ours. There 

 are wild Cows that are originally of this Island, or at least 



was overtaken and killed by the dogs." {St. Pierre, p. 151.) The 

 editoi' of the present version has witnessed a similar scene, when a 

 fine stag swam halfway across the bay at Black River ; but it was 

 pursued by some gunners, who captured it, and cut its throat. The 

 deer still exist in considerable numbers, being carefully preserved ; 

 they are of the species from India known as the Sambur. 



1 " The Cochon marron of Mauritius has evidently descended from 

 animals introduced by the first Portuguese voyagers. Whether they 

 are from a Chinese stock, as Leguat avers, it would be impossible now 

 to determine. The boars grow to a considerable size, have fine tusks, 

 and their shoulder-plates are of wonderful toughness ; in all respects 

 they rival the wild boar of Europe. They occasionally attain to a 

 weight of four hundred pounds, with tusks nine inches in length." 

 {Vide Pike, I. c, p. 219.) 



2 "Among those animals which we may call the domestic quadru- 

 peds, are sheep, that fatten and lose their wool, goats that thrive 

 prodigiously, and oxen of the Madagascar breed, that have a great 

 hump on their neck ; the cows of this breed give but very little milk ; 

 those from Europe give much more, but their calves degenerate. I 

 saw once two cows and two bulls from Bengal which were no bigger 

 than an ass. This breed did not succeed." (B. de St. Pierre, op. cit., 

 p. 134.) 



