420 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Pondicherry * is situated near the middle of the Coromandel coast, in about 12° 
of north latitude. According to the last enumeration, it contained an hundred and 
twenty thousand inhabitants, including Christians, Mahometans, and Gentoos. Its 
exterior form is square, and upwards of a league in circumference; its plan is regu¬ 
lar, as the Governors have always marked out the ground to such persons as applied 
for permission to erect houses. Its streets are broad and straight, and its principal 
one, which runs from south to north, is a thousand fathom in length. The houses 
are contiguous to each other; those of the Europeans are built of brick, but do 
not rise above one story: this circumstance proceeds from two causes, the scarcity 
of timber, and the fear of hurricanes, which are not uncommon on this coast. Those 
of the Indians and the Moors are formed of clay baked in the sun, and covered 
with a kind of lime, made of calcined oyster shells : Their common length is eight 
fathom, by six in breadth, and each of them contains from fifteen to twenty persons. 
The courts are planted with palm and cocoa trees, beneath whose shade the weavers 
and other manufacturers fabricate thosye beautiful works which are imported into 
Europe from India. In these courts, or on the platforms on the tops of the houses, 
the Indians pass the night, on a single mat, and almost naked. 
The Governor’s house is a very handsome edifice, and equal to the finest hotels 
of France. This officer is attended by twelve horse guards, and three hundred foot 
soldiers, which are called Pions. On days of ceremony he is carried by six men in 
a palanquin, whose canopy and pannels are adorned with a rich embroidery, and 
various ornaments in gold. This pomp is necessary in a country where the power 
of a nation is determined by the exterior splendour of those who represent it. 
The Jesuits have a fine college in the town, where twelve or fifteen religious 
persons of that order are maintained at the expence of government, who teach read¬ 
ing, writing, and mathematics. The foreign missionaries and the capuchins have 
also an establishment there. The Gentoos have two pagodas, where they enjoy with¬ 
out restraint every indulgence their faith requires. They, indeed, create the wealth 
of the town and the country; are industrious and sober, of a mild demeanour, 
and submissive in the extreme, provided their laws, customs, or prejudices, are 
not opposed. Their best workmen do not receive more than two French sous per 
day, and with that moderate gain they maintain their families. Boiled rice and 
unleavened cakes baked in the ashes are their only nourishment. The first of these 
* This account was written in the year 1756. 
