■14 HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
March. The fourth season then takes its turn, and lasts no more than six weeks. 
This is the dry season. 
" This division of the year more particularly relates to the general cultivation of 
the island, than to any other circumstance; as, in fact, there are but two seasons, 
that of the winds from the south-east to southland that of the winds from north-east 
to north. The two intermediate seasons are caused by the change in the air, which 
is a kind of monsoon, blowing from south-east to north-east. The south-east winds 
are strong and violent, but they are not dangerous to the shipping, as they never 
exceed a certain degree of force ; on the contrary, the winds from the north-east 
to the north-west are weak and interrupted by calms. This is called the rainy, tem¬ 
pestuous, and hurricane season. It is, indeed, considered as the winter, though it is 
the hottest period of the year; and receives that denomination because, while it 
lasts, no ships venture out to sea, and the voyage to the Indies can only be made 
by a very long and circuitous course. 
4t The south-east winds give a certain freshness to the air, but while they blow, 
every thing ceases to vegetate, more particularly in those parts which are exposed 
to them. Hence it is, that trees and fruit seldom attain any degree of growth or 
perfection in the district of Panrplemouse, which is almost entirely cleared of its 
wood. Orange and lemon trees suffer the most from the south-east winds, as they 
require shelter. Those, indeed, which grow in the woods are flourishing and lofty, 
while such as inhabit the plain are shrunk or mutilated. This wind is so obnoxious to 
vegetation, that trees bear no fruit on the side that is exposed to it, while the opposite 
parts yield a comparative abundance. The tamarind, which possesses a more hardy 
nature, braves: the malignity of the wind, and would therefore form a protecting 
shelter for the more tender fruit trees, which are planted in gardens; but it is of 
such a slow growth in this island as to be thought undeserving of any care or culti¬ 
vation. The Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope shelter their fruit trees from this 
wind, by intersecting their gardens with thick planted lines or hedges of oak. In fact, 
there is no prospect of forming such a protection for the fruit trees in this island, but 
after a long course of years, as the growth of trees there is so very slow. The bam¬ 
boo has, indeed, been planted for this purpose, but its roots spread to such an extraor¬ 
dinary distance around it, as to be injurious to the very trees it might be intended 
to protect. 
S( The nights are generally very fine, particularly in the season of the north-east 
