1832,] 
ISLAND OF SUMATRA, 
205 
with wood, and may be seen eight leagues. Both to the east and 
west sides of Pisang, are small islets. From Mount Formosa to 
this island, it is low and woody, except a small mount near the sea, 
half way from Formosa towards Pisang, It has long been ob- 
served, as a general rule, that on the edges of the shore-banks 
throughout the straits, the depths decrease suddenly; and in like 
manner on the edges of those in the ofhng. 
Having sailed near to, or within sight of, Carimou, Red Island, 
Pedra Branca, Pulo Tingy, Pulo Timor, Pulo Sapata, and Goat 
Island, the ship John came to anchor at Canite, west side of the 
Island of Luconia. — Sailed from Manilla, passed Corrigidor, cor- 
rected the longitude of High Island ; and after touching at nu- 
merous islands, among the rest Celebes, where the Dutch have 
an establishment, next at the Isle of France,* sailed from thence, 
without accident, to the United States. 
On the eighteenth of January, eighteen hundred and three, 
the ship Fame, Briggs master, sailed from Salem to Cochin 
China, Manilla, and back. The details of this voyage show 
much perseverance on the part of the captain. The natives do 
not appear to have been unfriendly, and the vice-king showed no 
* This is an island in the Indian Ocean, four hundred miles east of Madagascar. 
It was discovered by the Portuguese ; but the first who settled here were the Dutch, 
in 1598. They called it Mauritius, in honour of Prince Maurice, their Stadtholder j 
but on their acquisition of the Cape of Good Hope, they deserted it ; and- it con- 
tinued unsettled till the French landed here in 1730, and gave it the name of one of 
the finest provinces in France. It is one hundred and fifty miles in circumference 
The climate is healthy, but the soil not very fertile. There are many mountains, 
some of which are so high that their tops are covered with snow ; they produce the 
best ebony in the world. The valleys are well watered with rivers, and are made 
very productive by cultivation, of which sugar is the principal object. The town and 
harbour, called Port Louis, are strongly fortified ; but in the hurricane months, the 
harbour cannot afford shelter for more than eight vessels. Here are large store- 
houses, and every thing necessary for the equipment of fleets. ' This island was 
taken by the British in 1801, and confirmed to them by the treaty of Paris, in 1814. 
In 1819, the pestilential cholera was introduced into this island from India, and car- 
ried off seven thousand of the inhabitants. According to an account presented by 
the colonial department to the British parliament in the session of 1825, the island 
was divided into eight districts, containing a population of 87,503, in the proportion 
of 65,769 slaves, 13,475 free blacks, and 10,359 whites, exclusive of 1310 troops. 
Port Louis, on the northwest coast of the island, is in latitude 20° 10' north, and 
57° 29' of east longitude. — Brookes' s Universal Gazetteer. 
