122 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
period; a circumstance which is unknown among the birds of Europe. Some ad¬ 
ditional peculiarities belonging to them will be mentioned hereafter. 
Inconvfznienchs. 
“ Having related the advantages and beneficial productions of this island and its 
environs, we shall now mention those circumstances which were unpleasant, and 
attended with inconvenience. 
“ There is a small fly, which, immediately on our landing, surrounded and 
covered us: so great was their number that it answered no purpose whatever 
to kill them: they do not sting, but when they settle on the face they occasion a 
troublesome itching. At sunset they retire to the trees, and reappear at sunrise ; 
as they love shelter and a gentle air, we had no sooner cleared a tract of land, than 
th£ wind, having a more free course about our huts, drove them into the woods, and 
freed us from their persecution within the extent of our plantation; but we were 
sure to meet them when we enlarged our walks beyond it. 
“ There is also a larger fly, which, unfortunately for us, had sufficient strength 
to resist the wind, and proved extremely troublesome. Its belly is full of live 
worms, which it deposited on our meat; and even let them fall on us as they flew : 
the only means of preserving our food from this insect was by steeping it from time 
to time in sea water. Coverings or safes might indeed have been made, by weaving 
the filaments of the latanier leaf for that purpose, but such a contrivance did not 
occur, when it might have been so serviceable to us. 
“We were also persecuted by rats, which are like those of Europe, and in great 
numbers ; they not only ate the seed we sowed, but used to gnaw whatever they 
found in our huts. The Americans have snakes which seem to have a natural hos¬ 
tility to this vermin. Cats also wage continual war with them; but we had no other 
assistance than that of the owls, and our own traps: we however contrived in a 
great measure to banish them, though they occasionally returned to torment us. 
The most expeditious and certain method to reduce them would be, by scattering 
poisoned food: the island being small they would soon be destroyed, nor would 
any inconvenience arise from such a mortality, if it were to take place previous to 
the establishment of the colony. 
“ The land crabs were also among our enemies; and from their prodigious 
numbers it would be almost impossible to destroy them, as well as from the difficulty 
