90 VISITS TO MADAGASOAll. chap. iv. 



were regaled with a sort of sweetened drink, or syrup, and we 

 returned to M. Cheron's, where a company of between twenty 

 and thirty sat down to what was designated a dejeuner, but 

 in reality a substantial dinner, under the broad verandah out- 

 side the house. 



M. Cheron is a person of colour, and a man of great force 

 of character, as well as energy and intelligence ; a respectable 

 and prosperous planter, owning more than one estate, and 

 employing 356 Indian labourers. He is a member of the 

 church under the pastoral care of M. Le Brun, in Port Louis, 

 and a zealous and efficient coadjutor in the promotion of 

 measures for the instruction and spiritual benefit of the people 

 in the district in which he resides, and where he is held in 

 high and deserved estimation. 



Towards evening I walked with M. Cheron over part of 

 his plantation, admiring the view of rich and varied land- 

 scape of cane-fields and mountains, which successive elevations 

 afforded ; and almost astonished at the size attained by the 

 canes, which in some places were twelve or fifteen feet high. 



Soon after nine the next morning I joined the family 

 assembly in the great house. It was quite a patriarchal 

 gathering. Besides M. and Mme. Cheron, and their oldest 

 son and daughter in the prime of youthful life, the father 

 and mother of the former Mme. Cheron, and one of her sisters, 

 were permanent members of the household. Then there was 

 another sister, a widow, and several daughters, besides others 

 more or less related to the hospitable host. All appeared to 

 constitute one harmonious family. The breakfast-table was 

 spread at one end of a large verandah, perhaps eight feet 

 wide, and extending the whole length of the house. The 

 viands were abundant, rice being the substitute for bread, and, 

 as a guest, I was provided with tea. 



In the forenoon I accompanied M. Cheron to his sugar- 

 works, where the new processes of preparing the sugar by 



