3 6 HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Indian corn, without ever lying fallow, or receiving manure, and with no great 
exertion of labour. 
The Manioc,* which was brought from Brazil by M. de la Bourdonnais, and 
was at first cultivated by compulsion, is, at present, the principal resource of the 
colonists for the maintenance of their slaves. Their manner of cultivating it is the 
same as in America. 
There were originally brought from Madagascar into this island considerable 
herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep; but since it has been discovered that more is 
to be gained, by individuals, from importing slaves than cattle, the latter have been 
neglected, and continue to be diminished, by the consumption of the island and the 
supply of vessels. Besides, the ground, whijch, has been prepared for pasturage has 
been so injudiciously disposed and manage.d,;/thjatj,there is. not; su'fficjept herbage for 
the maintenance of the cattle. In different districts there is .a very fine grass, which 
shoots forth at the beginning of ,the rainy season, attains to the height of five or six 
feet, and arrives at its full:: growth in the space of. three--monthSi while that steason 
lasts. . At this time the colqnists: send their herds to.graze on it, Iwhere they soon 
•grow..: fats.-. but, when the vegetation ceases, it- becomes dry and hard, so that the 
cattle cannot eat it. By a thousand accidents the dried grass is frequently set on fire, 
a circumstance which, sometimes occasions a conflagration in the adjoining woods. 
During the remainder of the’yeat the flocks and herds are left to wander about the 
forests in search of a precarious subsistence. 
The great error which !has been committed in this island, and''has proved most 
prejudicial to its agriculture, is the injudicious manner in which the ground has 
been cleared. The firstsetLlers> ; effected their purpose by fire; so that they opened 
large spaces of country,' without leaving any intervals of wood, which could alone 
attract the clouds to the new-formed fields The rains are the best, and, indeed, 
the only manure in this island, and they confine their course to the forests, leaving 
unbedewed the tracts that are cleared. Besides, deprived of the surrounding woods, 
these fields have; no protection against the violence of the winds, which often destroy 
an entire.harvest.: The Dutch, w^o had no woods at the Cape, have been careful 
to plant trees for the safeguard of their buildings. The Isle of France w^s covered 
with forests, and the inhabitants have destroyed them, in the cultivated parts. 
* Jatropha Manihot, Linn . 
