ACCOUNT OF THE ISLE OF FRANCE. 
555 
bread-tree has been introduced there from Madagascar, and 
thrives well : maize, or Indian corn, also grows well ; this 
and the manioe, form the principal ingredients of negro 
food. AH plants and fruits found in tropical islands, are 
generally to be met with there in great abundance. Tiie pine 
apple appears to be one of the native or original fruits of the 
island ; it grows in profusion, in different parts^ without any 
cultivation. The ginger root is to be found over the greater 
part of the island. Aromatic plants are also abundant: the 
effluvia arising from them is so strong, as to be sensibly felt 
on approaching the island on the N.W. side. 
Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the scenery, which 
the whole extent of the island displays, on sailing towards 
Port Louis. The beautiful appearance and variety of the 
plantations, some of which are carried to a great height up 
the sides of mountains and hills, whose summits are generally 
covered with various descriptions of trees and evergreens — 
rivet the attention of tlie stranger, and insensibly create in his 
mind the most pleasing sensations. 
The entrance into Port Louis is extremely difficult, and 
cannot be approached without the guidance of a pilot : it is 
completely surrounded with coral banks, which are increas- 
ing every year. In the harbour are basons fit to receive ships 
of the line ; and so deep and commodious is the harbour, 
that ships of considerable burthen lie close in with the shore. 
On landing, the first object which arrests the attention of 
the stranger is the government house, an elegant, extensive 
building, partly built of stone and partly of wood : it is built 
after the Indian mode of architecture, having galleries or bal- 
conies projecting out and running the whole extent of the 
building at each story : upon the whole, it has a grand appear- 
ance, and is the only building worthy of notice upon the 
whole island. The town of Port Louis has, generally speak- 
ing, a mean appearance; the houses, built of wood, give a 
gloom which, when added to the narrowness of the streets 
and the dirt by which they are surrounded, causes considerable 
disappointment to the stranger, whose expectations have 
been heightened from the external appearance of the island. 
The only other public buildings are the police office and court 
of justice, and are only to be distinguished by being built of 
stone, and bearing their respective names. 
There appears to have been formerly a church on the 
island : it is now in ruins, and no substitute has yet been 
;2.*'ected. On making inquiry why the church was suffered 
to remain without ariy means being used to repair it; the re-!- 
4 B 2 
