178 



The Naturalist. 



The climate, considering that the island is within the Tropics, is a 

 pleasant one, and the temperature averages about 78*^ all the year 

 through. During the fine season, which lasts from May till October, 

 the weather is fine and dry, and pleasant enough. From the middle 

 of November till the end of April it is much hotter, and often 

 uncomfortably warm. From December to April one may chance to 

 come in for a cyclone, or hurricane — a sufiiciently unpleasant 

 experience — which I had the good fortune to be spared. To give 

 some idea, however, of what a hurricane can do when it tries, I will 

 mention a few of the effects produced by the great cyclone of 1868 in 

 the sister island of Mauritius. 



" Coming events " are popularly supposed to " cast their shadows 

 before them," and this event was no exception. For ten days 

 previously the weather was intensely oppressive, and the heat scorching, 

 the atmosphere, meanwhile, being so full of electricity as to produce 

 great and continual discomfort ; the barometer fell by fits and starts, 

 and the wind blew in gusts from all points of the compass alternately, 

 ~a sure precursor of a cyclone. 



Then the storm burst. The tempest raged furiously for three days, 

 and on the 13th of March, when it ceased, the island was devastated. 

 About ninety persons were killed, mostly by falling houses. Of seventy 

 ships in the harbour of Port Louis, many had been torn from their 

 moorings and dashed against others, or stranded. Many of these 

 were afterwards condemned with their cargoes, — a loss of several 

 hundred thousand pounds. 



The iron railway viaduct over Grand River was dismantled. Two 

 of the enormous girders, each 200 feet in length, and more than 300 

 tons in weight, were torn bodily from off their piers and dropped into 

 the river. Imagine, if you can, the terrific force of a wind which 

 could do this. The Tay Bridge accident is far short of this, when the 

 bridge, a tall and rather flimsy erection, gave way owing to lateral 

 pressure and the weakness of the piers. Here the piers stood, but the 

 bridge was torn off and flung down. Over 23,000 dwelling-houses, 

 mostly coolies' huts, were blown down or carried away, and about as 

 many more damaged. One large wooded house, near Port Louis, was 

 turned upside down, and left standing on its roof. Sixty-five bridges, 

 many of stone, were destroyed, and the havoc among trees and cattle 

 was enormous. 



When we went to the East, we were anxious to see all that could be 

 seen, but we all " drew the line " at cyclones. 



