192 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
The houses of which the town consists are built of wood, and covered with 
planks and the leaves of the palm tree. They do not rise above the ground floor, 
in consequence of the winds and the heat: they are separated from each other by 
the gardens that surround them : the streets are in a straight line, and trees should 
be planted to render them cool. It is indeed to be lamented, that those which 
covered the ^environs should have been destroyed, as they must have protected the 
town and port from the fury of the winds. The soil, as we have already observed, 
is sprinkled with rocks. 
The island is watered with more than sixty rivulets, though some of them loose 
their water in the dry season; a circumstance which has become more prevalent, 
since so much of the wood has been destroyed. 
There are a considerable number of pools in the interior parts, which, being in 
the midst of the woods, retain their water. Among others, there is a small lake near 
the mountain called the Piton, which is in the centre of the island. It is said that 
sea-fish are found in it, though I cannot confirm that account by my own experience: 
it is however but little known, from the remoteness of its situation. 
There is frequently a great difference in the temperature of the air between two 
neighiouring plantations, according to the side of the mountains where they are 
respectively placed. 
There is at present but a small quantity of cattle, as the inhabitants do not 
avail themselves of the rivulets to water the districts, which by such a contrivance 
would become excellent pasturage; so that the cows have no more milk than is 
necessary to maintain their young. 
As there is no butter, we make use of hogs-lard and mantaigre , a kind of grease 
which is brought from India. It resembles the rank butter of Normandy, and its 
name indicates its quality. Grease is also furnished from the fat lumps which grow 
majestic summits, where the clouds seem to repose. The showers which their bold pinnacles 
attract, illuminate the dusky declivities with the colours of the rainbow, and feed the springs at 
their feet, which swell into the river of the Lataniers. 
“ In this seclusion reigns the most profound silence: the waters, the air, in short, every element 
is at peace. The echo scarce repeats the whispers of the palm trees, the points of whose broad 
leaves wave gently in the wind. A soft light beams on the bottom of this deep valley, which the 
sun does not reach'till noon; but his earliest rays gild the summits of the rocks, whose sharp 
peaks, rising above the shadows of the mountain,’ are cloathed in tints of gold and purple, gleam¬ 
ing on the azure sky.” 
