484 MAURITIUS. [cHap. xxI. 
very pretty little theatre, in which operas are excellently per- 
formed. We were also surprised at seeing large booksellers’ 
shops, with well-stored shelves ;—music and reading bespeak our 
approach to the old world of civilization; for in truth both Aus- 
tralia and America are new worlds. 
The various races of men walking in the streets afford the 
most interesting spectacle in Port Louis. Convicts from India 
are banished here for life; at present there are about 800, and 
they are employed in various public works. Before seeing these 
people, I had no idea that the inhabitants of India were such 
noble-looking figures. Their skin is extremely dark, and many 
of the older men had large mustaches and beards of a snow-white 
colour; this, together with the fire of their expression, gave 
them quite an imposing aspect. The greater number had been 
banished for murder and the worst crimes; others for causes 
which can scarcely be considered as moral faults, such as for not 
obeying, from superstitious motives, the English laws. These 
men are generally quiet and well conducted ; from their outward 
conduct, their cleanliness, and faithful observance of their 
strange religious rites, it was impossible to look at them with 
the same eyes as on our wretched convicts in New South Wales. 
May 1\st.—Sunday. I took a quiet walk along the sea-coast 
to the north of the town. The plain in this part is quite uncul- 
tivated ; it consists of a field of black lava, smoothed over with 
coarse grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas. The 
scenery may be described as intermediate in character between 
that of the Galapagos and of Tahiti; but this will convey a 
definite idea to very few persons. It is a very pleasant country, 
but it has not the charms of Tahiti, or the grandeur of Brazil. 
The next day I ascended La Pouce, a mountain so called froma 
thumb-like projection, which rises close behind the town to a 
height of 2600 feet. The centre of the island consists of a great 
platform, surrounded by old broken basaltic mountains, with their 
strata dipping seawards. The central platform, formed of com- 
paratively recent streams of lava, is of an oval shape, thirteen 
geographical miles across, in the line of its shorter axis. The 
exterior bounding mountains come into that class of structures 
called Craters of Elevation, which are supposed to have been 
formed not like ordinary’ craters, but by a great and sudden 
