HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
93 
to the height of from eight to ten feet. Though it generally requires a large portion 
of moisture, any great quantity of rain is not necessary to it in this quarter, as the 
dews are very abundant; and rocks, which keep the earth from becoming dry, pre¬ 
serve the soil in the requisite state of humidity, so that the crops never fail; and 
unpromising as the soil is, the inhabitants look for two, and sometimes three harvests 
in the course of the yearsuch is their wealth and their commerce. A certain por¬ 
tion of it they pour into public magazines; with the rest they nourish their slaves, 
barter for corn, and feed their hogs and poultry, with which they traffic. They have 
every convenience that is to be derived from water, as Flacq is a kind of archipe¬ 
lago, on account of the various branches of water that intersect it. This quarter 
also possesses, in the low grounds towards the sea, some parcels of ground which is 
proper for the cultivation of riceand M. le Gentil adds, that, in his time, “ it 
was that part of the island which supplied the Company’s magazine with such a 
necessary article.” The plantations which are more'exposed, and have none of these 
rocks, do not succeed so well in the growth of maize. 
" In the Isle of Bourbon the crops are velry generally abundant, and its corn ap¬ 
proaches in quality that of France, though its situation is between the tropics; but 
its soil possesses a great degree of elevation. 
“ I saw,” continues M. le Gentil, “ on my return from Pondicherry, in the year 
1-770, in the Isle of France, under the cultivation of the Curate of Pamplemousses, 
a small com field, which wore a : Velry fine appearance, was of an equal height of 
about three feet, and, according to the declaration of the ecclesiastic, had, in a 
former year, yielded fifteen fold. 
“At Flacq, the corn generally produces twenty fold, and sometimes thirty in 
fresh ground ; but no more than ten in that which has been in a long and successive 
state of tillage. But to ensure such a produce, there must be a concurrence of 
favourable circumstances; the rats and the birds must be checked in their devas¬ 
tation-; the rain must fall in that degree of moderation as not to beat down the crop; 
and it must be preserved from the mildew. 
“ The small quantity of corn which is grown in the Isle of France appears, at 
first, to be rather extraordinary, as the mode of cultivation is superior to that of 
Europe. There it is sown, and here it is actually planted, on account of the rocks, 
which will not allow the use of the plough, and more hands are Consequently ne¬ 
cessary ; but the land is never relieved by a fallow, or sustained by manure. 
