52 AUSTRALASIA. 



Oalets, St. Denis, to St. Benoît. This line is a remarkable piece of engineering 

 work, abounding in deep cuttings, bridges, embankments, and tunnels. 



Beyond the villages of *S^. Joseph and Sf. Philippe on the south coast, the 

 zone of inhabitable and fertile lands is interrupted by the eruptive rocks discharged 

 from the Grand Brûlé and several secondary craters. But after passing St. 

 Rose the main highway round the coast leads to St. Benoît, which may claim the 

 title of a town, and which is approached by a handsome bridge here crossing the 

 River des Marsouins. The railway from St. Benoît to St. Denis passes by 

 Bras-Penon, one of the few places in the island which is not under the protection 

 of some patron saint. 



Administration. 



Réunion is represented in France by a senator and two deputies, while the 

 local administration is entrusted to a governor, assisted by a council, which is 

 .composed of the chief officials and two of the leading citizens. Thei'e is also 

 a general council of thirty- six members elected by the cantons, and judicial 

 matters are controlled by a procureur-général. The mother country votes a 

 yearly subsidy for the support of the officials and of the garrison, numbering from 

 three thousand to four thousand men. But public works and instruction are pro- 

 vided for by the direct and indirect taxes, constituting a considerable local burden. 



The island is divided administratively into eight cantons and sixteen communes, 

 tabulated in the Appendix. 



RODRIGUES. 



Within a recent period Rodrigues, the Diego Raïs of the Portuguese, was 

 supposed to be of different origin from other members of the Mascarenhas group. 

 Although it had been classed by Bory de Saint- Vincent and other naturalists 

 amongst volcanic lands, Higgin* had described it as a mass of red and grey granite 

 underlying sandstones and limestones, and this erroneous description had sufficed 

 to cause this island to be regarded as a remnant of the " Lemurian " continent. 

 Rodigues, however, is not formed of granite rocks, but like Mauritius and Réunion, 

 consists of lavas ejected from the depths of the sea. Here are even seen superb 

 columnar basalts, amongst others those of Thunder Mountain, which rises on the 

 north side, above the banks of Oyster River. The shafts of the columns in this 

 place exceed 200 feet in height. 



The lava formations are continued seawards by plateaux of cavernous reefs, 

 which more than double the extent of the island, and which render Rodrigues 

 inaccessible to shij)ping, except through narrow and dangerous passages. But on 

 the other hand, the surrounding waters are exempt from cyclonic storms ; the 

 «outh-east trade winds blow with great regularity, while the island is of too small 

 extent to give rise to shifting currents. 



* Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society, 1849. 



