192 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. vii. 
As we approached the shore the summits of the Peter Botte, 
the Pouce, and other mountains which I had photographed 
more than once, looked very familiar. On the 30th of Sep¬ 
tember we entered the harbour of Port Louis, having been 
favoured with a smooth, pleasant, and unusually quick passage. 
One of the native teachers came on board our vessel, and on 
the beach I was cordially welcomed by M. Le Brun, who kindly 
invited me to his house. Here, while renewing my inter¬ 
course with his family, I was deeply affected by the mournful 
accounts I received of the fearful devastations of the cholera, 
from which the island was even then scarcely free. During 
the day I called on some of my remaining friends, several of 
whom I found ill, not having recovered from the anxiety and 
depression they had suffered during the prevalence of the 
disease, and some of them had themselves been more or less 
affected. I felt an indescribable sadness as I went from one 
house to another. The place seemed no longer the same, 
death had made so many fearful chasms. My meeting with 
the survivors of some of my most valued friends, Mr. Kelsey’s 
family in particular, was to me peculiarly sorrowful, especially 
the meeting with his daughter, who had always been a member 
of the happy family circle to which I had so often been ad¬ 
mitted. 
During my short stay in Mauritius several opportunities 
occurred for receiving communications from Madagascar, but 
no tidings arrived of any change in the views of the govern¬ 
ment or the progress of public events in that country. In 
the month of November, having received letters from England 
which rendered it desirable to direct my course to the Cape of 
Grood Hope, I immediately prepared for departure, and on the 
20th of December sailed from Port Louis in the “ Annie,” 
a small brig of about one hundred and twenty tons’ burden, 
bound for Table Bay, which I reached in safety two and 
twenty days after leaving Mauritius. 
