492 HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
jui<;e: he wal an European, and had enjoyed a considerable fortune in. Frahce/whicfe 
he had dissipated. ■ ■ --d•? 
“ In about half an hour I arrived on the banks of the Tamarin river, whose 
waters run with great noise and rapidity over a bed of rock. The Negro, who 
accompanied me as a guide, found a ford, over which he carried me on, his 
shoulders. I saw before me the very lofty mountains of the Trois Mamelles ,. on 
the other side of which lay the plantation of Palma. Here, however, we lost our 
way, and after a variety of difficulties, and suffering the extremity of fatigue and 
thirst, we arrived towards midnight at Palma, where, in the absence of the master; 
we received every kind of attention from the overseer of this plantation. At an 
early hour in the morning I set forward to visit M. Jacob, who lived in the upper 
part of the plains of Williams. I passed along a large open road, and arrived, at an 
early hour, at the habitation of that gentleman. 
{< The air of this part of the island is much cooler than at the port, or the place 
which I had so lately quitted, and in the evening a fire was not unpleasant. This is 
the best cultivated quarter of the whole island, and is watered by several rivulets; 
some of which flow through ravines of a frightful depth. In my return to the town, 
I passed by one, called la riviere Profonde , the road being close to the brink; 
when I found myself in a state of elevation three-hundred feet above its bed ; the 
sides are covered by five or six stages of large trees. 
“ As I descended towards the town I perceived the heat gradually renew itself, 
and the herbage insensibly lose its verdure, till I arrived at the port, where an 
universal aridity prevails.” 
Prescription of the Cavern. 
Near the Great river there is a small establishment, consisting of art hospital and 
some magazines. There the aqueduct begins which brings’water to the town, and 
on the top of a small rising ground, in the form of a siiga ( rd6af, isi a kirid of fort 
which defends the bay.. >•> -1 1 1 
In about three quarters of a league on the other side J of the river, to-the 1 west¬ 
ward, and in the midst-of woods, is the mOuth of the cavern'. On entering the 
plain, it resembles the hole of a cellar, the vault of which is fallen in. Several 
roots of the Mapou hang perpendicularly down, and close up one part of the 
entrance. 
