CHAP. in. EXHIBITION OF TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS, ETC. 61 



his measures, in the midst of bags and baskets of seeds and 

 grain, spread around him on the ground to the number of 

 twenty or more different kinds. In the same part of tlie 

 market were exhibited basket- ware, coopers' work; furniture, 

 such as sofas, chairs, tables, bedsteads, and chests ; besides 

 stalls with cutlery, haberdashery, jewellery and perfumes. 



On the opposite side of the street was the market for meat, 

 fish, and bread, all under shelter, and well arranged. The 

 fish, including oysters, lobsters, crabs, and prawns, was tole- 

 rably abundant, but generally small ; the meat inferior and 

 dear, — the best kinds of beef, though very coarse, being, in 

 consequence of the stoppage of the trade with Madagascar, 

 upwards of Is., and sometimes as high as Is. 6(?. per lb. 

 The pork butchers seemed to be all Chinese, and the venders 

 of other kinds of meat were generally Creoles. Masters 

 of respectable houses might occasionally be seen in the 

 bazaar at an early hour ; but it was chiefly thronged with the 

 head servants or cooks of the chief families of the place, pur- 

 chasing, in the cool of the morning, the supplies required for 

 the day, as no meat would keep till the morrow. 



There are several useful associations in Mauritius, and 

 amongst them a society for the promotion of agriculture, 

 arts, and sciences. At the annual exhibition of this society, 

 which was held in the bazaar on the 22nd of September, I 

 was highly gratified at the splendid collection of tropical and 

 European fruits and other productions of the island. Amongst 

 these were the rich, luscious-looking mango of India, the 

 Litchi of China, the custard apple of South America ; while 

 the strawberry and raspberry of Europe might be seen on the 

 same table. The exhibition comprised works of manufacture 

 and art, including painting and ladies' needle-work, machinery 

 and carriages, live stock and poultry. Amongst the former 

 were some delicate fabrications in cocoa-nut leaf from Se- 

 chelles ; of the latter, some Japanese, Cochin China, and Mo- 



