HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
145 
c< There are neither lice, fleas, toads, or frogs, at Mauritius; Rodriguez was also 
free from them, as well, I believe, as every other island in these seas. 
“ Hurricanes were formerly frequent, as well as violent, in this island; but 
that which I have already mentioned, and from whose fury we suffered so much 
additional misery on our rock, was the only one which had been experienced during 
the course of the last twenty years. There are, however, at certain seasons, very 
violent winds, accompanied with torrents of rain. 
“It is a singular circumstance, if it be true, as I have heard it universally 
affirmed, that when an hurricane visits Mauritius, it always happens on the 9th day 
of February: this is declared by the inhabitants as an indubitable fact. 
“ The seed-time is in the rainy season, which lasts five or six weeks. The climate 
is wholesome, though the heats are sometimes extreme. The fine season generally 
continues from June to February.” 
N. B As the extract from le Guat, on the Island of Rodriguez, may perhaps be 
found long, I think proper to explain my motives on the subject. 
The residence of le Guat and his companions in that island, being the sole event 
which furnishes us a sort of historical description, it was necessary to mention it. 
By attachment to truth and justice, I could not do better than to let the author 
speak himself; knowing that this manner, which has been adopted in Anarcharsis, 
&c. offers more interest to the reader. However, it has cost me more labour than 
if I had written the whole in my own way; because I have been obliged to correct 
the style, and to shorten it in every part, which seems to me tedious, prolix, and 
often of erroneous systems: besides, he places Rodriguez at two hundred leagues 
from Mauritius, whereas it is not half, as I make him say, Sec. Sc c. See. 
I wish the knowledge I present of this island, may be sufficiently convincing of 
the advantages which may be reaped from it, that it should no longer remain useless 
to humanity. 
U 
