HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
produced. He also imported horses, and taught oxen to submit to the yoke; he 
built a very convenient house for himself and his successors, magazines for the 
Company, an hospital of two stories, which contained five hundred beds, for the sick, 
and four windmills, with commodious granaries and quays. To these may be added 
an arsenal, batteries, barracks, shops for the different workmen employed in the 
canals, acqueducts, and a dockyard. In short, every thing is now seen in that island, 
which is calculated for the convenience and pleasure of the inhabitants. 
The town and port on the north-west side of the island, which is the residence 
of the Governor and his Council, is situated .in a valley surrounded with high 
mountains, and contains about five hundred houses. They are built of wood, which 
was in great plenty, as both the Islands of France and Bourbon were originally 
covered with it. These habitations are in general small, and have only one story 
with garrets; they are nevertheless disposed with great convenience: their foun¬ 
dation consists of rough stone and lime, about three feet above the surface of the 
earth, and serves as a platform for the upper part of the house; thus these dwellings 
are always dry, and as the wood never touches the ground, it is free from those incon¬ 
veniences to which buildings are subject that are constructed with similar materials. 
Wood, however, is now becoming rare, though there is still abundance of it, but 
as all the environs of the towns, villages, and plantations are in a state of culture, the 
forests may be said to have been removed to such a distance, that it would require 
great expense and immense labour to bring the timber from thence, and in many 
places it is altogether impracticable. The inhabitants, therefore, are already begin¬ 
ning to build with stone, which is in great plenty throughout the island; though it 
is very dear, as it requires a great number of slaves to dig, carry, and shape it; 
besides, as there are no European masons, except those who belong exclusively to 
the Company, who, being free men, demand from one to three dollars a day, stone 
buildings are very expensive. 
The town is irregular, as it was originally begun without any settled plan, and 
every one was permitted to build according to the suggestions of his own fancy. The 
quays are very commodious, both for the loading and unloading of small vessels. 
The soft water, which comes from a river about a league from the town, is con¬ 
ducted thither by a canal to the foot of a high mountain, at the western extremity of 
the place, where the boats come under a large reservoir, and fill their barrels with 
the greatest facility. 
