CHAP. II. 
CURIOUS MODE OE TAKING SNUFF. 
31 
nature of the feelings entertained towards his country by the 
government and people at Mauritius, and expressed him¬ 
self very desirous that all impediments to the reopening of 
the trade might be removed. 
Leaving his garden, we walked through a part of the til¬ 
lage, and reached the custom house, which seemed to be a 
place of general resort for a number of the residents and 
strangers. We conversed some time with the chief custom 
house officer, who could make himself understood in French. 
He spoke of the native Christians, and said that the punish¬ 
ments inflicted the last time they were discovered were so 
severe, and so many had been put to death, that but few 
besides the prince and some of the queen’s relations re¬ 
mained. He said he greatly regretted ‘the closing of the 
schools, and often spoke with evident satisfaction of his own 
son having gained a prize or honour at one of the latest 
examinations which were held before public teaching was 
discontinued, adding, that all the chiefs earnestly desired 
education for their children, and that the youth of the coun¬ 
try were themselves eager after knowledge. 
I was much amused on this occasion, and often afterwards, 
with the manner in which the chiefs and people generally 
indulge their taste for an article resembling snuff, a native 
manufacture comprising other ingredients besides the pul¬ 
verised leaf of tobacco, such as salt, and the ashes of a native 
herb, which mixture is regularly sold in the markets. The 
retinue of every chief or officer of any rank includes a bearer 
of what we should call his snuff-box. Those officers who 
attend on a superior, or are unattended by their own slaves, 
carry this article of luxury in some part of their dress, fre¬ 
quently suspended from the girdle, and concealed under the 
folds of their lamba; and we sometimes met a traveller with 
his snuff-box suspended from his neck, who seemed almost 
destitute of everything else except the most scanty clothing. 
