chap. hi. EXHIBITION OF TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS, ETC. 61 
his measures, in the midst of hags and baskets of seeds and 
grain, spread around him on the ground to the number of 
twenty or more different kinds. In the same part of the 
market were exhibited basket-ware, coopers’ work; furniture, 
such as sofas, chairs, tables, bedsteads, and chests; besides 
stalls with cutlery, haberdashery, jewellery and perfumes. 
On the opposite side of the street was the market for meat, 
fish, and bread, all under shelter, and well arranged. The 
fish, including oysters, lobsters, crabs, and prawns, was tole¬ 
rably abundant, but generally small; the meat inferior and 
dear,—the best kinds of beef, though very coarse, being, in 
consequence of the stoppage of the trade with Madagascar, 
upwards of Is., and sometimes as high as Is. 6d. per lb. 
The pork butchers seemed to be all Chinese, and the venders 
of other kinds of meat were generally Creoles. Masters 
of respectable houses might occasionally be seen in the 
bazaar at an early hour; but it was chiefly thronged with the 
head servants or cooks of the chief families of the place, pur¬ 
chasing, in the cool of the morning, the supplies required for 
the day, as no meat would keep till the morrow. 
There are several useful associations in Mauritius, and 
amongst them a society for the promotion of agriculture, 
arts, and sciences. At the annual exhibition of this society, 
which was held in the bazaar on the 22nd of September, I 
was highly gratified at the splendid collection of tropical and 
European fruits and other productions of the island. Amongst 
these were the rich, luscious-looking mango of India, the 
Litchi of China, the custard apple of South America; while 
the strawberry and raspberry of Europe might be seen on the 
same table. The exhibition comprised works of manufacture 
and art, including painting and ladies 5 needle-work, machinery 
and carriages, live stock and poultry. Amongst the former 
were some delicate fabrications in cocoa-nut leaf from Se- 
chelles; of the latter, some Japanese, Cochin China, and Mo- 
