210 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
assistance in preparing ray plantation, from the liberal and active kindness of my 
neighbours and their slaves, according to the usual custom of this island. 
The labour of my slaves soon produced sufficient to indemnify me for their pur¬ 
chase ; and my activity and attentions have procured me the encouraging approba¬ 
tion of all around me. I first employed my Negroes to erect huts for themselves, 
and when that necessary object was accomplished, I contrived a cottage for myself. 
My new occupations prove a source of infinite amusement to me; though the 
Negroes require a continual attention, and I frequently rise in the night to see if 
they are in their huts. They are very fond of nocturnal excursions, either to gratify 
their gallantry, or to pilfer from their neighbours: indeed so strong is this disposi¬ 
tion in them, that no severity seems equal to the correction of it. 
The offices of religion are regularly performed to the Negroes morning and 
evening in every plantation, and they are married hy a simple ceremony, suited to 
their understandings. We assort these matches in the best manner we are able, 
and endeavour to gratify their inclinations whenever it is in our power. The cere¬ 
mony consists in nothing more than a short discourse, recommending mutual kind¬ 
ness and fidelity, accompanied with a menace of punishment to the party who shall 
be guilty of any misbehaviour or improper conduct. The whip is the instrument of 
justice employed on these occasions; and the person who is appointed to exercise it 
is called the Commander. This officer punishes the offences of the man ; but if the 
wife should be guilty, the whip is consigned to the husband, who may correct her 
in the presence of the commander j though it often happens that he pardons her on 
the spot, and they depart perfectly reconciled. Notwithstanding their occasional 
disagreements, they are in general fond of each other, and discover the most tender 
affection for their children. 
I sowed the ground which I had cleared, with rice and maize; but the rainy season 
was not yet commenced, it being the early part. of January; and the latter grain was 
exposed to the devastation of the rats; so that I sowed another crop when the rains 
came on, which may be considered as the manure of this soil: indeed no other is 
necessary, as each year yields a two-fold harvest. The corn, which is excellent, 
though its grain is small, remains but four months in the earth ; and French-beans are 
equally rapid in their progress to maturity: but our harvests are infested by those 
very destructive enemies, the locusts, which fly like birds, and come no one knows 
from whence, in such clouds as to darken the sky. They eat the plants down to the 
