chap. ii. Mauritius. ^ 



Mauritius. — Approaching this island on the 

 northern or north-western side, a curved chain of bold 

 mountains, surmounted by rugged pinnacles, is seen to 

 rise from a smooth border of cultivated land, which 

 gently slopes down to the coast. At the first glance, 

 one is tempted to believe that the sea lately reached 

 the base of these mountains, and upon examination, 

 this view, at least with respect to the inferior parts of 

 the border, is found to be perfectly correct. Several 

 authors l have described masses of upraised coral rock 

 round the greater part of the circumference of the 

 island. Between Tamarin Bay and the Great Black 

 River I observed, in company with Capt. Lloyd, two 

 hillocks of coral rock, formed in their lower part of 

 hard calcareous sandstone, and in their upper of great 

 blocks, slightly aggregated, of Astraea and Madrepora, 

 and of fragments of basalt; they were divided into beds 

 dipping seaward, in one case at an angle of 8°, and in 

 the other at 18°; they had a water- worn appearance, 

 and they rose abruptly from a smooth surface, strewed 

 with rolled debris of organic remains, to a height of 

 about twenty feet. The Ofiicier du Roi, in his most 

 interesting tour in 1768 round the island, has described 

 masses of upraised coral rocks, still retaining that moat- 

 like structure (see £ Coral Reefs,' 2nd edit. p. 69) 

 which is characteristic of the living reefs. On the 

 coast northward of Port Louis, I found the lava con- 

 cealed for a considerable space inland by a conglo- 

 merate of corals and shells, like those on the beach, 

 but in parts consolidated by red ferruginous matter. 



1 Captain Carmiohael, in Hooker's < Bot. Misc.' vol. ii. p. 301. 

 Captain Lloyd has lately, in the * Proceedings of the Geological 

 Society ' (vol. iii. p. 317), described carefully some of these masses. 

 In the ' Voyage a l'lsle de France, par mi Ofiicier du Eoi,' many 

 interesting facts are given on this subject. Consult also ' Voyage 

 aux Quatre Isles d'Afrique, par M. Bory St. Vincent.' 



