GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
AND BOTANY OE THE ISLANDS. 
Mauritius is situated a couple of degrees within the Tropic of 
Capricorn, at a distance of 500 miles from Madagascar and of above 
100 miles from Bourbon. Its area is 700 square miles, its greatest 
length from north to south being 39 miles and its breadth from east 
to west 35 miles. It is a little smaller than the county of Surrey, and 
the whole area embraced by the present flora is under 850 square miles. 
The northern quarter of the island, the tract between Port Louis, 
Pamplemousses and Elacq, is a low plain covered with sugar plantations. 
The centre consists of a cultivated plateau, which rises to a height of about 
1500 feet above sea-level. The great mass of rock is entirely volcanic, 
but no active volcano has been known within the memory of man. 
Raised beds of coral, clay, and gravel are found scattered through the 
island at various elevations, showing that, although many craters re- 
main in almost complete condition, there has been great general eleva- 
tion since the main volcanic mass was laid down. On the outside of 
the central plateau, within a short distance of the sea, rise the three 
principal mountain-ranges which the island contains. Of the north- 
western-range the highest peaks, the Pouce (2707 feet) and Pieter- 
both (2874 feet), are within a few miles of Port Louis, and it sends 
out several short ridges to the west, and two longer spurs (Montagne 
Longue and the Callebasses hills) to the east. The south-western 
range is the most considerable of the three. At its north end the 
isolated mountain of Corps de Garde reaches 2525 feet. The range 
of the Black River Mountains forms a continuous ridge near the shore 
of the south-western corner of the island, running north and south 
for a length of above a dozen miles. Its peaks are the Trois Mamelles 
(2340 feet), Rampart Mountain (2710 feet), and Piton de la Riviere 
Noire (2902 feet). At its south end the peak of Morne Brabant 
forms a bold headland on the very coast, rising to a height of 1937 
