438 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1805, 
September, 
tree is tall and slender, having but few branches which are near the 
top ; its exterior bark is blackish, the foliage thick, and the leaf, of 
a dark green above and pale below, is smooth, not very pointed, and 
larger than those of most forest trees. It produces clusters of an 
oblong fruit, of the size of a plum, and full of a viscous, sweetish juice, 
rather agreeable to the taste. The ordinary circumference of a good 
tree is three or four feet ; when cut down, the head lopped off and 
exterior white wood chipped away, a black log remains of about six 
inches in diameter, and from twelve to fifteen feet in length, the 
weight of which is something above 300 pounds. In 1806 several 
inhabitants permitted a contractor to cut down their ebony, on con- 
dition of receiving half a Spanish dollar for each hundred pounds of 
the black wood ; others cut it down themselves, trimmed and piled 
the logs together, and sold them on the spotfqf one dollar the hun- 
dred ; but those who possessed means of transporting the wood to 
town,, obtained from i\ to ^ dollars, the price depending upon the 
supply, and the number of American vessels in port, bound to China, 
whither it was principally carried. Many of the plantations in 
Vacouas were thus exhausted of their ebony ; and the tree is of so 
slow a growth, that the occupiers could expect afterwards to cut 
those only which, being too small, they had before spared ; these 
were very few, for the object of the planter being generally to re- 
alize a sum which should enable him to return to Europe, the future 
was mostly sacrificed to present convenience. 
Such cleared parts of Vacouas as are not planted with maize, 
manioc, or sweet potatoes for the support of the slaves, or with 
vegetables and fruits for the bazar, are commonly laid out in coffee 
plantations, which were becoming more an object of attention, as 
they have long been at Bourbon ; the great demand made for coffee 
by the Americans, and its consequent high price, had caused this 
object of commerce to flourish in both islands, notwithstanding the 
war. Indigo and the clove tree were also obtaining a footing at 
Vacouas ; but the extensive plantations of sugar cane and cotton 
