i8o 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Extract of a Letter from Pondicherry, dated the 3 d of June, 1787; taken from a 
Journal of the Isles of France and Bourbon; Vol. I. No. 3. July, 1787. 
“ We have suffered at Yanaon, and in all its environs, the same disaster which you 
have experienced at the Isle of France. We have had, during the night of the 19th 
and 20th of May, a most violent hurricane. The sea rose to an extraordinary height; 
all the houses at Yanaon have been inundated and destroyed : the English and Dutch 
factories have suffered a similar destruction. A considerable number of Negroes 
have been drowned. The ship called Le Levrier , which had been sent to Yanaon 
to take in merchandize on account of the Company, and had actually taken in the 
greater part of her cargo in the road of Coringa, has been driven two leagues to 
the leeward, into a plain in the midst of palm trees. The ship the Heureux , which 
was in the river of Coringa, is lost, and five or six leagues of the country are 
inundated. 
“ Four days after the hurricane the waters still remained, as it had rained during 
that time without ceasing. The extent of our losses has not yet been ascertained; 
they must be very considerable to the Company, as well as several individuals of 
Pondicherry. The waters have carried away a large quantity of linens, not only 
from the grounds where they were bleaching, but from the warehouses ; some of 
which, however, have been recovered, by drawing them out of the mud and sand 
with which they were covered. Such is the detail of this ruinous event.” * 
Account of the Volcano in the Isle of Bourbon, by M. Rochon. 
“ This volcano, though its eruptions are frequent, has not occasioned any injury 
to the island since it has been inhabited. The colonists have very wisely kept at a 
distance from this gulph, whose vicinity is very much to be dreaded, according to 
the description given of it by M. de Commerson, a very learned naturalist. 
“ M. de Cremont, at that time Intendant of the Isle of Bourbon, not only gave 
M. de Commerson all the assistance in his power, in order to facilitate his approach 
to the mouth of the volcano, and to examine its productions, but accompanied Him 
in his researches. 
" The approaches to the volcano of the Isle of Bourbon are very difficult: the 
country is entirely burnt up for six miles round it; and very few of the inhabitants, 
* Mr. Dalrymple—Oriental Repository, Vol. II. p. 98. 
