488 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1805. 
September. 
scorpions, bugs and lizards, with which the lower parts of the island 
are more or less tormented, are almost unknown here ; and fleas 
and cockroaches are less numerous. A serpent is not known to , 
exist in Mauritius, though several have been found on some of the 
neighbouring islets; it is therefore not the climate which destroys 
them, nor has it been ascertained what is the cause.* 
From this account of the situation of my retreat, it will be 
perceived that it was a vast acquisition to exchange the Garden 
Prison for Vacouas ; there, it had been too warm to take exercise, 
except in the mornings and evenings, had there been room and in- 
ducements ; whilst at the Refuge I was obliged to clothe in woollen, 
bad space to range in, and a variety of interesting objects, with the 
charm of novelty to keep me in continual motion. I bathed fre- 
quently in the R. du Rempart, walked out every fine day, and in a 
few weeks my former health was in a great measure recovered. 
Those who can receive gratification from opening the door to an 
imprisoned bird, and remarking the joy with whicli it hops from 
spray to spray, tastes of every seed and sips from every rill, will 
readily conceive the sensations of a man during the first days of 
liberation from a long confinement. 
* Mauritius is not singular in being free of serpents whilst they exist on lands within 
sight, or not far off; but a late account says that one of great size has been killed on that 
island near the Reduit, supposed to have escaped out of a ship from India, wrecked on the 
coast a few years before. 
