HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
189 
CHAPTER VI. 
Letters of Baron Grant , respecting the Isle of France.—The following con¬ 
tains a short general Description , with an Account of the first Operations of 
M. de la Bourdonnais , Governor of that Island , to the Tear 1744. 
LETTER II.* 
Isle of France, 12th of February, 1741. 
M y first letter contained an extract from the journal of my voyage, with some 
local descriptions of this island, as well as those of Rodriguez and Bourbon, both 
from my own observations, and the best information I could obtain from others: 
after having considered the soil and its productions, I shall proceed to describe the 
uses to which they are applied, by those whose culture has either produced or im¬ 
proved them for the public advantage, f 
It will not appear surprising, that the far greater part of the military officers whom 
war has conducted to this island, should wish to fix their abode in it, when all the 
circumstances attached to it are faithfully enumerated: a delightful climate, a clear 
sky, and a soil which produces every thing that is-useful and gratifying to man. 
While mountains, whose summits are never covered with snow, and whose declivi¬ 
ties, bright with verdure, are contrasted with towering rocks, compose amphitheatres, 
which present a varied and picturesque scene of grandeur and beauty. 
From the tops of the hills, small streams and rivers of a pure and limpid water 
gush forth, and, forming beautiful cascades as they fall, wind at length through the 
vallies which they fertilize and adorn, at once enriching the country, and refreshing 
the dwellings of the happy inhabitants. 
• The first Letter was inserted in the Introduction. 
f Having assisted my father since his return to France, in arranging these letters,- (which 
were written by him, to his family in Normandy, during his residence at Mauritius), we have 
enriched them with observations, the fruits of subsequent inquiry and information. 
