HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
i.6 4 
slaves. The Portuguese discovered it, and gave it the name of Mascaregnas. 
They left some goats, and tortoises, or land turtles, there,* which multiplied beyond 
all expectation ; but the latter are now entirely destroyed. After the destruction 
pf the settlement at Fort Dauphin, on the south side of Madagascar, the French, who 
were driven from the island about the year 1680, took possession of this island, 
which they named the Isle of Bourbon. A small number of people also arrived 
there from France; and its population was also augmented by some English pirates, 
who came with Avery, England, Condon, and Pattison. After having acquired a 
considerable fortune in the Red Sea, and on the coasts of Arabia and Persia, they 
established themselves in this island. The King of France accordingly pardoned 
them; and some of them were still alive in 1763. Their descendants are very 
numerous in the island. 
“ The center of the island is very mountainous, and intersected with deep vallies; 
along which rapid rivers flow, and bear huge^stones along with them. During the 
* In 1613, the Pearl, Capt. Castleton, visited this isle, when birds were its only inhabitants. He 
left some goats and hogs there, in order that they might multiply, and form supplies for those 
who might hereafter touch, there. There are many fine springs of fresh water, and the flesh of the 
birds is excellent. John Thornton, p. 28. 
Purchas, vol. I. p. 331, gives the following account: 
March 27, 1613, twenty-one degrees latitude. We saw an island to the south-west, at the 
distance of five leagues, which appeared to be very elevated. At six in the evening we cast anchor 
on the east side of it, in ten fathom water, with a bottom of black sand, and about a mile from 
the land. We sent our boat on shore; and the people found an infinite number of land turtle, of 
a large size, and which were excellent food. The north-east point of this island is very high and 
steep ; arid towards the south-east of this point there is a plain, which is watered by a fine stream 
that has the appearance of a river; and though a boat cannot enter there, it is an excellent place 
to take in water. The island had the appearance of a forest, and I accordingly called it the English 
Forest, though others denominated it the Isle of Pearls, from the name of our vessel. There are 
both land and sea birds, with pigeons and parroquets, in great numbers. There is also a species 
of large bird, about the size of a turkey, very fat, and whose wings are so short that it can scarce 
rise from the ground. They are white, and not having been terrified by fire-arms, discovered so 
little apprehension of our people that they knocked them down with sticks : ten men killed as many 
of them as would feed forty. In the interior of the island there was a pool, and another river, fre¬ 
quented by great numbers of ducks, wild geese, and abounding with large and as fine eels as.any in 
the world: one of them, which appeared to me to be the largest I had ever seen, weighed twenty- 
five pounds. I consider this island as a most convenient place to obtain refreshments, though it 
is entirely uninhabited. 
