88 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
and the pebbles which the sea may have thrown up. The soil of St. Paul seems 
to be thus composed, of pebbles and of sand. This kind of dyke has so little 
solidity, that the sea broke in upon it, in several places, in the hurricane of 1746, 
and threatened to swallow up the whole of that quarter of the island. At certain 
times, when the sea runs very high, and the bar swells, it beats upon the shore with 
such tremendous violence, that each time the surge dashes on it, and particularly 
near the point of St. Gilles, the ground receives a shock, which is very perceptible 
to any one who may be standing on it. These convulsive motions of the bar at 
St. Paul, even in the finest weather, cannot be attributed to any known cause; but 
it is not improbable that subterraneous fires may promote them. On the recession 
of the waves from the shore, a person standing there, feels the effect of a sudden 
and warm vapour passing over his face. 
The hospital of Port Louis is' situated on a bank of coral, where there are, also, 
the foundations of a citadel, designed by M. de la Bourdonnais. This bank sur¬ 
rounds the island, at the distance of about a quarter of a league from the shore, 
except off the steep parts of it, where the rocks prevail. 
At the hospital, this bank is upwards of ten feet above the level of the sea, 
and it appears to be every where of the same height to windward, as well as to 
leeward of the island, viz. from the Little river to la Flacq, which is nearly a third 
part of its circumference. 
In the plain of Port Louis, called the Camp, at less than a quarter of a league 
from the bank of the hospital, there are several wells, from forty to fifty feet in 
depth. In digging them, nothing was found but a bed of flints, and a kind of clay 
which contained talc and lenticular stones, in a great measure resembling those 
which are found in the quarries of Montmartre. These wells, which-sink nearly to 
the level of the sea, did not produce any coral, nor is any found in the elevated 
parts of the island; nor have shells been discovered there, which are so abundant 
around the foot of the island. All its surface and ravines consist of earth, or a 
vitrifiable sand; and the mountains are masses of rocks, covered with a thin bed of 
earth, equally vitrifiable. Thus, there is no appearance whatever that the sea has 
covered the Isle of France, since it would have left some evidences of such a 
circumstance, and none are to be found. The bank of coral, which has already 
been mentioned, being formed by the sea, it is evident that these shores are full of 
Polipieres (poliprius ), 
