HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
143 
banana, both excellent fruits, are in great plenty.' There are also cocoa trees, palm 
trees, the lataniers, and several kinds of fruit trees. 
“ There is a kind of shrub which is called Stront-boom, that possesses very poi¬ 
sonous juices; the largest part of its trunk is in the middle ; the wood is soft, and its 
leaf, though somewhat larger, resembles that of our willow. I never saw its flowers 
or its fruit. Both the wood and the bark contain a strong and violent poison, which 
is said to defy all remedy. On passing one day through the woods, I by chance 
broke off a small twig,, and put it, without reflection, into my mouth, and though 
I threw it away instantly, and without having, apparently, swallowed an atom of it, 
I very narrowly escaped death. During twenty-four hours I suffered the sensation 
of being throttled, and my throat was swelled to such a degree, that I breathed with 
the greatest difficulty. The method employed to discover the poisonous from the 
salutary fruits in this island, is to present them to a monkey, and his acceptance or 
refusal at once determines their wholesome or obnoxious qualities. 
“ In the middle of the country, in a plain surrounded by mountains, there is a 
wood which it is very dangerous to enter. The branches of the trees are so thick, 
as well as so interlaced with each other, that they entirely obscure the sun: the 
whole forming an inextricable labyrinth, and without affording any fruits to support 
the unfortunate wanderer who might be lost in it. A former Commandant of 
Mauritius, and his attendants, remained in this forest upwards of four days without 
tasting food, when they fortunately discovered an opening, by which they were pre¬ 
served from the fate that threatened them. The other woods may be penetrated 
without difficulty, and some of them are extremely pleasant. 
“ On each side of the rivers there are, frequently, small vallies, whose soil is excel¬ 
lent. Some parts of the country are also level, particularly in that district which is 
called Flacq, or flat country; which is the residence of the greater part of the colony. 
The India Company has established a large garden there, which contains the greater 
part of our European;plants that can be cultivated with success in this climate. 
“ It is from this garden that the Company derives both roots and fruit for the sup¬ 
ply of the garrison, the Negroes, and other persons whom it maintains in the fort. 
A boat is regularly sent twice a week to the Great river, to transport these necessaries, 
which are brought in waggons from Flacq: this conveyance is attended with con¬ 
siderable expence, as it is a distance of eight leagues, at least, from thence to the 
fort; but the soil round the latter place is so barren, that it is incapable of being 
