HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
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round tlie island, was miraculously thrown upon the only place where, in such a 
violent tempest, it would have been.possible for the persons on board to save them¬ 
selves. The horror of these hurricanes is greatly aggravated by the total impossibility 
of affording or receiving assistance. The violence of the winds, and the force of the 
torrents, renders it impracticable for any one to quit the shelter he has sought, dr 
the spot where he happens to be at the commencement of the storm. 
" It lasted about eighteen hours without interruption, and with undeviating 
violence. Neither the heavy rain, thunder, or lightning, were in the least degree 
interrupted by the violence of the wind. But at three in the afternoon, the mercury, 
which had descended twenty-five lines, remained stationary some minutes, and then 
began to re-ascend; from thence the tornadoes ceased, the wind became more tegu¬ 
lar, and at six in the evening it was possible to give some assistance to those who 
were shipwrecked. 
" From the ravages of this hurricane, the established communications between the 
different parts of the island were altogether interrupted by the fall of trees and the 
abundance of rain. Three weeks elapsed before any intelligence was received of 
the Ambulante, which had been shipwrecked at about the distance of six leagues from 
Port Louis, in the Isle of France. All the harvests were destroyed; and the vessels 
were in such a state as to require the utmost exertions to repair them: that impor¬ 
tant service was rendered by M. de Tromelin to the colony and to commerce. 
These vessels were no sooner equipped, than they were dispatched to Madagascar 
to fetch provisions and necessaries of every kind. M. Poivre had, with his superior 
foresight and precaution, ordered several vessels to winter at the Cape of Good 
Hope, which were sent off with abundance of supplies, as soon as the disastrous 
state of the Isle of France had reached that government. This relief saved the 
colony; as it arrived immediately after the second hurricane,whose fresh devastations 
had sunk the hope and conquered the resolution of the unfortunate inhabitants. 
“ The damages sustained by the vessels in the port, by the violence of the waves 
and the force of the winds in the second hurricane, were much less than in the first. 
The variation of the barometer announced the danger, and every one employed the 
means he possessed for his security and preservation.” 
