21 6 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
vessels laden with every thing necessary for the welfare of the island: but, if they 
should delay their arrival, we must be content to go bare-foot, like the Negroes, 
and to clothe ourselves in the skins of deer; though that animal, which furnishes 
stood, and the peaks of some mountains in the interior part of the island, rising occasionally from 
admist the clouds which hung around them. 
<e At seven in the morning we heard the drums beat in the woods, and soon after the Governor, 
M. de la Bourdonnais, appeared on horseback, followed by a detachment of soldiers armed with 
muskets, and a great number of islanders and blacks. He ranged his soldiers upon the beach, 
and ordered them to make a general discharge, which was no sooner done than we perceived a 
glimmering light upon the water, that was instantly succeeded by the report of a gun ; we 
therefore judged that the ship was at no great distance, and hastened towards that part where we 
had seen the light. We had discerned through the fog, the hulk and tackling of a large vessel; 
and notwithstanding the noise of the waves, we were near enough to hear the whistle of the boat¬ 
swain at the helm, and the shouts of the mariners. As soon as the St. Geran perceived that we 
were near enough to give her assistance, she continued to fire guns successively every three 
minutes. M. de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be lighted at certain distances upon the 
strand, and sent to all the inhabitants of that neighbourhood in search of provisions, planks, 
cables, and empty barrels. A crowd of people soon arrived, accompanied by their Negroes, loaded 
with provisions and rigging. One of the oldest planters at this time informed the Governor, that 
they heard, during the whole night, hoarse noises in the mountain, and in the forests : that the 
leaves of the trees were shaken, though there was no wind, and that the sea-birds had sought 
refuge on the land; all of which he considered as certain signs of an approaching hurricane. 
Every thing, indeed, seemed to denote its speedy arrival. The centre of the clouds in the zenith 
was of a dismal black, while their skirts were fringed with a copper hue. The air resounded with 
the cry of the frigate bird, and a multitude of sea fowl; who, notwithstanding the obscurity of the 
atmosphere, hastened from all points of the horizon, to seek for shelter in the island. Towards 
nine in the morning we heard, on the side of the ocean, the most terrific noises, as if torrents of 
water, accompanied by thunder, were rolling down the steeps of the mountains. A general excla¬ 
mation followed of, ‘ There is the hurricane !’ and, in one moment, a frightful whirlwind scattered 
the fog which had covered the Isle d’Ambre and its channel. The St. Geran then presented itself 
to our view; her gallery crowded with people, her yards and maintop-mast laid upon the deck, 
her flag shivered, with four cables at her head, and one, by which she was held, at the stern. She 
had anchored between the Isle d’ Ambre and the main land, within that chain of breakers which 
encircles the island, and must have been driven over a bar that no vessel had ever passed before. 
She presented her head to the waves, which rolled from the open sea; and as each billow rushed 
into the straits, the ship heaved in such a manner that her keel was in the air, while at the same 
moment, her stern, plunging into the water, disappeared altogether, as if it were swallowed up by 
the billows. In this position, driven by the winds and waves towards the shore, it was equally 
impossible for her to return by the passage through which she had made her way, or, by cutting 
