8o 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
that length from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet, which forms a consi¬ 
derable declivity. In this extent of a quarter of a league, the bed is from sixty to 
eighty feet beneath the surface of its banks; and, like the other rivers, is full of rocks 
which have fallen to the bottom of the precipice. The river is no more than ten 
feet broad beneath these frightful ramparts, which afford an intermediate space of 
three hundred feet at their summits. On each side, on these precipices, there are 
rocks, many of which are half bare, while others appear to have so slight an hold, as 
to awaken the expectation that the next moment will precipitate them to the bottom. 
During three parts of the year these rivers may be crossed by stepping from rock to 
rock. 
Besides the rocks or stones which are formed in the bosom of the earth, large 
banks or ranges of them are very frequent, whose clefts are filled with a crust of 
earth which is very hard, and generally ferruginous; a sufficient proof that the form 
of the island has not been effected by any violent concussion of the earth. These 
banks are of a different thickness from eight to ten feet, and seldom more. It is a 
range of this-kind which interrupts the river between the Reduit and the plains of 
Willems. The stream flows over it, and then precipitates itself in a fall of more 
than sixty feet, forming a magnificent cascade. The river of the plains of Willems, 
as well as that of Moka, have similar falls. Immediately after these three cascades, 
which are almost upon the same line, and all of them within the space of half a 
league, the three rivers unite to form one stream, which is called the Great river. 
The banks of stones exactly correspond to each other on both sides of the river; 
they are from eight to ten feet thick, and have no other inclination than that of the 
ground which supports them. In these ravines may be distinguished three or four 
banks of the same kind, one above the other, and separated from each other by 
beds of earth of an equal thickness, which contain other rocks, like those which 
have been already mentioned, that cover the surface of the island. 
There is likewise a very remarkable example of these beds of horizontal rocks, 
in the plain that leads from the port to the Royal battery. This plain is covered 
with stones from the foot of the mountain of the Decouverte, Here also is obtained 
the stone which is used in building, 
In the same plain, on the road from the port to Moka, facing the right side 
of the first river, and on the top of the declivity, at some hundred paces from the 
biink, there is an horizontal bed of large rocks, about one hundred fathom long, 
